Get Ready for KKT

And the language she uses can be striking, coming from a Democrat- especially one who has spent her summers in Hyannisport. She speaks of "very high standards" and "children of God" and "the shame [shame!] of lifelong welfare dependency" and "the dignity of work" and "the very dangerous path" that is racial separatism. They call her the un- Kennedy, but, in a way, she is more original Kennedy than un-, standing for a JFK-like liberalism that has little time for kookery and nostrums.

The Kennedys, like the Tafts, have come down somewhat in the world. They have Teddy in the Senate, of course, and his snotty son Patrick in the House. Mark Shriver, son of Eunice, is in the Maryland legislature. And then there is KKT. There is a good deal of "rising star" chatter about her. She is close to Gore, for whom she has already visited New Hampshire, twice. (The Kennedy name remains extra-mesmerizing in the Northeast.) She is almost certain to run for governor in 2002, and, in the invincibly Democratic state of Maryland, she will win. Then she will be a national force. Liberals will at last have a Kennedy they can admire without guilt. And the rest of us? We will have a Kennedy we do not have to abhor.

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