Under the headline ‘This would insult Britain, Mr President’, Peter Oborne objects to the idea of making Caroline Kennedy the US Ambassador to the Court of St James. Peter’s grounds are that some of “ her family were long-standing supporters of IRA terrorism during the Irish troubles” and that her grandfather who, was Ambassador to London from 1938 to 1940, “favoured Hitler over Churchill”.
Peter is right about this, if you want to get a sense of how anti-British Joe Kennedy was read John Lukacs excellent Five Days in London, but I would still like to see Caroline appointed. In reality the choice is probably between Caroline and some mega-fundraiser and there is no doubt to my mind who would do more to strengthen the Special Relationship and to explain American policy to the British public.
Caroline Kennedy would arrive to a hail of good publicity thanks to the mystique of Camelot, if you doubt me just look at yesterday’s Evening Standard’s magazine, and as her appearances on the stump for Obama showed she is a charming and persuasive speaker. She is also adept at handling the media; I suspect she would have little trouble taming Paxman and Humphrys.
Obama is enjoying a honeymoon in Britain at the moment unlike no other US president in memory. But there will come a time when Obama has to take tough foreign policy decisions that will upset influential sections of the British media. It is crucial that when that happens, Obama has a powerful advocate in London who can take to the airwaves to explain and defend his position. Caroline Kennedy can be that advocate better than any of the other candidates touted for the job, which is why, whatever her family’s history, those of us who believe in the Special Relationship and the importance of American leadership in the world should welcome her to London.
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