MSNBC has been reporting all day, via Andrea Mitchell, that Caroline Kennedy would be interested in Hillary Clinton's US Senate seat. New York State Governor David Paterson would need to appoint her.
I have heard lots of commentary about this today, some to the effect that Caroline Kennedy does not have sufficient experience to be a US Senator.
I see things differently.
First, I think the Senate, of all positions in government, requires the least nuts-and-bolts political experience - indeed, maybe none. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was never elected to public office - he did serve as domestic policy adviser to Richard Nixon - and did a fine job as Senator from New York. More than experience, the Senate requires a reflective, philosophic mind, able to see the deeper, broader issues. Hillary Clinton has done a good job as Senator from New York as well, and she never held any prior elected or appointed public office.
Caroline Kennedy has shown that kind of perceptive, contemplative mind in her writing and editing. Her Profiles of Courage in Our Time, in which she assembled essays from 14 recipients of the Profiles in Courage award, ranging from Bob Woodward to John McCain, is a fitting successor to her father's Profiles in Courage.
And, yes, there's her name, and this relates to what I see as setting things right in the cosmos. There was something taken from us, ripped and drained from our country, when JFK and then RFK were killed. Something more than political, although that of course was part of what was lost. There is no way we can go back in time and change that. But Caroline Kennedy in the US Senate would be one way of correcting, restoring some of the balance that was lost.
I hope David Paterson appoints her.
See also: Are People Who Don't Want Caroline Kennedy in the Senate Tone Deaf to the Cosmos?
3 comments:
Caroline Kennedy's resume (from wikipedia):
B.A. from Harvard University
J.D. from Columbia Law School
Wrote two books with Ellen Alderman:
* In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights In Action (1990)
* The Right to Privacy (1995)
Edited several books, wrote one on the Kennedy family.
Currently President of the Kennedy Library Foundation, a director of both the Commission on Presidential Debates and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Honorary Chairman of the American Ballet Theatre. She is also an adviser to the Harvard Institute of Politics, a living memorial to her father.
The Senate would not only be getting another Kennedy and all the stuff that goes along with that but also Jackie's daughter, A girl raised at arms length fromt he rest of the clan. She would probably be the first Kennedy to serve in the Senate or House who has not been to rehab since Bobby back in 1968. She would be great, if she wants it.
Excellent comment - many thanks!
at least she's a real new yorker- not the reverse carpet bagger that hillary was/is.
not my first choice doc- but I'd still call her a big step up.
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