By Stephen C. Rose
Everyone seems to be doing their own waffle on the New York Governor's angst regarding appointing Caroline Kennedy to fill the seat of Hillary Clinton in the U. S, Senate. Let me simply state that this particular waffle (sounding all the either-or points -- SOURCE) largely ignores the following.
1. Paterson will get a huge leg up for his own election. President Obama campaigning for him after the largest public works program the state has ever seen.. Caroline seeing he has whatever money he needs to prevail.
2. Paterson is going down in polls now because people want closure on this process. He should have appointed Caroline yesterday. He will probably appoint her tomorrow. Or today? Whenever he does, his approvals will go up, not down.
3. Paterson can claim a moment of clarity to reference his choice of Carolyn.
This is not about dynasty. It is about new politics, about citizen politics, about a new era of participation and volunteer engagement. This is Caroline turf. It has nothing to do with the Maloney-Cuomo brand of politics. Both kinds of politics are needed today. Caroline will become a national leader of the new emphasis along with the likes of Susan Eisenhower.
There are probably ten other reasons why appointing Caroline will help the Governor.