In a few days, I will journey north to the ancestral homeland of Rockville Centre, Long Island (or as the Vatican more impressively calls it, Petropolitana in Insula Longa).
Anyway, I'm sure most of my of Rush-listening relatives will be talking about politics, especially the possibility of Caroline Kennedy taking the senate seat being vacated by Hilary Clinton. I have no real opinion on this matter, so I am turning to you faithful readers. What do we think about that? How should I respond? What would you say?
Consider this an open thread. Talk amongst yourselves.
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8 comments:
Just say no to political dynasties.
No on Caroline Kennedy.
Yes on Andrew Cuomo son of Mario Cuomo former Governor and ex-husband of Caroline Kennedy's cousin, Kerry.
Ah, shit.
I agree with the pillars of the liberal blogosphere that are calling for doing away with gubernatorial senate appointments. These elections-of-1 are undemocratic and lead to bad behavior (ahem, Blageasderagrwawjovich)
Just to clarify my bad grammar, Andrew was married to Kerry Kennedy, Mario was not.
I never liked Andrew, but I would vote for Mario.
I for one am torn. While i generally agree with Loco Foco about saying no to political dynasties, i do think she is a progressive and would work much harder than HRC ever did on the issues most of us care about. I am concerned, however, that there are other NY folks, and other NY women specifically, who Caroline is bypassing for the Senate seat. The question I have is- who else wants the job? Caroline is really the only one we hear about. Do any other NY female political leaders- like Carolyn Maloney, Nita Lowrey, or Louise Slaughter want the job???
I think any of the women mentioned by Megnanimous would take the job, and there are many male politicians who want it too. None of these folks could match Kennedy in terms of connections or star power.
One person with whom I worked when I was in NY is Rep. Nydia Velazquez from the city. She was a very impressive person, and as an added bonus, she is the first Puerto Rican woman ever elected to Congress.
That said, NY politics is such a mix of racial/regional/ethnic/religious calculations, who knows what will happen? Plus, I would think the governor is looking for someone who could help his own reelection prospects.
Off the top of my head...Lowry pulled her name a while ago. Slaughter endorsed Kennedy yesterday I think. Maloney is still available to the best of my knowledge. And I think Velazquez said no thanks, she's staying in the house.
I don't know how a painfully shy person like Caroline would be able to keep the seat in 2 years under ordinary election conditions. If she does get the gig, it will be an interesting experiment in modern politics. Can a name and oodles of campaign money raised, completely offset the weakness of being a shy politician? (I've never in my life put those two words next to each other.)
It goes pretty much against my own theories of politics that she would win unless a) she's not nearly as soft-spoken as we're led to believe or b) the GOP does something stupid and nominates a very weak candidate. But at the fundamental level, a candidate cannot win an election unless they connect with a plurality of the voters. Certainly that connection can come in the form of an old recognizable name, a sense of nostalgia, comfort and sentimentality goes along with it. But to me that goes away after the person starts speaking on a regular basis and the orders of the day are at hand. And it goes away fast, much faster than 2 years. Which is why it worries me, stripped of her name, what are Caroline Kennedy's credentials? What does she have to fall back on?
There's just too many unknowns for me to feel comfortable with this pick.
Oh and since the bar has been set at "a woman with name recognition" apparently Fran Drescher wants in too. You've got to be friggin' kidding me.
You know, she once was "working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens."
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