Kiss the Ring
By Amit Singh | Friday, December 26th, 2008 | Politics
So what qualifies someone for public office? I learned this the hard way but when running for office you must have a history of supporting the party you want supporting you. Many Ron Paul Republicans found this out rather quickly but most of them were largely under-funded, unknown and had difficult general elections even if they did win their primaries.
But in the latest chapter of political newcomers, Caroline Kennedy is not under-funded nor unknown among political circles. In her bid for Hillary Clinton’s now vacant seat, Kennedy is getting hounded by those in her own party for not having adequately supported previous Dems. While many of us can probably understand internal party politics (at least pretend to), I do not think the average voter really cares about a candidate’s actual monetary support to other candidates (outside of egregious cases) and would prefer to focus on the candidate themselves. However, if the kingmakers do not support the candidate then it takes an enormous amount of star power and money to overcome. Is this fair to the constituents of the party? Personally I don’t think so but politics is about power and if you don’t kiss the ring you can kiss your chances goodbye.
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I'm left handed but right brained.
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17 Responses to "Kiss the Ring"
Like all things its a matter of truly understanding the process. Its a test really… If she’s so wonderful and smart but can build internal party support then why is she running. Being a US Senator is 1 of 100 position of lots of power and prestige. It is not something that is lightly undertook. Being elected and running for office should be hard. Besides, she’s a Kennedy if she doesn’t understand the game then she needs to go back to the compound as she didn’t inherit Daddy’s and esp Grandpa’s political skills. How hard is it to get the checkbook out and spread around some cash.
Amit,
I’m impressed by the number of votes you did get.
Forcing broadcast channels to give an hour or so free to candidates like the FCC intended would solve that. Combine with a skillfully run internet campaign and the right message and you could be successful. It does not take much money to go to civic league meetings and schools. If you expect to play the game like the pros on a low budget your going to lose.
It seems most politicians attempt to make people feel warm and fuzzy inside when they consider the politician making decisions for their future. Campaigns goals focus on gaining the voters trust and confidence. Rarely do they ever attempt to give them a concrete understanding of why their stances on issues are better than their opponents. If you run a low budget campaign with the goal of gaining voter trust and confidence then you are going to lose. Run a campaign solely on getting knowledge of the issues and do it through new media and you could very well win.
That being said, I think we should only have the best and brightest running for office I know we cannot put any requirements on candidacy other than citizenship and whatnot, but we really should all demand written proof of legitimate plans for every area of government.
Max,
Few people accuse anything less then the best and brightest of achieving public office. The question is what motivated them to achieve public office.
The question is what motivated these certainly intelligent people to get there. Were they motivated to do good things or were they motivated to achieve personal gain?
Amit – your link is broken.
And in an ideal world, this is all we would have.
sorry Vivian,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/12/25/2008-12-25_lack_of_donations_to_city_state_dems_may.html
I think the slashes in the link are screwing it up because of the wrap around.
LittleDavid, thanks. I had a great staff and I was simply the envelope.
Max, I think in future elections the new media will have a greater effect. in 2008 it made a difference but it was still new. the lessons from this election cycle will be learned and hopefully level the playing field for the future.
Little David,
That really depends on your definition of best and brightest.
I hate to be cocky, but I know for a fact I could tear 90% of the politicians out there to pieces in a debate. The average elected is so far off base and irrelevant that it would not even be that hard.
The reality that an individual’s FUND RAISING capabilities tops the list of “qulifications” for the true real political support of either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party serves to prove that the system we now have is corrupt and broken.
PROBLEM SOLVERS and STATESMAN posessing a true SERVANT’S HEART should be at the top of everyone’s list of “show stopper” “must have” criteria for garning support to be entrusted with serving the public as an elected representative.
Instead corruptions has become so greviously institutionalized that few even notice it anymore.
Very sad really.
Should Ms. Kennedy be anointed as a U.S. Senator then we are all witnessing the quid pro quo of her endorcement – and that of her uncle – for President-elect Barack Obama.
Same ‘ole, same ‘ole as that corrupt Governor in Chicago – the only difference being Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama’s “people” are too smart to get caught maikng their deals as they sell Senate Seats for selfish political gain.
Max Shapiro,
If your debating skills are that good perhaps you should consider a career in politics yourself then.
However please be aware that even with this skill it is not the only thing required to govern effectively.
Maybe we need to be looking at the basics of what this article points out…Caroline Kennedy didn’t stand behind many of her predecessors. Maybe the real reason that we’re looking at here is that most of them were no longer worthy of the endorsement of a Kennedy.
While through the years such an endorsement hasn’t carried the weight that it used to, it still remains that being a Democrat and having a Kennedy throw their support in behind you is the Holy Grail. Look at what it did for Obama against Hillary. Merely having that simply name behind you can be sitting on the right hand…for Democrats.
In this day and age, my guess would be that Caroline Kennedy was just smart enough to hold her cards until she found a worthy time to deal the rest of them out. She not only knows how to play the political game…her family owns its own board.
Lynn,
My opinion on this is that my opinion does not matter. What matters is the opinions of New York state citizens. Who do they want to represent them?
Do you live in New York?
This bears repeating. And is so very true.
Oops – I messed up the formatting. Can somebody fix?
IRT: “This bears repeating. And is so very true.”
Thanks Vivian!
But in rereading what I wrote I can see that it also bears – MORE CAREFUL PROOF READING on my part, LOL! Sheesh! What a lot of typos.
It should have read:
The reality that an individual’s FUND RAISING capabilities tops the list of “qualifications” for real political support from either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party serves to prove that the system we now have is corrupt and broken.
PROBLEM SOLVERS and STATESMEN posessing a true SERVANT’S HEART should be at the top of everyone’s list of “show stoppers” and “must haves” as their primary criteria for garning political support to be entrusted with serving the public as an elected representative.
Instead, corruption has become so greviously institutionalized that few even notice it anymore.
Very sad really.
Kissing rings does help, but your loss had more to do with you being a Ron Paul isolationist.
Freddie, what is your definition of isolationist? Among other things, I want to open trade with Cuba, remove sugar tariffs from Brazil, and encourage foreign businesses to operate in America.
I think in my specific race running as an anti-war candidate was the most difficult issue to overcome since the GOP at the time was still in denial.
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