Democracy and dynasty make an odd fit

According to a top official of the pro-democracy Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto’s 19 year old son, Bilawal Bhutto, will be named the new party leader on Sunday. As reported in Time:

A Pakistani television news channel also carried reports that Bilawal will be made the new leader, which the channel said accorded with Benazir Bhutto’s wishes….

As PPP members have begun to contemplate who should take over as party leader, a consensus has emerged that the person needs to be a Bhutto, a name that retains incredible power and vote-winning influence in secular Pakistan…

The decision to go with Bilawal appears to have come after his father [Asif Ali Zardari] turned down the job in deference to the slain Benazir’s expressed wishes. The senior PPP official, who requested anonymity to allow him to speak more openly, told TIME that Bilawal will head the party, and that the party’s deputy leader and longtime Benazir loyalist, Mukhdoom Amin Fahim, is likely to become the prime minister, assuming the party wins a majority in parliament.

By the way, how it that Bilawal has his mother’s last name, not his father’s?
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Sebastian writes:

Happy New Year to you and all VFR readers, even those who think what I last said about Romney was the single worst thing they have ever read—ever!

I just want to point out the obvious, namely that if Hillary Clinton is elected President and finishes her term, we will have been ruled by two families for 24 years (1989-2012). Add to that that Bush Senior was VP from 1981-1989 and we may have 32 years of either a Bush or a Clinton somewhere in the White House. If you consider that Hillary’s only qualifications are her name and gender and that a good 40% of Americans will likely vote for her in the general election, I’d give the 19 year-old Pakistani kid a break. Who knows, he may prove to be a solid guy in ten years. There is always a ruling class.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 29, 2007 08:02 PM | Send