Commentary by Albert R. Hunt
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Caroline Kennedy has none of the right credentials to be a U.S. senator, critics charge; choosing her would be unconscionably trading on her famous name, they say.
Claiming that an impeccable curriculum vitae is essential for the office, they’ve ridiculed her possible appointment as “depressing” or “insulting” or celebrity-driven.
This is nonsense. The daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy is a talented woman who possesses a collegial charm that would serve her well in the Senate. None of the other candidates that New York Governor David Paterson reportedly is considering to replace Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton offer as compelling a choice.
Sure, it’s trading on a famous name. Where have these Rip Van Winkles been? Today’s Senate includes the names of Bayh, Dodd, Landrieu, Murkowski, Rockefeller, Dole, Casey, Sununu, Pryor and Kennedy, all political legacies.
In the 1990s, two men named Bush were elected governors of Texas and Florida, running on their father’s prominent name.
There are two questions about Kennedy: Is she prepared for the rigors of New York politics, and is she intellectually and temperamentally suited to be a good senator?
Upstate New York considers itself a Third World region, desperate and often ignored. Hillary Clinton’s political success in the state derived from the huge amount of attention she paid to this area. Can Kennedy quickly learn that the Buffalo Bills are not a barbershop quartet and empathize with heartbreaking stories in Elmira?
No Carpetbagger
She is not a carpetbagger, having spent most of her life in New York City, though mostly in Manhattan.
In Staten Island, there was a farewell party the other day for a departing politician, which, the New York Times reported, was attended by “men with oiled pompadours, women with teased updos and floor-length furs, retirees and grizzled members of a Vietnam veterans’ motorcycle club.” Geographically, that’s only a few miles from Park Avenue; culturally it’s Mars.
Even some close friends worry whether the private Kennedy is ready for this rough-and-tumble world. Presumably she has thought about that in seeking the post. If so, she’s capable of conquering these challenges.
This is a woman whose capacity matches her charm. She hasn’t held office or paid her political dues but has been the guiding force behind the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, an author of several scholarly books on privacy as well as bestselling anthologies, and a force in improving the New York school system during Michael Bloomberg’s mayoralty.
Intrinsic Force
I serve on the Kennedy Library’s Profile in Courage committee with her. It is a bipartisan group of senators, distinguished historians and high-powered social activists. Not one, including her Uncle Teddy, is more influential in internal deliberations than Caroline Kennedy.
She has all the qualities -- intellectual curiosity; a friendly, at times pointed, sense of humor, and a deferential manner (she hails her own cabs) -- that are the stuff of a good legislator.
Some question whether she has sufficient ego for the U.S. Senate; the other New York senator, Charles Schumer, has enough for both.
All things equal, it’s better for politicians to pay their dues. Many don’t. In New York, Hillary Clinton and Michael Bloomberg started at the top. The fabled Daniel Patrick Moynihan was uninvolved in electoral politics until winning a Senate seat in 1976, other than an ill-fated campaign for city council president.
Winning Neophytes
Sometimes it’s just obvious that a neophyte candidate brings unique skills: basketball player Bill Bradley, when he ran for the Senate from New Jersey in 1978, or former White House aide Rahm Emanuel, with an unusual appreciation of the nexus of politics and policy, when he ran for the House six years ago.
None of the alternatives to Kennedy now, such as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo or Congressman Gary Ackerman, are such characters.
Moreover, political pedigrees can be overrated. Few paid more dues than Vice President Dick Cheney.
One of the most important figures in 20th century public life was North Carolina’s Terry Sanford, who was among the great governors in modern times. As president of Duke University, he led that institution to international acclaim. He was elected to the Senate in 1986, and never lived up to that renown; he never found comfort in the institution and was defeated for re-election.
Finding Sweet Spot
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of press attention on Tennessee’s junior senator, Bob Corker. The state’s senior senator, Lamar Alexander, is a more impressive and formidable figure -- a former governor, university president and secretary of education.
Yet as Alexander prepares for a second Senate term, like Sanford, he has yet to find a sweet spot in the chamber.
By contrast, a predecessor of his, Howard Baker, first ran with few credentials. He had been a lawyer, and his claim was that his father was a congressman and his father-in-law, Everett McKinley Dirksen, the Republican leader of the Senate. Trading on family fame, he won in 1966.
Throughout three terms, he became a terrific senator, a majority leader who worked effectively across the aisles. He was later President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff.
Measuring Up to Teddy
An even more dramatic example might be the young man who was elected four years before Baker, and with even fewer credentials. Riding a celebrated family name, he defeated more experienced rivals in both the Democratic primary and the general election.
That was Edward Kennedy in 1962. He has gone on to become one of the most influential senators in the history of the institution.
If she is appointed, neither Caroline Kennedy nor most anyone else today, will match her uncle’s accomplishments. Whether she stays for two years or 20, she starts with a better prospect of making a mark than anyone else around.
(Albert R. Hunt is the executive editor for Washington at Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Albert R. Hunt in Washington at ahunt1@bloomberg.net
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