Reach Impediment

Caroline Kennedy's efforts at justifying her selection for soon to be vacant Senate seat, have been floundering-and now the critics have added her speech style to their panning of her effort. As the NY Daily News reports: "Caroline Kennedy, you know, might need, you know, a speech coach, um, if she, you know, wants, um, to be a senator. Um, you know? Kennedy, who gave a flurry of media interviews on Friday and Saturday, revealed some cringing verbal tics that showed her inexperience as a speaker, experts told the Daily News."

Now if she had anything interesting or unique to say, than it's much less likely that she would be getting this kind of harsh critique of her delivery; which makes her spokesman's rejoinder kind of silly: "Spokesman Stefan Friedman said, "Caroline has acknowledged that she hasn't mastered the art of the political sound bite, but if Gov. Paterson appoints her, she'll fight her heart out to make sure New York families have their voices heard in Washington."

Clearly the bites aren't the problem, rather its the lack of substance in the whole meal. As the NY Post underscores here: "Longtime Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf called Kennedy's "second rollout her second bomb. It's two rollouts now and two bombs.
"She didn't answer questions in the interviews."

All of this reminds us of the apocryphal anecdote about he late Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean. Dean, known for his zaniness, had been beaned by a pitch and taken to the hospital. The headline in the paper the next day read: "Dean Head Ex-Rayed, Nothing Found."