Caroline Kennedy Finally Sworn In As Ambassador to Japan

Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

There was a bit of good news for the Kennedy clan today amid all the morbid assassination retrospectives and reports on Michael Skakel's murder retrial. Caroline Kennedy was sworn in as the United States ambassador to Japan after years of Carmen Sandiego-like speculation about which country she'd end up in. This is her first government position and she doesn't have any particular expertise in Japan, but she does have one important qualification. Kurt Campbell, a former assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, told the New York Times, "what you really want in an ambassador is someone who can get the president of the United States on the phone," adding, "I can’t think of anybody in the United States who could do that more quickly than Caroline Kennedy."