It isn’t enough to want the prize. One must be up to the job, in a league with one’s fellow actors.

In Kennedy’s case, those actors would be senators, not heads of other, potentially belligerent, nations. If appointed, she would be a single vote among 100 and otherwise a placeholder until 2010, when she would have to run for election as any other.

Palin, who one could argue was similarly anointed — cynically selected without proper vetting — was headed for much bigger business. As vice president, she would have been a heartbeat away from The Button, though she would not have been “in charge of the U.S. Senate,” as she told a child who asked what the vice president does.