Selecting Carolyn Kennedy

In seeking to be appointed to a Senate seat, Carolyn Kennedy has exactly two advantages, her last name and her close ties to Barack Hussein Obama.

And no honest person could ever claim otherwise, or seriously argue that if both of these factors were not present, that Carolyn Kennedy would have any more of a chance at being appointed to a Senate seat, than being appointed Queen of Denmark.

Never has a man who is not even a seated President, or even the President Elect, tried to dictate two Senate appointments. Compounding that is Biden's own plot to reserve his Senate seat for his son, using his advisor as a seat warmer, much as JFK did when he used a family friend to fill his seat until Ted Kennedy would be old enough to take it.

Hope nobody accidentally confused the Democratic party with Democracy.

Even as the Democrats in Illinois are frantically trying to avoid a special election, because they fear that a public backlash against the Democratic party might lose them a safe seat, Obama's people are trying the same stunt that they tried in Illinois, in New York State... this time gambling on seizing New York's Senate seat.

Usually the first thing that a tyrant does in a Democracy is tighten Federalization by appointing his own people to govern the provinces. Putin did it, and now Obama is taking a shot at it before he's even been confirmed by the Electoral College. But in a Democracy things don't go nearly that smoothly.

Rahm Emanuel's attempt to finesse the Illinois Senate seat backfired landing him in the middle of a Federal investigation. It isn't that Rahm or his master were too honest to deal with Blago, they were simply too greedy to follow the number one rule of machine politics, Share the Wealth.

Obama wasn't interested in cutting a deal for the Illinois Senate seat, he just wanted the seat. And Rahm Emanuel, who was used to throwing the phone at donors who didn't contribute enough, followed that up. And now with a Federal investigation and sudden press scrunity having caused Obama's golden thug to head for the hills and away from the business of seizing the reins of government-- turning the New York Senate seat over to a woman who's famous for being famous, and whose support of Obama let him market himself as a New JFK, has suddenly gotten a lot trickier.

Neither rank and file New Yorkers, nor the local press or local politicians are thrilled about the idea. After just senselessly renaming the Triborough Bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, at a cost of 5 million dollars, at a time when the budget is tight, roads and bridges are in disrepair and the State Government is set to levy a whole load of new taxes-- the average New Yorker feels that enough has been done for the Kennedys without giving them a Senate seat for Christmas too.

The New York Press likes its politicians to have personalities, and Carolyn Kennedy is a facade in search of a person. A marketable brand rather than a human being.

And New York State politicians want pork from the Federal government, and a Senator is their main tool for getting it. Putting an Obama loyalist in office who owes her job to the man in the White House instead of to them, would be the worst disaster possible. Federalism has already drained the states of many, and poured it into the Federal coffers, State politicial machines help draw some of that money back to the state where it came from.

New York State has already endured Hillary Clinton, who worked on playing national politics and working toward achieving her own Presidential ambitions, while neglecting the state of the state. A seat filler whose loyalty wouldn't be either to the machine or the state, would be the equivalent of Putin appointing his friends as Governors. And Obama may try to appoint his horse to the Senate, but New York's political machine isn't interested in giving up their place at the table for Obama's horse.

With Blago, Obama has shown that he wants to take without giving, and with Emanuel forced to keep his distance, pushing Carolyn Kennedy into the Senate has only gotten trickier. New York State is facing a budget crisis and a cash crunch, which means it needs two reliable Senators in D.C. One and a socialite who got some photo ops with Obama, won't cut it.

Patterson can't be guilted into giving way. He's reached well above his level of incompetence and isn't deluded enough to entertain any political ambitions beyond what he already has. And on top of that Patterson is a creature of New York's political machine. He owes his career to hundreds of men and women, rather than to the national party, let alone to a Junior Senate from Illinois. And it's those men and women who are likely to put forward one of their own for the job.

In New York, Obama is faced with a choice he can't rig, and won't buy. Which leaves it up to Carolyn Kennedy to do the buying. If there's one thing Obama is good at, it's sacrifice. And while he's prepared to use Carolyn Kennedy, he's not about to risk an already scandal plagued situation by pushing too hard. So while Carolyn Kennedy works the phones and makes the offers, she has already discovered that she will have to do all the heavy lifting by herself.

Obama's people have never been very strong in New York. Not only did Obama lose the New York primary, but even his election showing was underwhelming for a Blue State with a large minority population. The Chicago Mob may have taken Washington, but New York has its own mob, and whatever talks are going on there are cautious and guarded. Replacing one celebrity carpetbagger with another really isn't on the agenda. So while Obama and some members of the national press may have selected Carolyn Kennedy, they won't have to get her past the voters, but past people as ugly, cynical and greedy as themselves.