Thursday, December 18, 2008

We Don't Need No Friggin Dynasties

Caroline Kennedy has offered her account of why we she should welcome her as an appointed senator. (But do we really need to speculate about the real reason ^ ?)
  • She can raise mountains of money. (The un-stated reason, but she could run as Republican or Dem on this one.)
  • Mother, lawyer, author, education advocate. (She lumped these together.)
  • Family with generations in public service.
Let's start at the end: family with "generations of public service". I can think of another such family. Do I need to name it? But let's just consider this on its merits. How about this: "I haven't been to medical school, but I come from a family with generations of doctors. Mind if I perform open heart surgery on you?"

I'm a father, designer and justice advocate. Want to vote for me?

Author? Let's review:
  • A Family Christmas. An anthology of other people's work. I understand that Alan Dershowitz has established the Harvard Standard for originality with his entirely plagiarized "Case for Israel", but, Caroline, you're not at Harvard anymore.
  • A Family of Poems. Again with the family and another anthology. Check above.
  • The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jeeez.
  • The Right to Privacy. Finally something she might claim to have written, or co-written — a popular-audience casebook.
  • In Our Defense. Another casebook, also co-written with Ellen Alderman.
  • Profiles In Courage For Our Time. Well, at least book publishing hasn't come to Moby Dick 2.
Okay, you're an author Caroline. Too late to just keep that your little secret.

Money. Money. Money. Sounds vaguely like Mr. Blagojevich. To Mr. B's credit, we was up front about his motives. As for Charlie Rangel and his brand of Democrat (or Republican), they're in the same game. They just stay within the lines better. As for Caroline Kennedy, she's surely better than most, but frankly, we tried to get rid of dynasties in 1776. It's about time we actually finished the job.

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