I was rereading Friday’s post about Liz Cheney’s (very) limited future in Republican politics, and began thinking about the whole subject of dynastic politics, or what happens when politics is the family business.
Mostly, in the U.S. it hasn’t worked out well. Examples that come to mind include George W. Bush whose father was also President, and Al Gore whose father was a Senator. I’d add Mitt Romney whose father was a governor who unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination.
The Kennedy brothers did well, if you can overlook two of the three being assassinated, but the next generation has been a bust. The jury is still out on Rand Paul, whose father Ron was a maverick congressman.
I suppose we should add Hilary Clinton as a failed presidential candidate. And while it wasn’t on the national level, as CA Governor Jerry Brown couldn’t hold a candle to his father Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.
I conclude that politics-as-family-business is largely a flawed model in the U.S. and maybe elsewhere as well. On the other hand, an objective observer would judge Nancy Pelosi has had a successful career and her father was a mayor of corrupt Baltimore.
