Carl Jeffers Talks About The One Thing Nobody Else Has

Carl "Two Questions" Jeffers lived up to his nickname this morning, with Imus only able to get a few words in edgewise. But Jeffers's observations were so salient that Imus didn't mind at all.

Watching the coverage of Senator Edward M. Kennedy's death these last few days, Jeffers has been struck by what he considers to be a glaring omission.

"There should be more focus on the legacy of the Kennedy family and minorities, particularly the African-American community," said Jeffers, a political commentator and Huffington Post contributor.

As Jeffers sees it, there have been roughly four white men in the history of modern day America who have had a "synergistic and chemical bond" with African-Americans. The first, he said, was Thomas Jefferson, who was loved by his slaves.

"We now know he loved many of his slaves back," said Jeffers. "But he was absolutely loved by those blacks who were able to be in touch with him."

Next was Abraham Lincoln, whose connection with black people was so strong that 95 percent of them voted for the Republican Party, of which he was a member, and continued to do so until the Roosevelts came along. Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor were the most visible members of a wealthy family who Jeffers said were committed to justice and to civil rights.

And then came the Kennedys, whose ties to the African-American community began with a single phone call.

"John Kennedy made a phone call to the attorneys in Alabama while he was running for President in 1960 to get Martin Luther King released from jail," said Jeffers. "That's what started it."

In fact, Jeffers surmised that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, around half of black working class families had in their living rooms photographs of Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Ted Kennedy was able to crystallize all that commitment into legislative activities," said Jeffers, who ticked off the Civil Rights bills, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title IX as some of Kennedy's more meaningful accomplishments.

"He didn't spend his years in the Senate getting bills passed to dedicate monuments to local celebrities and heroes," he added.

Kennedy's death represents the end of an era, the likes of which Jeffers does not think will happen again anytime soon. "Ted Kennedy was the last lion of that group," he said.

-Julie Kanfer