Caroline Kennedy is seeking an appointment to take Sen. Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Clinton, of course, has been slated to be Barack Obama's Secretary of State. However, Kennedy apparently hasn't shown much interest in politics prior to now, having skipped voting in several elections, including one for the post she is seeking.
Many have asked why Caroline Kennedy deserves to be appointed to this Senate seat. She has no prior elected experience, and now, with this news, it appears she's had very little interest in politics.
What she does have, is a pedigree, as one of the Kennedys. Is that enough?
Perhaps it shouldn't be. As Rachel Maddow pointed out on her MSNBC show on Thursday night, there are many, many relatives of other political figures in Congress and the Senate, on both sides of the idea. Nepotism, it seems, is rampant. So do we want to give Kennedy the seat just because she's a Kennedy?
According to the AP:
... she missed several Democratic mayoral primaries — typically important contests in left-leaning New York City — in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2005. Republicans went on to win three out of four of those races in the general election.
She also missed the 2002 gubernatorial primary and general election, when Democrat H. Carl McCall faced Republican incumbent George Pataki and lost.
And she skipped the 1994 general election, when Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was running for re-election for the same seat she hopes to take over if Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state in President-elect Barack Obama's administration.
I'm sure she's a nice woman. But she has no experience. Is this a person who should be appointed? Perhaps if there were an election, at least we would see her campaign, and learn more about her political views. At this point, we know little to nothing about them.
Her spokesman, Stefan Friedman, said Friday that Kennedy "recognizes just how important it is to vote and has a very strong record of going to the polls. She has not voted on a handful of occasions over the last two decades."
A handful?
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