On Sunday, I detailed some of the advantages and disadvantages of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s being in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. While his appointment is an inevitable and in certain ways welcome rebuke of the public health establishment, I remain concerned that his uncertain political record may not adequately steel him for the task of reining in the agency.
But there is one unqualified good from RFK Jr.’s position. The fact that he, of all the living Kennedys (who have largely disowned him), is now the one with the most political power is inducing a kind of sour grapes on the left about the whole of the Kennedy legacy. Jeet Heer, The Nation’s national affairs correspondent, groups RFK Jr.’s appointment in with other Trump attempts to “take over and make his own” the Kennedy brand. While admitting some positive achievements of the Kennedys, he says good riddance, for the most part (better late than never, I guess):
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