| The Washington socialite-hostess gathers the ripe fruit of
political, economic, and cultural orchards and serves it
up as one fabulous cherry bombe at a charity fundraiser
or a private soirée with Cabinet secretaries and other major
political players. Two men shake hands in the U.S. Senate and
a bill passes – or doesn’t. The influence to effect change, be it
in the minds or actions of one’s fellow man, is simultaneously
the most ephemeral quantity (how does one qualify or rate
it?) and the biggest driving force on our planet.
In Washington, the most obvious source of power is
political. However, we’ve omitted the names of those who
draw government paychecks here, figuring that it would
be too obvious to list all the senators, congressmen, and
political appointees in Washington, as a quick glance at
Google with the aforementioned keywords shows. For
our purposes, power is knowledge, access, influence, and,
perhaps as important, it is the perception of power itself. |
These things by their very nature cannot remain static –
and therefore our list changes with the times.
Power in Washington is different than in other big cities.
Unlike New York, where wealth-centric power glitters with
the subtlety of old gold, wealth doesn’t automatically confer
power; in Washington, rather, it depends on how one uses it.
Washington’s power is fundamentally colored by its
proximity to politics, and in this presidential season, even
more so. This year, reading the tea leaves, we gave a larger nod
to the power behind the candidates: foreign policy advisors,
fundraisers, lobbyists, think tanks that house cabinets-inwaiting,
and influential party leaders. When one takes the
nature of that beast into consideration, it would make sense
that power would change direction, bending with the current
of the moment. This year in particular, it would be impossible
to call Washington’s power anything but supercharged with
political electricity. |
