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{"id":645,"date":"2014-01-27T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/01\/parking-a-link-whither-meritocracy.html"},"modified":"2014-01-27T08:10:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T08:10:00","slug":"parking-a-link-whither-meritocracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/01\/parking-a-link-whither-meritocracy.html","title":{"rendered":"Parking a link: Whither meritocracy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

OK, strictly speaking, it says, \u201cnot in today\u2019s Democratic party\u201d \u2014 in which power is held by and passed on among a small inner circle of people with family or other close connections. Sam Kass was neighbor to Obama in his Hyde Park days, and his father was a teacher to the Obama children. He doesn\u2019t have extensive culinary experience working in top restaurants; he spent the first five years after graduating collge itinerantly travelling; then became family chef for the up-and-coming Obamas. His girlfriend Alex Wagner is the daughter of Democratic party operative Carl Wagner, and got her first D.C. position through the assistance of John Podesta, \u201c\u2018an old Washington neighbor\u2019 whose relationship with her father was longstanding,\u201d according to the article. <\/p>\n

What is happening, Continetti says, is that an American aristocracy is building itself, with personal connections from family relationships and close friendships becoming the name of the game. It\u2019s already frequently-reported that the media and the Obama administration have a close relationship, with people easily and frequently switching roles from journalist to staffer. But I hadn\u2019t really contemplated all these deep ties and relationships. <\/p>\n

Is Continetti right? Is the path to top positions of power found in being born in the right politically-connected family, or perhaps next-door to them, or at least being sponsored by someone powerful? Is this specific to the Democratic party, or the Obama administration, or would we be reading the same stories, with different names, had Romney won? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"