Different routes for politicians

An interesting contrast in attitudes toward life in the public eye was brought to the forefront last week.
Gary Doer resigned as premier of Manitoba, still at the height of his popularity.
Earlier in the week, a respected and loved American Senator, Ted Kennedy, died, also at the continued height of his popularity.
Doer tells us he resigned because he wants to leave now while things are good. He's seen those who stay around too long - it's unpleasant to witness, he said.
It sounded just like the star of a popular television show. Jerry Seinfeld stopped production of his show, Seinfeld, when fans were still crazy for it. So also it was with Brent Butt, creator and star of Corner Gas, who ended the run of the popular show this spring when fans were still watching in droves.
It's sad to think a politician should have to think this way - that, like a popular entertainer, he or she is at the mercy of public taste fuelled by the nanosecond world of the Internet.
But then there is just the opposite way of thinking.
Kennedy, who served in the U.S. Senate for 46 years, didn't seem to have this mindset at all.
Kennedy worked until his dying day. He had recently taken on a new crusade: accessible health care for all.
His legacy could be seen when the public turned out by the thousands to witness the motorcade that carried his body. They had stories to tell of how they felt the senator had personally helped improve their lives.
It's the type of remembrance of which many politicians can only dream.
Kennedy was also doing his work in the nanosecond world of Internet popularity, and despite an incident that took place 40 years ago that became a national scandal and condemned him in the eyes of many, he was still popular.
In July 1969, when Kennedy was 37, he drove a car off a bridge after a late night party. His companion, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned, and critics have maintained this is because Kennedy panicked and left her in the sinking car.
He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-year suspended sentence.
The incident became known as Chappaquidick for the Massachusetts island where it took place.
Some argue, of course, that Kennedy had a powerful last name that got him a Senate job in the first place and kept him there even after Chappaquidick. Others say it was the Chappaquidick incident that smartened him up and fuelled his foray into positive work in an effort at redemption.
Regardless of family heritage or ultimate motivation, it still remains true that Kennedy worked hard through many years on projects that helped everyday people.
Doer was lucky. He has been offered an extremely lucrative way to keep doing valuable work for this country, now having addressed his worry that he would be banished to horrid political pasture of unpopularity if he stayed in elected office too long. He is now Canada's ambassador to the United States.
For those politicians who are considering an early exit while they are still seen in a glowing light by the public and their colleagues, consider the story of Edward Moore (Ted) Kennedy.
Good, productive work in the public interest never goes out of style.