Fumble: Oh Caroline!

You know, it’s painful for me, you know, having grown up in the 1960s, you know, and, been influenced by, you know, by political icons, you know, like Pierre Trudeau and John F. Kennedy, to, you know, now Fumble Kennedy’s daughter, you know, Caroline Kennedy, who, you know, they’re calling “The Valley Girl of Camelot.” Lets get serious for a minute. The tortured interviews Caroline Kennedy conducted while promoting her candidacy to be appointed New York Senator to replace Hillary Clinton were cringe-worthy. Many said she made Sarah Palin appear intellectual. And essentially these bad interviews destroyed Kennedy’s chances, to the point where she pulled out this week (yes, there were also issues about her voting record, political donations and taxes). Consider this answer to a media question about whether President George W. Bush’s tax cuts should be repealed by the new administration: “Well, you know, that’s something, obviously, that, you know, in principle and in the campaign, you know, I think that, um, the tax cuts, you know, were expiring and needed to be repealed,” she said. As a former reporter, I can tell you the media will “clean up” someone’s quote if there are just a few problems with it. It’s sort of an unwritten rule. But when it’s this bad, media often go entirely the other way and make the story all about the speaking style. For example, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper ran a headline: “Caroline Kennedy: the woman who y’knowed too much.” And of course TV and radio clips never lie. It’s a great lesson about the value of preparing yourself for media interviews and taking media training, even refreshers or sessions focused entirely on your specific announcement, to practice being drilled on the tough questions and delivering your key messages. When the klieg lights shine on you, will you be prepared?