POLITICS AT ITS WORST

Posted at 7:03 a.m. ET

We've said here that the possible appoint of Caroline Kennedy to the U.S. Senate, succeeding Hillary Clinton, is a national and international story.  The very day she enters the Senate she becomes a potential presidential candidate, someone who can short circuit any ambitions Hillary Clinton still has.

Now John Fund of The Wall Street Journal gives us a brief, but hard-hitting report on the politics behind the politics, and it is ugly.  As we've suggested here, the president-elect's office is not an innocent bystander:

It wasn't his idea. He may be irritated at being pressured into it. But it appears New York Governor David Paterson is moving towards appointing Caroline Kennedy to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton.

And...

Normally, Mr. Paterson would have selected someone like Andrew Cuomo, the state's attorney general. Not only would that have removed Mr. Cuomo as a possible primary challenger to Mr. Paterson when he seeks a full term in his own right in 2010. Appointing Mr. Cuomo also would have given New York a proven operator with instant clout and credibility in the Senate.

But Mr. Cuomo's supporters were blindsided by the Kennedy boomlet, which was pushed by allies of Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Within days it was made clear to Governor Paterson that if he appointed Ms. Kennedy, he would have no trouble raising money against any possible primary opponent and would be looked on with great favor by an Obama White House.

And that's the heart of it.  Obama wants an ally in the Senate to replace Clinton, who's being sent off to the State Department.  The Kennedys were instrumental in seizing the presidential nomination for the president-elect.  This is hardball, inside politics at its worst.

All of this leaves both Mr. Cuomo and allies of Hillary Clinton sputtering. They are unhappy with the blitzkrieg campaign waged on behalf of Ms. Kennedy but realize there's little they can do to thwart it.

It comes at a time when the Obama camp exonerates itself in the seat-for-sale scandal in Illinois, issuing its "not guilty" report yesterday, while Mr. Obama shows off his star-quality torso while vacationing in Hawaii.  This is all change we can believe in.

The only thing that could gum up the works now is Ms. Kennedy's possible overexposure in coming weeks -- i.e., if she answers too many questions. The perils of having this political Greta Garbo reveal too much about her opinions showed up even in the tentative answers she gave to Politico.com about some key policy positions.

Her answers had to be carefully calibrated to navigate the turbulent waters of New York special interest politics.

Nice, huh?  And apparently Caroline's chances haven't been hurt by her spokesman's blunt announcement that she will not release any financial data - a fundamental requirement these days in politics.  Remember the ridicule Sen. McCain received regarding his wife's wealth?

She has far, far less experience that does Sarah Palin, but note the silence from those who bashed Gov. Palin.

The hypocrisy flows.  If a Hollywood scriptwriter wrote this, the script would be turned down as unrealistic.

December 24, 2008.