Questions for Caroline Kennedy
Caroline Kennedy is campaigning for the U.S. Senate. She does not have a record of public service. It may be useful to know something about her views. These are a few questions that I would pose.
Financial Markets. What specifically would you do to improve transparency, honesty and soundness of financial markets?
Automobile Industry. What are your views on the auto industry bailout?
Afghanistan.. What are our objectives and interests in Afghanistan? How long will the occupation last, and how much are we willing to spend? How will we define success or failure?
Student Loans. What if anything should be done about the crushing debt from tuition increases and student loans?
Trade Agreements.. What are the U.S. objectives in trade agreements? How do we incorporate democratic accountability and oversight with the creation of durable global agreements that are almost impossible to change? Is "free trade" promoted by signing complex trade agreements of the type recently negotiated by the USTR? How does one protect U.S. workers or the need for health, social and environmental regulation when negotiating such agreements?
Bilateral trade agreements.. Should the U.S. continue to press for bilateral trade agreements with dozens of countries, or is a multilateral approach more appropriate and manageable in the long run?
Global warming. What specific obligations should the US undertake to address global warming? What should we expect from our trading partners?
Transparency. What should the government do to improve transparency? In particular, what measures would improve compliance with the spirit of the FOIA ? How should government contracts be accessible to citizens? Should licenses of patents for government funded medical inventions be secret? Should the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) be negotiated in secret? Should bilateral trade agreements be negotiated in secret?
Intellectual Property Rights. Would you support a global treaty on copyright exceptions for blind and other disabled persons? Are there areas where strong exclusive rights for patents are a mistake? Will the U.S. honor the spirit of the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health? Should the U.S. government pressure developing countries when they override exclusive rights in patents to expand access to medicines?
Normally candidates answer questions like these. Of course, I'm not sure what is normal these days.
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look it seems funny to me why all of a sudden a person running for office has to have experience, Now you know that's really not true i mean look at the president elect if it was about experience than he would not be in the position to be president. So it all comes down to who is more popular than the other let's face it people this country doesn't vote wtih there head they vote with there heart.So sorry to say NY it really doesn't matter if she not qualified she's a kennedy and she will get it on name alone.
If she ran for office, that would be one thing.
But to expect an appointment without ever submitting herself to an election is profoundly anti-democratic. It isn't about popularity either - if that were the case, again, she could go through the process of getting elected.
This is about money and connections. This is about cronyism and oligarchy. This is the opposite of democracy, meritocracy and egalitarianism.
No one born to different parents with Caroline Kennedy's life experience would be considered for this appointment.
The Governor of New York should select his finalists. He should then host a debate so that the people of New York can have an idea of the person he eventually selects. Lacking an election, this is the only reasonable solution in this case. In fact, if there cannot be elections when a seat opens up anywhere, this seems a good way to address the multiple potentials for cronyism, coronations, and special interests.
Mr. Love wrote, "She does not have a record of public service."
Caroline Kennedy has been involved in in public service most of adult life. Her burden for, and active participation in raising money for New York City schools is well known.
Statements that infer "she does not have a record of public service" are, therefore, misleading.
Journalists, as well as politicians, could offer citizens a "service" of their own by seeking to address issues more accurately and from all perspectives in order to inform and educate the public. Supporting essays with facts is helpful for all concerned. Omitting them for any reason only benefits the argument or questions raised by the author.
My only thought about her as Senator is WHY? Why would she want to put herself in the political arean seeing how utterly nasty it has become. When JFK's caisson was being pulled through Washington toward Arlington, I was the same age as Caroline. I was amazed at her strength. I sat there with my parents blubbering like a baby while she handled her grief like a trooper. As did her mom and brother. I admire Caroline Kennedy today for her intelligence and fortitude. I assume she enjoys a good life and I hope with all my heart that the tragedies she has endured are finally long gone and that no more come her way. I think she'd probably learn to be a good senator but I hope she stays right where she is and lives a full happy life free of the media and right wing politicians who would try and hurt her.
Frankly, who cares what here opinions on important topics are. We elect people by their popularity and how well they say what we want to hear. She's a Kennedy and by God if MA will reelect Ted over and over and over and over then why shouldn't NYers elect Caroline (then they can have their own Kennedy dynasty.) I do love that song though: "Sweet Caroline......."
How could anyone dare question the inalienable right for any member of a political dynastic family to immediately claim appointment to any elected seat that they choose? Isn't just being related to some well known name good enough? I'm dismayed that she even had to ask - governors should have been tripping over themselves to make the offer. Imagine any of the unwashed daring to complain - what nerve! What kind of a country is it turning into - one of those horrid Jacobin republics no doubt. Next thing you know the rabble will be questioning their betters and talking about egalite - and other
foreign concepts.
I just "love" all the emphasis on Caroline's lack of "experience" in public service/politics. How many other folks sitting in Senate did not have experience in that arena before they went there?
They ran for office. At least they went before the voters at least once.
We just had an election, and I doubt there is a single congressperson who answer all or even most of them with any detail. Probably none of them outside of Michigan gave their views on the automotive bailout, and even the financial bailout, which was happening during the election, we have no way of knowing which office-holders were voting with their head or heart and which were just grasping at straws, hoping they would not cast a vote that ended their tenure or sunk the economy. Probably a good many of them would answer those question differently now than they did six weeks ago.
It would be good to know her views, and my guess is, along the way, we will learn the ones we don't already know.
BTW, she does have extensive public service experience, just not elective office experience. She has also authored books, so her views are not totally unknown.
If you're hoping for a Couric-Palin moment with these questions, don't get your hopes up. She hasn't spent much time in the public eye, but she has been engaged in world events.
Caroline Kennedy deserves this seat...her family has done so much for this country , all on the side of good...we will all be fortunate if she serves
See, that is the problem....she does not "deserve" this seat. But, she could earn it. I maintain that the Governor should host a debate of his finalists, put them out there to answer publicly to the issues that are of primary comcern to the people of New York so that they know who they are getting when he makes his choice. In the absence of an election, this is the only "fair" way to go, in this case. In all cases, there should be a special election, but, if it is financially prohibitive, there should be some public, organised, equal opportunity way for these aspirants to be vetted before the public they wish to serve. Then, in 2010, a campaign and election and they can bring it on!
And what about all the soldiers in Iraq? What about the widows, widowers and orphans of those who died? What about police officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty? What about schoolteachers who go into dangerous schools to educate our youth while they themselves live at poverty levels to pay off student loans.
Are these people unworthy? Do their sacrifices mean less?
It is very unfortunate that CK lost her father at an early age. But many people do. They are not all given senate seats as hereditary gifts.
These are good questions, but I would not expect a possible senate candidate have instant answers for every one. I saw Caroline Kennedy today on her first trip to upstate NY to introduce herself. She looked miserable. This is an intelligent woman who has done a lot of good. But she has been protected all her life and has never had to deal with a lot of people being disagreeable or downright mean to her. I think she has the qualifications for a Senate seat, but I cannot see her surviving the unpleasantness of regular life, let alone politics.
And while the average New Yorker worships her, they probably don't have much in common with her.
I know she wishes for this, but this may be the prime example of "be careful what you wish for ..."
Thank you for being even-handed about this!
So many commenters on other HuffPo blogs have been completely dismissive of her. She really ought to be given a chance to get comfortable with campaigning. It's not a given that both Senators from New York will be Democrats, given the upstate vote. So, when a respected, well-known Democrat with the capacity to contest this vacant Senate seat in 2010 and 2012, such as CKS, shows an interest in taking up that fight, Democrats upstate and downstate ought to give her a fair hearing.
Someone expressing doubts but still, evidently, willing to wait and see? That's positively refreshing!
But there is no "fair hearing" with an appointment, only in a campaign and an election. That is why the Governor needs to select finalists and put them out there in a debate for the State to see what/who he selects. In the campaign and election, they can decide.
How DARE you ask her questions? You should go all starry-eyed and fall into an immediate genuflection upon hearing the wondrous and miraculous NAME.
(And personally, I would like to see anyone who is up for the position answer the same ones, stradanuova.)
Sure.
Here's a question for everybody else: who else should get it, and why are they the most qualified?
See, as long as the discussion is about whether or not CK should get the seat, she gets it.
Let's say you're Paterson. If you appoint person X, then you've got a lot of answering to do as to why you found CK unfit for the position. What was so wrong with her? That's because the news cycle is all about whether or not she should get it. But if you appoint her, then it's fairly easy to deflect questions and move on.
"Let's say you're Paterson. If you appoint person X, then you've got a lot of answering to do as to why you found CK unfit for the position."
____
Why? It doesn't mean he thought she was unfit - it just means he thought someone else was better. If I were Paterson, she'd be the LAST person I would appoint - there's nothing that will make me NOT want to do something like being pressured TO do it.
Those are decent questions but somehow I doubt that you have posed them to all the other possible appointees for this seat and the many other candidates recently elected to the Senate or seeking appointment to the Senate around the country.
Oo, oo, oo, I have one!!
What in the name of Odin makes you think you deserve to be a United States Senator, lady? I'll bet you never stole anything from anyone ever before. That alone disqualifies you. Plus we'll have to have a look at your x-rays. Any sign of a spine will also disqualifiy you.
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