This clip is insane

I don´t know whether to feel sorry for CNN´s Anderson Cooper for having to try and make sense out of Sarah Palin´s PR officer Meg Stapleton or for Ms Stapleton having to explain the actions of her erratic boss. But one thing is for sure: this 5 minutes 49 seconds only proves that no normal logic works for Sarah Palin as a politician.

Next move: we just sit and wait for Levi Johnston´s tell-it-all book on the Palin family.

Just A Few Hours

"Our lives on this planet are too short, the work to be done is too great. But we can perhaps remember, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life that they seek as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, surely this bond of common fate, this bond of common roles can begin to teach us something, that we can begin to work a little harder, to become in our hearts brothers and countrymen once again."
- Senator, Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy at the City Club of Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio (5 April 1968)

This Is What This Election Is About

Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama last Sunday, which was a major blow for the Republicans. Out of the entire interview, this reasoning touches me. This is why they should vote Obama.

Added later the same day: And what I was trying to point out, the phenomenal New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd puts down in the way that only she can. Thanks for the tip, Mr Minnesota.

This Gives Me The Creeps

Phoenix Bill

Bill Clinton 4
Originally uploaded by radder86

Still remember this guy? They said he had tarnished his legacy by attacking Obama fiercely during the primaries and acting like a 5-year-old when he was criticised. They said Clinton had lost his popularity amongst the African-Americans by bringing race into the discussion when evaluating Obama´s popularity. Some called Clinton a loose cannon and several commentators were worried that he would be taking the stage at the Democratic Convention last night. They even wondered whether he has lost it for good. Some speculated with Alzheimer. "We don´t know what he will say", they worried. "Is he still angry? Does he still feel hurt and unjustly criticised?"

I don´t know what they were thinking. Bill Clinton is one of the most skilled political animals of the last few decades. He wants to win at all cost. He in many ways was the inspiration of Tony Blair and the famous Third Way. He charms people young and old. He can make you feel like he is talking only to you. His campaign ads from are iconic pieces of political TV campaigning. I have watched it several times and it still makes me choke.

His speech yesterday was honest, funny, witty and on the mark. Clinton managed to keep his voice normal against the roaring crowd and did not shout like most other speakers. He recognised the hard battle, confessed that his candidate did not win but threw his support behind Obama with emotion not yet seen at this convention. He was clear in giving reasons why we need Obama. He did not repeat what others had said. He tactically reminded the crowd of his own achievements without sounding smug. By looking at the faces and reactions of the delegates, it was obvious: King Bill is back.

Rock-o-bama

"We are the ones we've been waiting for." That is one damn beautiful sentence.

Let´s Get Going

New video from Moveon.org covered in all political talk shows here in the US yesterday.

Civilised Campaign?

During the Kerry-Bush campaign in 2004 I loved the innovations in the anti-campaigns. Only in America. It seems that here we go again.

Good for Democracy

Senator Barack Obama
Originally uploaded by cecily7

So it's done. 16 months and millions of dollars. Obama has gathered the needed amount of delegates to be the candidate of the Democractic Party to be the President of the United States of America from 2009 onwards.

Many have said that Clinton should have stepped down earlier. They said she was splitting the Democratic Party, wasting people's money and giving unnecessary lead to John McCain. I think these people are just plain wrong. I think the hard struggle has done only good for the Democrats and for America.

It is understandable that some party cronies were in favour of a clear and smooth campaign. This would have made it easy for them to work with those ready-made project management charts and those speeches readily written.

I think Clinton would have been a better candidate. I also feel that the world would have deserved a female leader. But I also feel that when a fair contest is done and the votes are cast, then the what-if should end and people should unite behind the winner. I do hope Obama will be the President of the United States of America, end of sentence.

The Democratic contest has mobilised record numbers, made politics the centre of attention and inspired millions. It has made people believe that they can change things. This is what democracy at its core is about.

This will be my last push towards Clinton's court, I promise: listen to the speeches of Obama and Clinton when the results were clear. Obama's speech I find rather bland, disturbingly evangelical and something heard numerous times from him. Clinton's concession speech on the other hand is graceful and rhetorically superb. I recommend listening to the last three minutes. This makes me love America.

We Exist, We Really Do!

Barack Obama on the Primary
Originally uploaded by jurvetson

It is somehow cute how Finnish media loves covering when we are mentioned by anyone of any standing. Even as a Hillary supporter I need to mention this. Tonight Finland's main newspaper had a headline that Obama believes in Finland's NATO membership. Apparently Obama had said the following things at the Senate hearing for new ambassadors to Europe.

"Amongst the new ambassadors was also Finland's new ambassador Barbara McConnell Barrett. According to Ilta-Sanomat (country's leading tabloid) Obama mentioned that Barrett will represent America in a country that has travelled further than others on the road to democracy and welfare. But it still has challenges in its relationship with Russia and its longstanding position outside Euro-Atlantic security institutions. At some point soon Finland may move closer to Nato, Obama stated. According to Obama said that Finland is a true friend of the United States."

Somehow cute. And also a brilliant example of creative headlining. Obama actually made a prognosis and did not state anything about his own opinions regarding Finland and NATO. But hey, we were mentioned by the possibly next most powerful man on the planet.

Polished Like Gold

Call me a sentimental fool but this clip makes me smile and warms me up from the inside.

Jumping up together

Yesterday evening I had a long chat on what counts in the end, i.e. what is the foundation for happiness. We talked about what real friendship means and how moving to a new country makes you push yourself often to an oversocial mode even to gain 20 % of the social circle you had back home. We talked also about work. Career surely is important but if we actually take some time to think things properly, it is easily outruled by family, love and friends. Relying purely on career is an empty but common road to follow.

As I was thinking of subjects for this post, I went through the historical independence of Kosovo and the irritatingly evangelical empty rhetorics of Barack Obama. But it is difficult to say anything new on either of those subjects. The EU's recognition of the independence declaration made me smile whereas Obama's "momentum" makes me afraid of a post-electoral hangover. I must say - even sounding too much like a friend of the system - that I like Clinton's notion of being in the solutions business. But also her star is not shining as brightly in my eyes as some weeks back - Ms Clinton, dirty tricks may work on the short term but they are lethal for the system in the long run. Offering something yourself is better than bashing the other.

But back to the things that constitute happiness. I mean of course post-Bush and peace in Europe works also for my benefit but you get the point. A colleague of mine played this song of the Dutch singer Alain Clark to me at work last week on a sunny day. Even if it irritated me in the beginning due to its simpleness in melody and text, it truly makes me smile and makes me appreciate once more the fact that I have an amazing family and a group of true friends - although often too far away. It also made me think of a discussion I had with my awesome brother during the Christmas break. The foundation of happiness is fairly simple: when you have a firm basis and a 100% guaranteed safety net, it is easier to jump higher.

Getting the job done

Senator Hillary Clinton
Originally uploaded by Laphoto1

If the US election would classify as an illegal drug, I would be by now either jailed or in rehab. I just cannot get enough, I just cannot. I am not that much into the mud-slinging but I am really driven by the in-depth journalistic analysis on the weaknesses and strengths of the candidates. Just yesterday I listened to NBC's Meet the Press at the gym (highly recommendable podcast) which reminded me again that the United States is the superpower of journalism.

I cannot vote but I feel still somewhat puzzled. Already at an early stage I found myseld inclined to support Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama. This choice is constantly tested, lately by the following factors:

1. Bill: The ruthless and ugly campaigning of the former president really disgusts me. Clinton reacted like a 6-year-old boy to Obama's comment in Nevada that Clinton was not reforming, modernising president. Clinton has been fiercely profiling Obama as a black candidate like Jesse Jackson. As Maureen Dowd pointed out in Meet The Press, this is an ugly strategy to drive the Latinos and whites on Hillary Clinton's side but it has a negative effect on the image of politics as a whole.

The other criticism on the Bill factor is a feminist one. Somehow his big role somewhat seems like Hillary Clinton's campaign would think that she cannot handle it on her own.

2. Obama's supporters: Most of the people I value in US politics and also most of the cool celebrities support Obama. He has most of the people who are cool (Scarlett Johansson, Oprah, will i.am., George Clooney), maybe with the exception of the fab America Ferrara. Obama is much more popular among young voters and he is endorsed by the leading Kennedys.

Still, I stick to Hillary Clinton. If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I think he will become a wonderful president. But I trust Clinton more in getting the job done. The US is a mess after the Bush era and Clinton has an impressive track record. Madeleine Albright, one of my political idols, supports her. When Obama's talks in abstract soundbytes, Clinton focuses on what can be done.

I also dislike Obama's branding as the most Kennedy-like candidate: I don't see the same passion and emotional, personal involvement, I see a preacher. And every leader should create their own style, rather than warming up an old one. We all know that a dish is not as good on the next day when heated in a microwave.

And yes, the tears moved me too. Most people, even Obama supporters, state that Hillary Clinton face-to-face is an incredibly compassionate and warm person. And it is about time that the world is led by a woman.

Time for a woman

As proven by this clip.

Likable

American Dream

MCX53.jpg
Originally uploaded by Saint Anselm College

There are moments when I would just love to be American. Like right now. I know it is a bit nerdy social scientist sort of thing but I just love elections and the buzz around them. I still remember the heated atmosphere at Columbia University's campus in 2004 when I joined a screening of an Edwards-Cheney debate. US elections are of that scale that even if you do not have the right to vote, you still need to have an opinion.

If the elections would be now, I would vote for Clinton. She is a realist and knows what she is talking about. I watched parts of the ABC-Facebook debate on Sunday and felt that she was right on the mark: actions are what counts in change and she has a god track record. And I would love the US to be led by a woman.
However, I find myself having warmer and warmer feelings towards Obama. He is a magnificent speaker (just check his speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004), he wrote a compelling piece on the future to Newsweek and he talks of unity as Americans. The last thing that pushed me closer to him was that the widow of my political idol, Ethel Kennedy, endorsed him. And don't get me started again on Oprah.

Edward Luce wrote well on Obama in Sunday's Financial Times:
"But Mr Obama has succeeded in converting his mixed ethnic background into a novel persona in which he can remain black while appealing to the whites without - in the words of one commentator - reminding them the whole time that they are white."

In general, I have been excited about the US lately. Last week's Newsweek was entirely dedicated to giving advice to the US. If you can still find it, I would purchase it. Here are some of the best parts:

"Europeans tend to criticize the United States. They are much less good at offering alternatives." - Timothy Garton Ash

"Finally, don't hesitate to stand up for our values: democracy, the rule of law and human rights. But remember that the best way to get others to share them is by example, not coercion. Close Guantánamo. Join the International Criminal Court." - James Steinberg

"My father crossed an ocean to seek the dream of America. As a boy, I played barefoot with children in Indonesia. As a young man, I worked in the forgotten corners of America, where people struggled with violence and hopelessness. Whether I am at a G8 summit or in Africa, I will speak not just as someone who mastered my brief, but also as someone whose grandmother lives in a hut without indoor plumbing in a Kenyan village devastated by HIV/AIDS." - Barack Obama

"Overall, there is a widespread failure to manage people and their careers by strategically moving top performers to where they can learn the most and have the greatest impact." - J. Frank Brown

"Americans tend to understand who they are in terms of what they believe and who they believe it with. (...) Those who dismiss America as "behind" Europe on social issues often fail to appreciate where America is coming from, and how far it has travelled. Where gay equality is concerned, you can call the United States the most laggard of major secular societies, or you can call it the most progressive of the great traditionalist cultures." - Jonathan Rauch

"Like many young immigrants I never really understood what America meant beyond the oft-sung phrase I heard from my parents: we are lucky to be here. But in the last few years I've become less certain. I find myself loving America the way one does a sick parent. I pore over pictures of how she once was: never perfect, never without her conceits and cruelties, but still vital and pretty, a real smile at the corners of her lips." - Gary Shteyngart

I think the future of the US - and linked to that our future - seems brighter. Democrats are in better speed and we are doing rather well either with Obama or Clinton. The sick parent just needs some rehabilitation, soon. This 8-year stay in this hospital is not meant for people who come in to die.

The Oprah Way

Oprah with Sen. Obama in Des Moines, IA
Originally uploaded by Joe Crimmings Photography

As I am leaving tomorrow to Finland for Christmas holidays and our intern is finishing her time with us, we decided to have a joint dinner with the team tonight. Thai food and intense debate works as a cure against the wind and cold. What did we end up talking about: Oprah Winfrey.

I am a big fan of her next to all those women. I mean Oprah should be running for president, not Barack Obama that she has now endorsed. Who cares about Obama anymore if you have a chance to see Oprah live? She is an amazing figure in the US - she is beyond criticism as one of the strongest symbols of the American Dream - coming from tough background, made her success with hard work and now giving back to the society.

The Oprah factor is a good reminder also of the way we are as people. We can be interested in serious and light subjects at the same time - we can be triggered by an intense discussion on tansgender identities or by a couple interview with Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. Very few of us are either serious or shallow - we can be both. What I love in Oprah is that she manages to introduce difficult subjects into the living rooms through her media conglomerate. She is in not preaching to the converted, which is why she kicks ass.

My Oprah Day could consist of the two following things:

1. Finetuning a Christmas greeting for the staff from our team.
2. Having an article on youth culture published in Eurozine.

As I said, we can be both.

Shut up and read

Breakfast in America
Originally uploaded by Ale*

I have been in the US now for more than a week and haven't posted a single thing linked to television. American television would turn me into a couch potato in a few days. Just the fact that in the house I am staying at they have something like 300 channels. I find it difficult to understand that someone can even concentrate on a programme without flicking through the others for something better.

By watching the current affairs TV programmes, one could easily think that the presidential elections are next week. From Meet the Press to Face The Nation they all concentrate on Hillary or not Hillary at the moment. Yesterday's Meet The Press (political journalists commenting on current affairs) one of the biggest topics was the decline in Barack Obama's popularity. The question these professionals were pondering was whether Hillary is starting to be unbeatable.

Ah yes, professionals. Yesterday's LA Times had one of those articles about professional commentators which I thought were already past times. Professor of Journalism Michael Skube from Elon University of North Carolina (Pulitzer winner) shared with us his concern for the way political discussion especially around the presidential elections is losing its quality. And his blaming finger - as a professional journalist - was pointing of course to blogs.

Some quotes from Mr Skube:
"One gets the uneasy sense that the blogosphere is a potpourri of opinion and little more. The opinions are occasionally informed, often tiresomely cranky and never in doubt." Skube also refers to blogging as "armchair commentary". He refers to a famous piece in a Washington Post in the following manner:"Such a story demanded time, thorough fact-checking and verification and, most of all, preseverance. It's not something one does as a hobby."

Just the obvious remarks to Mr Skube:

1. Have you checked what kind of scum and propaganda is on newsstands under the name of journalism?

2. Seeing the blogosphere as a unity is more than one would expect from a professor of journalism at a time when Senators, Editors-in-Chief and other professional journalists, Chairs of NGOs and researchers among many are blogging.

3. The whole blogging has to some extent challenged the idea of journalism as objective practice. I do agree with Mr Skube that our society needs more in-depth analytical discussion but to claim that can only be done by professional journalists is just silly. Many print journalists tend to think that print is superior to other media but just yesterday we saw at the Paley Center for Media (Museum of Television and Radio) how Sir David Frost mastered in interviews with Robert Kennedy, Muhammad Ali and Richard Nixon.

4. What would you suggest, Professor Skube? That bloggers would shut up? That politicians should stop listening to them? That we should all start writing for print journals? Where does your argument take us?

It Takes One to know one

And of course, if there is one for Obama, there is one for Clinton. The fascinating thing in is of course bringing in a controversial issue like bisexuality which is an allegation looming around Hillary Clinton for some time.

I am fortunate to have my personal scout in the US who keeps sending me these videos. More to come, for that I am sure.

Whatever it takes

Yes, the elections are here. I am superexcited, must confess. From the point of view of my work I am quite interested in the ways the candidates will be using YouTube and other online tools. This Obama fan video is quite an interesting example. The girl has definitely been listening to the campaign message and Obama's main themes.