DA LEGGERE
"In my few interviews with him, I had the following experiences: I would ask him about some grand political idea or theme. His answers were O.K. but unimpressive. Then I would ask him about a detail from a piece of legislation many years back. Suddenly he could talk with incredible knowledge about subsection C of paragraph 6 in article 13.
He was the best at handling negotiations, crafting compromises, putting together the details, understanding the various constituencies at play, divining a legislative path through committee and onto the floor. This is not the stuff of poetry but prose. It’s the sort of human capital that is in short supply in Congress right now, where relatively few people know how to craft complicated legislation." David Brooks su Ted Kennedy. NYT.