Unfair to Caroline Kennedy

I think the press is being hard on this poor woman. She hasn't got anything wrong with her that many of our most prominent statesmen don't have.

In many ways, she has had an unfortunate life. Yes, she has money. But she lost her father when she was six, and her only brother died an untimely death in the flower of his youth.

The quality she lacks is shamelessness, or effrontery. My bubbe would have called it chutzpah. Call it high, or unwarranted, self-esteem. Without this attribute, Barack Obama would never had run for the presidency. Nixon lacked this attribute, and that is why he slunk away from the presidency like a whipped dog after Watergate.

Bill Clinton has it in spades. When the Monica Lewinsky scandal came along, I, for one, thought he would resign. He determined to brazen it out, and rightly so. When Ted Kennedy got caught in a scandal that would have ruined most political careers, he had the brass balls to fight, and win!

In fact, most of the Kennedy family have high self-esteem. Look at Patrick, a man who should have sought obscurity long ago--still a Congressman. Look at all that bunch of Kennedys in Massachusetts, one or more of whom-I can't remember who at the moment, there are so many of them--put themselves forward as worthy candidates for higher office, despite lack of intelligence or accomplishments.

For God's sake, look at Rod Blagojevich!

On the other side of the aisle, there is plenty of arrogance to go around. Larry Craig and Duke Cunningham spring to mind, and there are plenty of others. All of Abramoff's buddies.

But I digress. Poor Caroline! Modesty, or shyness, held her back. When interviewed, she could not boast of any accomplishments, because she didn't have any. She had had a couple of books ghostwritten for her, and had never been arrested. She had raised children, none of whom are presently in jail. She wasn't kissing up to Hugo Chavez. For a Kennedy, that's a sterling record. But she lacked the gigantic ego and total lack of shame which would have carried her to victory. The one man whose vote she needed, David Paterson, was not impressed.