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Uh, Qualified?
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Mike Segar/Reuters
Caroline Kennedy is seeking Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, but she has mostly spent her life as a mother, a wife, and, most ceremoniously, a daughter. That doesn't make her qualified.
Nostalgia aside, why would anyone think it a good idea to appoint Caroline Bouvier Kennedy as the replacement senator for New York? Are we not at long last tired of turning the reins of government over to the underqualified offspring of former presidents?
Caroline Kennedy has shown no evidence of being able to hold down a regular job—all her fundraising work has been voluntary—so the only logic for making the Senate her first employment opportunity is that we actually like the amateur hour that has become the Congress. Kennedy is a Harvard graduate with a law degree who has written a few books and duly served the public on some prestigious committees and blue-ribbon panels. I don’t want to scare anybody, but on this basis, I could be the succeeding senator to Hillary Clinton’s abandoned post. If all it takes are some fancy credentials and some impressive hobnobbing, I daresay the Senate is open to many comers.
Kennedy, whose whole life has been handed to her, is once again about to have her whole life handed to her. Is this what we really want?
Do not misunderstand me: I know Kennedy is far more than some lady who lunches and then serves oranges to the homeless at the church soup kitchen. She has raised $65 million for New York City’s school system, no small sum. I know she is the keeper of the Camelot flame, a position that entails some effort and élan. And I realize that just being daughter of a president, and of course a Kennedy, is a substantial qualification for government work: Growing up in a political world is fine preparation for a public life.
But there’s got to be more going on. It’s not enough merely to exercise the opportunities availed to you because you just happen to be born on third base. It’s not even enough to perform the duties of legacy with grace and intelligence, which Caroline Kennedy appears to have done. I would like to think the Senate is a repository for people who have achieved something on their own—even if the only thing is the act of running for office, a demand we don’t even seem to be making in this case. Kennedy, whose whole life has been handed to her, is once again about to have her whole life handed to her.
Is this what we really want?
Perhaps it is: Even in parvenu America, noblesse oblige is as good an impetus as any, and many of our best (and a couple of our worst) leaders have been to the manor born. We have a tradition of electing officials with last names like Roosevelt and Adams and, of course, Kennedy, and we are often pleased with the results. Dynasty is not un-American, even if it is anti-democratic. Conversely, some of our most naturally gifted presidents of recent years—Nixon and Clinton come to mind—came right out of the dogpatch and spent a good deal of their public lives struggling with their upstart demons to the detriment of just getting the job done. It was far better to live in ancient Judea in the time of King Solomon, who was born a prince, than in the turbulent days of King David, who started his life as a simple shepherd.
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To differ:
According to many statistics-gathering institutions, most of Congress, House and Senate, have committed crimes, misdemeanors and other shady activities worthy of the U.S.'s penchant for jailing its citizens.
Caroline Kennedy is no more nor less qualified than most of them ALL, and I'm truly weary of people's opinions that her only caché is being a Kennedy. Far from it.
For one thing, she's a good mother. I say let us find good mothers with Harvard Law degrees who have raised multi-millions for charity and turn them ALL loose on the senate.
Give the woman a chance. She's earned it. We respect her, to boot--that's gravy in our present legislature. Thanks for the format and may we please be a little nicer to our wealthy Democrats please?
typo in last paragraph on first page: some of our "most" naturally gifted presidents
The Senate was created to equal the House of Lords. The Senate was intended as a moat between the rich and the hoi poli. I am a democrat, little "d" and think the Senate should be abolished. The Founding Fathers were a group of rich, white men who set up the Senate to tilt things in their favor.
I always smile when i see Carloline. She should run for the Senate. I'm for dumping the whole construct of the Senate. It's not handed down from God, after all. Thomas Jefferson wrote we have a right.. nay a DUTY... to make a revolution every thirty years so as to set the government up to suit each generation. Where is that old American spirit?!
Oh just give Caroline the job already. What qualifications does she need other than being a part of an outdated myth known as "American Royalty." Washington needs another excuse for more cocktail parties where politicians can mingle and sell their souls to the highest bidder as they outsource whatever is left of this country. Why get serious now? I can see Washington from my Park Avenue Penthouse ... you betcha.
I agree with Elizabeth Wurtzel. Caroline Kennedy does not deserve to fill Hillary's NY Senate seat. If a Kennedy is to replace Hillary, it should be Robert. I hope Gov. Patterson has the guts "to do the right thing" and appoint anyone but Caroline.
Caroline's qualifications? There are three formal quals she has to fulfill: 1) At least 30 years old. Check. 2) Citizen for at least 9 years. Check. 3) Resident of state. Check.
As to other qualifications, all one has to do is look at the Senate record for the last few years to make even the question of qualifications ludicrous in the extreme.
Jane Hamsher wrote this same column a week ago at firedoglake: http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/07/caroline-kennedy-thanks-but-no-thanks/
I'm going to have to agree completely with 'longcrl' above. If there isn't a wife, a Housewife, a mother, a philanthropist, a community organizer, with a Harvard Law degree in the Senate, then there should be. The fact that her Father dedicated his life to public service, and made some compromises, which included risking a lifelong love affair with his children, simply because the demand for his service to his Country was so great, then I don't know any person on earth more qualified. It is the heart that is missing in the Senate, not the head. The head shrinks of the Senate haven't protected anyone from Bankruptcy so far, so what is the risk in changing tacks now, or is that just simply too obvious for anyone to consider.
On another note, as predicted here, and inventing the new word 'horditive' in rebuttal of presumed 'stimulative' packages, I also want to applaud Carly Fiorina for her comments on Meet The Press today pointing out the exact phenomena predicted by this sole observer when the lame brained idea was first hatched. Do not give Banks any more money, unless you wish to see it go the 'Madoof' way.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Caroline Kennedy is just as qualified as many others who've been in the Senate. I agree with magicman. Besides, you look like you are more qualified to report on Brittany Spears than Caroline Kennedy.
And what made Hillary Clinton qualified to become a New York senator?
I am fed up listening to the Kennedy bashers. Caroline deserves a chance. She will make the Senate more civilized. And if she does not go to the Senate, she should certainly be appointed US Ambassador to St. James, aka Great Britain. She would be perfect at the moment, as a lawyer who wrote a book on the Bill of Rights. Britain is reviewing its human rights legislation and we need an Ambassador with influence and credibility.
Ah, ambassador to the Court of St. James! Just like her grandpa Joe. That would be a ideal way for history to repeat itself, and she'd do a much better job - he was a Nazi appeaser.
Qualifications, smualifications. As if membership in the House or Senate is reserved for only the best and brightest. Please. She's intelligent, engaged, politically aware, and seems to have high ethical standards. Wait a minute -- maybe she isn't qualified to be a politician.
Anyone who voted for Obama (like me) really needs to find a different argument than 'she's unqualified'.
I think Caroline Kennedy would make a fine senator. She wrote an important book on privacy which, alone, should
recommend her after an Administration (Bush) that trampled on the U.S. Constitition. Patricia Burstein
I am not convinced by the argument as to why she is not qualified. First of all, over five books published and millions raised for school divisions, people don't sleep and make it happen, It takes considerable effort and dedication and dismissing her because of her name is not good enough. Second, dis missing her law degree in demand for more, is not that reasonable. A case could be made that a law degree should be required before running for senate. considering the power to pass laws that the senate holds, I have a hard time understanding why a person who actually know how to write and interpret the law is not qualified to do the job.
I hope the New York governor has the courage to choose Caroline because of her proven skills/competence as well as her heart i n the right place. A dramatic story of hardship and impossible childhood... is not alway a requirement for national service. A president daughter should be allowed to serve her country in the same way as would a plummer's daughter because they care and because their are competent, not because either one's story has more drama than the other.
Adolescent exhibitionism, self-involvement and writing-skills aside, why would anyone care what on earth Wurtzel thinks? Really.
I share the writer's opinion that in order to support Caroline Kennedy to become a senator, she ought to have some prior experience in government. I didn't think Hilary Clinton had significant experience when she first ran for the Senate since First Lady is not an actual political office. However, she ran a very good campaign and won on her own merits. If Caroline Kennedy wants to be a senator, it would be better for everyone involved if she got her hands dirty first running a campaign, at the very least.
Without making a recommendation, Ms Kennedy couldn't possibly be any worse than Ted Stevens or Mitch McConnell or Saxby Chambliss. In fact, we would probably be better off choosing a name from the phone book or pulling a name from a hat.
Most politicians started out as something else. Maybe a professional, a plumber or a teacher or a housewife who saw a problem and decided to try and be part of the solution. They weren't qualified except in the legal sense and the common sense and that turned out to be enough. Eventually these folks become politicians. Then they are qualified enough to be congressmen and senators?
I think that it might be useful to have someone in that powerful position that hasn't been ground up by bottom up American politics and been turned into a "Politician" before coming to power.
So she's from a rich family, she's done good, she's family oriented, she's smart, she's qualified!
blech... what a bunch of malarky
Tulku2: The Founding Fathers set up the Senate to tilt things to their favor? Umm, in the 18th century, wealthy white men were the only ones with any clout whatsoever.
I watch Caroline Kennedy give 2 press conferences during the Demo convention. She was snotty and condescending to Wolf Blitzer and Suzanna Malvo in 2 seperate interviews. I thought at the time that she was a bitch. I'd hate to be a poor blue collar worker from NY that needed help from Ms Kennedy as a Senator. She looks as if she couldn't bear to be around the unwashed and poor of the world.
I'm pretty sure "servicing" constituents is not in the job description. Ask Larry Craig. You mean serving constituents.
And actually, fund-raising ability is a very important, and perhaps the most important, senatorial qualification. Other qualifications are being an effective communicator, having deep party roots and connections, and being liked on both sides of the aisle. Seems like she's got those locked up. Drafting bills and running an office are actually duties handled by the staff, Liz.
watched
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