(2nd) Occasional U.S. news media round-up on presidential race
- Audition
Michelle Obama debuts on popular US daytime talk show (”‘The View’: Michelle Obama on Hillary Clinton, sexism and the vice presidency” by Sheigh Crabtree, Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2008).
Full 24-minute version here.
- Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes*
Brief analysis of some recent policy choices by Obama (”Will ‘Experience’ Hurt Obama?” by Jay Newton-Small, TIME magazine, June 24, 2008).
- Cover story
Q&A and 97 photos (”A Conversation With Barack Obama” by Jann S. Wenner, Rolling Stone, July 10, 2008).
- A rose by any other name…*
New ways against old smears (”Obama Supporters Take His Middle Name as Their Own”by Jodi Kantor, New York Times, June 29, 2008).
(See here for previous round-up)
Umberto Eco and the late newspaper
It’s not difficult to find a lot of discussion online and elsewhere these days about the current rapid decline of newspapers in the U.S. and elsewhere. It’s also not too difficult to find a lot of blame being tossed around at times in those discussions about who or what is at fault.
Writing recently in his regular column for L’espresso, however, Umberto Eco says it’s not anyone’s fault, no more than the hole in the ozone is. The decline of newspapers is a result of our technological development, according to Eco, and it’s just a fact. But, he adds, it’s an embarrassing one (”Parlare in ritardo” La Bustina di Minerva, April 17, 2008). Note - in Italian only.
Describing what the newspaper has become these days, Eco writes:
Così il giornale diventa come una serata in famiglia, dove il nonno ripete per la milionesima volta la storia di quando aveva subito i bombardamenti, il babbo snocciola i suoi luoghi comuni sulla situazione economica, poi si parla un po’ male del vicino notoriamente cornuto, o si commenta la trasmissione televisiva appena vista. Niente di male, anzi bellissima situazione di socializzazione, ma non era questa, all’inizio degli inizi, la funzione delle gazzette, finestre che di colpo e inopinatamente si spalancavano ogni mattina sull’imprevisto.
(Translation, roughly: Just so the newspaper becomes like spending an evening with the family, where the grandfather repeats for the umpteenth time the story of when he was caught under a bombing attack, the father rattles off his usual opinions on the economic situation, then there is some mildly unkind talk about a neighbor who is notoriously being cheated on, or comments about a television program that was just watched. Nothing bad, on the contrary, a wonderful social situation but this wasn’t, at the very beginning, the function of the newspapers (which were) windows suddenly and unexpectedly thrown open each morning on the unforeseen.)
If this excerpt whets your appetite to read more Eco, I also found this reprint of an interview (in English) he gave to a reporter in New York last December (Interview with Umberto Eco, “The Armani of Italian literature,” Umberto Eco talks to Ben Naparstek, Dec 8, 2007, The Sydney Morning Herald).
UPDATE: Questo post in italiano (parziale)
(First) Occasional U.S. news media round-up on presidential race
One day after becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee, Senator Obama reportedly read the riot act (wild applause!) to one wayward Senator in particular (”Obama Confronts Lieberman On McCain Advocacy, Tone, on Senate Floor” ABC News, June 05, 2008), read here:
Sen. Joe Lieberman, the self-described “Independent Democrat” who caucuses with the Democratic party in the Senate even though he has endorsed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, got some tough talk from Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, yesterday…
More on this, plus some, from DailyKos here.
- Losing the press
Article about how Senator Obama and Senator Clinton eluded press corps and photographers in getting together for their first, post-primaries meeting (”Two Rivals Sneak Away to Meet, and the Hunt Is On” The New York Times, June 7, 2008). As a first, major indicator of changin’ times, note the beginning words of the third line of this paragraph:
Finally, as Mr. Obama was headed back to Chicago on a private plane and Mrs. Clinton had returned to her home, another rarity took place. A joint statement was issued by representatives of the two senators, but sent out by Mr. Obama’s staff. Those words, perhaps, were the first cooperative undertaking since the presidential race began six seasons ago.
- How she lost it
A fascinating 10-minute video report looking back at “the Democratic primary battle and what went wrong for Hillary Rodham Clinton” from two staffers at The New York Times here (June 4, 2008).
- Obama behind the scenes
A video (below) giving an inside look at a relaxed Senator Obama talking to campaign staffers when he returned home to Chicago on Friday after clinching the nomination.
Linkin’ to myself and feeling fine
With a nod to the lyric in an old Carpenters song , yes, it’s a fine, fun thing linkin’ to myself, my own article, for a change. It’s in yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor (Artichokes transformed” by Rebecca Helm-Ropelato, June 4, 2008).
My intro:
Ladispoli, Italy - Until recently, artichokes as a vegetable had been a great disappointment to me.
Even has photos and recipes.
And the nominee is Barack Obama!
One of the most witty, interesting, and accurate of the political blogs tracking the U.S. Presidential race this year is The Field by political organizer and reporter Al Giordano.
Yesterday, as Senator Barack Obama was crossing the finish line to become the Democratic Party’s nominee, Giordano particularly enjoyed celebrating the triumph. He posted a variety of entertaining commentary and music videos.
One of the posts, “Live Blogging the Clinch,” features a video of Maria Callas singing versions of Carmen´s Habanera:
