Camelot redux with Caroline Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy may be big footing her way to the U.S. Senate. But her public admission this week that she indeed wants an appointment to the seat once held by her uncle and presently held by former first lady and now Sen. Hillary Clinton, has drawn some surprising reactions from New York’s chattering political class.

As I’ve noted before, Caroline Kennedy is an asset to her family and an even greater asset to her hometown (and mine) of New York City. In her own shy way, she has kept the Camelot legend alive by remaining marginally engaged in politics, although quietly so, in philanthropic and supportive positions.

In the face of this, the rather public fury of some prominent Clinton supporters, who have ripped Ms. Kennedy as unprepared for office and too politically inexperienced to serve in the Senate, seems a bit curious.

It has been widely reported this week that Robert Zimmerman, a Clinton adviser and member of the Democratic National Committee, and Stuart Applebaum, a former Clinton delegate and president of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, have denigrated Kennedy’s qualifications. So too have Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens, Brooklyn) and Gary Ackerman (D-Queens), both of whom are loyal to Clinton. The Daily News reported that Rep. Ackerman compared Kennedy’s name recognition with that of Jennifer Lopez, and adding that popularity doesn’t make someone qualified to be a U.S. senator.

Popular, principled

Gary Ackerman is one of the more entertaining, occasionally wisecracking members of Congress. As comical as he can sometimes be, surely he knows better than to say with a straight face that popularity is no qualification for public office. It is, in fact, an asset for one running for election or appointment to public office. It is much more important to be popular than it is to be principled (although Caroline Kennedy appears to be both) or experienced for that matter.

How did Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarzenegger each get to be governor of California? By slogging through the State Assembly or by becoming small town mayors? No, their credentials hailed from Hollywood.

For that matter, is Caroline Kennedy less qualified to be senator than Barack Obama is to be president? Obama has served for three years in the U. S. Senate. That hardly used to be thought of as enough of a political r sum to run the country (that is, before George W. Bush completely bungled the job although he had served two terms as a big state governor.)

I am not surprised that Clinton supporters still harbor great anger at the Kennedy clan. I am surprised they discuss it publicly. After all, Sen. Clinton has so completely given herself over to the Obama administration one would think that would have served to silence supporters who are enemies of either President-elect Obama or the Kennedy family.

The real reason Zimmerman, Ackerman and others are vociferously opposing Kennedy’s appointment is that she and her family were early Clinton defectors and Obama supporters. But now is not the time to take on the Kennedy clan. Revenge is a dish best served cold (as first written by Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderios de LaClos in “Les Liasons Dangereuses”).

Are there other New York democratic politicians more qualified to serve? You betcha! Power-wielding Rules Committee chair and 12-term upstate Rep. Louise Slaughter for one, longtime Rep. Carolyn Maloney from downstate is another. This being a New York Senate seat, the list goes on and on and on.

Big footing is a time-honored tactic in Hollywood, in high school popularity contests and in politics. And it seems this time the big footed Kennedy is perfectly positioned to win the appointment.

X Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service.