Some pundits have speculated that the American people long for a return to the storybook feeling of the Kennedy administration -- a new Camelot, with a youthful, handsome, energetic, charismatic, and benevolent president in the White House, along with his picture-perfect family.
Bill Clinton tried. It just didn't work out quite so well for him.
But now, they say, Obama's win may be at least partially due to his "Camelot appeal". We're fed up with the status quo and we are looking for some glamour and a little bit of enchantment in our political lives again.
Enter Caroline Kennedy, princess of the first American Camelot. After decades of working mostly out of the spotlight, Caroline is now interested in filling the Senate seat that Hillary Clinton will be vacating. And the spotlight is now glaring upon her. The reviews are very mixed.
I have always felt a special affinity for Caroline. My earliest political memory is of her father's assassination. Being about the same age as Caroline, my heart went out to her at the time. I couldn't begin to comprehend what it must have been like for this little girl, someone my age, to lose her father -- especially a father as famous and well loved as JFK. And I was sad to see Camelot crumble, only to be replaced by the Vietnam era -- and everything that's come since.
I am not a New Yorker, and I am not familiar enough with Caroline's credentials (or lack thereof) to judge her fitness for that Senate seat. She is obviously a very intelligent, well educated, and accomplished woman. But I have to wonder if the Camelot image is part of her appeal today.
On the other hand, assuming that Caroline is indeed adequately qualified, is wishing for Camelot really such a bad thing?
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