Obama Veep: Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy (Ret.)

    I don;t know that much about retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, so I'm soliciting your comments.

    What I do know is that she was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1947 and became the first woman to attain the rank of three-star general.

    I am not the first to suggest her, so I will provide this brief biographical summary from a post at democraticunderground, with a few [] notes of my own. It is accurate, as far as I know:
    In 1997, Kennedy was promoted to lieutenant general and named Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. In 1999, she made a sexual harassment claim against fellow officer General Larry Smith, stemming from an incident in 1996 when she was a major general and he was a brigadier general. Kennedy made the accusation after Smith was slated for promotion to the position of Army deputy Inspector General, the position responsible for investigation of sexual harassment claims. Kennedy claimed that Smith had attempted to grope and kiss her; Smith's appointment to the inspector general's office was later withdrawn. Some service members have criticized Kennedy for waiting three years to file her complaint. [The Army supported her claim.]

    Kennedy retired from the military in June 2000 after 31 years in the Army but under the shadow of her delayed allegations. During the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Kennedy was critical of George W. Bush's military policies, especially as they related to the status of women in the armed forces. According to General Kennedy: "If Mr. Bush becomes president, his campaign platform says he will move us back to a much earlier time."

    In 2002, Democrats actively sought to recruit General Kennedy to challenge U.S. Senator John Warner, a Republican from Virginia. Kennedy passed on the race.
    Kennedy endorsed Senator John Kerry for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination in September 2003, and served as an advisor to the Kerry campaign. (see John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004). She was sometimes mentioned as a possible nominee for Secretary of Defense in a Kerry administration.

    She endorsed anti-war politicians Eric Massa and Patrick Murphy in 2006, which suggests that she opposes the Iraq War. She also endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton in her campaign for president.
    Your thoughts?

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