Caroline Kennedy gets off to a bad start

Caroline Kennedy (pictured) may have many qualities, but articulacy, it seems, is not one of them. In an series of interviews with the New York press, granted as part of her bid to be given Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be-vacated US Senate seat, she sounded more like a teenage girl gossiping in a coffee bar, repeating the phrase "you know" 142 times.

Explaining why she would make a good senator, she said: "So I think in many ways, you know, we want to have all kinds of different voices, you know, representing us, and I think what I bring to it is, you know, my experience as a mother, as a woman, as a lawyer, you know, I've been an education activist for the last six years here, and, you know, I've written seven books – two on the constitution, two on American politics. So obviously, you know, we have different strengths and weaknesses."

Asked to justify her candidacy, she replied: "Um, this is a fairly unique moment both in our, you know, in our country's history, and, and in, in, you know, my own life, and um, you know, we are facing, you know, unbelievable challenges, our economy, you know, healthcare, people are losing their jobs here in New York obviously um, ah, you know. . . "

Kennedy, daughter of the assassinated president John F Kennedy, became tetchy when asked to describe the moment she decided she wanted the Senate seat. "Have you guys ever thought about writing for, like, a woman's magazine or something?" One of them responded: "What do you have against women's magazines?" Kennedy shot back: "Nothing at all, but I thought you were the crack political team here."

The atmosphere worsened when one reporter asked: "Would you have sought this [the Senate seat] if there hadn't been an appointment open, if it had been an election?" Kennedy replied: "I think we covered that." The reporter pressed on: "What's the answer, then, if we covered it?"

The reaction to the interview, an excerpt of which has been posted on YouTube, has been universally bad. Michael Goodwin, a columnist for the New York Daily News, said that the "wheels of the bandwagon are coming off", adding: "That truth is that Kennedy is not ready for the job and doesn't deserve it. Somebody who loves her should tell her. Her quest is becoming a cringe-inducing experience, as painful to watch as it must be to endure."