Many of President Obama’s nominees have faced grillings on Capitol Hill.
But Caroline Kennedy, Obama’s pick to be ambassador to Japan, was greeted Thursday with the chamber’s equivalent of a big, wet kiss.
First up was Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who beamed as he introduced Kennedy, his constituent.
He was clearly in an effusive mood before launching into his ode to Kennedy.
He lauded Kennedy’s most recent coup: successfully swimming three miles in the Hudson River for charity. “I’m not sure either of us could have accomplished this feat,” Schumer marveled to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the committee’s chairman.
Next, New York’s other senator, fellow Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, took a turn at introducing the woman she called a “favorite daughter of New York”.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) might be new to the chamber, but his homage to Kennedy fit right in. “You are the pluperfect embodiment of someone who has dedicated her life to helping others,” he informed her.
Kennedy returned the love. When Menendez asked a stock question about whether she would keep the Senate apprised of developments on bilateral talks between the United States and Japan, she displayed formidable diplomatic skills.
“If confirmed, I hope to spend even more time with all of you than I have already,” she said.
Kennedy was accompanied by a family contingent that included two of her three children, as well as her aunt Vicky Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/caroline-kennedy-brings-camelot-to-a-confirmation-hearing/2013/09/19/e5343784-2142-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html
