Vatican is afraid of Caroline Kennedy

It matters not that Caroline Kennedy is a lifelong Roman Catholic and comes from a family that has knelt before the Pope for many years; she is, according to the Vatican, unqualified to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.

President Obama has not appointed an ambassador to the Holy See as yet, but word was that Ms. Kennedy was a likely choice.

Enter the pious prelates from Rome's heavenly realm. No, no, no, they said. She's pro-choice. We can't have anyone here who believes women should have the right to choose with regard to what they can do with their bodies! Furthermore, we can't have anyone within these holy precincts who favors stem cell research (even if those stem cells come from fetuses tossed in the garbage).


Now, the Roman Catholic Church is free to believe and promote whatever religious nonsense it so desires. Ironically, however, the majority of Catholics in the U.S. do not agree with nor follow the lead of the Vatican when it comes to issues such as abortion and contraception.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't make sense to appoint someone to the Holy See who is not wanted by the pompous papists in Vatican City.

So, if President Obama is restricted to persons who are anti-choice and anti-stem cell research, then perhaps he should consider not appointing an ambassador to the Vatican at all. The Vatican is like an appendix...at one time it was a political power...now it's a useless appendage.

That's right. As crazy as it sounds, the Vatican is not only a religious institution but a political entity, a political state.

Who needs it? And we do not need to send an ambassador to this pitiful little political realm in Italy.


Obama and his aides can send the Pope an e-mail if and when the need arises to communicate with the old guy.

The appearance of Caroline Kennedy

[Photo from TV Guide]

There has appeared a very curious little article at the guardian.co.uk by one Tracy Quan. Ms. Quan raises the issue of Caroline Kennedy's appearance. She begins by asking "Why isn't the mainstream media as obsessed with Caroline Kennedy's looks as they were with Sarah Palin's?"

Why, indeed?

Appearance, apparently, for Ms. Quan, is important. Thus, Hillary Clinton, while her appearance was meticulously dissected by the press, "never traded explicitly on her looks," but she did use "her appearance to connect with us."

Unfortunately, Ms. Quan does not elaborate, so we're left wondering just how Senator and soon-to-be Secretary of State Clinton used her appearance as a connection with the public.


Ms. Quan then jumps to Caroline Kennedy. While people are excited about Kennedy's possible appointment to the Senate, they are not talking about her "hair and accessories." Why not? "Could this mean she's not being taken seriously?"

Huh?

The fashion choices of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin tell us a lot about the person.

Well, says Ms. Quan, "Clothes, hair, nails and lipstick -- these bits and pieces of a persona represent some aspect of what Sarah and Hillary have accomplished. They've gone out of their way to construct themselves for public life, and we reward them by caring how they look."

Hillary and Sarah "invented" themselves, says Quan.

Caroline Kennedy did not. She was made be other "forces." And her "looks" are a problem; distracting. "She looks more like her uncle Robert than her mother Jackie..."

And that's good? Not good?


Quan says "Caroline's looks are as inconsistent as New York's weather..." There are times when she "glows, but she has also appeared in public looking furrowed and wan."

So what? you ask.

Well, looks matter. And Caroline looks like she isn't all that excited about being a Senator. When she "endorsed herself in front of Sylvia's, there was no pleasure in her smile." Her face doesn't "light up" when she talks about becoming a U.S. Senator.

"As Senator John McCain demonstrated," says Quan, "there's nothing more disheartening than a candidate who doesn't want to win."


What do you think? Are Caroline's "looks" a problem? Is there "no pleasure in her smile"? Could it be that she really doesn't want to be a Senator and that is reflected in her facial appearance?

Or is Ms. Quan just a little batty?


Quan's article is here.