What is all this nonsense about "SOMEBODY'S SENATE SEAT"? The furniture as well as all other material items in the Senate, White House and House of Representatives, BELONGS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. We, the taxpayers, have provided the funds to purchase all of it! Regardless of tenure in any of the various branches of the federal government, the SEATS are not personal property. Those elected to occupy the seats are federal employees of the people of this nation. The ONLY way to get rid of this nonsensical notion of seat ownership is to ALLOW THE VOTERS OF AMERICA TO SELECT NEW TENANTS FOR THOSE VACATED SEATS.
BETWEEN THE LINES
Jonathan Alter
Why Caroline Backed Obama
Her kids, her uncle, her father—and Obama's father—all played a role.
Jan 30, 2008 | Updated: 4:51 p.m. ET Jan 30, 2008
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For all the attention paid to Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama, the more crucial seal of approval may be the one affixed by Caroline Kennedy. An Obama TV ad that features her is already being widely aired in Super Tuesday states. If Caroline helps Obama cut into Hillary Clinton's base among women over 40 (especially Roman Catholic women), Obama aides believe her involvement could prove important to the outcome.
The behind-the-scenes story of Caroline's journey into the Obama camp features her three teenage children, her uncle—and a long-forgotten controversy from the 1960 presidential campaign. The complicated tale involves an angry Sen. John F. Kennedy, Vice President Richard Nixon's "truth squad," baseball great Jackie Robinson and a group of stranded African students trying to book passage to the United States—including Barack Obama Sr., father of the presidential candidate.
I've known Caroline since the 1970s, and with the help of a knowledgeable source have pieced together how she moved from neutral observer of the campaign to impassioned Obama supporter, shedding tears at American University on Monday as she witnessed a moment that, she believed, deeply fulfilled the ideals of her family.
"It was my father's spirit, living on in a meaningful, profound way," she said afterward.
For decades Caroline has dutifully campaigned for the Democratic nominee for president. But except for 1980, when her uncle Ted ran unsuccessfully for president, she has never involved herself in a party primary contest. She did not expect that 2008 would prove to be different, though her long relationship with the Clintons and her admiration of them left her open to possibly backing Hillary. During the Clinton administration she hosted a dinner party for the president and First Lady on Martha's Vineyard, went sailing with them and her family and stayed in irregular but friendly contact.
Like all Democrats, Caroline and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, had admired Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. But she didn't consider his possible presidential campaign seriously until Christmas 2006, when a friend of her older daughter, Rose, a Harvard sophomore, sat in her kitchen and described how Ivy League students were already organizing for Obama even before he officially declared his candidacy.
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