A Pox on Hillary’s “Grandmother Glow” and Prince George Pics

Is there anything more distasteful than the
obviously strategic use of babies by the rich and powerful to gild
their images—and the media’s feckless complicity in the spectacle?
Whether it’s the British royal family constantly pushing the
toddler Prince George toward the camera or breathless reports of
Hillary Clinton’s newfound “grandmother
glow,” can we just change its diaper, give it a pacifier, and
put it to sleep already?

Tough questions I dare to ask in a new
column at Time.

Hillary is missing no opportunity to publicly play at
grandmother, a role that can only soften and round out her image as
the presidential campaign season swings into high gear. “I
highly recommend it,” she told CBS News about becoming a
grandparent. At a
recent speech to a group of women real estate agents, a
member of the audience told Clinton that she looked “beautiful.” To
which Clinton responded, “I think it’s a grandmother’s glow.”

Or maybe it’s
the fire of political ambition lighting up her cheeks. As far back
as June, she was systematically linking her grandchild to world
events, telling People,
“I’m about to become a grandmother… I want to live in the moment.
At the same time I am concerned about what I see happening in the
country and in the world.”

OK, we get it. The kid is a prop in a political play. The baby
doesn’t just soften you up, Mrs. Clinton, it softens us up, too.
Which may actually be excellent public relations but is also deeply
disturbing.

Read
the whole thing.