It turns out that Caroline Kennedy failed to vote in numerous elections since she registered to vote in New York City in 1988. For example, she managed to skip the primary races for mayor in 1989, 1993, 1997, and 2005. She also missed both the primary and general elections in 1994, when Sen. Daniel Moynihan was running for reelection to the seat Kennedy hopes to fill. In all, Kennedy apparently did not vote in nearly half of the 38 contested elections since 1988, almost all of them primaries.
Kennedy claims that 9/11 prompted her to become more involved in civic life. Yet she didn’t make it to the polls in 2002 and 2005 either.
Abe Greenwald suggests that it was the Obama phenomenon, not 9/11, that finally prompted Kennedy to wonder (a) what she could do for her country and (b) what her celebrity would enable her to do.
Kennedy may well be among the millions inspired by Obama this year. Unfortunately, she is no more qualified for public office than most of those millions.
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