Upstate New Yorkers Not Impressed
18 December 2008 1:00 pm by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
| Caroline Kennedy Meets With Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll |
Yesterday didn’t go so well for Caroline Kennedy.
… She doesn’t even have the job yet, and she’s already acting like a seasoned insider. In her first visit to Buffalo and upstate since trying to clear the field by clearing her throat on a phone call to the governor, Kennedy went on a “listening tour” by listening first to political insiders in private meetings.
You can’t get any more “seasoned” than that.
No average Western New Yorkers expressing kitchen table concerns. Not much of a give-and-take with pesky reporters asking questions that working stiffs might want answers to. Instead, it’s mostly private sit-downs with political pooh-bahs, just like a veteran insider.
It’s that kind of seasoning that has cooked our goose as a region. [...]
Another New Yorker, someone with whom I’ve traded emails on occasion, also weighs in. It’s ugly:
“Yesterday was a mistake for her, and I knew it the moment she stepped out of the meeting. In the first place, she looked weak and indecisive when hesitating over whether to take questions after the Syracuse meeting, then deciding just to step into the car, yet taking questions after the Rochester and Buffalo meetings. In the second place, Byron Brown is an ineffective loser of a mayor who no one thinks has any idea how to fix anything in Buffalo. He will likely even get a primary challenge in 2009 from Hoyt. If you’re going to meet with anyone in WNY and invite the media and look good doing it, meet with Higgins (if he’ll do it) or Slaughter or even Golisano. In the third place, the whole concept of meeting with mayors and pretending like you’re trying to learn about the region is stupid. So she meets with Brown for 30 minutes, leaves his office with a stupid little Buffalo pin on her jacket and smiles proudly like she just learned a damn thing about the area when everyone knows she’s trying to gauge whether she can get Brown’s support. People just roll their eyes, and Watson, who is a very respected BuffNews voice, called her on it. So yes, this upstate New Yorker is annoyed with Caroline Kennedy.” – Adam Bink
Not a good start. So, if Paterson is looking for cover to say no to Kennedy, she’s sure providing it. See Mad Kane for comic relief.
