JFK’s daughter Caroline Kennedy could be named a U.S. ambassador by Obama

Canada and Ireland thought to be in the mix for Obama top supporter

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Caroline Kennedy remembers her father at a Capitol Hill ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of former President John F. Kennedy's inauguration. January 20th, 2011

Photo by CNN

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Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of former president John F Kennedy, is one of the names mentioned as a replacement for David Jacobson, as the United States Ambassador to Canada.

She has also been mentioned as  a potential ambassador to Ireland in journalistic circles in Washington. Apparently she is now thought to be available for a diplomatic posting. Her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.

Kennedy, a lawyer and author, briefly ran for U.S. senator in New York but withdrew in 2009. However, during Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign she endorsed the Democratic  candidate and provided a powerful boost for him along with her late Uncle Teddy.

A Canada-U.S. relations expert at the Hudson Institute told the National Post, “We’re lucky because President Obama puts a pretty good face on things for Canadians.

"But I think Caroline Kennedy would really add to that and give us a chance to deepen the relationship and connect well."

Read more: Caroline Kennedy set for Ireland to mark JFK's 50th anniversary visit

However Brian Bow, a political scientist at Dalhousie University who specializes in Canada-U.S. relations, does not agree.

He told the Globe and Mail, “The fact that we even play this guessing game tells us something about our own exaggerated sense of our importance…We have a hard time reconciling ourselves to the fact that we’re going to get a party bagman or woman."

Caroline Kennedy was almost killed by an IRA bomb in 1975. Kennedy was staying in London at the home of the Frasers, Sir Hugh and Antonia, when the IRA placed a bomb under Fraser's car because of his outspoken comments on Northern Ireland.

If Fraser and Kennedy had sat in the car as they had intended the next day and started the engine they would have been immediately blown up.

Jackie Kennedy was an old acquaintance of Sir Hugh and probably an old girlfriend.

Instead, the renowned cancer specialist Gordon Hamilton Fairley accidentally detonated the bomb, killing himself, after his dog dragged the device from underneath the car while they were out walking. Over 10,000 people attended his funeral amid widespread revulsion over the killing.

The frontrunners for the position according to the National Post are:

* Christine Gregoire, a former Washington state governor with expertise on border issues.

* Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor who was born in Vancouver.

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