Suri Cruise: How Influential Can a Two-Year-Old Be?

If you turn to Forbes.com (the website of Forbes Magazine) for lists, what would you expect? Maybe "America's Largest Private Companies" or "China's Richest People," two lists currently on the Forbes homepage.

But, recently, Forbes repeated its now yearly weirdness with a list of "Hollywood's Hottest Tots," complete with an article at: http://www.forbes.com/media/2008/11/10/suri-cruise-hollywood-biz-media-cx_ls_lr_1110celebbabies.html

A video at: http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/lifestyle/lr_buzz111308

And a slide show at: http://www.forbes.com/media/2008/11/10/suri-cruise-hollywood-biz-media-cx_ls_lr_1110celebbabies_slide.html

Has the cult of celebrity finally gone too far? Just how hot can a kid under five be (five was the arbitrary cut-off age)? Does that question make you as uncomfortable as it makes me?

Forbes.com puts a predictable business spin on this, saying that as the economy gets worse, we may want to ooh and aah over celebrities and their families. I wonder whether they caught the irony of their opening, referring to "a growing need to generate magazine sales and Web traffic in a softening economy."

I keep thinking there is a lesson here somewhere. I especially hope that the lesson is understood by our president-elect and his wife, that they will keep their two made-for-primetime daughters out of the pressure cookers of publicity.

For what it's worth, here are your American idolettes...

1. Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, age: 2

2. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie-Pitt, age: 2

3. Zahara Jolie-Pitt, daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie-Pitt, age: 3

4. Pax Jolie-Pitt, son of (you guessed it!) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie-Pitt, age: 4

5. Sam Alexis Woods, daughter of Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Woods, age: 1

6. Cruz Beckham, son of David and Victoria Beckham, age: 3

7. Matilda Rose Ledger, daughter of Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger, age: 3

8. David Banda, son of Madonna and Guy Ritchie, age: 3

9. Sean Preston Federline, son of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, age: 3

10. Sam Sheen, daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, age: 4