Look, it's hard not to speculate. Human beings are prone to anticipation, it's an instinct. But there comes a point in journalism where speculation becomes basically idiotic, namely, when you've begun to criticize people for things they haven't done yet, as Politico does in a story headlined "Nepotism Nation: Dems embrace dynasty politics."
His secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton, the wife of the former president. The Senate seat she’ll vacate is being pursued by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a president and the niece of two senators. Joe Biden’s Senate seat may go to his son Beau. Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, Obama’s pick for Interior Secretary, could end up being replaced by his brother, Rep. John Salazar.
And Obama's own seat could go to the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. – less likely now in light of developments in the Rod Blagojevich scandal – or to the daughter of Illinois’ current House speaker.
So, yes, other than Hillary Clinton, every single example of the Democrats "embracing nepotism" is something that hasn't happened yet. No mention of the outgoing president's family history or what he thinks of his brother becoming a United States senator, reported elsewhere in the same publication. Let's keep in mind that you have to go back to Nixon to find a Republican ticket that wins without a Bush. In an earlier news cycle, Politico breathlessly searched the internet to find liberals who were unhappy with Obama's cabinet appointments, here, they don't quote a single one critical of the possibility of appointing Caroline Kennedy to the Senate, despite the fact that liberal bloggers have been tearing their hair out about it all week. None of this is to say that nepotism isn't rampant among both political officeholders and power brokers, but that it's hardly a Democratic phenomenon, and there are better examples than appointments that haven't occurred.
The fact that Jesse Jackson Jr. is unlikely to get that Senate seat looks more like the result of media figures speculating about wrongdoing on his part. That is the undescribed "development" that hurt his chances and it's sort of ridiculous for the press to talk around it. Also, Jackson's paternal grandfather was a sharecropper and despite his influence within the party, the highest office his father ever held was shadow senator from Washington, D.C. so let's not get ahead of ourselves comparing him to the Udalls and the Bushes, the Gores, Sunnunus, or Doles.
But to get back to the point, nepotism is something that is going to happen happens among Democrats.
-- A. Serwer
