Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy is a brawler, and as nice as he comes across sometimes, insiders have said that he is tough as nails and would just as soon step on a fallen man than step over him.

That being said, a safe bet would be that Ted Kennedy is going to try to introduce legislation designed to overhaul the U.S. health care system — and enact universal care — before a new President Barack Obama has the chance.

Writing in the Washington Post, Kennedy went so far as to entitle his opinion piece, “Health Care Can’t Wait.” Doesn’t sound to me like he is going to wait for anyone.

No one wishes ill will upon Mr. Kennedy. But he is physically sick, and likely facing his own mortality. So the larger-than-life senator probably wants to leave a legacy. And since President Obama will be busy with the nation’s economic woes, as many Democrats argue, the new leader won’t have time to make changes to health care. Plus, they state it will be too costly in a time of economic crisis.

So Kennedy will step in and pressure Obama to see things his way. It is the only way that Kennedy, who never made it to the main desk in the Oval Office, will go down in history, at least not while Obama is taking all the limelight.

President-elect Obama might think that his biggest problem will be the economy, or the war in Iraq, or Kim Jung Il in North Korea, but he is mistaken.

He has a pitbull ready to pounce, one named Ted “the timid” Kennedy.