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Camelot, The Puppet Show
Brian Snyder/Reuters
As Caroline gets a surprise boost from New York's second most powerful Democrat, Harry Siegel on why it's the latest sign that pols are manipulating her campaign for their own gain.
New York has been witnessing a badly directed revival of the play “Camelot.” The production—mounted in the hopes of forcing its audience of one, Governor David Paterson, to appoint Caroline Kennedy to the Senate seat Hillary Clinton is vacating—has been plagued by bad reviews since opening.
The actress has been mocked in reviews not just for her frequent recourse to "you know," but because New Yorkers don't believe that she's up to the job. She had no public profile prior to announcing, has not been politically active or even had known positions, hasn't contributed money to the Democratic Party, and has even skipped voting in elections, including when candidates for the U.S. Senate were on the ballot.
With each miscue the production has been relaunched, each time in the hope that it can dispel the previous bad reviews.
Bloomberg built a reputation as the most honest man in politics by buying off the special interests who usually buy off politicians.
With the show in danger of failing, Kevin Sheekey, the political consigliere of Mayor Bloomberg, her most powerful backer, has upped the ante, telling Elizabeth Benjamin of the Daily News that it would be "political malpractice" to appoint anyone but Kennedy--and offering the only serious rationale for her bid: "If Caroline is appointed, Barack Obama has to come to New York as his first political trip to...support her, and in turn, New York." Continuing the offensive launched just a day after the Kennedy camp floated the claim that Sheekey would take a lower-profile role, he later told longtime Albany king-maker and -killer Fred Dicker that, "I think New York needs someone who supported the new president. I think New York desperately shouldn't appoint someone who opposed the new president."
Read: Whomever Democrat Paterson appoints to New York’s junior Senate seat will vote the same way, but because of Kennedy’s special relationship with Obama, who she endorsed early and then served as co-chair of his vice-presidential search team, she can bring home the bacon.
In the same story, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who’d previously dismissed Kennedy as a senator who’d be loyal to the mayor -- with whom he’s often clashed -- and not the governor who’d appoint her, was quoted in the Post this morning, “I have determined there's a good possibility she will be the appointee of the governor,” and, "If she is the appointee of the governor, I will certainly be supportive of her.”
Since the Kennedy camp has until now conspicuously avoided touting her closeness to Obama, and Silver isn’t known for changing his mind unless there’s something in it for him, the two comments appearing together raise the question of whether Obama — the Illinois mess aside — has given his blessing for her to tout their connection as a potential windfall for New York.
The Post story came just a day after the last set piece meant to set her flailing candidacy right fell from its place: a clumsy attempt to distance Kennedy from Bloomberg and Sheekey, a move accepted only by the easily duped New York Daily News which ran it on the cover with the banner: "Thanks But No Thanks--Caroline & Bloomy camps lock horns." (The Post that day went with "She's Fine! You Know?—Mayor gives Caroline foes tongue-lash," and the Times led its New York section with the charitable header, "For Kennedy, Self-Promotion Is an Unfamiliar Challenge.")
With Silver on board with a Kennedy pick and Sheekey back at the fore, it looks as though the New York press has again been befuddled by Bloomberg, who's built a reputation as the most honest man in politics by buying off the special interests who usually buy off politicians.
The production worthy of attention, as usual, has been taking place behind the curtains. That would be Bloomberg's attempt to use Caroline Kennedy to advance his own campaign to win reelection in 2009.
What seemed to be an inevitable acceptance of Bloomberg's bid to undo term limits by allowing himself a third bite at the Big Apple engendered a greater backlash than the mayor, accustomed to buying easy acquiescence, had expected.
He's backing Kennedy as much for his own gain as hers—to open up a potential path for himself to run back into the Democratic Party he left in order to dodge the party primary in his successful 2001 bid for the office. Bloomberg is now courting New York City’s county chairs to set up a possible run next year as a Democrat.
That Kennedy's bid to be appointed to the U.S. Senate by a Democratic governor appears to hinge on support from a former Democrat who became a RINO (Republican In Name Only), and later an Independent in the hopes of taking a shot at national office, and now is backing Kennedy to open a potential return to the party he scorned, in order to block the Democrats intending to run against him, says a lot about how dysfunctional New York's parties have become.
With Silver apparently on board with Kennedy, Bloomberg’s push last week for a quick appointment, before Kennedy’s set collapses altogether, suddenly seems much more likely. "This is just distracting and we don't need to have another sideshow," the mayor said. The role his team had played in creating that distraction, of course, was left unmentioned.
The same day, Silver, who had kept his powder dry since Caroline first announced her potential interest, also weighed in to say that she is "being promoted by the mayor, by his deputy mayor, for political aspirations," adding, "And if I were the governor, I would look and question whether this is the appointment I would want to make: whether her first obligation might be to the mayor of the City of New York, rather than to the governor who would be appointing her."
Paterson, too, finally spoke about Kennedy the same day, asking a reporter, "How is she a front-runner?" and sniping, "This whole thing sounds more like the prelude to a high school musical than the choosing of a senator." Would that be a high school version of “Camelot”?
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.
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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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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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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.
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a Senators first obligation to the people of the state the represent?
This is a pathetic side show with a cast of political opportunists all wanting something [$$$$$] plus ultimate running mate endorsement when they can use Caroline Camelot. Kennedy is inarticulate and inexperienced. Bloombergs political PR shlockmeister PR Co. is being paid a fortune to "put her IN at all costs", and er...don't DARE to reject a Kennedy! Suddenly Sheldon Silver has decided she's OK at the Corral.
So here is a "you know" waiting to be anointed who has the stones to refuse to let us hear her ideas and positions in terms
we need to hear. Nada. The democrats in New York will be very unhappy about this when Rudy or some other shrewd Republican wins her senate seat in 2 years. It'll be easy.
This outrageous soap opera
As a democrat I'm insulted that suita
I did not know that you could utilize your name to infuse experience! Wow this is pathetic. 2009 the year of Obama and the Looney Left.
Harry, you nailed this one, my man. "Que bono?" Who benefits. Caroline becomes Bloomy's tool (and don't forget Schumer....his former chief aide runs the PR firm she's using.)
Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck with Camelot Barbie.
I donno, I think you're all looking at this wrong. This is just another chapter in 'Profiles in Courage'. This is classic Kennedy stuff. If Caroline doesn't get alot done in the next two years, when she's up for re-election she'll get skewered. It'll be the guillotine for Camelot Barbie.
And yet she says 'you know' so many times and yet you still seem not to. The risk here is all hers, you can be sure of that. There is wide open field for all of the NY Regulars to hide if she fails in someway. I'm not expecting that to happen. Still, the NY Regulars are being offered a 'no money down' proposition with Caroline, at very little risk to their own Political Capital. In fact, Caroline might surprise them and add to it.
In American Political Theory there is no greater force than the perfect alignment of Stars all pulling in the same direction for the benefit of The People. Caroline is not just a Star, proving it here with her own sense of perfect timing, not something easily accomplished by Politicians of any stripe, but she will attract to her other Stars as well. This could be very good for New York, especially in Upstate New York where Hydo-Electric Plants left mothballed for years, could be instead employed, at very little cost. This could also be extended to most of New England, where similar Plants remain closed.
Obama and The Democrats swept the Northeast and Midwest, a good deal of it had to do with 'Energy' issues and 'Reform'.
Of all the lame arguments used to justify the GIFT of a Senate seat to Kennedy, her "special" relationship with Obama is the weakest. It is unseemly to suggest that Kennedy and/or NY would receive more from the Obama administration than any other Democrat. He ran on the premise that he would not engage in the usual political deals, that he would listen to and be open to all views--even those of Republicans. Those who use this argument are not doing Obama any favors and Obama would be wise to put this myth to rest by telling Paterson that any Democrat he appoints will be treated fairly by his administration. If Kennedy is indeed prepared to compete in the political arena, let her demonstrate that by RUNNING for the seat. There are now so many doubts about her preparation for the rough-and-tumble of politics, that GIFTING it to her should not be considered an option.
Please have a "friend" tell Caroline to have some SPEECH
lessons to REMOVE the "you know" and "like" from
her VOCABULARY. It is very, very annoying.
Of all the lame arguments for appointing Kennedy to the Senate seat, the argument that her "special" relationship w/ Obama will accrue special benefits for NY is the weakest. Obama ran on the premise that he would deliver NEW politics, honest and even-handed, even w/ Republicans. It is unseemly to suggest that Obama would be more favorable to Kennedy than to any other Democratic Senator. Those who suggest he would do otherwise undermine his platform. Kennedy's background and current performance during interviews suggest that she is unprepared to compete in the political arena. Since she is unlikely to be able to retain the seat in 2010 and no Democrat is likely to run against her in the primary, she should not be appointed to the seat. Paterson's best option is a placeholder appointment who would enable Kennedy to run for the seat in 2010. If she can win in a primary, then she deserves the seat. Otherwise, It is just too risky for Democrats to GIFT the seat to her.
I'm sure she got a Dale Carneige class after her dismal on air news interview. As for the re-election in 2 years from now and the full election for the six year term; it mean very little once your the incumbent. What's the success rate of incumbents running? It must be at least 80% or better.
Politics isn't about qualifications. The Pol's would like to think it is, but that couldn't be further than the truth. How qualified were Arnold S., Al Franken (the comedian), or Sarah Palin. Politics is about power, prestige and taking care of your friends, and family. If by the way you help the masses then that is a by-product. If elected Kennedy won't be able to change the life of an average New Yorker because she don't really know what that is. She can't stem the impact of the highest tax burden in the US on job creation. She can stem the powerful role the unions have had upon the educational system in NYC. She can't arrest the decline of the poor infrastructure in NYC. There's nothing she can do to create jobs in the Rust Belt of upstate NY. There's nothing she can do to bring job creation in NY. All she will do is to promote the cause of her uncle and increase health care spending and spending on education. NYC already spends more than any place for education on a per capita basis and look at what the lousy results. When's the last time you heard of a manufacturing plant moving into the state? When is the last time a road project in NY has come in under the scheduled time and on budget?
It is sad because America is still a land of more opportunity for some. The prep school, Ivy League, trust fund babies that are well connected because of family still have opportunities that most don't. This is a setback for merit and hardwork. CK has spent a lifetime of living in the shadows, in the Hamptons, in her $10 million dollar apartment and a life a luxury. During a middle age crisis with the kids all grown up she has decided she would like a new toy that no one else has. That toy happens to be US Senator. Unfortunately, the citizens of NY will suffer because of her non-commitment and lack of effort and poor politicing skills. Se was already handed a silver spoon all her life and now she wants one at the age of 50 years old! What a shock!! But then that is what the life of being privileged is.
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