Caroline's Pedigree

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright January 3, 2009
All Rights Reserved.                    

           When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), recently vanquished by President-elect Barack Obama in the Democratic primary sweepstakes, accepted Barack’s offer to serve as his secretary of state, the race was on for her soon-to-be vacant senate seat.  New York Gov. David Patterson, who inherited the job May 17, 2008 from disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, hinted he was leaning toward Caroline.  Patterson, himself, faces an uphill fight to retain his office in 2010, needs all the help he can get from Hillary, Barack and the Kennedy clan.  Caroline has shunned the limelight for her professional career, finding herself awkward and tongue-tied in front of the microphones.  “Caroline’s, um, no whiz with words,” wrote the New York Daily News, critizing her for using “you know” 200 times, not the sort of eloquence you’d expect from someone of her education and pedigree.

             Unlike her battle-tested father, President John F. Kennedy, who scrapped for his first congressional seat Jan. 3., 1947 at age 29, winning reelection three times and eventually winning the senate seat of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Jan. 3, 1953, Caroline lacks experience.  While she graduated from Harvard’s Radcliffe College and Columbia University Law School, she’s spent her career writing children’s books and working on various nonprofit causes.  She’s had nearly no public exposure until she and her uncle Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) endorsed Barack January 28, 2008, one week before Super-Tuesday, where some 20 states voted.  Patterson knows that while Caroline has name-recognition she lacks the experience to best represent New Yorkers.  New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, the tough-minded 51-year-old prosecutor son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, is far more qualified.

            New York has several experienced congressmen and women also far more qualified to hit the ground running.  Caroline’s initial trial balloon Dec. 16, expressing here interest in Hillary’s seat, was met with opposition from virtually every wing of the Democratic Party.  While there’s nothing to dislike about Caroline, there’s real questions about her political chops, especially her press interviews and speechmaking.  “Let’s be kind and say she doesn’t sound sharp,.” said former CBS News reporter and author Bernard Goldberg.  “I think that there’s a range of views in the Democratic Party, and you know, I am a proud Democrat,” Mrs. Kennedy told the New York Times, repeating the words “you know” and “I mean” some 130 times. Goldberg and other express reservations about Caroline’s immature speech.  “She sounds like a teenager using the words ‘you know, you know’ a million times.”

             Sources close to Patterson indicate that, despite the criticism, he’s leaning toward  Caroline for Hillary’s seat.  Patterson isn’t persuaded by Caroline’s lack of political sophistication.  Her father, JFK, was considered among the most articulate speechmakers in Democratic Party history.   “The public does not regard my selection as an incumbent.  The public regards this as a place holder for two years and then will make their own choice,” Patterson told the New York Times, suggesting that he’s leaning toward Caroline.  “And that takes the pressure off of me,” responding to criticism that he’s not appointing the most qualified candidate.  Caroline not only lacks a political track record but shies away from public displays.  Patterson, an unlikely replacement for the charismatic Spitzer, faces his own problems hading for reelection.  Pick Kennedy aims to placate the political gods.

            Caroline seeks the same senate seat her uncle Robert F. “Bobby” Kenndy  once held over 40 years ago.  Bobby took office Jan. 3, 1965, resigning as President Lyndon Johnson’s attorney general, an office he held before his brother John was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963.  Bobby only occupied his New York seat for only three years before felled by Sirhan Sirhan at LA’s world famous Ambassador Hotel.  Were it not for spasmodic dysphonia, a crippling voice disorder, her environmental lawyer cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would surely seek Hillary’s seat.  After co-chairing Barack’s VP search committee, Caroline’s showed some hints of seeking Hillary’s vacated senate seat.  Whether she serves New Yorkers with the same dogged determination is anyone’s guess.  If nominated and approved, Caroline will command instant celebrity status in the U.S. senate.

            Caroline’s lack of polish works to her advantage, where voters are more attracted to celebrities than flowery rhetoric.  It’s ironic that she endorsed Barack because of his similarity to her own father, at least with regard to charisma.  She’s about as opposite a personality from her father as imaginable.  Caroline offers another un-politician to New Yorkers fed up with Broadway presentations.  What she lacks in a track record, she gains with name recognition.  New York’s Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo is far more qualified but, so far, doesn’t seem to be lobbying Patterson for Hillary’s seat.  Patterson wants to further his political career picking the candidate preferred by New York’s money establishment.  Patterson prays that picking Caroline will help his chances in 2010.  If Cumo really sets his sights on the governor’s mansion, Caroline may only offer a perfunctory nod and a wink.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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