Will Caroline Schlossberg Kennedy Become The United Nations Ambassador To The UN?



(image via publicradio.org)

Politico, the political geek's online bible, is now in full post-electoral speculative mode. It is like fantasy football for people who pore over Senate voting statistics and studiously observe demographic shifts of Congressional Districts as a hobby. They speculate vigorously on who has the inside track for what high-profile position, like Secretary of State -- John Kerry, Bill Richardson, Richard Lugar (who is also mentioned as a possible SecDef), the usual suspects -- and who might get the glamorous post, more interestingly to New Yorkers, at Turtle Bay. And there is a surprise. From Politico:

"U.S. ambassador to the United Nations: Susan Rice, senior campaign national security adviser and State Department and National Security Council official under Clinton; Caroline Kennedy."

Susan Rice is not a surprise. She is a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, has done the talking heads thing, blogged for HuffPo, and is generally a known quantity in foreign policy circles. Caroline Kennedy, however, is not a known quantity in foreign policy circles beyond the sort of vague pro-soft power humanitarianism that clings to her name. Aside from heading Obama's Vice Presidential search committee, she has been mentioned as a possible Secretary of Education because of her work as a fund-raiser for NYC public schools. Previous to that she was known as a well-connected fund-raiser for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She is also a member of many powerful boards.

But Kennedy, who lent the Kennedy glamour to the Obama candidacy, probably has enough juice to pull any plummy position at the sub cabinet level so long as the thinness of her resume doesn't embarrass the administration in Senate Confirmation hearings (Remember Bolton?). Clearly, Obama owes Kennedy. And United Nations Ambassador to the United Nations is just the type of swishy gem that we can imagine Kennedy coveting.

We cannot fail to note that for Kennedy, the official ambassador's residence at the Waldorf-Astoria, might actually be a comedown from the quality of life she has come to expect.