You know, there are some things that aren't worth getting outraged over. The possible appointment of Caroline Kennedy to the New York Senate seat was one of those things. Day after day I'd read a post on whining about what a horror it would be to have another Kennedy in the Senate. Well, you know what's worse? Now we have a Lieberman coming out of New York State. Great work, dKos!
Yes I know the argument - it sucks that family name matters so much in US Politics. It's not fair, it's un-American, and so on. And I would agree to some extent. But you know what? That's how it is. Perhaps it's the fact that name recognition helps approval numbers as a young politician, or maybe it's just the idea that any child is more likely to do what his/her parents do, but as it turns out a disproportionate amount of top level elected officials come from political families. Off the top of my head, just from the Senate:
Bayh, Evan - (D - IN)
Begich, Mark - (D - AK)
Casey, Robert P., Jr. - (D - PA)
Kennedy, Edward M. - (D - MA)
Landrieu, Mary L. - (D - LA)
Murkowski, Lisa - (R - AK)
Pryor, Mark L. - (D - AR)
Udall, Mark - (D - CO)
Udall, Tom - (D - NM)
(Note - I am not trying to make any claim about D vs R family legacies. It's just that I know more off the top of my head about the Democratic members of Congress. I have no doubt that many, if not more, Republicans come from blessed upbringings as well.)
All of these people had direct relatives that were Senators, US Representatives, members of the Cabinet, or combinations of the 3. Should we protest their seats as well? You really think that Evan Bayh was the most qualified person in Indiana to represent his state in Congress when he was first elected? Almost surely no. But his dad was an important guy, giving Bayh the name recognition he needed to win in a red state. And, as it turned out, he has become a respected Senator himself and has held down a seat that probably would have otherwise been held by a Republican. Yet using the logic this site used there would have been OUTRAGE at his initial candidacy as the young son of Indiana political royalty.
That brings me back to Kennedy. The really annoying thing about the anti-Kennedy rants that littered this place for the last few weeks is that we never considered the really important question very seriously: Who is the alternative? For whatever reason it was much easier to whine about the names thrown about than it was to coalesce behind a better choice for Senator. So what did we get? A blue dog Democrat who will probably cause headaches in years to come. From New York. Oops!
So what is the moral of the story? If you're going to complain, propose a better solution. Also, politicians tend to come from political families. Attacking Caroline Kennedy didn't change this. And finally, please save your outrage for times when it is actually needed. Was Kirsten Gillibrand worth all this fuss?