Socks Rest in Peace

It's not a huge or important one, as news stories go, but we learned this weekend that "Socks", the White House cat that lived with the Clintons in the 1990's, has passed away, reportedly due to cancer. (He was about 18 years old, which is pretty much the upper limit for house cats these days.) He had been staying in Maryland with the former Clinton's secretary.

Presidential dogs get a lot more press, and there have been more dogs than cats in the White House, even though there are more cats than dogs in America. When the Obamas get around to choosing their new pet, the media frenzy will rival any news story out there.

Nevertheless, I had always wondered what became of Socks, and even with the constant avalanche of bad economic news we have to bear each day, it made me a tad bit sad when I heard about Socks. The black and white cat (which is the most common color of domestic cats world-wide) was a fixture in the White House during the Clinton presidency, and many of us look back on those days wistfully.