CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Dec. 18, 2008 – 5:07 a.m.
Caroline Kennedy a Senator? Not Qualified
By Richard L. Connor, CQ Guest Columnist
Peripatetic as a newspaperman, I suffer from having made many moves over the years from town to town, newspaper to newspaper.
“Can’t hold a job,” I like to joke when explaining my many career moves.
There’s a problem with this life. Along the way, gains are made. Alas, things — real things — are also lost.
For instance, I often ask, “Where’s that letter from Teddy Kennedy?”
He was “Teddy” and not Sen. Edward M. Kennedy when he sent a letter to my parents in Bangor, Maine apologizing for sitting on my father’s hat.
Mother had the foresight to save the letter and passed it on to me. Cherish it as I do, it should have gone to safer hands. The Kennedy name meant a lot to me. Still does.
The letter represents not only the humor in Kennedy sitting on my father’s favorite hat — a Borsolino — but also on the import of his visit to my parents hoping to enlist their help with the state’s Democrats to help secure the nomination and then election his brother, John F. Kennedy, as president of the United States.
It mattered not that Teddy was a mere kid in the eyes of my parents. A member of the Kennedy family was coming to our home. Our excitement could not be contained. What mattered most to us was more than the visit was the possibility that an Irish Catholic might be elected to the nation’s highest office.
“It’s not easy in the world carrying a Mick name around with you,” my old uncle — an Irish bachelor and banker — would warn. He saw prejudice and religious bigotry everywhere.
My uncle was talking about how hard he thought it was for a person of Irish heritage to get ahead. He had not ever imagined the chance one of “our kind” could be elected president.
Surely, African Americans feel the same way today.
Well, Kennedy was elected and I remember the thrill I felt merely being of the same ethnic and religious heritage as JFK. Just entering my teens then, I was still old enough to sense the spirit of hope that emanated from this presidency. He and his wife Jackie stood in such sharp contrast to the dowdy and simple President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie.
Along with many others in this country I was swept up in the myth and magic of the Kennedys. We celebrated with them in victory and cried with then through the many personal and family tragedies. We have continued to rhapsodize and fantasize about what might have been and even about what was. Things were not as idyllic as we imagined in either the Kennedy family or the Kennedy White House for that matter.
But, we hold our dreams for a long time.
In fact, those that make up this family are just a family. OK, wealthier and famous. But still, they are just a family of individuals with their strengths and frailties.
The myth, though, is over. The dream is gone.
Just having the Kennedy name does not qualify someone such as the late president’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, to be a U.S. senator from New York or any other state.
Kennedy’s desire to replace Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton if she is confirmed as Secretary of State is quaint and maybe noble. Having the job would require sacrifice, not the least of which would be losing the right to privacy.
Nothing, though, qualifies her for the job other than her maiden name and a memory that still burns bright.
It is a birthright in this country that a person can strive to become all they can be. They can even become president, just like Barack Obama . But being born into a political dynasty family does not make election or appointment a “right.”
A Texan who is as well-connected in his state and Washington as anyone was musing about future members of the Bush clan who might one day run for office. He is a Republican loyalist but he is also dissatisfied with the state of our country for several years.
“We’ve had enough of the Bushes,” he said.
Perhaps the same can be said of the Kennedys. Caroline’s uncle Ted has served with distinction. His treatment for brain cancer is yet another sign that this is a family not immune from the problems many of the rest of us face. It’s sad but it is also just part of life.
There will be a certain emotional tug for journalists, hard as they may be, to be soft on Caroline Kennedy. She has suffered much and her family has given the ultimate sacrifice for public service not once, but twice.
But they should not treat her any differently than they would any other person with absolutely no experience legislatively or even running for office.
The many eras of the Kennedy family have ended. It is time to move on to new leaders and to let go of the past, including the hope inspired by her father.
And I need to find that note from Teddy to show my children when I tell them of the past. But that’s all it is — the past.
Name recognition, the painful memory of her father’s moxie, ambition and death are not enough. Experience matters and Caroline Kennedy does not have it.
Richard L. Connor is the chief executive officer and ownership partner of the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Publishing Co.,, which owns a group of daily and weekly newspapers. A newspaperman for 40 years, he previously was president and publisher of the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram. He has written a column for most of his career, and has served on two Pulitzer Prize for Journalism nominating committees.
Comments
Since your statement that Ms Kennedy is unqualified for the Senate was completely unsupported by (a) any indication of what constitutes qualification for the job, and (b) how she fails to meet that unspecified standard, caused me to take a quick look at her history, where I found: - Attorney, J.D. from Columbia - A.B. from Harvard - former director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the the New York City Department of Education - one of two vice chairs of the board of directors of The Fund for Public Schools - Senate intern, with her uncle - writer, editor and serves on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations. So, on what basis is she unqualified?
Exactly what qualifications does one need to become a Senator or Congressperson? Intelligence and education are a given, but what else is needed? Here in New York, I know of one woman who had absolutely no experience holding any elected position in the government and who ran for and won a congressional seat. Her issue, at that time was gun control, based on her husband and son being shot by someone with an illegal weapon. Apparently, her constituents feel she has performed well enough to keep re-electing her. So, what qualifications do you need to become a Senator or Congressperson?
I love it. Editors and Publishers reserve to themselves the right to annoint or curse our otherwise elected officials, without specifying criteria. Why don't we consider creating public criteria for the office of editor and for the office of publisher, and for the office of any other official, corporate or non-profit, any official who holds a seat of public trust. Maybe we can invite our "owners" newspapers and magazines and TVs and "news or educational outlets" or any other organization with public impacts to again look for the possibilities of enlightening the audience, rather that merely pronouncing to the public what their self-assessed opinions include. Why should we continue reading editors whose opinions are clearly soured by decades of problem-fixation rather than some new youngsters who give a few minutes before they write to considering what might be possible, and thereby sweetening up their opinions, and possibly, just possibly sweetening the reader's disposition?
Dick never mentions any of Ms. Kennedy's books. I wonder if he's read any of them: "In Our Defense - The Bill of Rights in Action" "Profiles In Courage For Our Time" "The Right to Privacy" "A Patriot's Handbook" -All written by Caroline Kennedy.
Have to agree with Mr. Foraker aove, Caroline certainly qualifies according to constitutional requirements. I think some people are very bitter about the Democrats' victories, and they are taking it out on an icon of our party. And lets not forget that the Kennedys as a family are respected around the world, much moreso than the Bushes, and they are also respected by many US Republicans who understand that bi=partisanship leads to good government. Caroline Kennedy would have roses thrown at her, if she traveled abroad. Bush gets someone's size tens. Conner, you need to get over it and wake up. The longer we let our partisan prejudices divide us, the harder it will be to regain our respect in a world that throws shoes at our President.
The major qualifications for senator (other than ststutory) are intelligence, a good heart, honesty, and the ability to sit through hour after hour of stultifying speeches, and still look interested. As far as I'm concerned, her family name is a TOTAL qualification. Her father and both uncles indicate a genetic strain that possesses all of the above qualities to the nth degree. I will be delighted to have her in the senate
Mr. Foraker and Mary P. ask what qualifies someone to be a Senator. One would hope it is more than ivy league degrees and sitting on a few part-time boards of non-profits (did she actually accomplish anything as a board member? Or, did she just attend meetings?). The one position that sounds like it MIGHT have been a full-time job was director of a Office of Strategic Partnerships for the the New York City Department of Education, whatever that is. How about, she held a real job, in a for-profit entity like a business where failure is a real possibility (I remember Sen. McGovern's revelation when he tried to own and operate a business in New England). How about running for something local - you know, city council or mayor - where she actually has to face voters, balance budgets, make politically unpleasant decisions. Then, she can work her way up the hierarchy like everyone else. How about, at a minimum, she give a few speeches that demonstrate her opinions on the major issues of the day so we actually know something about her beside her family pedigree. Let's not forget it has been people exactly like Ms. Kennedy, with the same academic credentials hailing from the same parts of the country, working on Wall Street, in Congress and in the federal bureacracy that have brought the country to the financial and ethical mess we are in today. And they said Sarah Palin was unqualified.
There has been much said in this election as many have been said in the past that qualification is needed to hold a political office. But who determines qualifications? Pundits, bloggers, media or other politicians? Sometimes those people who have not the qualifications deemed by the elite are probably the best person for the job. Much had been made about Obama and his lack of qualification. Still the people thought he should hold the presidency. It is a time for fresh ideas and not just the same methods and ideas of the past. If Caroline is chosen she has the opportunity to run again in 2010 then the people can decide. Then if I am not mistaken she'kk have to run again in 2012.
I suppose that Mr. Smith (Jimmy Stewart) shouldn't have gone to Washington, either.
I'm sorry, but if Gov. Palin was not Qualified to beV.P. having been a Mayor and a Governor. How does sitting on a couple boards,raising money, or writing books qualify her. Just be a Kennedy is not good enough.
You people commenting above are missing the point of this article. If she were not a Kennedy, she would not even be considered for this appointment, PERIOD! Just as George Walker would never have been President. Wouldn't that have been nice.
Please,. not qualified. Compared to what? Caroline Kennedy would be a breath of fresh air in the Senate -- a citizen interested in public service who is not a career politician. She is well educated and has devoted her life to her family and to her community especially in the area of education. We need more people like her in public office
Sarah Palin, a self-made achiever, was dragged through the mud for not being qualified. Now here comes Princess Caroline..Where's the outrage? Where are the journalists going through her trash??
"She has suffered much and her family has given the ultimate sacrifice for public service not once, but twice." The author either doesn't count very well or forgets the sacrifice of Caroline's other uncle, Joseph Kennedy Jr., in WWII.
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