For years, one of the shibboleths of Chinese domestic politics was that you could reach a threshold of prominence that would make you untouchable.
And while administration officials argue that Jarrett's unique stature has allowed her to stand in for the president and make calls to executives during the auto bailouts, or governors during the gulf oil spill, it is that very prominence that has made Jarrett such a big target.
But shortly after the 2004 Democratic Convention, my good friend and longtime film-making partner, Mark Schwartz (from Chicago, of course), sent me an internet link to Obama's rousing keynote address at the convention, the speech that would elevate Obama to national prominence, that would make him a legitimate contender.
Meerkat was first out of the Instant Live stream gate a few months ago and generated a craze at SXSW this year (of which bell ringers declared a return to prominence for the Austin gathering that made stars out of Twitter and Foursquare).
But the fact that there are two Hispanic Americans in the Republican Party with enough prominence to make that list, grab national attention and generate discussion is a welcome sign of political advances that Latinos have made.
The Huxtables didn't have much to say about black poverty, and some worried that their prominence somehow made black poverty easier to overlook.
But his prominence also makes him a tempting target for the rivals he threatens, particularly Mr. Kerry, whose campaign also expects to do well in New Hampshire.
The president's very prominence also makes him a target, and the closely contested Iowa caucuses on Monday and next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary show widespread sentiment for unseating Mr. Bush in a both Midwestern swing state that Al Gore barely carried in 2000, and a New England one that Mr. Bush narrowly won.
Nathan Scott, associate teaching professor of mechanical engineering, on his students' design of a prosthetic foot, dubbed "the prominence," which makes wearing high heels possible.
However, the very openness of the idea of prominence makes it completely unmeasurable: "The notion of a peak in prominence becomes a completely subjective affair, so that it does not really throw any light on how one defines a syllable".
