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Uh, Qualified?
And in fact many of the Kennedy kids of this third American generation are very accomplished, working as physicians, producers, policy wonks, and public officials. Even Caroline’s brother, affectionately known as John-John, tried life as an assistant district attorney and a magazine publisher to some degree of success before his untimely death. But Caroline Kennedy has herself done very little: She is so smart and sturdy, elegant and eloquent—as is always noted, Jackie did a good job with her kids—that we have come to take her aspirations seriously, when she has no record of achievement.
She’s been quietly reaching out to state leaders, including New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, despite opposition from prominent Clinton backers. “Democratic officials and Clinton fund-raiser Robert Zimmerman blasted Kennedy’s lack of campaign experience,” the New York Post reported Sunday.
Kennedy has mostly spent her life as a wife, a mother, and most ceremoniously, a daughter. Nothing wrong with that—who wouldn’t like to raise kids and go to parent-teacher meetings and occasionally pick a Profile in Courage award recipient? It’s not a bad life, and she’s not a bad person. Unlike a couple of her first cousins, she’s has never been accused of rape or caught driving while intoxicated—not that even these indiscretions are preclusions to public office. She has shown good judgment, and it’s no wonder you might want her to serve on your board of directors or help vet the vice president-to-be.
But being a senator—drafting bills, serving and servicing constituents, organizing an office—is the kind of job that involves more than soliciting donations from your wealthy friends and neighbors. It’s filthy and consuming work. If we really want a Kennedy to fill this empty seat, it would make far more sense to choose Robert Jr., who has accomplished a lot as an attorney and activist, though he has taken his name out of the running. Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is glamorous woman with a top-notch pedigree: Her place is not in the Senate.
RELATED: Is Caroline Entitled to the Senate? By John Batchelor
Elizabeth Wurtzel is author of Prozac Nation, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, and More, Now, Again. She has been popular music critic for The New Yorker and New York, and the film reviewer for Nerve. Her work has been widely anthologized.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Elizabeth Wurtzel is author of Prozac Nation, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, and More, Now, Again. She has been popular music critic for the New Yorker and New York magazine, and the film reviewer for Nerve.
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Elizabeth Wurtzel is author of Prozac Nation, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, and More, Now, Again. She has been popular music critic for the New Yorker and New York magazine, and the film reviewer for Nerve.
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n--Y--longcrlmelindaste
typo in last paragraph on first page: some of our "most" naturally gifted presidents
Tulku2
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?!
sophia5
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.
Leslie
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.
SamThornton
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.
justify
Jane Hamsher wrote this same column a week ago at firedoglake: http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/07/caroline-kennedy-thanks-but-no-thanks/
magicman
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.
helenb1
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.
humanrights
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.
lolalola
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.
funkychicken
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.
CracklinMcSnaps
Anyone who voted for Obama (like me) really needs to find a different argument than 'she's unqualified'.
twinsister
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
Thank you.
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