Carping About Caroline Kennedy

If she ever had doubts about getting into the rough-and-tumble of politics, the mean-spirited aftermath of JFK's daughter's withdrawal from seeking Hillary Clinton's Senate seat should reinforce her decision.

Governor David Paterson's aides are anonymously attacking Caroline Kennedy (“The fiasco of the last 24 hours reinforced why the governor never intended to choose her”) and contradicting themselves with assertions that "problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced" during her vetting.

On the other side, Time reports that her uncle's "circle is furious that his brain cancer has been cited by some in her camp as the reason" for stepping back.

"It looks horrible," says a former aide to Ted Kennedy. "It makes him look like he is at death's door."

This kind of rear-covering is only a small sample of what Caroline Kennedy would have encountered if she had taken the job and had to campaign for reelection.

Only New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg was kind and gracious about her exit.

“I’ll probably give her a call today and say, my thoughts are with you,” he said. “I wish her all the best and I think she should continue to stay involved in public service. She’s a great New Yorker and her husband is a really nice guy that I like.”

Amen to that. The Obama Administration should ask her to serve as ambassador to Great Britain (as her grandfather did) or France or Ireland, where her intelligence and instincts, along with her Kennedy and Bouvier background, could be an important American asset.