The qualifications of higher office

'Caroline Kennedy would like to be a senator. I don't blame her. So would I! Especially if David Paterson, the governor of New York, could just waft me into office, and I didn't have to, um, you know, campaign. I'll bet some parts of the job are really fun, and it's public service, which is so uplifting. You think I'm joking, but every argument that has been advanced for Kennedy is just as true for me. She's a mother, a writer, a person with no electoral experience and, so far as we know, no longstanding interest in acquiring any – me too! She has more kids; I've written more books – I'd say it averages out'

- Katha Pollitt, Guardian, 12 January 2009 (reprinted from The Nation)