Like Father, Like Son

Richard, Renée and Mike Edelman

Congratulations to Richard Edelman, who followed in his father Dan’s footsteps in winning the Publicity Club of Chicago’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 4. Dan scooped up PCC’s inaugural award in 2003.

PCC president Dominic Calabrese called the Edelmans Chicago’s first family of PR.

“What the Daleys are to politics, the Pritzkers to philanthropy, the Fields to retailing and the McCormicks to agribusiness and journalism, they are to public relations,” he said.

Edelman said the smartest decision that his family ever made was to stay independent, focused on results for clients instead of financial returns for shareholders.

He paid tribute to his late mother Ruth and his sister Renée and brother John, who play important roles in preserving the firm’s history and ensuring its future through sustainability commitments.

Edelman said his daughters Margot, Tory and Amanda are prepared to take the company forward into the future as they are working hard to learn the business on the front lines.

They have big shoes to fill.

Biden risks it all. It’s either Joe Biden’s excessive pride or downright stubbornness that prevents him from coming to grips with the simple fact that he is too old to run for another term in office.

Biden, 80, has accomplished more than any other president since FDR, yet he recklessly puts that legacy at risk.

By running again, future historians may overlook his achievements on climate change, infrastructure, uniting US allies in defense of Ukraine and restoring decency to America’s government, and instead profile him as a desperate politician who tried to cling to power.

The president has just experienced the loss of 90-year-old Sen. Diane Feinstein, whom he called a “cherished friend.”

Though a trailblazer in the areas of environmental protection, reproductive rights, gun control, and the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee, Feinstein will be remembered for overstaying her usefulness in office.

Biden’s “I know best” attitude also is evident in the saga of his German shepherd, Commander.

CNN reported that Commander has been involved in more biting incidents than the 11 reported by the Secret Service.

Team Biden has made various excuses for the dog (e.g., Secret Service agents wear sun glasses and are fidgety, making Commander nervous) before finally removing him from the White House.

The president’s loyalty to the dog is admirable, but his refusal to admit that Commander has a biting problem posed a threat to the health and safety of the Secret Service.

It also was a sign of presidential hubris.

There is still time for Biden to face the facts and open the Democratic presidential nomination race to the party’s next generation of leadership.

The ramifications of the lying, fraudster, grifter Donald Trump defeating Biden in 2024 would be a horror for the US and the world.

And Biden would have to bear that heavy burden for the rest of his days.

Kenny isn’t cutting it. TikTok has been running a TV ad featuring retired 80-year-old Navy vet “Patriotic Kenny” to divert attention that the platform is owned by China’s ByteDance.

Festooned with US flags, the ad tells how Kenny became depressed when his electric scooter broke down, but was able to raise $5K to fix it once his plight was posted on TikTok.

That sum soon ballooned to $110K and 1M followers for Kenny, who now provides mobility scooters for veterans.

That tale doesn’t exactly warm the hearts of Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn.

They fear the recent replacement of American executives at TikTok with ByteDance people from China calls into question the independence of TikTok and the security of its US users’ information.

The Senators sent a letter on Oct. 3 to TikTok CEO Shou Ze Chew, asking for the security protocols on ByteDance employees that transfer from China to the US.

They also should ask whether Kenny will soon don the uniform of the People’s Liberation Army.