Entries for December 2008

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I don't know if Caroline Kennedy is the best choice to be junior senator from my home state, and, as a general matter, I'm certainly not wild about senators getting elected by constituencies of one. But that said, I disagree with Thomas Jefferson Street colleague Bonnie Erbe regarding whether Caroline K. is qualified to serve.

"Caroline Kennedy is certainly not qualified for the office she seeks," Bonnie wrote this morning.

As Peter Roff (a GOPer) noted in our op-ed section earlier this week, Kennedy is certainly, strictly speaking, qualified. But Bonnie's presumably referring to her paper qualifications.

So take the name (and gender) out of the equation.

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

So...Rod Blagojevich emerges from the miasma of scandal that has enveloped him long enough to appoint a law-enforcer type to replace Barack Obama as a U.S. senator from Illinois. (What is Burris thinking here?) Or attempt to, anyway—the Secretary of State of Illinois says he won't certify the appointment, and Senate Democrats say they won't seat him. The surreality is breath-taking.

Blago's finest comedic moment came when he implored (with as much moral authority as he could muster) that the allegations surrounding him not interfere with the appointment.

(No—scratch that, as I wrote that last sentence, he took the mic again and said that he had enjoyed the limelight he's had for the last couple of weeks. Wow.)

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Peter Roff, a Republican strategist, writes today over in the op-ed section about Caroline Kennedy's qualifications for Senate. She is qualified, he argues, because she meets the constitutional criteria.

Peter puts the Kennedy qualification debate in the context of the recent quarrels about Sarah Palin's fitness to serve as vice president. He's not the first person to make this comparison, with conservatives decrying a perceived double -standard that Palin got crucified for lack of qualifications while Kennedy gets a free pass.

Kathleen Parker, a conservative who gained national political attention for noting that Palin was clearly not ready to be vice president, argues, however, that the Kennedy-Palin comparison is apples and oranges: not only is the vice presidency a substantively different office than junior senator from New York, but opposition to Palin was "firmly based on substantive concerns about competence, as well as wariness about her tone and temperament, which became increasingly divisive. Palin's demonstrated lack of basic knowledge, her intellectual incuriosity, her inability to articulate ideas or even simple thoughts all combined to create an impression of not-quite-there."

Parker is correct, of course. But there is something more to the Kennedy-Palin comparison. The would-be senator must still pass what we can call the "Palin test."

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Michael Barone's column this week, on Barack Obama as a figure of generational change, reminded me of a piece by Jamie Stiehm on the same theme that we ran in the op-ed column a few months ago: that Obama is a post-Bboomer (and, by the by, that John McCain's silent generation has never had a White House occupant). Both Michael's and Jamie's pieces are worth a read.

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Today's New York Times brings news illustrating why Barack Obama's decision to tap Hillary Clinton for State was a smart call. 

Even before taking office, Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking to build a more powerful State Department, with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis. 

This is a good thing regardless of who is the secretary—too much of our foreign policy (not simply the contours of the policy but its day-to-day execution) has been taken over by the Pentagon over the last eight years, and not simply because we're actively fighting in various parts of the world; the sun never sets on the U.S. military, and our officers and civilian defense officials have increasingly played roles more traditionally left to diplomats.

But Hillary Clinton is particularly well suited for this job. From the Times:

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

In case you missed it, Vice President Cheney has been let loose upon the countryside and, as usual, he's full of something beyond just hot air (though he's got plenty of that, too). From today's New York Times:

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

If you haven't seen it, noted presidential scholar Stephen Hess (who got his start as a speechwriter for Dwight D. Eisenhower) has a new book out, aimed at Barack Obama but shared with the rest of us: What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect. Why am I shamelessly plugging someone else's book? Because he graciously plugs mine: According to Washingtonian, Hess lists White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters among eight books the incoming chief executive should read.

I'm unhappy to report that Obama has not yet been spotted reading either What Do We Do Now or White House Ghosts. Maybe they're on his Christmas list?