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Originally Posted by goofyballer
I can't speak for Trolly but my reaction was that the lesson of the 2016 election wasn't "this was all great we just picked the wrong dynasty to throw in the ring, that was the problem"
But on the other hand, these SOTU responses matter for ~nothing and none of them ever make a difference or elevate the person giving them* (often hurts them, see Rubio drinking water or Jindal's hilarious response to Obama's first address to Congress) so who cares
*Paul Ryan a possible exception though I think his profile was already high-ish in 2011
I mean, people aren't keen on political dynasties, but I think most voters have a positive view of most of the Kennedy family anyway... In particular JFK and RFK. It's also not like this is the beginning of an automatic presidential run for Kennedy, or some culmination as opposed to open competition.
I don't know if I'd say SOTU responses don't matter at all - I would say they're extremely difficult speeches. You can write it in advance, but you may have to respond at the last minute to unexpected content in the SOTU... Especially this year. You don't have any breaks from an audience cheering (also a chance to drink water, LOL Rubio), and you have no energy to feed off of from an audience.
I think Joe Kennedy is pretty good at laying out the message that Democratic policies are compassionate and make sense for the average American worker/family/person. My guess is that's why they wanted him to give this speech. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the prominent presidential hopefuls didn't want to touch it.
Like, if you're Booker, Harris, Gillibrand, Warren (if she's running), etc, giving the SOTU response is a negative freeroll. Best case: you kill it and nobody new knows about you, nothing matters by the time 2020 rolls around, and nothing changes for you. Worst case: you pull a Rubio and it sticks with you going forward.
Also, and I can't say this enough, the choice of Kennedy is infinitely better than the last guy they trotted out there (Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear), who literally got tongue tied and said he was a Republican.
I'm confident Kennedy won't accidentally announce he's a Republican.