Thursday, December 18, 2008

Headline of the Day (Caroline Kennedy edition)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Speaking of Caroline Kennedy -- which I did earlier today -- this headline from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle is hilarious:


And this is the problem, you see. She's never actually run for anything, never had to campaign in or around the state, never had to go directly to the people to ask for their support. Even Hillary had to campaign state-wide, after all, however much of a carpetbagger she may have been. Hillary may or may not have known much about, say, anything north of Westchester County, but the campaign forced her to get close with her adopted state in a hurry.

As for Kennedy, she's campaigning, sort of, unofficially, trying to secure an appointment, and while I credit her for making an effort, however transparently opportunistic, there's a big difference between spending some time being shuttled from Syracuse to Rochester to Buffalo for meetings with local officials and hitting the pavement, knocking on doors, and flipping pancakes. She says she'll run for election if appointed, and maybe she will, but her self-promotional tour doesn't exactly inspire confidence that she's the right person for the job.

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2 Comments:

  • To be honest Michael, from one who lives in Rochester (but not one reading our crappy newspaper), I can say that Hillary Clinton really did nothing more substantial than what Kennedy is doing. Clinton herself never really hit the pavement either, not for her first term at least. She knew little about New York State, much less upstate, Central and Western New York. People here STILL resent the fact that she rode into town and ran for Senate after having never even lived here. They saw, and still see, it as 100% opportunism. The only reason she was elected is because she was the Democrat, and New York elects Democratic senators. This is another sticky point in New York politics, since Western and Central New York are more Republican. So not only do "we" (I personally not being one of the "we") have to put up with whomever Democratic senator NYC wants to elect, but Clinton was not even a New Yorker, adding insult to injury. The marriage of Clinton and New York State isn't all rosy. So what does Caroline Kennedy have going for her? Well, she's an actual New York resident, for one.

    By Blogger lindabeth, at 6:42 PM  

  • Yes, lindabeth, people still resent Hillary in Metro Rochester so much that two years ago they handed her a crushing 54% of the Monroe County vote. The Republican candidate - no sacrificial lamb, but a top-drawer prospect who was NOT from NYC (although she was from downstate) got all of 29%. Oh sure. They are clearly angry and bitter. Yeah.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:12 PM  

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