Family trees

In what hopefully isn't interpreted as an anti-Clinton statement, I think this column in the Los Angeles Times is pretty interesting, and it hits on something that Hillary and I were talking about.

And that's namely that, if Hillary Clinton is elected in 2008 and serves two terms, the United States will have gone through 28 years of leadership from just two families. Some folks at Daily Kos are rebutting this, but I think their counterargument is a bit soft.

There primary claim is that while the current President Bush benefitted largely from the fact that his father was rich, powerful and, at one time, the president ... Hillary Clinton could have succeeded on her own.

I don't doubt the fact that Clinton is smart enough or that she didn't possess the proper amount in drive to succeed in life (from a political standpoint), but I do doubt that we'd be considering her as president if her husband hadn't already held the job and relied on her extensively while in office. The other Clinton is a remarkable politician who is savvy, smooth and comfortable in almost any setting.

If Hillary Clinton had not had a husband who had already held the nation's top office - and left that position with impressively high approval ratings - I just don't think she'd be a serious candidate for president. Senate Majority Leader, sure, but not president.