Sweet Caroline

Tell me, why did my beloved Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg decide to go as Pippi Longstocking to the Inauguration?

Oy-chhh, come on Caroline. It's not 1960 anymore.

First Lady Recipe

Take one pose in a White House sitting room.



Add two shakes of shantung strawberry colour.



Subtract genuine charm and star quality.



And stir.



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Laura Bush's Disco Pants

Meet The New Junior Senator From New York

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand will apparently be getting the appointment after Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg teetered back into her withdrawal.



Not knowing anything about her, my first thought was that it was a savvy move on Governor Paterson's part, to appoint a relative unknown. It's also in line with the Burris appointment of keeping the minority watchers happy, although in this case it is even more untainted.

My second thought was, that woman is way too pretty to be a Democrat. We are talking Bella Abzug country, after all.

And sure enough, I found the Village Voice wringing its hands at the prospect. Here's why.

In the article "Is Gillibrand Too Republican to Replace Clinton?", they mention her ample Republican bonafides.

The irony is that Paterson may be swinging from the nation's most prominent Democratic family to one with strong Republican ties. Gillibrand's father, Doug Rutnik, is an Albany insider and lobbyist whose ties to former GOP powerhouses Joe Bruno, George Pataki and Al D'Amato are legendary.

Palladian, the star Althouse commenter, summed it up for a lot of people when he wrote:

Wow, so the people of New York State will actually get someone from New York State but not from New York City to represent them in the Senate? Cool. And she's not a celebrity or a "princess" and she makes the Village Voice unhappy? Even better.

I am very sorry for Caroline Kennedy, but it seems her camp botched her roll-out, and she did herself no favours by seeming to want the seat, without having the stomach for the fight.

It's one thing to be a Kennedy hungry to serve. It's another to stumble onto the scene, and expect a plum to fall on one's lap after lunching with Al Sharpton.

Running Woman

I'm still backing Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg to be the next Senator from New York, for what little it's worth to her, but I have to confess, I do not know what to make of the rumours she has withdrawn her name from consideration...

...followed closely by denials that she withdrew her name from consideration.

It's not exactly her words, but it is being reported as coming from inside sources, in both cases.

What gives? Is this a Chinese whisper campaign from those opposed to seeing her take over from Hillary Clinton? Is this a Clintonian plot, itself? Or did Governor Paterson call her and tell her straight out that she wouldn't be getting the gig, and to save face, she told associates she is no longer interested?

Then there is that other possibility, which I do not want to think about, because I thought she was her mother's child, the woman who had an indestructible iron core:

That she didn't have the stomach to overcome the criticism that comes with public office, in part, because she didn't expect the Democratic reaction of personal distaste towards her.

We wait, Caroline.

Caroline Kennedy Is Good Enough

I have been following the "Caroline Kennedy to the Senate in place of Hillary" saga as long as everyone else, and I confess -- I still do not get it.

Why is Liberal America in such a tizzy of distaste at the prospect?

Of course, not just liberals veer from astonished to annoyed about this matter, but it's understood that conservatives would be in opposition. Being anti-Kennedy is a Republican birthright.

No. It's evident that as the Left blog about Governor Paterson's forthcoming decision, they are each day less and less amused that the choice should fall on the demure shoulders of this 51 year-old woman, one of the earliest to break with the Clintons and back Obama, at that.



It's just really fascinating to watch this unfold with such thinly disguised animosity towards Caroline's candidacy. And here I must say this -- I use her Christian name not as an intimate, obviously, but as recognition that she's been a part of American life since she was 3 years old. If her late brother was "America's Prince", she was his princess foil.

But hers is a life touched by endless tragedy, a story all of us could recite by rote from her father's assassination to her brother's disappearance off of Martha's Vineyard.

Such characters in a novel or in a film are usually hateable (due to the curse of human jealousy), unless their elevated social status is tinged with tragedy, or they redeem themselves by liking the poor. That has been the hook of almost every story dealing with the high and mighty since Aeschylus all the way to wayward Rose's love of the impoverished Jack in that dismal "Titanic". Only Proust could write about aristocrats with such approval, and still make people like them.

Could it be Kennedy herself that causes such a backlash?

I have heard liberal bloggers say she is a bad speaker. Yes, she's stilted. But have you heard Nancy Pelosi in action? Eye-crossingly boring.

I have heard some refer to her "debutante" New York status. Yes, but she's done an impressive amount of charity work, a legacy she took over when her mother died.

I have heard people say she is a dilettante. Then so was Obama when he ran for the Senate. They are both Harvard grads, both lawyers, and both published authors.

Unlike Barack Obama, her first book was a well-received co-authored one about the Bill of Rights, called The Right To Privacy. In fact, had this been an Obama book instead of a Kennedy book, I would've considered him less of an empty suit.

Having mentioned privacy, I think we are getting closer to the reason why 'Caroline Kennedy for the Senate' is off to such a rocky start.

This woman is notoriously, almost morbidly private, or as much as she can be as the fabled daughter of that political dynasty -- the Kennedys.

You can see her doing the entertainment rounds in New York, but rarely for the exclusive benefit of social diarists. It's always a cause, a benefit, or an awards ceremony, not a movie premiere preening in front of paparazzi.

Also, by all accounts, she is an involved and caring wife/mother.

She is certainly taking her mother's famous dictum to heart that it doesn't matter what else you do in life, if you fail as a mother first, the other stuff is almost meaningless.

(That must've been a zinger to the heart of Ethel Kennedy)

I have heard it say that Democrats don't want families becoming political dynasties with a sense of entitlement, which is real funny coming about the lady who would succeed Hillary Clinton. Honestly, do people even think out their objections? Dear God.

I could go on and on about this, including re-emphasising the fact that Caroline backed Obama for President over Hillary Clinton in such a way, as to make his dedicated followers proud of her sound political instincts.

But it's almost as naught.

For them, she intrudes in some strange way into their fantasy that the Democratic Party is for the working-class, or for those who rose up by their talent or grit -- and no one else need apply.

Kids, I got news for you: You guys have more millionaires and celebrities who back you publicly than we Rethuglicans do. It's long been the Party of Moët and private jets, not of Pabst Blue Ribbon and F-150s. Wake up and smell the Prada.

What do we have so far as points against her becoming a Senator?

- She has nil political experience.

Except for the fact that she's actively breathed politics since she was in her cradle.

I'm sorry; it counts. I know Americans don't like to hear this, but one's background really does give you a leg up in certain matters, and politics is definitely one of them. It may not appeal to the democratic nature of American culture, but to discount it totally smacks of a lack of sophistication, and not knowing how life works.

- She has never given a political speech in her life and was "scrambling" in Syracuse yesterday, putting herself forward as Senate candidate.

Really? Did I imagine all those interviews and discourses on politics not just in 2008, including at the DNC, but throughout her adult life?

- She is just a celebrity.

Riiight. Because we all know New Yorkers do not like famous people to horn in unto their political caste...

At the end of the day, she would be a caretaker Senator from New York, who would at worst have to run again in two years.

This isn't a life-time appointment, and if she's not up to snuff, there are other Democrats who I am certain would gladly run against her in 2010. In fact, she may decide the Senate gig isn't for her (it is really an intrusive proposition for a woman disinclined to be a public figure), and decline to run altogether.

You know, 2008 revealed itself to be a year where two women battled for two of the highest positions in the land, and for their bothers, they had to endure incredibly embarrassing levels of abuse, not from Republicans, mind you. But from Democrats.

Today, as I read the oft-insipid Jane Hamsher making her mealy-minded points about Caroline Kennedy on Huffington Post, I am reminded yet again that women do not support women. Worse yet, we make sexist points when referring to them (sometimes even in an otherwise positive piece), which in Hamsher's case was her original post about the topic, which included this lovely line:

Really? She's "making calls this morning to alert political figures to her interest?" I guess it was either that or get her nails done.

I have it on good authority Jane was making this moue when she wrote this.



(Was that really necessary? It's so petty, Jane. Since you don't mind petty, I am repaying you in kind with that comment above. You like?)

And how else is she going to inform the political establishment of casting her hat into the ring, but to actually go out and place some calls -- does HuffPo provide its writers with telepathic lessons that we do not know about? Because you know, maybe Caroline could've closed her eyes, and transmitted her thoughts to Paterson like Uri Geller.

(Don't believe it for a minute that if Kennedy-Schlossberg had called a press conference to formally announce this, that the Left would have given her less of a hard time. They would've probably had said she was being a prima donna. Also, I am reminded of people moaning about the cost of rescuing the remains of her late brother from the bottom of the sea, and those moaning the most seemed to be Democrats...)

By now, you are wondering if this makes me her champion. Not really. I respect her though.

I respect her tenacity and respect her political courage to break with a sure thing, as Hillary Clinton looked to be in January.

I think Caroline Kennedy should be given the same consideration, without the snark and reverse class-snobbery, same as any other candidate.

The point is not that there are better choices out there to fill the Senate vacancy left by Hillary Clinton -- but that Caroline Kennedy is not so bad herself.

It's In The Eyes

Yesterday, I wrote this about encountering Governor Bobby Jindal:

To my astonishment, as I sat near the bar, about 20 feet away, almost as if he were in a cubicle, there was I do believe Governor Bobby Jindal. He is much younger-looking than you can imagine. He looks like he's a college freshman, and actually, in profile looked bizarrely similar to a young JFK.

Now, how can this be, you may wonder.

One was captured for all time as a handsome Irishman with a broad face, a full mop of reddish-brown hair and an even ruddier complexion. The other is a 37 year-old Indian with the vague look of an accountant to him, with dark hair and darker eyes.

But there was something haunting me about the resemblence. In searching for photographs to uphold my theory to you, I think I pounced on two which illustrate my point.

Ready? Here we go. First, Governor Jindal.



Secondly, a youthful Representative John F. Kennedy.



You know, I think I got it.

It's in the hooded eyes, whose sloping curves give each man a hang-dog look. It's also in the jawline, which in Jindal's case hasn't filled out; it's in the jut of the chin, and secondarily of all, but still noticeably, it's in the set of the ears.

Senator Kennedy Back Home

Senator McCain began his debate remarks with a classy mention of wishing Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whom he called "The Lion of the Senate", well -- the latter had just been taken to hospital.



I'm happy to report that the Senator is back home at the famous Kennedy Compound in Cape Cod, and in fact, had been home since 8 PM EST. No news if he watched the debate, but it would be amazing if he had.

For A Second There

I thought it was Jackie Kennedy.



Compare.





ADDED: Heh.





(Via Warholiser)

The Schlossbergs And The Kennedys And Obama

What a beautiful family the Schlossbergs are.

Caroline Kennedy didn't intone the best of speeches today, during the slightly down-beat Night 1 of the DNC in Denver, but her sincerity and warmth for her uncle Ted was extremely moving. I can only hope her children were paying attention to their mother, because that's how you represent, in the best sense of the word.

Related

Young Jack
Don't Look Now

Remembering RFK

Speaking of the Kennedys, today, of course, marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Senator Robert Francis Kennedy.

I can't help but turn my thoughts to those who miss him the most -- his family, especially his widow, Ethel.

Fine, she may not have been as pretty as Joan, or as gracious as Jacqueline. She certainly lacked the iron will of Rose, as her children's lives descended into chaos after his passing.

But the one thing she had that none of these women truly did was that her husband was her life. She loved him infinitely, and she was never the same again, after his death.



So here's thinking of Ethel, who deserved longer, happier days with the man she loved.

Related

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Caroline For Veep?

I recently blogged about Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg being the first to step up, after the Reverend Wright fiasco, and help Michelle Obama shoulder some press duties that day.

Given the flak, and A-List Obama supporters who kept mum during the whole unsavoury business, I thought that showed a fair amount of courage, and class: par for the course for Mrs. Schlossberg.

Now comes word that President Kennedy's 50-year old daughter is part of the 3 named advisers, to choose his Vice-Presidential running mate.

You know, Harriet Miers had been President Bush's adviser during his search to fill Chief Justice Rehnquist's successor, after his demise. It turned out she got the nod herself (abortively, though).

So what would you say to an Obama-Kennedy '08 ticket?

If only Mrs. Schlossberg had had some genuine political experience, even of the local sort, I think she would've been the best choice for him, by far. The female Boomer vote would've been his instantly (pace Hillary), some wistful Reagan Democrats might've been coerced back to the Party to vote, and those swing States like Pennsylvania, and even the suddenly hesitant Massachussetts would be in the bag.

As it stands, I don't think it will happen. If he gets in, she might get an Ambassadorship, though, as her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith did for the Republic of Ireland from President Clinton.

She is a lawyer, and one who has written several books, one about the intricacies of Constitutional Law. Though without judicial background, technically any lawyer can be nominated to the Supreme Court...

I'm not sure nostalgia should play a consideration in any selection, let alone for the second heartbeat to the Presidency -- but one would have to be inhuman to say it wouldn't be an exciting choice.

Related

For Barack's Consideration: Caroline
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Ted Kennedy Suffers Possible Stroke

Just hitting the news wires:

Senator Edward Moore Kennedy (D-Mass) has been airlifted to a Boston hospital, after being rushed to a local hospital from his Hyannis Port family compound. He went from the Barnstable Airport to Mass General in Boston with "stroke-like" symptoms.

His original stay at a local Cape Code hospital's Emergency Room was for two hours, but the situation must've been more than they could handle.

The Senator is one of only 3 surviving Kennedy children, of the much ballyhooed Irish-Catholic family of 9.

They include his eldest surviving sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (86), mother-in-law to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She suffered a stroke herself in November 2005; and Jean Kennedy Smith (80), ex-Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, in President Clinton's administration.

The Senator is the last surviving son of Ambassador and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy. He just turned 76 this February.

He has survived a devastating airplane crash, suffering severe back injuries, seen here below rehabbing in the pool wearing his brace. He was not very hurt after his car plunged into the Chappaquiddick river, during the now infamous incident near Martha's Vineyard.

He is the longest-surviving Senate member, having been elected to his brother, President Kennedy's old seat, in 1962.



I'll update this post with news later in the day.

UPDATE: Commenter JSU points out that newer reports downplay the "stroke" wording.

"...A family spokesman later characterized his condition as a seizure, the Associated Press reported.

CNN said Kennedy relatives were optimistic he would recover. Other reports said Kennedy made a phone call after being transported to the hospital to cancel a luncheon.

The Cape Cod Times said local fire officials received a call from the Kennedy compound around 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Kennedy, 76, was treated at Cape Cod Hospital before a helicopter transfer to Massachusetts General around 10:15 a.m., the report said.

Kennedy's hospitalization comes seven months after the senator underwent surgery to remove blockage in his left carotid artery."

(Via Marketwatch)

UPDATE, Monday 19 May 2008: Senator Barack Obama called the Senator to inquire how he was, and though groggy from the medication, he was in good shape.

"Obama said he does not want Kennedy rushing back to the campaign trail and expects the senator's wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, to enforce doctors' orders, once his course of care is established. "All of us believe that he probably needs to rest up," Obama said.

"Obviously, we were all very worried yesterday," Obama said.

"I had spoken to Vickie, and she had indicated that the initial prognosis was better than what may have been reported in the press."

After watching the Red Sox game yesterday, Kennedy planned to view a few rented movies to pass the time: "The Great Debaters, "Best in Show," and some old Fred Astaire movies, Cutter said."

Fred Astaire movies! Ron, can you hear me now?

UPDATE 20 May 2008: With regret, I have to post that Senator Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with brain cancer.

In cynical terms, this means Senator Obama will be deprived of a very staunch supporter in his campaign since this precludes any further campaigning, certainly in the near future. Also, noting the seniority issue above, vis-à-vis the Clintons, Kennedy will not act as a bulwark against the Clinton Machine at the convention.

But let's leave that aside for now. I wish him only the best. Prayers to him and to his family, for the best possible outcome.

Don't Be Estes Kefauver, Hillary

After a disastrous North Carolina and Indiana primary (at the time of writing, the latter is down to the wire, but it's already a moral defeat for the New York Senator), it is time for Hillary Rodham Clinton to evaluate her chances to stay in this race.

Does she soldier on, undeterred, counting on her own pluck, drive, and just plain naked ambition? Or does she call it a day and concede the nomination?




If the latter, what is next for Senator Clinton?

A lot of pundits and voters are already shouting "Veep", in an obvious allusion to her being offered and accepting the Vice-Presidential spot, which suddenly looks to be her only bet this year.

Will this woman, who was already an allegorically romantic heartbeat away from the Presidency, decide to ride shotgun to Senator Barack Obama?

There are so many variables, our heads fairly reel.

First, it's not a given that his position is strengthened with Mrs. Clinton as his Vice-President. She is still divisive enough (and this is an important point) in their OWN Party, not to warrant this offer.

Having brought the Democratic Party to where it lies today, 7 May 2008, battered by the constant primaries, hungry for direction, and finality, a lot of Democrats are placing the blame directly on Hillary Clinton for it.

Secondly, there is no love lost between the candidates.

This has never stopped marriages of convenience in politics, (and indeed, Senator and President Clinton are no strangers to this cynical modus vivendi) which one only has to mention John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to bear witness to that fact.

But whereas Jack Kennedy later fashioned a rogue's appreciation for the Texan, Senators Obama and Clinton might have precious little commonality of experience, generational or perhaps even ideological, to do so.

This strikes people as impossible, given that their positions are rather similar on paper.

But when you consider that as insiders the Clintons had all the pull in the Democratic Party until now, as moderate DLCers, and they now have to kowtow to their more fashionally liberal and younger counterparts in Barack and Michelle Obama, this is a daunting task for them.

In a few months, they both went from the future of their Party, to its discarded, tawdry past.

I genuinely think they won't be able to do it.

And yes, it's going to be a dual-decision (or else the Clintons might go their separate ways...at last).

As ex-President Bill Clinton looked on, haggard and disquietened beyond recognition, Hillary Clinton gave perhaps her last real hurrah in tonight's premature victory speech.

A man who won it all, as he has, perhaps knows the margin at the time was ludicrous, and she stood no chance from thereonin.





Above all, I believe it's a tactical mistake for Hillary Clinton to continue to challenge for the White House in 2008. Furthermore, I think it would be political suicide for her to accept any Vice-Presidential approaches from Senator Obama.

If she does, and what I believe will happen, does; namely that Senator McCain will win handily over Senator Obama come November, she'll have hitched her wagon to a loser.

Just like Estes Kefauver did in another very tight nomination process, albeit for the Vice-Presidency itself, in 1956.

You'll remember it was he and the self-same Jack Kennedy who were vying for the second spot, which was thrown to the convention delegates to decide. Estes won that, but lost the general election behind an aloof, elitist, and intellectual candidate in the person of Adlai E. Stevenson.





Stevenson, that other soigné man from Illinois who spoke in ringing phrases, and whose intellectual talents were greatly esteemed by his supporters, was amongst the first modern Democratic politicians to fit the progressive mold of today: dismissive of the very electorate he sought to court.

When he was told that most thinking people were behind him, he chuckled saying that's not enough. "I need a majority."

...an attitude but one remove from "bitter voters" who cling to their guns and religion.

Years later, when the election was over, and Kennedy had won the Presidency on his own, he reminisced on what would've been.

He remembered his fallen brother Joe Jr., saying that in all probability he might've fought harder for the Vice-Presidential spot in '56, but then he would've been tagged a loser in the American psyche after losing the general election (something very few men can overcome, like his eventual opponent, Richard M. Nixon miraculously did).

The loss rankled him deeply, but with his keen political instincts, he knew later it had been the absolutely right decision.

Gracefully uniting her Party, by her own yielding, could put Hillary Clinton back on the stage, in a much more favourable light than she currently has now with so many Democrats.

And it could set up a very successful run at the whole enchilada again, in 2012, especially if President John Sidney McCain III turns out to be an one-termer -- by dint of age, failure of leadership or economy, or just plain voter fatigue.

It will be a very interesting night, perhaps day, and certainly months ahead.





Perhaps she can take her cue from Adlai Stevenson himself, who with the wisdom of the twice vanquished said,

"The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning."


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Is Barack Obama the Second-Coming of Stevenson?
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Clinton Aides Po-Faced

Caroline Kennedy Demonstrates A Profile In Courage

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg appeared next to Michelle Obama on CNN, as she was interviewed by Suzanne Malveaux.



This may not appear significant to many, but actually, it is in one sense.

She's the first, and so far, only Obama A-Lister who has publicly dared to raise a voice of support in the post-Oedipal chaos left by Reverend Wright.

As Daniel Henniger wrote in today's Wall Street Journal Op-Ed piece:

"Barack Obama was bleeding by Monday and needed cover. Where, when he could have used them, were Obama's oh-so-famous endorsers: Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Oprah, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Tom Daschle, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, Jay Rockefeller, John Lewis, Toni Morrison, Roger Wilkins, Eric Holder, Robert Reich, Ted Sorenson, Alice Walker, David Wilhelm, Cornel West, Clifford Alexander, Donald McHenry, Patricia Wald, Newton Minow?

Where were all the big-city mayors who went over to the Obama camp: Chicago's Richard Daley, Cleveland's Frank Jackson, Atlanta's Shirley Franklin, Washington's Adrian Fenty, Newark's Cory Booker, Baltimore's Sheila Dixon?

It isn't hard for big names to get on talk TV to make a point. Any major op-ed page would have stopped the presses to print a statement of support from Ted Kennedy or such for the senator. None appeared. Call it profiles in gopher-holing."

Ouch. A direct-hit at the Kennedy legacy of standing up for your vision, and ideals even if it means your certain public excoriation.

As ever, it is left to Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg to salvage whatever dignity is left by those born to such a legacy.

She did so ably, after Malveaux grilled Michelle Obama about the Wright controversy. It was a visible sigh of relief to the latter, and a welcome change for the audience to be able to lift themselves out of this sordid mess.

Watch it here.



H/T: Jack & Jill Politics

Caroline was beautifully on point, hitting the trigger words people want to hear (again) about Senator Obama:

"Well, I think (you know) many of the people I have seen here in Indiana, and many of the other States I've visited, really do find him, his message, his life, his choices, his career, his experience exactly what we need, at this time in our country's history."

"I think he's demostrated extraordinary leadership, and he's got the power to bring our country together, to solve the problems, which is something we need so desperately right now."

Her soft but emphatic voice trailed off, and she cast an insider knowing look to Malveaux, in what was an obvious reference to President Bush. It was palpable, but not bitter -- a throwback to a more courteous time than especially those of the past few days.

She continued immediately on to the topic of women, and how an Obama presidency would mean more emphasis on education, but also by the personal example contained in the very person of Senator Obama's life history.

Given the values she was raised with, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg continued without missing a beat, it's important that this new century be given that "tremendous example" for children to be inspired by.

I mean, what can you say? What a pro.

Not only showing the innate political instincts of a seasoned pol, but injecting her own wistful but practical reasons why she is still an Obama supporter, perhaps more than ever.

I've blogged twice about the Schlossberg kids, already, as you know. It was mama's turn today.

Though I'm certain (because she herself said so in her endorsement) that her children continue to inspire her to support Obama, to trust her innate belief that a nation without vision is a nation lost, and to stick the course no matter how the political winds turn, it was her strong conviction which made this CNN interview possible.

When you remember how enthusiastic her own mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was about the Clintons before she passed on, this carries a crystal clear message which cannot be overstated.



And right now, Senator and Mrs. Obama should be very grateful it is this lady, amongst all her tribe, who is the one backing them to the hilt.

Related

Michelle Obama Should Stop Mentioning The Word "Sacrifice"
"Why Is Obama so Alone?" asks Althouse
AC360 Blog Readers Respond

Young Jack

(N.B. MARCH 7: I've been reliably informed by a mutual friend that a cousin of the Schlossberg kids, has linked to this post online. I don't wish to cause any more distress than necessary, so I suggest to any family member reading this to avoid the comments section)

The recent post on Rose Kennedy Schlossberg has consistently received the most amounts of hits of any piece I've written, since starting Sundries.

(In fact, I've even been intrigued to see hits coming from Cambridge, Mass, with the "harvard.edu" address, and wonder if there's a lovely, firm-jawed scion of a famous Irish-Catholic family doing a little egosurfing of her own. Ho-ho, you little scamp, I won't tell!)

Thus was my mindset when I clicked on a link on SiteMetre to see just how people chanced upon my blog.

To my amazement, there was one story not about Rose Kennedy, but about her little bro', John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg.

Now, think of the last time you saw young Jack, as he's known to his near and dear.

Chances are you saw him looking like this, right?





An impeccably, dare I say elegantly, kitted out youngster aged around 6, hanging on to his mother's hand as he came out of his New York apartment building, followed by his teddy bearlike dad just behind.

With great sadness we recall that the occasion was the funeral of his beloved and fond uncle, John F. Kennedy, Jr., killed so tragically off of Martha's Vineyard, as he flew to his cousin Rory Kennedy's wedding.

Whatever are your politics, and whatever is your opinion of the boisterous Kennedy family, this was a tragic story (God, yet ANOTHER one) of a young Kennedy killed much before his time.

A photograph, incidentally, which evoked an iconic image of another little boy hanging onto his bereft mother's hands, so many years ago.

Well, fast forward to December 2006, a few days before Christmas.

Care to guess who this young scamp giving the universal gangsta rapper salute is?





Why, it's (almost) 14-year-old Jack Schlossberg, none other!

There he is, past tweeniehood now, on his way to young manhood in fact, but still showing the baby fat of a kid in physical transition.

Check out those rather feminine hips, which he'll lose in oh, I'd say, about a year. As everyone used to say about young Chelsea Clinton:

"Hang in there, Jack!"

It does get better, trust me. Your bod sheds its weight, and your face fills out. And that's when it hit me.

Wow, this kid looks a lot like his late uncle, already.

I remember a fellow blogger, Ruth Anne Adams, observing at the time, "I think young Miss Schlossberg is quite lovely. Her jawline is Bouvier."

Those are some pretty indestructible Bouvier genes, because young Jack here is well on his way to JFK, Jr. hunkhood.

Just look at this photo.





Not only the same jawline, but indeed, his entire facial structure and lushly thick hair texture is eerily reminiscent of his uncle, even now.

Of course, personality-wise he is at that awkward stage which all teenagers go through -- not quite rebellious, because after all, he IS out taking a stroll with his mother and sister...

...but definitely acting out, by mugging to the camera with generation-specific insouciance, as I like to refer to that tiresome affectation of pretending to be streetwise, and hard.

Just another Park Avenue Fitty Cent. Sigh.

And notice he has defied all common sense, and chosen Christmassy (but expensive) colours for his promenade ensemble: a $72 Lacoste polo shirt, L.L. Bean green windbreaker, and hand-me-down looking blue jeans.

That's his middle sister, Tatiana, next to him, looking charming in that vintage blue coat, not unlike those made famous by her grandma, Jacqueline.

-- By the way, since we're on the general and rather nonsensically gossipy subject, who does Tatiana remind you of, facially? The only person I can come up with, is Christopher Guest repertoire actress, the delightful Canadian-born Catherine O'Hara. It's the set of those Irish eyes, that nails it. --

The look is so popular with the Schlossberg women, that even Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has decided to sling on the Mary Tyler Moore togs, herself.

And for good measure, she doesn't look a day over 35. Hang in there, Caroline!

Yes...

Our rapscallion above may not be quite the catch his uncle was even in his youth, but with such a supportive family, a caring and involved mum, an intellectually-stimulating dad, I think John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg is going to make it, after all.

ADDENDUM: I know who Tatiana reminds me of! Rather silly really.

Her grandfather, the other Jack.



Right, not the colouring, and general puffiness of the face. But you know, the million-dollar, winsome smile. She's her mother's daughter, that's for sure.

As for young Rose Schlossberg, well, she's more her grandmother's granddaughter.

Tsk. Smoking already.





Oh, Rose...stop egosurfing, and start taking care of that ego, you know?


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Don't Look Now

(Welcome Reader_Iam readers!)

But guess who...





...looks a heckuva lot like her grandma, down to the unfortunate Bouvier perm.





Yes, young Rose Kennedy Schlossberg recently made Wonkette's turgid little gossip column, because she was seen photographed next to a friend, the latter toking on a hookah, up in Harvard where she was enrolled this summer.





But it wasn't some obsessively stalking papparazo, the likes of which used to haunt her grandmother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (most famously, Ron Galella), who it was who took these two photos.

It's actually from her own entry, in Facebook.

Now, I don't know about you, but just thinking of JFK's grandchild having an entry in Facebook, is rather discombobulating.

What next -- Thomas Jefferson's descendants seen hitting on a crackpipe in MySpace?

(By the way, I might be Youtubing these days, but I refuse to Myspace or Facebook, or Friendster myself like an internet party whore. If you want me, you know where you can find me. On Yahoo Games playing Literati)

If young Rose partook of the hookah, it is not known, but you can amply see that the girl has not rid herself of the Irish Curse, since that is, as Wonkette barely contained herself long enough to mention, not a grape juice bottle she's toting.

On the day when Representative Patrick Joseph Kennedy (D-RI), loudly proclaimed that he has a mental illness -- he's a lush -- just further proof that the Kennedys and the bottle are tied together ever since handle-barred moustached PJ Kennedy the Elder, made a killing serving up pints in a tavern in Southie.

We won't even mention the whole Seagrams saga during Prohibition, and that creepy, old Joe Kennedy.

Dirty money always comes back to haunt you. Always.

Of course, stories of Jacqueline Kennedy's smoking 2 packs of Kools per day, were legendary, and she once plaintively asked, just before dying from Non-Hodgins lymphoma, "What was the use of all the jogging and yoga, then?".

Well duh, if you hadn't been such a mega-mundo chainsmoker...like Audrey Hepburn, who was born and died at remarkably similar times (and who also defined brunette elegance for the ages), you just both might be alive today.

...quite possibly listing Ahmadinejad and Monica Lewinsky as your buddies, on an online journal, like Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.

And erm, the Marquis de la Fayette.

(His interests: "dead presidents, france, kicking ass, zombies". Uncanny, me too)

Let me just say that I personally think there's nothing wrong with drinking or smoking, although, I do neither.

Okay, the odd Veuve Cliquot now and then, and though I do have a collection of hookahs I started after my trip to Turkey in the late 90's, this is no way makes me a hypocrite.

Anyway, I didn't inhale or swallow.

I say, if the young girl wants to imbibe during the best years of her life, aged 18, get off her back.

You think the scions of America's political houses should be held to a higher standard than you or I, chugging back Schlitzes at Hooligans?

I find that silly, unreasonable, and quite possibly, unsophisticated.

Besides, how cool is it to see JFK's granddaughter lolling around barefoot, in her Harvard dorm, as an overdressed black girl in pearls takes a toke of some Mexican red nearby?

I'd have paid good money to have seen Robert Lincoln do the same, my friends.

And so would you.

ADDENDUM: See, if Rose Schlossberg had been sent to the Sorbonne, like her grannie had been, she might be freely imbibing her tipple of choice, without one degenerate bicurious blogger batting an eyelash.

Speaking of scions of famous families, here is none other than the lovely granddaughter of Princess Grace of Monaco, Charlotte Casiraghi, doing just that, aged not even 17 in this photo.

I see her as an opium smoker, myself.





Which is surely what Princess Madeleine of Sweden (who completes our trio of well-born lovelies) must've been toking, when she was photographed with neither hookah nor champagne flute.

But rather showing off another kind of wine rack.





Whoa. Marie Antoinette, eat your heart out.

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