Thinking about the two big stories in the last 24 hours it occurs to me that a lot of the fuss in a bit odd.
First on Emanuel. The president elect has rightly taken quite a few hits on the amazing bungling he has achieved on this. It seems to me however that it would be more of a shock if the chief of staff of the incoming president elect didn’t talk to the governor concerning the vacant Senate seat then if he did. In fact this is the sort of thing a chief of staff is supposed to do. The big mistake of the Obamaites has been the abject denials of contact. They would have been much wiser to say quite rightly: “Of course we had contact concerning this. What would you expect? But we will be damned if anyone would expect that we would “pay” for the seat.
This cost credibility and showed vacillation. When you are marketed as a savior that is not what people expect to hear. It would not surprise me to see more of this in the future, but a wise administration will learn from it.
As for Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg she is apparently carrying herself as a privileged elite in dealing with the press and the office. This is politically foolish but not unexpected. It would be impossible for her to Schlossberg to act any like a normal candidate or person as she has nothing in her background that suggests anything other than royal privilege. What has she ever been denied and who has ever denied her? She is John Quincy Adams without the resume.
I suspect that like John Quincy in asking for this office she genuinely wants to serve the public in the traditions of her family and wants to prove herself against the example of a famous father. Ironically both would expect that of course high office is deserved. The difference being Adams would expect it due to a public record that would be a lifetime of work for two other people. She expects it because of a lifetime of adoration and deference.but just can’t bring herself to have to ask the people for the privilege.
Again I think we will see a lot more of this unless the heat becomes unbearable for her to handle but you never know. After all her Uncle had no business winning a Senate Seat in ’62 but love him or hate him nobody can deny his ability as a Senator.
Anyways these are both interesting stories but they shouldn’t shock anybody at all.
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