Bootstrapping on Legacy: Nepotism watch

As the supremely under qualified Ms. Caroline Kennedy plans to get Hillary Clinton's Senate seat solely on the strength and popularity of nothing but her last name, it was interesting to note this response from a Times reader...

It is amusing that Andrew M. Cuomo, who owes his whole career to his dad, may not get the Senate seat of Hillary Rodham Clinton (who owes her whole career to her husband) because David A. Paterson (who owes his whole career to his dad) may give it to Caroline Kennedy (who owes her whole career to her dad).

The Beast opines better.

Even in parvenu America, noblesse oblige is as good an impetus as any, and many of our best (and a couple of our worst) leaders have been to the manor born. We have a tradition of electing officials with last names like Roosevelt and Adams and, of course, Kennedy, and we are often pleased with the results. Dynasty is not un-American, even if it is anti-democratic. Conversely, some of our most naturally gifted presidents of recent years—Nixon and Clinton come to mind—came right out of the dogpatch and spent a good deal of their public lives struggling with their upstart demons to the detriment of just getting the job done. It was far better to live in ancient Judea in the time of King Solomon, who was born a prince, than in the turbulent days of King David, who started his life as a simple shepherd.

A related post on political ceilings and women appeared on this blog about a year back...

Thoughts on yesterday’s election primary

Yesterday’s election primary results were interesting in the sense that the number of contenders for what is supposed to the most powerful political office in the world has narrowed down to three individuals. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. What was especially heartening to note was the fact that the candidacy of the shape shifting, forever morphing, chameleon like persona of Mitt Romney is effectively over. While a popular train of through informs that just about any monkey’s uncle would be better than the current incumbent of the White House, at this point, for me, the tension that accompanies the selection of candidature of the United States presidency is effectively over. I can live with any one of the three, Hillary, Barack or McCain… They are all fairly level headed and good for the country.

Related news from Bloomberg:
Last Saturday in Chelsea, New York magazine art writer Jerry Saltz compared Hillary Clinton to MoMA. How unkind. And possibly true. Both entities had ``lost touch'' and were ``a bit of a disappointment. The event, at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery, was a rally to get out the vote for candidate Obama, also the presidential choice of New Yorker magazine art critic Peter Schjeldahl, artist Matthew Ritchie and New Museum curator Laura Hoptman. Obama was like the New Museum, Saltz riffed, ``impossible, audacious, awkward.'' ``Like a dream,'' he said, ``it changes everything overnight.''