Good move. She brought very little to the position other than her last name and a gold-plated Rolodex. Her media appearances were shockingly bad. Like her politics or nor, HRC is aggressive, well-spoken, showed true grit during a brutal campaign, and is by most accounts very competent in her committee work as a Senator (former now). Surely the NY Dem’s can find a more suitable replacement that does not convey the message that being born to the right parents matters more than mere effectiveness or competence.
I think the limelight is not suitable for her personality.
She didn’t have the credentials going in and couldn’t get along with the NYT which would have fallen all over itself to help her.
She might have grown into the position or…. not.
The bloom is off of the Kennedy rose. Although the “Camelot” image is still alive for people who reached adulthood in the 1960-1975 time period, for people like myself, in their 30s and 40s, the Kennedy family is really kind of a joke…bibulous, over-sexed Uncle Teddy, and a group of over-privileged cousins not doing much with their lives while cashing dividend checks, fighing various criminal prosecutions, having sexual intercourse with teenaged babysitters, fighting nasty divorce cases (in some cases, due to the aforementioned sexual intercourse with babysitters), doing sometimes unsuccessful battle with state bar examiners, getting into transportation accidents on land, in the air and at sea, fighting, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, various forms of substance abuse, and skiing into trees. There isn’t a lot of accomplishment separating many of the Kennedy cousins from Paris Hilton and her ilk. As a whole, the family has succeeded in separating publicity from accomplishment. The beginning of the end for the current generation was when Kathleen Kennedy Townsend couldn’t beat a Republican for Maryland governor in an otherwise good Democratic year. The initial bootlegging money seems to have bought the family about a hundred years of notoriety. Now, it’s time for some well-deserved obscurity.
#6…i don’t see any of your negatives about the kennedys to be evidenced in caroline kennedy schlossberg’s life…as a matter of fact, quite the opposite. i don’t think any of us should be judged by family members’ behaviors…do you?
The news says that she became upset when Uncle Ted was ill at the inaugural luncheon, and said she wasn’t sure she wanted the job; and now she does again. Thus displaying steely leadership qualities.
She has few credentials even in Democratic circles other than her parentage. Her appointment would indicate a lack of serious candidates among New York Democrats.
Caring and compassionate is fine with me, #10. But she’s had many weeks now to give her serious thought to whether she wants to be a U.S. Senator, and why, and what the personal implications for her would be. Sen. Kennedy has been ill for some months now. To lose her nerve, if she firmly wants to serve in the Senate, because he’s ill at lunch just looks odd.
I have no candidate in this field. I’m not a Democrat, and not a New Yorker. It just seems to me that New York could field a Senator with a stronger background. On the other hand, the Senator leaving the seat was elected because she was the wife of a prominent politician. She turned out to be a solid Senator — not one I agreed with often, but clearly she did a decent job. Does New York want another rookie, this one without the extensive political experience (although not in office) Hillary Clinton had?
writingmom: I don’t see any particular attributes about her, one way or the other, to be evidenced in her life. She went to law school; she allowed a couple of books–that have met with tepid welcome and critical response–to be ghost-written under her name (the legacy of Dad’s _Profiles In Courage_, I suppose), and has allowed her name to be used to give some sort of patina to the organizations with which it is associated. At best, she fits H.L. Mencken’s description of Franklin Roosevelt: someone of sunny disposition who, for no particular reason would like to be President. Of course, Kennedy only wanted to be a Senator, but then, her disposition isn’t nearly as sunny as was FDR’s.
I have no problem judging Kennedy by her family connections, since her family connections are the only reason she got where she is. If her rum-running grandfather had not bought her father the Presidency, she would just be another Irish girl from Brookline. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Although my politics are about 180 degrees from those of Andrew Cuomo, I would point to him as an example of the fact that even the well-connected can assemble some record of personal achievement on their own. Cuomo would not be my pick for Senator, but his policies are probably in line with those of the majority of New Yorkers, and he would do a good job in the Senate advocating those policies. As a Southern Illinoisan, I can sympathize with the folks in upstate New York, who might like a little representation of their own, without always being dominated by a major metropolitan area, but that’s not how the State lines happen to be drawn.
I wonder if anyone ever thinks about how odd it would be if any other job was considered in the way this one was. My father was a doctor, so even though I never went to med school I should be *appointed* a doctor, right? How about civil engineer? Maybe senator? Does it get any dumber?
Most New Yorkers I know live beyond The City and are not part of the “chattering class.” When they heard the news of her interest their response was “Caroline who?” I don’t think that question was ever answered.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212009/news/politics/caroline_kennedy_ends_senate_seat_bid_151234.htm
Good move. She brought very little to the position other than her last name and a gold-plated Rolodex. Her media appearances were shockingly bad. Like her politics or nor, HRC is aggressive, well-spoken, showed true grit during a brutal campaign, and is by most accounts very competent in her committee work as a Senator (former now). Surely the NY Dem’s can find a more suitable replacement that does not convey the message that being born to the right parents matters more than mere effectiveness or competence.
I think the limelight is not suitable for her personality.
She didn’t have the credentials going in and couldn’t get along with the NYT which would have fallen all over itself to help her.
She might have grown into the position or…. not.
Surprise! Surprise! Maybe there really isn’t a monarchy in the US. For a while there, I was beginning to wonder.
The bloom is off of the Kennedy rose. Although the “Camelot” image is still alive for people who reached adulthood in the 1960-1975 time period, for people like myself, in their 30s and 40s, the Kennedy family is really kind of a joke…bibulous, over-sexed Uncle Teddy, and a group of over-privileged cousins not doing much with their lives while cashing dividend checks, fighing various criminal prosecutions, having sexual intercourse with teenaged babysitters, fighting nasty divorce cases (in some cases, due to the aforementioned sexual intercourse with babysitters), doing sometimes unsuccessful battle with state bar examiners, getting into transportation accidents on land, in the air and at sea, fighting, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, various forms of substance abuse, and skiing into trees. There isn’t a lot of accomplishment separating many of the Kennedy cousins from Paris Hilton and her ilk. As a whole, the family has succeeded in separating publicity from accomplishment. The beginning of the end for the current generation was when Kathleen Kennedy Townsend couldn’t beat a Republican for Maryland governor in an otherwise good Democratic year. The initial bootlegging money seems to have bought the family about a hundred years of notoriety. Now, it’s time for some well-deserved obscurity.
The local news just reported that Caroline Kennedy is, in fact, still interested in the senate appointment.
#6…i don’t see any of your negatives about the kennedys to be evidenced in caroline kennedy schlossberg’s life…as a matter of fact, quite the opposite. i don’t think any of us should be judged by family members’ behaviors…do you?
The news says that she became upset when Uncle Ted was ill at the inaugural luncheon, and said she wasn’t sure she wanted the job; and now she does again. Thus displaying steely leadership qualities.
She has few credentials even in Democratic circles other than her parentage. Her appointment would indicate a lack of serious candidates among New York Democrats.
#9…but perhaps her behavior showed that she is caring, compassionate and…human. important qualities in any high-ranking office, i believe.
Caring and compassionate is fine with me, #10. But she’s had many weeks now to give her serious thought to whether she wants to be a U.S. Senator, and why, and what the personal implications for her would be. Sen. Kennedy has been ill for some months now. To lose her nerve, if she firmly wants to serve in the Senate, because he’s ill at lunch just looks odd.
I have no candidate in this field. I’m not a Democrat, and not a New Yorker. It just seems to me that New York could field a Senator with a stronger background. On the other hand, the Senator leaving the seat was elected because she was the wife of a prominent politician. She turned out to be a solid Senator — not one I agreed with often, but clearly she did a decent job. Does New York want another rookie, this one without the extensive political experience (although not in office) Hillary Clinton had?
writingmom: I don’t see any particular attributes about her, one way or the other, to be evidenced in her life. She went to law school; she allowed a couple of books–that have met with tepid welcome and critical response–to be ghost-written under her name (the legacy of Dad’s _Profiles In Courage_, I suppose), and has allowed her name to be used to give some sort of patina to the organizations with which it is associated. At best, she fits H.L. Mencken’s description of Franklin Roosevelt: someone of sunny disposition who, for no particular reason would like to be President. Of course, Kennedy only wanted to be a Senator, but then, her disposition isn’t nearly as sunny as was FDR’s.
I have no problem judging Kennedy by her family connections, since her family connections are the only reason she got where she is. If her rum-running grandfather had not bought her father the Presidency, she would just be another Irish girl from Brookline. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Although my politics are about 180 degrees from those of Andrew Cuomo, I would point to him as an example of the fact that even the well-connected can assemble some record of personal achievement on their own. Cuomo would not be my pick for Senator, but his policies are probably in line with those of the majority of New Yorkers, and he would do a good job in the Senate advocating those policies. As a Southern Illinoisan, I can sympathize with the folks in upstate New York, who might like a little representation of their own, without always being dominated by a major metropolitan area, but that’s not how the State lines happen to be drawn.
This discussion appears to be moot since news services are reporting this morning that Kennedy is definitely withdrawing her name from consideration.
I wonder if anyone ever thinks about how odd it would be if any other job was considered in the way this one was. My father was a doctor, so even though I never went to med school I should be *appointed* a doctor, right? How about civil engineer? Maybe senator? Does it get any dumber?
Most New Yorkers I know live beyond The City and are not part of the “chattering class.” When they heard the news of her interest their response was “Caroline who?” I don’t think that question was ever answered.