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Discussions about Caroline Kennedy’s possible appointment to the US Senate seem to revolve around the question of Kennedy’s “qualifications.” Is she qualified?

It is an interesting question. When there is an important job to be done, how can we judge who is best qualified?

If the task is surgery, the question of evaluating the qualification of surgeons seems straight forward. In choosing a surgeon, the bottom line question to be answered is: Who can be trusted with this big responsibility? Who can be counted on? In choosing a US Senator, the bottom line question that needs to be answered is the same: Who can be trusted? Who can be counted on?

Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg at John F. Kennedy Awards ceremony at Harvard in November)

Trust is the foremost factor in judging the qualifications of either a surgeon or a senator. The resume of a person you may choose as your senator will look quite different from the resume of a person you may choose as your surgeon, but the bottom line question in evaluating either comes down to a question of trust.

The amount of trust you put into a person is determined mostly by an evaluation of the person’s character. Evaluating whether a person seeking an important government position is worthy of trust, means evaluating the person’s overall character and overall point of view or philosophy.

Dick Cheney, when chosen by George Bush to be his Vice President, had a great resume. Based on his extensive government and executive career, Cheney seemed highly “qualified” to be US Vice President. But, Cheney has been an awful Vice President. As it turned out he was not trustworthy, not worthy of the trust of Americans. Anyone paying attention to Cheney’s established character and point of view, prior to his election, I believe, was not surprised by Cheney’s behavior once he had power. Cheney’s untrustworthy behavior as Vice-President was foreshadowed in his character and point of view.

Sarah Palin destroyed her chance to be considered trustworthy when she made her speech at the Republican Convention — repeating lie after lie of mean spirited words that obviously she, herself, had not written. I considered Palin “unqualified,” not so much because of her obvious lack of knowledge nor the thinness of her resume, but because she proved herself unqualified by saying or doing anything those in power asked of her. She proved herself untrustworthy because in the campaign, over and over, she showed lack of character and lack of independent thought.

Caroline Kennedy, it seems to me, is an incorruptible person. I believe her life story and her life history shows that she can be trusted to use her many talents with integrity, trusted to think and act independently, and that her guiding light will be a profound desire for justice and for the common good. Caroline Kennedy, I feel, can be trusted to stand for ideals articulated by her father, and, that, in keeping with those ideals, she can be trusted to be a voice and advocate for helping average people, for making America a world leader for peace, and for strengthening our democracy.

Caroline Kennedy to me is trustworthy. It is because I trust her, trust her character and trust her point of view, that I feel that Caroline Kennedy is highly qualified to be an excellent US Senator.

Jimmy Carter, writing in the Washington Post, says, that, based on his personal I involvement, “the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.”

Carter blames Israel for breaking a “fragile truce” on Nov. 4, “when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza.”

Carter says, “After 12 days of ‘combat,’ the Israeli Defense Forces reported that more than 1,000 targets were shelled or bombed. During that time, Israel rejected international efforts to obtain a cease-fire, with full support from Washington. Seventeen mosques, the American International School, many private homes and much of the basic infrastructure of the small but heavily populated area have been destroyed. This includes the systems that provide water, electricity and sanitation. Heavy civilian casualties are being reported by courageous medical volunteers from many nations, as the fortunate ones operate on the wounded by light from diesel-powered generators.”