Caroline and Hillary: Battling Biographies

Another Profile in Courage. The New York Time’s website today reported that Caroline Kennedy will seek the appointment from New York’s Governor to complete Hillary Clinton’s Senate term.

“The decision came after a series of deeply personal and political conversations, in which Ms. Kennedy, whom friends describe as unflashy but determined, wrestled with whether to give up what has been a lifetime of avoiding the spotlight.

Ms. Kennedy will ask Gov. David A. Paterson of New York to consider her for the appointment, according to the person told of her decision. The governor was traveling to Utica today and could not immediately be reached for comment. . .

[S]he has begun reaching out to key political figures in New York, including Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the State Assembly, and Thomas P. DiNapoli, the state comptroller. She has also hired Knickerbocker SKD, a prominent political consulting firm headed by Josh Isay, a former chief of staff to Senator Charles E. Schumer, to advise her.Ms. Kennedy’s family members, especially her cousin,Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have urged her to seek the post. . .

Ms. Kennedy, 51, a resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, took an unusually public role in Mr. Obama’s campaign, and the two became friends. Mr. Obama appointed Ms. Kennedy to the panel that vetted potential vice-presidential candidates for him.

Before that, Ms. Kennedy had devoted much of her time to charitable works and institutions linked to her family, like the Library Foundation, of which she is president.“

Ms. Kennedy took an active role in President-Elect Obama’s campaign and wrote a stirring NYT endorsement in January, closing with: “I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.”

We will hear a loud chorus of nays and yeas on this, of course. The wingnuts’ heads are already exploding faster than they can say “Kennedy dynasty,” although they were more than comfortable with a variety of Bushes popping up everywhere for so many years. They also – both left and right – will groan and moan over her “qualifications,” and that is a legitimate concern, but with a rather easy answer. Her qualifications, to this writer and most others, are exceptional. I hate to compare apples and moose nuggets, but remember how Sarah Palin was deemed “qualified” to assume the presidency, and this after a mental midget had occupied the White House for nearly eight years? Certainly, in Palin’s more recent case, she has held public office, something Kennedy’s never done, yet Kennedy’s activism, law degree, and public works more than support a claim to a Senate seat. She has positive qualifications that match other Senators or Senate seekers. For a short and good biog on Ms. Kennedy see Elizabeth Moore’s Newsday.com piece.

There’s Another Biography Out There Too . . . One does wonder what Hillary Clinton thinks of this possible Kennedy resurgence? Yes, Hillary’s moving on to Secretary of State (barring a total shocker of the Senate failing to approve), and she is indeed, also like Ms. Kennedy, building one of our country’s greater biographical narratives, in fact, one can easily and convincingly argue that hers eclipses Kennedy’s. Caroline was, in a real sense, born into her role, and, of course, often tortured by it; Hillary, though, was among those on the front lines of those women who fought the tough battles to reach prominence. Caroline, ironically, benefits by this nearly as much as she benefits by her political heritage. We can say, with hats off to Hillary and those like her, “You won the earlier battles that now allow Caroline to reach the forward headquarters.”

We also have to be hard-headed realists too. Hillary’s eyes are on the ultimate prize, the Presidency. She has certainly earned the right through trials, tribulations, and re-tribulations, many caused by her inimitable mate who still had to be vetted in order for her to be nominated for Sec State. So it isn’t unthinkable that Hillary is of two minds about the possible elevation of Caroline Kennedy to the very visible New York Senate seat, particularly given the disappointment and sting of Ms. Kennedy’s Obama endorsement. She must wonder, “What does it take?” She virtually had the 2008 Democratic nomination in her grasp, yet the Obama machine grew from a Tonka toy to a Humvee and rolled right over her. Now, with the possibility of Secretary of State in her sights to expand her experience and prep for a future presidential run, she’s facing a possible future challenge by a formidable woman with an even more formidable political endowment, if not outright political achievement or experience. Undeniably, moving from private citizen to a eventual presidential candidate is a long reach for Ms. Kennedy assuming she would want to do anything more than hold down the New York Senate seat until 2010.

Of course, more than most Hillary understand this fact of life, and only too well realizes what is ahead for Ms. Kennedy. The hurly burly of political life, under the constant x-ray of public attention, runs against the carefully controlled flow of Ms. Kennedy’s life to date. As Senator, Hillary knows, control is often ceded to events and to now visible and vocal opponents. Ms. Kennedy, though, as Hillary realizes, has a genetic predisposition to hurly burly, and, after all, earned a law degree which does not indicate that her mind favors exclusively the quietude her Mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis, savored. No, Hillary must know that for all of Kennedy’s apparent public “shyness” thus far there lies within a sleeping lion, a sharp mind with a political establishment of astounding strength arrayed around her. Imagine the staff members a Senator Caroline Kennedy would attract. And imagine Hillary’s nightmares if it plays out, and Senator Kennedy grows in importance and experience.

Dueling biographies, indeed, and the kind of still developing biographies that ennoble our nation and advance our “better angels” at every turn. Bravo to both these remarkable individuals. Should Ms. Kennedy be appointed, may they both reign happily and safely side by side.

Now Pitching for New York . . . ?

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