Obamarama

Funny, when I tell my Democrat friends that I can see myself voting for Barack Obama they assume I’m trying to trick them into supporting the weaker of the two Democratic candidates for President.

Actually, my sense is that registered Republicans, neo-conservatives, paleo-conservatives, extreme-radical-ultra-conservatives, and true patriots everywhere would sooner vote for Obama than Hillary even under threat of waterboarding.

And it’s not just an understandable aversion to the Clintons. The real reasons for furtive right-wing Obamarama are difficult for Democrats to comprehend.

First, it’s about race. Or more specifically, it’s not about race. Because Obama has until now not claimed victim status, he holds out the tantalizing possibility that we can finally transcend the closed loop discussion of race and put the bigotry game behind us – that game being that bigotry is acceptable depending on what ethnic group you belong to. The Obama promise is that if he’s elected, race is no longer an issue in the United States.

And Obama is uncannily suited to deliver on this promise. He is, after all, literally an African-American. He can’t claim a legacy burden of slavery. His mom is from Kansas. He grew up in Hawaii. Culturally, the guy is whiter than I am. Yet he has a nearly pan-ethnic legitimacy.

To call him the “black candidate” is not only wrong, it’s insulting to me as a self-described educated, three button suit wearing, post-baby-boomer. But that’s why the Clintons want to classify him as black. Because the “black candidate” only appeals to 13% of the population. Divide and conquer is what multicultural identity politics is all about anyway.

The other thing Obama has going for him is that he’s not a Clinton and that he seems to unnerve them and force them to reveal their nefarious characters.

I love the following clip. Everyone has seen it by now. It's the trifecta of Obamaramarism.



It shows Bill Clinton as the thin-skinned, red-faced, sputtering, finger-wagging political hack wallowing in self-pity he is rather than the statesman philanthropist he’d like to be. It spookily reminds you of “that woman. Miss Lewinski.” And best of all, it makes Bill the candidate, not Hillary. She’s suddenly inconsequential. And if Obama can beat Bill, then he’s just slayed the biggest (most lovable) bear in the woods.

Anymore victories like this and the Clintons are screwed.

Sure, Obama scores big with MoveOn.org. But he’s still a cipher. He’s an empty vessel. He’s a blank wall that reflects anything you want to project onto it. And he can easily pivot to the right once he’s got the Democratic nomination.

I’m not particularly worried about his rote anti-war ranting. If that’s the price of neutralizing bigotry and discrediting the Clintons forever, I’ll pay it. Besides, if he’s elected, he’ll learn soon enough that all that crap about ending the occupation in Iraq so we can bolster the occupation in Afghanistan doesn’t exactly fly in the real world.

Monday Inexplicable Video



It's not just the Orgs.

The New York Times Endorses Rudy

Religious Freedom Day

OK, going to Saudi Arabia and sucking up to our medieval overlords is one thing but declaring today Religious Freedom Day . . . from Riyadh . . . is a bit too much to take.

Here is President Bush sampling a local delicacy, "Testicles al Juif."

Well, the least we can do is get to know our friendly allies in the picturesque Gulf. What sort of things do they like? What are their customs? What does the man in the street think? Here's a first step toward greater understanding, a clip from Saudi television's Friday night line up, "Would You Shake Hands With a Jew?"

Norman Foster Has No Clothes

Robert Campbell, the Boston Globe’s longtime architecture critic, takes another look at the much hullaballoed Hearst Tower by Sir Norman Foster on West 57th Street in Manhattan, and he’s still unimpressed.

In an article in Architectural Record, Campbell calmly disrobes the king: the tower is self-important, it’s rude to its neighbors, it’s inhumane, it could have been plopped down anywhere in the world and look just as inappropriate. But possibly most cutting of all, it’s an unimaginative prototype of an engineering solution in search of a problem.

I totally agree. I can’t stand the vacuousness of Foster’s bequest to New York. If his famous dildotic office building in London is called the Gherkin, then I'll just call this pile the TIE Fighter Storage Depot.

But I’ve always admired the original building, actually just the base for a grand beaux-arts tower, by theatrical designer Joseph Urban.

Hearst ran short of funds in the late 1920s and never completed the tower but the base tells you what he had in mind: a soaring, confident, stone-clad and wholly appropriate skyscraper in the New York vernacular.

We need more of these and fewer Fosters (although Australians would disagree). What we have instead is an instantly dated building that could just as easily be in Southeast Asia, or Dubai, or Atlanta.

But the ultimate irony is that Foster’s boastful “green” creation with it’s computerized awnings and apertures is nowhere near as energy efficient as the original design with thick walls and windows that open would have been had it actually been built. As I like to say with wild-eyed fury to anyone who’ll listen, a truly environmentally sustainable building cannot be a modernist glass box.

This is what proud buildings in a “green” city look like:

Shocking New Video From Iraq

Brutal occupiers terrorize suspected insurgents. This must be one of those interrogation tapes that didn't get destroyed. WARNING: Unspeakable barbaric cruelty ahead.



via Bill Whittle who has an awful lot of time on his hands.

Oscar Peterson (1925 -2007)




Unimaginably skilled. Emotionally intelligent. Effortlessly cool. This is what music for adults sounded like before the sixties ruined it all.

Bill's Got Friends

A New York Times profile of second tier Democratic presidential candidate, Bill Richardson, reveals two interesting things. The first is a snarky little swipe at Madeline Albright, the tough-talking, miniature Secretary of State under President Clinton. During a negotiation in Tokyo, Albright practiced nanny diplomacy on our Japanese allies.

“Dr. Albright’s Japanese counterpart requested permission to smoke, she lectured him on the dangers of tobacco, and things never improved from there.”

Man, what was their single-minded preoccupation with cigarettes all about anyway? Someone is going to look back on the Clinton years and see madness in the whole tobacco obsession the way we would if we found out the Harding Administration was animated by a hatred for Vick’s Vapo-rub.

The rest of the article paints a picture of a lovable lug inserting himself into global hotspots for fame and fortune and occasionally doing good.



The Times even takes some credit for advancing his career by cheerily allowing itself to be manipulated.

“Mr. Clinton had initially passed Mr. Richardson over for a position in his
administration. But in 1996, just after Mr. Richardson, canny about the press, invited a reporter from The New York Times to write about his efforts to free Red Cross workers — and celebrate with barbecued goat — in Sudan, Mr. Clinton asked Mr. Richardson to become ambassador to the United Nations.

In his announcement, Mr. Clinton mentioned the goat.”

Does it go without saying that if John Bolton had ever cozied up to a Times reporter in this way the resulting story would have something to do with shredding the Constitution and abusing animals?

OK, then I won't say it.

More proof? If, say, Mitt Romney had answered the following loaded question in the "incorrect" fashion as wild Bill does below, would Melissa Etheridge have gently tried to re-educate him on the spot or have him tagged as an intolerant ignoramous?



I provide. You decide.

Inexplicable Wednesday Videos

"Bloody Assasin of the Workers, I presume."

In the midst of an interview with Francis Ford Coppola comparing Communism with fascism (in this case Romanian fascism), the New York Times let’s slip one of the great lies of the 20th century:

“Communism was rooted in a utopian vision, the Iron Guard (fascism) was rooted in hatred.”

Actually, both totalitarian movements were based on hatred and both acted on it. Fascists committed genocide based on race. Communism committed genocide based on class. That’s the only difference between communism and fascism. The rest is superficial.



Of course, zealots at both extremes were perusing their own utopian visions. Sadly, some folks still don’t recognize that it’s the vision of utopia that drives some people to channel their resentment into full blown hatred.

David Cameron and the Wonders of small tv

Hierarchical organizations have difficulty speaking to individuals. That’s because most individuals prefer to exchange information face-to-face and organizations are essentially faceless.

Human beings, one the other hand, do have faces and we’ve evolved over millions of years to recognize facial cues that tell us if the person we’re communicating with is sincere or not.

In short, human beings are highly calibrated authenticity detectors.

To communicate effectively, organizations such as corporations and political parties need to replicate authenticity and master the art of “org-to-face” conversation. That involves constructing an artificial face and signaling sincerity through artificial gestures and expressions.

Not easy . . . but do-able.

In the one-dimensional world of text, the old wisdom of Eliot Noyes still holds true: write everything as if it’s addressed “Dear Mom.” But with electronic channels there are entirely new opportunities to “scale up” face-to-face communications.

One of the truly great practitioners of mass intimacy is David Cameron of the Conservative Party in Britain. Last year Cameron faced a classic organizational challenge: how to define himself and connect to a multitude of disparate people separated by time and space?

Among other things he launched WebCameron, a video blog that he updates almost weekly with a short (3 minute) seemingly behind-the-scenes looks at his activities. It began with him in his kitchen:




Can you imagine another major political aspirant putting him or herself out there like this? It's virtually impossible because the handlers and hangers on would say it's "not presidential" or it looks sloppy. Also, it's unscripted so the handlers are reduced to one, the video editor.

Cameron makes it work because he's a good actor. Not to belittle him, you need to act because your audience is an unblinking lens. He does it well because he's let you in on the pretense. Plus, he's pretty informative.

He answers viewer questions, talks in cars, on trains, and summarizes his meetings and speeches backstage.



The beauty of this is that rather than simply showing him delivering the speech, Cameron tells you about the speech and sums up his top three points.

The difference is in knowing your audience. The audience for a speech are those people in the room. The audience for “small tv” is you . . . even if “you” is a million people just like you watching their computer screens.

There is a formula to these videos that makes them easy to produce and edit.

First there is the narration track delivered without a script probably in several takes. Next is the event itself which is recorded with a static camera. And lastly is the b-roll that overlays all the edits to the narration and the event.

Together it makes a coherent mini-story rich in direct and contextual information. You can see his facial expressions. You can see activity in the background. He seems to be subject to uncontrollable elements such as the wind, the light and regular people on the street.



What does all that say?

Not much by itself, but over time and in similar situations you begin to “know” Cameron and perhaps even to trust him. Yet, he’s not an individual per se. He’s representing a large national organization of people that depends on the support of individuals for its success.

It’s been said that in communications sincerity is the key. And if you can fake that you’ve got it made. I’m not saying Cameron is insincere, but he has demonstrated a remarkable ability to create mass intimacy skillfully and cheaply.

Ronald Reagan used radio this way. His weekly addresses as President were an extension of the short radio essays he delivered for years on AM radio.

Presidents continue the tradition but no one has made the leap to small tv. I wonder if President Bush would be as unpopular today if instead of talking stiffly from the Oval Office he had adopted the small tv approach and explained Iraq using maps and on the spot reports?

No American presidential candidate has shown any aptitude for mass intimacy . . . yet.

But it's coming.

Your Wish Is My Command

So Lileks wonders what Dave Brubeck's house looks like today. Well, here's what it looks like, today.

Actually, as of about 15 minutes ago.

The great man himself was there being interviewed for a magazine article on of all things, his house! The correspondant guy didn't seem too pleased that he was being scooped by the blogosphere.

A Victory Made of Mierda

Chubby tyrant wannabe, Hugo Chavez, reacts with characteristic restraint and humility to the news that the Venezuelan people don't want to relinquish all their rights in order to achieve some discredited 19th century utopian ideal.

Take a gander at what a thugocracy looks like.

FranceVive La France!

Good God, just when I think my nascent Francophilia is running out of steam, the Frenchies give me new reasons to admire them.

Of course, most of this has to do with Sarkozy and the way he seems determined to obliterate any ancien regime passivity that stands between him and modernizing French polity. But in his wake come all the charming things about France that I was reluctant to admire during the Chirac years: French style, design, and a more humane approach to daily life.

And by all that I mean French women.

First there was Segolene, an insufferable anarco-syndicalist lunatic in real life, no doubt, but an elegant and enormously attractive woman able to conjugate many hard to pronounce French verbs. (although not so well that she could do without subtitles)



Segolene Royal - Message 2eme Tour
Uploaded by da93


Then there was Cecilia, a bit more cold and austere but confident and poised in ways that are hard to describe without elaborate hand gestures.

And now that Ceclia has traded the drab Elysee Palace for the drab Upper East Side of Manhattan, Sarko introduces us to yet another stunning French woman, Laurence Ferrari, his supposed new girlfriend.

Laurence is a mother of two in her 40s who appears to have many of the qualities one earns over four decades of life. . . humor, balance, serenity and fundamental comfort being in one's own skin. I'm assuming all this because I can't understand a word she's saying and I don't particularly care.

She's hot. I know that sounds sexist, but she's so hot she's making me sexist.



Laurence Ferrari 1 - OK
Uploaded by Amnesia34


Technical note: when was the last time you saw someone on TV wired with two lavalier mics? Is it because they wanted a fail safe sound system . . . or because setting her up with any more lavs would have aroused suspicion, among other things?

Merci, Nicolas!

More Laurence if you're interested:



Laurence Ferrari - Telle est ma télé
Uploaded by sandrinemaziere

UPDATE: Hurray for comments! "Big Al" introduces us to Melissa Theuriau. Thanks Big Al:





UPDATE II: It's getting very hard to keep up with foreign affairs these days. It seems Sarko debuted his new new girlfriend, Carla Bruni, at what appears to be an official motorcade at EuroDisney.

I'm not sure if this is some sort of Gallic Christmas tradition but the French President's annual appearance at Disney was was electrified by the aging supermodel turned chansonist.

CARLA BRUNI
Uploaded by FRANCE_24

Did Bush Mislead Clinton Too?



January 27, 1998

Fuel City

Next time you’re speeding through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas headed for the Stemmons Freeway underpass, don’t hightail it to Parkland Hospital. Instead, hang a left on Industrial Blvd and head on over to Fuel City.

Technically, Fuel City is a gas station. But it’s a big one right in the middle of a tangle of elevated highways. And it sells every possible brand of mainstream domestic and Mexican beer to go. Plus it has a swimming pool with a bikini girl sitting on a plastic lawn chair. And, according to some scientific polling methodology, it has the best tacos in Texas.

The name enchanted me and came for a visit last night.



Fuel City could easily be a kitch landmark if some hipsters from the coast latched on to it but for now it’s a disappointment because it’s for real. There’s only the barest hint of irony. The tee shirts, which they will dig out from the far back somewhere if you ask for one, say in huge block letters, “FAMOUS FOR FUN” though I doubt Fuel City is even famous for fuel.

I guess the girl by the pool is a bit contrived but other than that, it seems to be more in tune with the Texas vibe than anything alt. Of course, for most of the coast hugging United States, Texas, and flyover country generally, is authentically alternative to what passes for officially sanctioned coolness. The huge signs pointing out the President George Bush Freeway are enough to make the whole area radioactive to sophisticates.

Texas doesn't allow you to forget where you are. Everywhere there are Texas flags. “Texas” is incorporated into most signs and brand names. And little Texas shapes are ubiquitously sprinkled over the landscape. And where Texas-jingoism leaves off, Americana begins.

This must be what Europeans feel when they come to anyplace in the United States . . . the flags, the overconfidence. It could certainly come off as arrogance, but it's actually far more benign than that.

I like jingo. Unlike the usual connotations, I think it’s hopeful and inclusive. After all, anyone can be Texan if they buy into the values.

The same with flag-waving America. If you buy into it, you're as American as George Bush. Can't say that about France or Sweden. And that may be a reason why those countries have such difficulty absorbing immigrants.

I'd like to compare assimilation success in chauvinistic states like Texas and less well defined states such as Connecticut. I suspect Mexicans feel more like Texans after a few months in Dallas than they feel like Nutmeggers after years of living in Hartford.

Anyway, it's remarkable to think that if JFK had simply said, "Ah drivah, don't ahh tahn heah. Take me ahh straight to ahh Fuel City," he'd probably be alive today.

This Makes Me Dizzy



I want to build something like this in my backyard. Probably easier than it looks, right?

Bad News. We're Winning

I'm confused. According to Reuters, violence of all kinds in Iraq is down 70% since the so-called "surge." Shiites and Sunnis are reconciling in Anbar, Diyala, Basra and attacking their mutual enemy, foreign al Qaeda jihadists. Moqtadr al Sadr's Mahdi Army is splintered and in his last radio address, Osama bin Laden pleads with followers to stop killing each other.

So what's the first sentence of the lead editorial in today's New York Times? "The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse."

I guess that must mean we're winning.

Born to Sell

According to this CBS News Buzzwatch, Bruce Springsteen is putting his entire career at risk by taking a bold public stand on the Iraq war. He’s against it.

What kind of balls does it take to stand up in Hollywood and oppose the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy? Itsy bitsy teeny weeny ones.

It’s another case of dissent without consequences. The average Burmese monk is putting it all on the line. Springsteen is just standing on line.

The “story”, which inexplicably promotes Springsteen's upcoming appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes, says his views “will cause people to say he is unpatriotic.” Exactly who is saying that aside from CBS itself? It’s almost as if CBS is stoking a controversy in order to get more people to watch CBS programming.

I have no doubt that The Boss loves America and the Jersey Shore which is part of America and American cars, food, music, fans, and currency. No one is questioning his patriotism. But it’s fair to question is judgment.

I might even question his motives. I mean, why speak out now on network television just when he’s releasing a new album? (“Magic” on Columbia Records, Sony/BMG Corp.)

I sort of wonder when the anti-war folks are going to figure out they are being manipulated . . . by Sony Corp., by Viacom, by the Democratic Party, even Al Qaeda is leading them on. Everyone is either getting rich or getting elected (or both) and the policy never changes.

Why is that?

Herbert Muschamp (1947-2007)

Shocking and sad. Herb Muschamp, the quintessential New York Times architecture critic, has died at a relatively young age.

I found fault with nearly everything the man wrote but I certainly expected he'd go on and on for decades to come. He was articulate and boldly opinionated, a combination I respect in anyone regardless of their substance of their opinions.

I hope he maintained his exasperating dignity to the end.