Princess of Camelot Deigns to Serve

What is it about New York that inspires people who’ve never run for anything to think a good jumping off point for their political career is a U.S. Senate seat? Normally by the time a person is a viable candidate for senate, they have served in various other elected capacities and are seen as having risen through the ranks of their respective party. Well, that tradition appears downright quaint here in the Empire State.
The new political black appears to be celebrity status leavened with a large pinch of cash. We’ve seen this phenomenon evidence itself in the successful candidacies of billionaire Michael Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton as well as runs by upstate billionaire Tom Gollisano for governor and cosmetics heir Ron Lauder for NYC Mayor. Across the river New Jersey voters elected former Goldman Sachs chairman Jon Corzine governor. What ever happened to waiting your turn?
Last week came word that Caroline Kennedy has informed Gov. David Paterson she wants to be appointed to the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton. Well who wouldn’t want to be made a U.S. senator without lifting a finger? The scary thing is a lot of people think it’s a great idea. After all New Yorkers gave Hillary Clinton a senate seat as some kind of bizarre get well card for enduring the humiliations visited upon her by her philandering husband. So why not pass out another senate job to the daughter of another philandering president? And let’s not forget it was Caroline’s carpetbagger Uncle Bobby who first chose a New York senate seat as his ticket to the White House forty years ago. Aren’t these people from Massachusetts?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve met Caroline on more than a few occasions and she is a lovely, well educated woman. So is my wife, also named Caroline, but she’s in no danger of having David Paterson show up at the front door with a plane ticket to Washington. The only reason Caroline Kennedy is being considered for Senator is her name and presumed fund raising ability. But she has absolutely no hands on political experience and has never had a real job. I doubt she owns an alarm clock.
So the ascension of these celebrity candidates can only mean two things. There are no real qualifications necessary to be a senator, therefore anyone can do it. There’s some truth in that when you think about some of the bozos who’ve taken up a desk in the Senate chamber. Or we live in a celebrity obsessed culture where fame confers credibility and voters have no problem playing the electoral equivalent of “American Idol’ in choosing their leaders.
With Caroline Kennedy there’s also the legacy factor. Would anyone disagree her name would never have surfaced if her name was Caroline Schlossberg? Actuallyj it is
but you get the point. As Eddie McCormack, the sitting attorney general of Massachusetts famously said to 30 year-old Ted Kennedy in a 1962 Senate debate “If your name was Edward Moore rather than Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke.” It was but Kennedy buried McCormack in the election.
Does this mean Caroline couldn’t be an effective New York senator? No because she will have a top notch staff at her disposal telling her what and who she needs to know as well as the counsel of her family members. But giving people with famous names positions of great responsibility can backfire. Think George W. Bush.