First there were the troubles with Obama’s aunt. Now there’s her brother, Obama’s uncle, arrested for drunk driving and facing deportation after having lived here illegally for 50 years (last time he was ordered deported, it was 1992).

I was thinking, though, that they are only following in the footsteps of an old tradition, that of the screw-up relatives of presidents. Yes, Obama’s relatives have the added fillip of being illegal aliens, which is a new twist. And yes, the screwy relatives are usually brothers, for some reason. But still, it’s not unknown for presidents—ordinarily highly successful people—to have relatives who are in trouble with the law, or just generally in trouble.

Bill Clinton’s half-brother Roger comes to mind. Clinton ended up issuing him a pardon for a cocaine conviction from 1985 for which he’d served a year-long sentence. And then there’s all of this, from a 2001 article:

For Clinton investigators, Roger is the gift that keeps on giving. Last week, the House Government Reform Committee wrote him asking about his role in clemency pleas made by six convicted felons, including Rosario Gambino, a jailed New Jersey restauranteur reputed to be a soldier in the Gambino crime family. Committee documents show that Rosario Gambino’s daughter wrote a $50,000 check to one of Roger Clinton’s companies in September, 1999, some months after Roger sought leniency from the U.S. Parole Commission for Rosario, who is serving a 45-year sentence for heroin trafficking.

Jimmy Carter had a brother with a few problems of his own, the irrepressible and alcohol-loving Billy:

In 1976 [Billy] provided humor and a charming contrast to his straight-laced candidate sibling. But by 1980, Billy’s act had worn thin, and a major controversy over his dealings with the Libyan government cast a shadow over a Carter White House that could ill-afford another problem.

And Donald Nixon wasn’t exactly an asset, either.