Everyone But Hillary Loves Caroline Kennedy
Supposedly, Governor Paterson is going to appoint Caroline Kennedy to serve the remainder of Hillary Clinton's Senate term. Caroline Kennedy is basically the only Kennedy left who everyone likes.We like her, don't you? The lady Kennedys have historically been much more tolerable than the men Kennedys of course, and now all we have left of them anyway are smug RFK Jr and sad old Ted and some drunk kids and, uh, Patrick Kennedy. So Caroline: the Kennedy it's still cool to like! Unless you're Hillary Clinton.
According to Fredric Dicker, Paterson is actually not leaning toward appointing Kennedy, because she is "quiet and non-assertive," and a New York Senator needs to be a huge dick all the time, like Chuck Schumer. Also, well, there is this little problem:
"Why would she want to see that seat go to someone who essentially double-crossed her?" the source said, noting the Kennedy family's endorsement of Obama in the primary. "It's a nightmare scenario for her."
Yes! Clinton/Kennedy bitchery! The primaries will never, ever end!
But as Michael Wolff says, we should probably just give Caroline Kennedy the seat anyway, even though Hillary hates her, because she's Caroline Kennedy, and she seems pretty cool. Assertiveness aside, she is also basically the ultimate insider, which is a good tool for getting things done in the chummy Senate.
When the New York Post pursued a story about antics (Kennedy-type antics) involving her then 18-year-old daughter, Caroline went to Rupert Murdoch’s primary aide, Gary Ginsberg, formerly her brother John’s right-hand-man, who went to Murdoch, who quashed the Post’s story. In turn, she wrote a letter to Brearley, the private school in Manhattan where she sits on the board, when Murdoch’s daughter, Grace, was applying for kindergarten there.
Likewise, when Murdoch wanted an audience with Barack Obama, he went through Caroline (who, at that moment, was riding with Barack Obama in his car). All this is not in any way an indictment of her insiderism. Indeed, the attraction to her is precisely because she seems like the ultimate insider, the person who most knows the truth about power and celebrity, and the darkness of American public life (everybody else has to claw their way to insider status, compromising themselves as they climb the pole—she was born inside).
So hooray for a potential new Senator Kennedy who hasn't killed anyone and isn't dying! Seriously, Paterson, everyone else on the shortlist sucks, unless you want to send Bloomberg to Washington so he'll stop bothering us here.