i underestimated socks

Yes, THAT Socks. Everybody thank Wikipedia and Barbara Kinney for the photo; the nice lady is Betty Currie, President Clinton's secretary, with whom he lived after the Clintons left the White House. She's the one who took such good care of him when he got so old and then so ill. I mean, he was really old for a cat.


He was also, in a way, really active for a cat. For example, I had no idea that a Socks-puppet starred in a Violent Femmes video for "Blister in the Sun." And that was quite the fan club he had going on. And his Wikipedia page has a whole sizable section on Cultural References.

What gives? Well, a couple things, I suppose: Socks was a pretty attractive and likable cat anyway, which would give folks who like cats but not politics a different handle to take any interest in the White House and its doings. Also, Clinton was a President that many people liked a great deal (note: this isn't a political forum, it's a pet blog) and borrowing the cat's persona was a way of interacting at remove with the president in a positive fashion. What do the Museum patrons across the pond think about that?

In any case, Socks should rest in kitty peace.