Alan Khazei is running for the vacant senate seat that opened when Ted Kennedy, a beloved and well-respected US senator of many years, passed away. Khazei's the son of a doctor and nurse who feels especially connected to the current debate on Health Care Reform and pushing for Universal Healthcare for all citizens. As quoted in one of his campaign outlines, healthcare is "personal for him and he views healthcare reform as both a moral issue and an economic imperative."
As for his speech given on Monday, November 9th, in the International Room at AIC, Khazei struggles to keep the focus of his audience and deliver a speech that leaves people feeling motivated to vote for him. As I sat with my work colleagues and listened to him speak, I could tell that none of us were blown away. And afterwards, one of them said "you could tell he was hurting," while another saw a more optimistic side to sitting through Khazei's speech. "Hey, it's free food," she said with a chuckle as she thought about the weak delivery and audience full of people unwilling or unmotivated to share personal stories or accounts dealing with poor health care and difficult insurance companies.
Do I think Alan Khazei has what it takes to become the next Ted Kennedy? Not unless things change drastically overnight. Khazei seems to be better equipped for another branch of government, perhaps more directly with the health care issues rather than legislation as a whole. He seems passionate but he's unable to get a crowd motivated and without knowing his other policies on important issues, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving him my vote in December.
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