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Unknown Caroline
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Where does Kennedy stand on Wall Street? Abortion? Gambling? Harry Siegel on why her refusal to answer policy questions is an insult to New York.
Editor's Note: Several hours after The Daily Beast article appeared, Caroline Kennedy's responses to questions submitted by The New York Times and Politico were published. The Times reported: "Most of the answers were brief. Some of them did not fully address the questions." Politico described her answers this way: "Some of Kennedy's responses were brief and vague — and she flatly refused to answer a pressing political query we posed: Will she support the Democratic nominee for New York mayor in 2009?
Caroline Kennedy’s campaign for the New York Senate seat to replace Hillary Clinton in what amounts to a race for one vote, that of Governor David Paterson, has turned professional with her hiring of Knickerbocker SKD, a political consulting firm headed by Josh Isay, former chief of staff to Sen. Charles Schumer, which amounts to an implicit acceptance, if not endorsement of her bid, by the state’s senior senator.
The firm is also expected to do media work for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reelection run next year, and several of the mayor’s people have been burning up the lines pushing her bid. Knickerbocker SKD also happens to have another client—the Rev. Al Sharpton, with whom Kennedy just had a media-event lunch.
Adding to the pressure on Paterson, Rahm Emanuel and Harry Reid are reported to have called to push for Kennedy, doubtless having checked in with Schumer before stepping on his turf.
“You're not going to answer questions at all?" reporters asked. She didn’t reply. "Where are you heading next?" "To the car," Kennedy said.
Hank Sheinkopf, the veteran New York political consultant, told me that Caroline Kennedy’s effort to clear the field “defeats the entire idea of merit. That she can hire a PR machine and seek a coronation without even requesting a public discussion does not speak well for democracy.”
While sources close to the governor insist he’s yet to make a decision, it appears the seat is hers to lose if she can withstand three weeks of scrutiny from reporters. So far, she’s given only canned answers that have infuriated journalists, especially upstaters, who are especially concerned given how the New York City metro area dominates the state’s politics and media.
On Wednesday, December 17, in Syracuse, Caroline Kennedy fended off questions. "Are you ready for this, Ms. Kennedy? You're not going to answer questions at all?" reporters asked. She didn’t reply. "Where are you heading next?" "To the car," Kennedy said.
Here are some substantive questions for the candidate who may well become the next U.S. senator for a state in economic crisis but without known policy positions, and who has yet to give an interview since her high-profile announcement of interest in the senate seat.
1. What are your plans for upstate?
There’s a reason Kennedy kicked things off with a fast upstate swing through Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. While New York City is reeling from the Wall Street meltdown, upstate, which the city is subsidizing to the tune of $11 billion in the current fiscal year, is facing long-term troubles of its own. New York is a giant state, with half the population outside of the city, yet all of its statewide elected roles—the governor, both senators, both legislative leaders, the comptroller and the attorney general—are filled by downstaters. Former governor Eliot Spitzer was fond of remarking that Buffalo is closer to Detroit than it is to New York City, a point driven home when blackouts caused by heavy snow early this month barely warranted a mention in the New York City papers.
It’s not clear if Kennedy supports the approaches proposed by Schumer, Clinton, or Paterson’s plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the ineffective but cash-spreading Empire Zones that many upstate businesses depend on. Does Kennedy agree with their approaches? Which ones? Where and how? How would she adapt their proposals in a time of economic meltdown? Does she have a different plan? Any plan?
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
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Harry Siegel is the weekend editor of Politico.com, and the co-author with Fred Siegel of The Prince of the City: Giuliani New York and Genius of American Life.
Caroline Kennedy is no mystery. Has she articulated specific positions on every issue? No. But her actions speak quite loudly: early endorser of Obama for president, instrumental in selection of Biden as VP, years spent raising money for public education. She is a main line common sense progressive. Sure--there are many who fall in that same camp who disagree on a variety of issues. But virtually no one votes on any of those issues. Seriously, no one is going to vote for or against Shumer next time because his approach to Wall Street was more or less like Elliot Spitzer's. They are just going to vote for him. Many states have two Senators that don't agree on how to fix one problem or another. What we know is that Kennedy will generally support Obama--one of the most popular presidents of our time and he hasn't even taken office yet.
On a slightly different note, the "to my car" response is classic Caroline. And frankly, its the only thing that gives me pause about her. Its that sort of thing that has worked to keep her out of the spotlight for years, and its unlikely to be a problem once she is an established Senator. However, in the mean time, the fewer curt brush offs the better.
How come nobody was interested in Sarah Palin's stand on all the issues mentioned above when she was running for VP.
It's amazing because it's Caroline Kennedy who wants to run for the Senate, all of a sudden we have to know all this info on her!!!!
I'm not saying we shouldn't know and I'm sure in time we will, but there was not the urgency to have Sarah Palin's views be made public and why is that we wonder!!!
Let's face it Sarah Palin was also running for a pretty important role here also if I'm not mistaken and she should have the same "need" from the press/public to know more about her!!!
The Kennedy name seems to invoke some kind of resentment in a lot of people and I don't know why, they have done a lot for this country and Caroline would be no different.
Very very arrogant.
Absurd. When the standard of experience was applied to Gov. Palin everyone raced to castigate her and the Republicans. And she did have something like 16 years of public service expereice.
And here comes a total novice whose only claim is that she has a name. As the article shows there is nada beyond that.
If this is approach to US politics--Clinton, Kennedy, Bush--perhaps we shoiuld just declare a monarchy. Absurd!!
From the beginning her combined love of privacy and her run for this office mystified me but I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
To refuse to answer questions about her position on policy while soliciting a pubic policy-creating position is indeed arrogant.
My guess she's been coached to say nothing so the governor and press can't latch onto a reason to argue she's not right for the job.
Her critics miss the point: her name and her glamour assure attention and in a celebrity-crazed society such as this one these are assets that can be turned into vbadly-needed federal dollars for New York state. Why should she take positions now on issues she has not had a chance to study. Like 14 of the last 17 presidents of the United States she has had an elite education -- Harvard and Columbia Law. That's bad? On the contrary it means she has a mind trained to study issues and to make decisions made after that study, not beforehand as your ignoramus columnist -- who probably went to Podhunk State -- would have her do. Excellence is a national imperative, excellence of mind and education, not the slogging "dues paying" politicking that produces bums like the governor of Illinois., So to the electorate of one -- Governor Paterson choose the excellence that Caroline Kennedy represents, an excellence that far exceeds ner name recogntion.
The first three questions are relevant the last 3 just don't compute for a US senator - what about these instead: Where do you stand on stopping global warming?, Where do you stand on stopping terrorist activities around the world (including US initiated terrorist activities)?, Where do you stand on increasing well paying jobs in the US? Those might be useful questions to ask and applicable to all of us.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Jack Frost
Tears in Heaven
Tears of Love
Tears of Hope
Tears of Sadness
Tears of Joy
Merry Christmas. We Love You Caroline.
what more do you need to know about the incestuous nature and undemocratic structure of the American political system than this line from the main text...
"On MSNBC's Hardball on Friday night, Caroline's cousin, Kerry Kennedy, Andrew Cuomo's former wife,"
and Nero fiddled while Rome burned....
LOL
She needs to earn her way there. A name is not enough. Hillary showed that!!
If Caroline Kennedy, then why not Luci Baines Johnson ? Why not Amy Carter ? Chelsea Clinton is too young, by why else not ? Seriously, why not ?
This is a joke. Caroline is a good person but she has led a pampered life and never had to solve real problems. We need someone who can solve the BIG problems we have here. Good grief!
I think it's ridiculous that Caroline Kennedy should be handed a US Senate seat. There are people far more qualified than she is, with more experience. She's also not a good public speaker and quite frankly, boring to listen to.
I think we've had enough Kennedy's in office and it's time for the polical world to move on.
...and from the midwest...I'm asking...Why Caroline??Having experienced quite a bit of loss in my life, I do admire her grace &
poise during all the tragedies she has experienced...but,Senator?
Why? I too have to remind the group of the unfair treatment of Sarah Palin as she approached high office. Why is Caroline Kennedy above answering questions, [hearing disparaging remarks about her wardrobe, family,income, tax returns etc.]Where are those hardworking journalists NOW?Andrea Mitchell??? Where are you??Kick into your character assasination mode!@#$ New York needs you!
We shouldn't allow any Senators take office until they have taken the time to cultivate all the cronies necessary to properly rip off the taxpayers to their own benefit. Sorry Caroline, you aren't "experienced" enough.
Thank you.
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