The Kennedy women perhaps have been freer to exceed expectations by not being crushed by such oppressive ones.

No one denies that Chappaquiddick was a truly deplorable incident, and the question percolating around the office is whether or not a modern political career would be able to survive such a public and legal trainwreck.

One thing we have lost with the passing of Edward Kennedy is a certain generational model of the proper role for the family women in public life—the mother, wife, mistress, and daughter. It’s not a model I will miss.