I dislike political dynasties & I back Caroline Kennedy for Senate

Tom Rinaldo

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Wed Dec-17-08 11:29 AM
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I dislike political dynasties & I back Caroline Kennedy for Senate

There are two related arguments used against her; that she seeks the office without sufficient experience based on the power of her family connections. In my ideal universe name recognition and genealogy would not factor into voter decisions in a Democracy. In my ideal universe voters thoroughly educate themselves about all of the qualified candidates and all of their positions on important issues and then cast their votes accordingly. I will add that in my ideal universe Star Trek transporters are a safe and common mode of transportation.

I am in a very small minority of voters for whom someone running with a famous political family name, all things being equal, is a reason to vote AGAINST that person, not for him or her. But that isn't how the majority of voters think, and all things are NEVER equal. I was proud to vote for Al Gore Junior for President in 2000 knowing full well that he virtually certainly never would have gotten to that ballot had his father, Al Gore Senior, not been a prominent and popular United States Senator.

Although I am predisposed to hold it against Caroline that she comes to us via a prominent political family, not all prominent political families are equal either, and by that I don't mean that some names carry more clout than others (which obviously they do). I am talking about good old family values; specific family values not generic moral catchall buzz words. Some families develop cultures all their own, and tend to pass that culture forward through generations. Sometimes it revolves around the exercise of power, sometimes around the appreciation of music, sometimes around the accumulation of money, and sometimes around the nobility of public service. A lot of evidence accumulated over numerous decades and several generations seems to indicate that the Kennedy clan gravitates toward the latter of those examples. And that makes for a nice match of family values and political career aspirations.

In my opinion Caroline Kennedy being the daughter of JFK in the context of this nation's history and her family tradition is a highly relevant personal experience for someone seeking the office of United States Senator. It isn't an abstraction, Caroline has had a lifetime of personal experiences tempered by that one over arching reality. She knows much already about how to operate in the rarefied atmosphere of high level national politics. In most fields that type of familiarity would be considered quite relevant in an applicant.

Where is Caroline Kennedy's resume weak? She doesn't have a long and impressive paid work history. That's one thing. But the types of things that she has concerned herself with, had they instead been high profile paid positions, would be viewed quite favorably by most Democrats in the electorate as qualifying for public office. What was Paul Wellstone before he was elected to the U.S. Senate? He was a university professor. I dare say Caroline Kennedy could teach most of us a thing or two about American politics, culture, and public institutions. Caroline Kennedy was born to fame and wealth. She sought ways to serve, not ways to rise to personal prominence and highly paid employment.

And of course Caroline Kennedy has never run for public office before. Neither did Dwight Eisenhower before running for President. Neither did John Edwards before running for U.S. Senate, or Jon Corzine before he too became a Senator. Ronald Reagan was an actor who ran for Governor and seemingly did well enough at that for Americans to reward him with the Presidency. Every Republican incumbent in the nation, by definition, has been elected to a public office, and that sure as hell doesn't prove their value as public servants.

As a New Yorker, I'll gladly take my chances with a Caroline Kennedy.