Let's kill the talk that Caroline Kennedy is not qualified to be a U.S. Senator. Of course she is. The Constitution (remember that document) states that a person needs three qualifications; 1) 30 years old 2) a U.S. citizen for the last 9 years and 3) must be a resident of the state they wish to represent at the time of the election. There is no doubt she is qualified.
We should stop pretending that there is some magical mystical experience threshold requirement to run for public office. All you have to do is meet the legal requirements and get elected, period. I challenge anybody to look at the list of current Senators and tell me that Caroline Kennedy could not do a better job as half of them (or if the manager at you local McDonalds could not do a better job than a tenth fo them).
That being said, Governor Patterson should not appoint her. No one should be handed a job as a U.S. Senator as the first forray into public office. Celebrity alone or name recognition alone should not allow you to skip the process. If she wants the job, she should have to run for it. She has chosen to live her life as a private citizen to this point, and that is certainly her choice. But I think that does preclude her from being appointed to the seat. What do we know about her other than she's JFK's kid? What are her views? She won't even answer questions being posed by reporters.
I think Caroline Kennedy would probably make a fine Senator for the great state of New York. From what little I've seen of her she's intelligent, well-spoken, and can be a passionate advocate (she certainly was for President-Elect Obama). And I am generally in favor of people with money running for public office. I think (maybe naively) they are less susceptible to financial corruption. But Governor Patterson should not appoint her to the post. Let the people of New York decide if they want another Sen. Kennedy.
