Living On

Two lessons in how a father's spirit lives on even when his heart stops beating come from Kingston, Ont., and San Cristobal, Peru. A 9-year-old Canadian decided that rather than save for his own iPod, he'd have a toy sale to raise money for a headstone to mark his father's grave. Much further south, Mayor Rogelio Vizcarra kept everything in perspective when thieves (probably political opponents) dug his father's body from its grave and threatened to crush the skull if he continued to run for reelection.

One lesson in how to crush spirits while living and from beyond comes from North Korea, where Kim Jong-un is named as footstep follower in dad Kim Jong-Il's evil. [Earlier: Political Pops]

Don't Do It, Dad

The text of Meghan McCain's Dirty Sexy Politics has just been published, but the subtext has been available for years. McCain is the daughter of 2008 POTUS runner-up John McCain. Fresh out of Columbia, she became a fixture on the campaign trail and the media thanks to (dad and) her McCainBloggette (now just a book promotion vehicle: her "work" has moved to Twitter and The Daily Beast) campaign blog.

Claiming to speak for the old time, Republican moderates, Meghan, 25,  repeats (and repeats and repeats) her political message that the Republican party has lost its way, with its representatives forced to cater to Tea Party "crazies." Given the recent campaign where father John felt forced to rail against some long-held positions in order to recapture the Republican nomination for Arizona senator, the daughter seems to be attempting to warn/shame the father ... with love.

In Praise of the Argumentative

Today in mountains-from-molehills news we have the Teutuls and Pauls. There may be floods and economic deprivation in the world while we count down to the Mayan-predicted (did they see their own end coming) apocalypse in 2012. However, the really important things in the media are struggles between sons and dads ... at least celebrity/politician fathers and male progeny.

The world of "entertainment" brings forth the news that co-star of American Chopper father Paul Teutel Sr. blew off co-star son Jr.'s nuptials this past weekend. Apparently, the wedding was a big reality-TV deal. And hot on the heels of that we have Texas Congressman Ron Paul announcing that people who own property should get to do what they want with it in contradiction to son and Kentucky senator candidate Rand Paul who thinks (at least in the case of something controversial for his potential constituents) that a middle way denying private property rights and pressuring for a monetary donation is the right way to go in trying to steer the more politically expedient course regarding the proposed 51 Park Muslim cultural center. They do seem to agree that the first amendment freedom of religion thing isn't that important so undoubtedly there is hope for reconciliation — in the same way that Teutel Jr. says of his missing pops, "I still love him, and the truth of the matter is it was an absolutely perfect day and I wouldn't have changed anything."

Let the debate begin. To what degree is Levi Johnston a model for unwed fathers?

The high school grad, presumably has offers (of varying degrees of sleazy) throughout America. However, rather than let his pleasures take him far from home, he has decided to gather up some money for son Tripp by pursuing a new and more legitimate career than centerfold. Reports are that he will try to recreate himself as a role model, by running for mayor of hometown, Wasilla, Alaska, as the basis for some reality tv.

Afro Pop Supreme

How great can you be if your father will always be greater? That is the question faced by Femi Kuti, oldest son of Afrobeat legend — and focus of a Broadway hit —  Fela Kuti and musical force in his own right.


As a recent NY Times piece had it, "As Fela’s oldest son, Mr. Kuti, 48, is in an unusual, demanding and potentially contradictory position." His father was a self-celebratory political and cultural force, but the son must celebrate his father, his father's music and be honest and true to the sound that make Femi Kuti a force on the stage.

Connect the Dots ... Soon

In February 2009, Britain's new Prime Minister, David Cameron, lost his oldest son, six-year-old Ivan Reginald Ian Cameron. He has a child due in September — joining sister Nancy, 6, and Arthur Elwen, 4 — who will be the third newborn in the history of the residents of 10 Downing.

Does his daddyhood tell us about how he will handle Britain's economy, which has some significant aspects of a sick child, other than he has faced a horrible situation and kept going? Probably not, at least until his kids get old enough to land on the cover of Fleet Street rags or start twittering their woes about life with dad ... and we can slowly and in retrospect fit the results of his government with the handling of his family.

But beware daddy DC, at some time we will be able to connect the two.

Egad Gamal

If you can't be overtly angry at the father then at least you can subvert the son. That is the current story in Egypt, where iron-fisted monarch (sorry, democratically elected president) Hosni Mubarak is grooming son Gamal to take over in 2011.

Father Mubarak is a strong man in a divided country, having ruled for 28 years in the wake of the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Son Mubarak has the claim to fame of somehow getting into the Top 100  — seemingly for the possibility that he might become Egyptian pres — when Time Magazine considered its 2009 man of the year.

The WD guess: he wins the election and proposes reasonable and necessary reforms which (in a reaction to a bit more freedom than they had during his father's reign) lead his (father's) enemies to spark enough trouble to cost him the country within a year or two.

Family Politics

That his pain is being ignored because of his politics is a theme in the very few notices of David Horowitz's book, A Cracking of the Heart. Horowitz is the one-time lefty who migrated to life under the neo-con banner. That trip followed a break with his father and years later sealed a break with his daughter.

It is his daughter, Sarah, and her death at 44 from the congenital Turner Sydrome that is the spark for this father's memoir of how extraordinary his child was, including the questions of what he lost by being who he was.

The Followers

There's the old saw to "lead, follow or get out of the way," but that's not quite how it works with the son-father dynamic. In most cases, sons can only choose to follow — as in the case of Bill Fisher, son of Gap Founder Don Fisher and newly appointed to his late father's seat on the company board — or let go — as Ted Kennedy Jr. has chosen to do with regard to the election for his late father's Senate seat.

Political Battles

There is not-so-happy news to report from the father-daughter politico front.

To begin, Florida mayor Stacy Ritter has apparently pissed off her daddy big time. Ed Portner, 84, was so irked at his daughter's politics that he took to drink and waving a gun around, assualt and burgling his daughter's home. Portner, who is currently out on $25,000 bail, pledges to continue his campaign for mayor a town near his daughter's .... and despite her having already endorsed her father's opponent, the incumbent, even before his latest rampage.

While Portner is understandably down, perhaps he might take some solace for the even more uncomfortable position of Filipino father Marino Morales, the incumbent mayor of Mabalacat, Pampanga. Morales daughter Marjorie not only disagrees with his politics she is actually running against him, despite dad's prayers to the contrary.

That daddy-daughter thing can be tricky. Perhaps it's only fair to blame the mums?

Political Pops

Political succession can be scary. Scary funny. Scary uncomfortable. Scary sad.

For the funny, consider the announcement that Ethan Hastert will run for congress. Ethan, son of one of Rolling Stone's 2006 10 worst congressmen and disgraced former speaker Denny, has no experience, except what he learned at his father's knee. Perhaps it will be enough ... at least for a few laughs.

For uncomfortable, consider the position of Kim Jong-nam, oldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Although KJ-n once seemed to be on the path to leadership, a little bit of his own crazy and his pop's (and perhaps his mother's death) have contributed to his younger step-brother, Kim Jong-un seeming to be the favorite to succeed his father, who succeeded his father. [Earlier: Entertaining Evil] It is possible that KJ-u may end up disappeared in the succession, but other than that the North Korean succession might make for a lukewarm BBC political soap, except for the part about people acting crazy who are in control of nuclear weapons.

And if you're in the mood to cry while wondering what could have been different if a son had been allowed to follow the path of his father as a tribal chief, The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does not Forget tells how the son tried to bring his father's murderers — men who said they were only carrying out (i.e., not guilty of) the madness of Idi Amin's Uganda — to justice.

Funny, scary or sad, it's all just the politics of the place as a son succeeds a politico father.

Farewell to a Funny Father and Son

The "son" is only 12 years younger than the "father," but both are retiring and have decided its time to say goodbye.

A Message from George W Bush from Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell, 41, as POTUS 43 is taking his Bush son out of office — with better reviews than the real guy got in office — and the world will get along, just as it has without 53-year-old Dana Carvey's POTUS 41 (and just as we have gotten along without the real father and will benefit from no more son).

So the best of father and son will be gone and the characters unlikely to return unless John Ellis or Babs and Jen can be encouraged to step up so that Saturday Night Live can fill their shoes. All the can be said is comedy will be the poorer as son and father head off into the dark night.

Dana Carvey - George Bush
by quouequoueg

Will Ferrell as George Bush - watch more funny videos

Dreaming and Scheming

Headlines in France (and about current French news) are asking Who's The Daddy of Justice Minister Rachida Dati's daughter Zohra. Some say that if the rumor is true that pops is President Sarkozy's bro it would explain how the mom has kept her job despite a fair amount of sniping about how she is handling her job.

The employment drama of former Florida governor Jeb Bush also is making some headlines as his father declared his son "as qualified and as able as anyone I know in the political scene" to be president. Many oberservers of the Bush family dynamic have long whispered that this was true for POTUS 41 long before and certainly during the reign of error of Jeb brother, POTUS 43 ... and cinematic W.

Sometimes how the dad paves the way is obvious — as in the case of California 10-year-old Paris, who is unlikely to be an author of multiple books without her dad, a publishing company president, helping out. Other times, you know the dad is behind the success of his child — as is seen as Jastie Singka heads off to school, the son of an elementary school graduate but determined father — , but it is time that will tell the story of how much and what kind of favor the scion will discover.

The public may be unaware of Zohra's father is thinking, but it is nearly certain he is dreaming and scheming some beautiful future for his daughter ... in case he is able to take the opportunities available to give it to her.

WBD?

It's that time again! What time? That time ....

Creating an instant tradition, the Dads-Space folks announced they are seeking The World's Best Dad in what sounds like a competition that has been around for a while. Surprisingly, some of the contest details are a bit fuzzy. For example, the standards for entry are unstated, prizes are undetermined, and ceremony date unstated. However, the general idea to create a real contest — rather than just pretend a celebrity represents something other than himself — out of what otherwise makes for a barroom argument (if among males) or coffee or cocktail klatsch (should the arbiters of best dad be female) is laudable.

So, what actually makes for the WBD? Could it be someone like Mike Mone, who dragged his lawyer son into some pro bono work fighting for the unwinnable situation of trying to unite an Uzbeki father with his son by bringing the two to Ireland? The father of a 6-year-old he hasn't seen thanks to his captivity, Oybek Jamoldinivich Jabbarov, was kept at Guantanamo first without strong evidence he had done something wrong and now because there is nowhere to send him since his home country is likely to torture him.

Jabbarov would be an unlikely WBD, but it is certain that he represents something about fatherhood.

Also unlikely is Thai Major General Khattiya, who has threatened to bomb his daughter if she is unlucky enough to end up among the wrong group protesting the government. Still, there is certainly something to be said for a father who worries about his daughter, warns his daughter, provides her with a loving home, but lets her stand for something he is opposed to. As Khattiya said, "I lit a joss stick and told my wife, who passed away four years ago, that the nation was more important than a daughter. I can reproduce another child but the country cannot be reproduced."

Mone, Jabbarov, Khattiya or maybe even Ludwig? Which one represents the best dadding the world can aspire to? Ludwig, of course, has proposed sick days for SAHDs based on recent experience tending to his two sick kids and then suffering through the sickness they passed on to him.

Each one an interesting choice. And there are others. With no rules or standards or surety about what it all means make sure to get your vote in now.

Not at First

Fighting the good fight does not mean always fighting the right fight or battling towards a win that is really possible. Still, when talking about fathers, it is always necessary to F the GF.

Gemtasu most honors his father, Moimango, by celebrating his (re)smoking. The singing and dancing around the corpse won't bring him back to life, but it does recognize the quality work of scientists' ability to remummify.

Similarly, Ted Kucowski probably won't ever see son Brandon racing alongside him, but the birth defect schizenchephaly from which teh younger Kman suffers shouldn't stop them from competing as a father-son team in additional 5ks, triathalons and marathons (they've been in 40, 20 and "a handful," respectively). How better to celebrate love than to fight together even when you know you won't come in first. In such cases, winning the race takes on a very different meaning.

Winning is also likely to take on — if the polls can be believed — a different aspect for Dough and father John McCain. The son makes a number of wonderful points about his father, but perhaps not enough to justify his winning the presidency, which at least today he seems likely to lose. But pride and love should still always be on display betwee child and father &mdash it is the good and right fight — even when all rational thought argues that is it hopeless.

Love is never hopeless.

'Nuff Taught

Sometimes you can never get enough and other times enough is enough. It is a father's job to teach his children which times are which and why.

No doubt former Bush administration (41 & 43) member Colin Powell will need to explain to son Michael his recent endorsement of the candidacy of Barack Obama. As of last month, the former FCC commissioner and John McCain adviser didn't think his father would be endorsing anyone. The senior Powell said his "change of mind" is the result of someone else's son being demonized.

Seeing a picture of a mom weeping at the gravestone of Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, a Muslim who lost his life fighting for America, and having heard more than enough from one side of the politcal spectrum were what led to Powell's inserting a soldier into this year's political dialogue (one which has too often revolved around the inanities embodied in Plumber Joes). For which Khan's father can't thank Powell enough.

One of Powell's poinsts was that it wasn't enough for someone to say Barack Obama was not Muslim. It was American, it was just plain right to ask what would be wrong if he was and demand that the answer be that there would be nothing wrong. Similarly, as stay-at-home-dad Melton argues, it's not enough to admit that SAHDs and all dads can take care of children, it's time to recognize that it is plain stupidity to assume (as media and "common" wisdom does for the sake of lame jokes) that in general dads can't parent.

Listen up children, enough is enough.

Scary Visions

There is no scientific evidence, but perhaps some new dads get scary visions of the future. Those would be the ones who get male postpartum depression as they see trouble ahead for their children.

Mild scary would be the view of how one's own reputation will help and haunt your son, as is the case with Justin Trudeau, who carries both his father Pierre's name and reputation into his own political campaigns. Trudeau père was Canada's swinging 70s prime minister and his third son has decided to continue the good fight to keep his country together and do a bit of self-aggrandizing in the mean time.

A bit more frightening would be the fight of children over money in a way that threatens a great legacy. Such is the fate of the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., whose three surviving children are antagonists in court for the third time in four months, this time to battle for control over their mom's estate.

And, finally, there is the horror show of a son who wastes prodigious talent and takes his own life to the edge of the abyss, teeters ... and then falls. Such is the fate of Guillaume Depardieu, French actor-extraordinaire Gérard, who rebelled against his father for most of his life. The younger Depardieu, a blistering memoirist and lionized actor in his own right, weakened himself with drugs and other excess and lost his life to what has been described as a "lightening quick" strike by pneumonia.

The world is a scary place and new dads have reason to fret, but they need to fight the fear with hope for the future as well. There is enough father saddle their kids with. No need to throw one's depression in there too.

Caring Fathers to Dance on the Political Stage

Admittedly, it is foolish to predict a trend. Still, it is hard to avoid licking one's chops in anticipation that just as 2008 welcomed "hockey moms" to the political lexicon, the presidential election of 2012 could well be the year of the Hair Braiding Dads as a make-or-break demographic niche.

Soccer moms drove kids in minivans around and around; NASCAR dads sucked down beers in front of the tv; and HBDs will be the cohort of single dads who are their child(ren)'s sole or primary caregiver. [Earlier: Daddy Demographics] The prototype is current candidate for VPOTUS, Joe Biden, who lost his wife but carried on raising his children alone for many years. [Earlier: Veep Daddies]

Coupled and single moms get most of the buzz, but in a quad of annums it will be the single pops' turn to pirouette on the grand stage.

And, to dive head first into the predicing biz, while the spotlight will shine most blindingly during the United States' election year, the international nature of the group is easily grasped. In India already, a near equal number of single dads and moms are equally, heavily involved in their kids's schools (46 percent to 48 percent). In Jamaica, men are breaking through the braiding and class parent barriers. And even in Australia, home of the super Sheilas, there are emerging clusters of HBDs.

Four more years ...

L of H

Become a dad. Become your dad. The stillborn dad. Today it's three choices, each with its on aura of suggestive sadness.

The Chatham (Ont.) Daily News reports on Matthew Humphrey, a 20-year-old Chatham, Ont., father-to-be who "realizes he must 'grow-up" to face his upcoming responsibilities. Can the crack-oxycodone user pull his life together before it's too late for his girlfriend delivers their twins in January? Everyone hopes so and a court has weighed in with a lighter sentence for his legal transgressions in sympathy to his situation. But history is a bit mixed on whether or not having kids makes a man of a boy.

A maker of history, although in a way likely to include the mesmerizingly mean, is Jean Sarkozy, the second son of the current French president Nicolas Sarkozy. He is engaged at 21 (dad waited until 26 for the first of three tries); he has just taken over a political party in a dazzling display of allegiances of convenience that remind observers of his sire and, in general, is evincing the sort of political machinations (Machiavellian? Metternichian? Sarkozian?) that have propelled pop to power.

For better or worse Sarkozy fils had dad as a model. And maybe young Humphrey will turn things around in time for his offspring. But these aren't the only worrisome role models. There is also the spector of nobody as father, and the resulting bewonderment of the child is the subject of essays in the soon to be released, Nobody's Father. Actual men who are biologically related will make their appearance in the collection, but they do so as real characters, not at all in the way they act in the lives of their children ... or in the way that the children act in the lives of men with no child to pass their legacy to.

Not quite a legacy of hope today.

Daddy Demographics

As sometimes happens in election years, the world of snarky bloggers and real news collides. So, a subset of media focused on rumors of Wasilla as the state of Alaska's crystal meth capital and a story of a St. Paul, Minn., dad sentenced because his daughter "shared" his meth with schoolfriends suggests the possibility of a new political group for reporters to hype.

Alaska Governor Palin has made much out of being a "hockey mom" in her run for the American vice presidency, so it is only natural political reporters must — for the sake of balance — search for a male equivalent of a jazzy nom-de-previously-unmonikored-voting-class. In 2004 it was the NASCAR Dads who ruled, in 2000 it was allegedly the year of the soccer moms. In the sillly struggles of new and old media is there any hope this could be the year of the "Meth Dads" as the voting group that will decide the election?

If not, perhaps this could be the year of the "pipe daddies," usually gentlefolk like Deltona, Fla., dad Raul Colon, who are encouraged to take up a pipe and start smacking boys their teen daughters have been sneaking into the house for pre-connubial bliss. Or could all this talk of service actually take hold, leading to this being the year when "band daddies" finally get their turn in the sun as the agenda setters? What other fathering groups are in the running?

Maybe we should start the last few days of the campaign with an election to determine which group of fathers should be the candidate for pundit-validated key demographic group?