Bobby's specialty was retail politics, not speechifying (tactile charisma) except for Cape Town and Indianapolis. Working with Congress would require keeping the Republicans always with him- which on domestic issues wouldn't be difficult. Nixon wasn't good on congressional relations either- he made a QPQ of extending the GS in exchange for a free hand on foreign policy, since domestic policy bored him and he didn't really have much of a stake there.
Re personality: so were Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Thatcher, who between them served 27 years as prime minister. But he was also intellectually curious, open-minded, and picked staffers with a wide variety of opinions, and there was no opinion hierarchy: if the intern has a better idea than the COS, the intern's idea flies, as his former staffers such as Edelman and Greenfield will attest. Plus he never took himself that seriously, unlike Carter, who thought I Am Always Right No Matter What The Evidence Says. There was also the softer side to his personality which few people, almost no pols saw.
Jack was a good POTUS but he didn't have legislative management skills- only Ted had those.
Ted had the legislative management down but didn't have the vision thing or executive talent. Senate Majority Leader yes, POTUS no.
Re personality: so were Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Thatcher, who between them served 27 years as prime minister. But he was also intellectually curious, open-minded, and picked staffers with a wide variety of opinions, and there was no opinion hierarchy: if the intern has a better idea than the COS, the intern's idea flies, as his former staffers such as Edelman and Greenfield will attest. Plus he never took himself that seriously, unlike Carter, who thought I Am Always Right No Matter What The Evidence Says. There was also the softer side to his personality which few people, almost no pols saw.
Jack was a good POTUS but he didn't have legislative management skills- only Ted had those.
Ted had the legislative management down but didn't have the vision thing or executive talent. Senate Majority Leader yes, POTUS no.