The widow incumbency strikes again

Ted Kennedy has recently announced that, in the event his brain tumor precludes him from continuing in public office, he would prefer his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy to succeed him in the Senate.

This coming from the same man who has railed against the Clinton dynasty and the Bush dynasty.

This coming from a man whose family has filled that same Senate seat almost without pause since 1953.

And somehow he thinks he has the right to name his successor in the United States Senate. If the last sixteen years of national politics have taught us nothing else in this country, it should have at least taught us that dynastic politics are the antithesis of democratic principles.

As for Victoria Kennedy, if she has any self-respect, she should refuse an appointment to fill her husband's seat in the unfortunate event of his death or resignation. The widow incumbency has been an important stepping stone for women into positions of political power in this country. But its basic assumption - that a woman's most important qualification for public office is matrimonial - is simultaneously ridiculous and insulting. If she wants the seat - and, more importantly, if the people of Massachusetts want her to have it - then she can run for it in a special election and win or lose as the public wills.