Family ties

The news today reported that George and Laura Bush’s daughter Jenna is engaged to be married. Already speculation is flying that there may be a White House wedding; Jenna would the first president’s daughter to be married there since Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia.

What struck me about the story was the supreme irony: Bush’s daughter will be able to marry the person she loves, something that Bush and Dick Cheney made sure was denied to Cheney’s daughter, Mary. In the Bush-Cheney universe, some people are simply more equal than others, and Jenna Bush is automatically superior to Mary Cheney, thanks to the work of their fathers.

In this tale of two fathers, Dick gave his daughter away—or her human rights, anyway. What George does at the wedding is just symbolism.