I’m not particularly impressed by Kos’s defense of his anti-Caroline jihad. While I acknowledge that he doesn’t bear any responsibility for the selection of Kirsten Gillibrand and that he doesn’t have any special influence over Governor Paterson or New York state politics, the vehement opposition to the liberal Caroline Kennedy from the progressive blogosphere effectively cut off an important bloc of support for her candidacy. As I stated at the beginning, I have a lot of sympathy for the idea that we should not reinforce a system of dynastic power in our government. Ultimately, however, it came down to a decision of who to support between Kennedy, another dynastic pick in Andrew Cuomo, and Blue Dog Hillary-clone Kirsten Gillibrand. Given those choices, I strongly preferred Kennedy. I would have been happy with some other picks, especially Jerry Nadler, but Kennedy was the most reliably liberal of the major contenders and that is why I supported her.
Kos defends his decision to wage jihad by saying that there is no harm done. Either Gillibrand will lurch to the left and we’ll have nothing to worry about, he says, or she’ll get beaten in a competitive primary. This is disingenuous. Gillibrand just won reelection in the most expensive House race in the country. She is an incredible fundraiser and has support from the Establishment (political and financial). It will be very difficult to defeat Gillibrand in a primary. And this is true whether or not she lurches to the left as a U.S. Senator.
A simple way of demonstrating the strained reasoning here is to ask whether Kos would support Caroline Kennedy in a 2010 primary against Kirsten Gillibrand. If the answer is yes, then it was a mistake to oppose Kennedy’s appointment. And if the answer is no, then it doesn’t seem to matter how Gillibrand votes, only that she isn’t the daughter of a former president.
Again, it might not have been decisive but the lack of liberal support for the liberal candidate wasn’t helpful and may have played into the overall narrative that undermined Kennedy’s chances. The one upside is that a marker was laid down in opposition to dynastic politics, regardless of ideology. That’s good. On the other hand, having a Blue Dog as senator from New York cannot be spun as a win-win situation. It’s a plain and simple disappointment.