Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has had his distinguished 30 year career in the Senate ended by Democratic primary voters, who elected Congressman Joe Sestak as a sign of change that they see as necessary!
Specter, who only switched to the Democratic Party last year, failed to accomplish his goal to have a sixth term in the Senate, but it is clear his time was up, as there was no realistic way that he would have been renominated if he had remained a Republican!
Always an individualist and maverick with the tendency to be moderate to liberal, depending on the issue, Specter often showed courage in his years in the Senate, and his willingness to back President Barack Obama on the economic stimulus and health care legislation was crucial to the passage of both bills!
For that, of course, Tea Party people and conservatives hated his guts, but Specter will go down as a man of great ambition and ego, and often demonstrating a difficult personality, but also at key moments doing what many would term the “right” thing to do!
His career was distinguished enough, and he dealt with enough controversial issues over three decades, that we can see that he will be well remembered, and will have historians and biographers want to research and produce scholarly works on the impact he had on American history!
Being already 80, and having survived two bouts with cancer, Arlen Specter can be described as a “profile in courage”, who will not be forgotten when the history of the last thirty years is written! May he enjoy a retirement that he deserves!