One more picture, one more tribute, one more podium kiss, one more word by a politician about family, and I'm defecting. Probably to Russia, where until Gorbachev came along and ruined everything (with glasnost and Raisa), the leader reigned in splendid, family-free isolation. We didn't even know that Yuri Andropov had a wife until he was dead.
In American politics, shows of familial affection have always cloyed, but things are out of hand. You can hardly see the candidate through the thicket of loving kin. Mr. and Mrs. Dukakis danced and smooched and hugged so effectively in public that George Bush,...