Arnold and Teddy. The first of many stories. Have fun writing your own headline for this one.
A Barbarian At the Gate Of Camelot
Kennedy Dynasty Braces For Arnold the Republican
By Ann Gerhart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 8, 2003; Page C01
Now we find out whether America's best-known political dynasty can embrace diversity in its midst.
The distance to be covered isn't trivial. There is the Kennedy clarion call to service, as sounded by the Camelot president: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
And then there is the Terminator's explanation, offered up with a big-jawed grin on the "Tonight" show Wednesday: "It's the most difficult [decision] I've made in my entire life, except the one I made in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax." (Ah, Ted Sorensen, where have you gone?)
Many Kennedys have taken the oath of office in the decades between those two declarations, and they all have been Democrats. Kennedys have always been Democrats, back to the lace-curtain Irish days in Boston. As a sprawling clan, they have overcome the very worst tragedies, divorces, flagrant affairs, plane crashes, drug addictions. Never before have they had to bear one of their own as a Republican gunning for office.
And not just any office -- some spot in the House of Delegates somewhere or a starter job like county council -- but governor of California, the nation's most populous state. And not just any normal election, with an exploratory committee and hand-shaking and countless town hall meetings, but a spectacularly peculiar and unprecedented election, which could be won with, say, 12 percent of the vote.
And, to add insult to injury, the Terminator further showcases the grave disarray of the Democrat Party: When the only Kennedy who might get elected governor is a Republican, the party may be worse off than a mere $200 million gap in fundraising might suggest.
Let's run through the lineage again: Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian immigrant who arrives in America with nothing but the lats on his back, marries Maria Shriver, daughter of Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver and his wife, Eunice, who is the sister of President John F. Kennedy and the senior senator from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy.
The senator is the surrogate father of the family, and its political leader, so he issues yesterday's statement: "I like and respect Arnold, and I've been impressed with his efforts to promote after-school education in California and his willingness to come to Congress and the administration to fight for that program.
"But" -- and you knew the "but" was coming, right? -- "I'm a Democrat, and I don't support the recall effort."
About 49 other Kennedys were called, including Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), who has turned into a prodigious fundraiser on behalf of House Democrats, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who in November lost Democrats their Maryland governorship for the first time in three decades. None of them seem interested in commenting on this bizarre development, except Mark Shriver, Maria's brother, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates who lost a primary contest for Congress last year. "I'm not talking," says Shriver. "He's my brother-in-law and I'm supporting him and that's all."
As for Maria, now a potential first-lady-in-waiting, yesterday she asked for an unpaid leave from her position as an NBC reporter. It was granted. She wasn't talking, either.
This breakdown in party discipline in the Kennedy family started a long time ago, of course, with the 1986 nuptials of Maria and Arnold. A People magazine account of their wedding in Hyannisport noted the union produced an odd lot of ushers: "The dark-haired Shriver brothers, Bobby, Anthony, Timothy and Mark, seemed slight next to such Schwarzenegger bodybuilding buddies as Sven-Ole Thorsen, a massive Swede stuffed into a size-54 cutaway, and the short, powerfully built best man, Franco Columbu, a Mr. Universe-turned-chiropractor who was Arnold's bricklaying partner in less heady days."
The blending of two traditions began that weekend. Maid of honor Caroline Kennedy gave the bridesmaids' gifts to Maria, a sterling silver comb, brush and mirror set with a matching silver tray, and Maria, in turn, gave each of her bridesmaids a black lacquered box adorned with a hand-painted rendering of Rose Kennedy's house. Former U.N. secretary general Kurt Waldheim presented the couple with a larger-than-life sculpture of themselves, featuring Arnold smiling in lederhosen, hoisting a dirndl-skirted Maria into the air.
Over time, as is often the case with married couples, Shriver grew more fit and Schwarzenegger became more interested in helping others. Kennedy family biographer Laurence Leamer yesterday played down the actor's Republican identity in a tribe of staunch Democrats.
"Arnold is a liberal Republican, which, in terms of ideology, isn't that much different from John F. Kennedy as a moderate Democrat," said Leamer, who has just finished an examination of this Kennedy generation called "Sons of Camelot."
"He has been mostly influenced by the Shrivers. No family has hit such a grand slam with its five children, where every one of these children is dedicated to good works," said Leamer, and he ran through the list: Sarge started the Peace Corps, and begat Mark, who now works with Save the Children; Tim, who runs Special Olympics; Bobby, who with Bono pushed for billions in debt relief for African nations; and Anthony, who runs the mentoring program Best Buddies. Even Maria donated the proceeds of her children's books to charity, said Leamer.
With his efforts on behalf of after-school education and Special Olympics, Conan the Barbarian became a do-gooder, joining the in-laws in what seems to be a genetic proclivity for public service. In other words, a Kennedy, just one with a different accent -- and a different voter registration card.
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