Celebrity Senator From New York
By Kay Steiger - Dec 19th, 2008 at 3:30 pmThe feminist blogosphere is up in arms of what to do about the Caroline Kennedy problem. I definitely have mixed feelings about this. I’m not opposed to Kennedy getting the position, per se, but I’m not exactly in favor of it either. It’s true that Kennedy doesn’t have, well, any experience in public office but she does have a lot of experience in government. After all, she did lead the vetting process for Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick, and that worked out pretty well.
The general argument about Kennedy seems to be about experience. Granted, I think this is a pretty strong argument. But considering we’ve just come out of an election where the person who will become president will have had less than four years of public elected office at the national level, it’s hard to say that we always value experience when it comes to public office.
In fact, today Judith Warner wrote an opinion column in the New York Times to write that Kennedy shouldn’t be named, and she quotes Marcia Pappas, president of New York State’s National Organization for Women chapter, saying that instead Gov. David Patterson should choose someone who has “who’s paid her dues, who’s done the work.”
This is the part that rubs me the wrong way. Sticking to the hierarchy can be dangerous in all kinds of ways. Just because someone has “paid her dues” doesn’t always mean she (or he) is going to be right for something. By automatically excluding someone just because they don’t have the right “experience” for pubic office leaves options very limited. Politics especially is the kind of institution where legacy and celebrity tend to be powerful forces in determining who ultimately holds office. Let’s not pretend such factors can put someone over the top, especially when it comes to “celebrity” offices like senator.
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