Memorial Politics: Yes We Can

I’m sure the closing segment of the Ken Burns video retrospective at Friday’s Kennedy memorial service did nothing to warm GOP hearts. Concluding with scenes of Kennedy campaigning with and for Obama, the CNN camera panned out so that the sequences on screen were juxtaposed with Kennedy’s coffin — as you see above.

Whether or not Obama’s eulogy at the Kennedy funeral on Saturday particularly delves into the Senator’s long-standing commitment to universal health coverage, it’s impossible to expect (and foolish to protest) that Teddy — in death, in memory and in pictures — would somehow suddenly relinquish his identity as an advocate.

(image: Charles Dharapak/A.P. caption: An image of Sen. Ted Kennedy and President Barack Obama, part of a film produced by Ken Burns, is projected over the coffin of Sen. Edward Kennedy during a Celebration of Life Memorial Service at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Friday, Aug. 28, 2009 in Boston.