Americans, in greater numbers than most other populations, have a common characteristic: They seek out and focus on the winner -- the man or woman who does what no one else has done or can do -- and they shower recognition on the individual or, in the case of athletics, the team. They are the people of the laurel wreath, the Oscar, the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Pulitzer, the Nobel Prize.

There is nothing wrong in this; the pursuit of excellence is enviable. But to focus on one person in one career with one set of expectations can be misleading.

The nation is now headed by its 43rd president. Of the preceding 42, the vast majority are eminently forgettable, yet many citizens may harbor the impression that because Edward Moore Kennedy, who turned 70 Friday and was elected to the United States Senate 40 years ago next fall, did not become president he has somehow failed in his career. Not so. Quite the opposite, in fact. His distinction and fame belong to the body of his work, his accomplishments as a senator for nearly 40 years, fashioning legislation that has affected all Americans, and millions of people in other lands.

Kennedy made a serious run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980, but the national memory of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick was too strong, and he never tried again. The voters of Massachusetts, however, are more capacious in their appreciation for political fortitude, and Kennedy has now been elected to seven terms.

His chosen arena has been the Senate, that peculiar institution whose tricky winds and tides Kennedy has learned as well as he has the waters of Nantucket Sound. He learned early that to be effective, a senator must forge alliances with those on the other side of the aisle. His friends in the GOP are a roster of that party's leaders over the years: Howard Baker, Jacob Javits, Peter Dominick, Hugh Scott, Mark Hatfield, Bob Dole, Orrin Hatch, Alan Simpson.

His friendship with Hatch, an arch-conservative from Utah, is especially noteworthy; it is a generally accepted fact in Washington that it was he who finally, a decade ago, persuaded Kennedy to admit that he was powerless over alcohol and that his life had become unmanageable in that regard.

Kennedy can be excoriating in debate, but it never appears personal. One day in 1967, for example, Kennedy was closing a hot debate for the Democrats against a Republican opponent who was unsure of his arguments. Kennedy, supported by his brother Robert, made mincemeat of the Republican position. After the vote, which the Republicans lost, Robert Kennedy left the chamber glowering, as he often did, while Ted left with his arm around his erstwhile opponent's shoulders , both of them smiling.

Civil rights champion

Kennedy has always recalled Hubert Horatio Humphrey's 1948 advice to his party that the best measure of government is how it treats its children, its elderly and the sick and needy who cannot take care of themselves. His causes have been large and small. Civil rights he has long regarded as America's great unfinished business and he has successfully championed measure after measure, broadening and lengthening the playing field to include the handicapped and women in the workplace.

He has prevented bad things from happening, which is particularly important for a senator. He blocked the confirmations of two nominees to the Supreme Court, G. Harrold Carswell and Robert Bork, the first ludicrously unqualified, the second a bright but philosophically poisonous enemy of both civil rights and civil liberties. He was less successful in opposing President Bush the Elder's nomination of Clarence Thomas from being confirmed. That failure was due to two factors: The president badly wanted it and turned Republican senators Hatch and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania into pit bulls in their destruction of Anita Hill, the law professor and former colleague of Thomas' who made a case against the nominee for sexual harassment that convinced a large body of public opinion but not Republican senators.

The second factor was that the hearings coincided with Kennedy's involvement in a drinking incident with his nephew at a Palm Beach hangout called Au Bar. The episode brought back earlier memories of unacceptable Kennedy behavior and so blunted and diluted whatever logical arguments he might have had against Thomas.

Health care advocate

His campaigns for universal health insurance, while not yet at fruition, have still shown results in increased cancer research funds, better care for children, portable health insurance for workers and a closer government supervision of health maintenance organizations. He is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education and Labor, which permeates almost all of the domestic agenda.

His interest in foreign affairs has been long and consistent. He championed the cause of oppressed Jews in the Soviet Union when most others feared to look at the realities because the U.S.government was doing all it could to seek accommodation with the Kremlin. Elsewhere in foreign policy, Adam Clymer notes in his superb and definitive biography, "Edward M. Kennedy," "[Kennedy's influence] has extended from Vietnam to the Soviet Union, from Bangladesh to Chile, from Biafra to China, from South Africa to Ireland." Sometimes, he was in conflict with American foreign policy, but he consistently expressed basic American ideals. "He would never grant that the ideas of Philadelphia were too advanced for Soweto, Moscow, Santiago or Belfast."

The savvy senator

Kennedy's legislative skills and conciliatory manner, honed over four decades, have perforce taught him to be effective on the minority side. Time after time, he has had to settle for a piece of what he wants today, with the hope of getting more in the next Congress. It demands patience and perseverance, something many politicians are uncomfortable with. With Kennedy, however, it is a fine art, although it sometimes rankles super-liberal Democrats.

During the ill-advised Republican attempt to impeach President Clinton, Kennedy, along with most others, knew that the partisan and out-of-control vindictiveness the House Republicans felt for President Bill Clinton could infect the Senate if something wasn't done. In this belief, Kennedy had an unlikely ally, the right-wing Texas Republican, Senator Phil GrammBeck, Leslie 02/19/2002 Gramm. Recognizing the danger, the two of them produced a formula and headed off what would have been sure disaster.

During the impeachment crisis in 1998 and early 1999, Kennedy talked often with Clinton, the two of them sometimes reflecting on the unwelcome publicity that they had brought upon themselves. Clymer quotes Clinton on Kennedy:

"His advice is always simple. It's just sort of get up and go to work, just keep going and remember why you wanted the job in the first place.

"He's a very tough guy and he understands that if somebody accuses you of something that's true, maybe you're your own worst enemy, and you have to hope that when people add up the score, there will be more pluses than minuses. And if somebody accuses you of something that is not [true], then it will probably get sorted out sooner or later, and there is very little you can do about it except do the job you asked the people for."

David Murray is an editorial writer for The Berkshire Eagle. As a Washington bureau reporter for the Chicago Sun Times, he spent a decade covering the career of Ted Kennedy.