The truth about Caroline

On December 11, I wrote about the would-be U.S. senator from New York,

As for Caroline, in her occasional forays into the public eye during her adult life, [she] has shown herself to be a dullard. She has inherited none of her parents’ talents, smarts, charm.

Others are realizing it now too—and then some. In response to this story an L-dotter writes:

She should have stuck with wanting her privacy routine. She is very unattractive, cannot speak at all well, and comes across as stupid. No more kennedys, clintons, bushes!!!!!!

That’s a bit harsher than what I said, but listening to this interview of her, in which a buzzer sounds every time she says, “Y’know” (which is about 20 times in two and a half minutes), I realize that Caroline Kennedy is even more intellectually mediocre and lacking in personality—that flat voice!—than I had thought.

By the way, it’s ridiculous and unfair to compare her to Sarah Palin, as many have been doing. Palin may not be presidential, but she has talent and personality.

- end of initial entry -

Alan Levine writes:

Caroline Kennedy may be totally unlike her parents. but given what her father and his other relatives were really like, that could be the heartiest recommendation I can imagine. Not that I wish her to become our U.S. senator.

Paul K. writes:

So, Caroline Kennedy got miffed when a reporter asked her “to recall, for the sake of storytelling, the moment she decided that wanted to be the senator from New York.”

This bring to mind her uncle Ted’s famous 1980 interview with Roger Mudd, in which he was utterly flummoxed by the question, “Senator, why do you want to be president?”

I have never had anything against Caroline Kennedy or her late brother. But she is evaporating the good will she has enjoyed by her interest in being appointed to the seat without any qualifications beyond her family name. Her arrogance is revolting. In a recent interview, she said that if appointed she’ll have to work “twice as hard” as anybody else to prove herself. Most people would understand that they had to work hard to get such a job in the first place. Kennedy, who has accomplished nothing of significance, wants the job first and then promises she’ll work hard.

One of the unfortunate legacies of the George W. Bush presidency is that qualification no longer seems to be prerequisite for office. I would think that a decent man, aware of his own shortcomings, would ask himself if he is really capable of handling such a responsibility, and if not, would not seek it, but perhaps decency and self-awareness are alien to our political class. I’m sure Caroline is typical in regarding the attainment of political office as a form of validation, highly desirable whether or not one has anything to offer in the way of leadership.

LA replies:

I saw that Roger Mudd interview at the time, was deeply impressed by Kennedy’s total inability to say why he wanted to be president, and wrote an article on it, called “Why Edward Kennedy should not be President,” for a writing course I was taking.

A. Zarkov writes:

It’s hard to believe that Caroline got in Columbia Law School, let alone graduated in the top tenth of her class. I see at least two possibilities. Her public persona does not reflect her innate talent, or she got in on her name alone. She certainly comes across as a “valley girl” (San Fernando Valley female airhead). He narrative is devoid of any content, and of course the “you knows” pepper her speech. judging from the time spaces between the “you-know utterances,” they seem to occur at random like incoming telephone calls to a trunk line. Or more technically a Poisson Process. It seems to me that anyone who has such an annoying habit should get speech training before going into the public arena. If somehow she does get appointed senator, and subsequently elected, then that will provide further evidence the U.S. is on a steep decline. Of course I thought Hillary’s election was unlikely. New York is certainly a much different place than the one I grew up in.

LA replies:

Hillary’s opponent was a pathetic non-entity. For a candidate to be defeated, he or she has to have a plausible opponent.

James R. writes:

Now that Neil Diamond has divulged the fact that the young Caroline Kennedy was his inspiration to write the hit Sweet Caroline, can it be long before the artist “Athlete” divulges the fact that a grown Caroline was his (or her?) inspiration to write the song, “You Know”?

You are loved and you know you are
Yeah you know you know you know you are
And you know you know you know you are
You’ll endure and you know you will
Yeah you know you know you know you will
And you know you know you know you will

But you can’t count it on your fingers cos there’s more than you think
You can’t use your head to figure cos there’s much too much
For our little minds to deal with
So lets get it up
You will reap and you know you will
Yeah you know you know you know you will
And you know you know you know you will

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 29, 2008 11:16 AM | Send