Friday, February 13, 2009

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Jackson Williams: Bush Media Guru on Obama: "Good Integrity," But Ultimately A Token Top
Mark McKinnon was a guest on MSNBC's Hardball this week, identified as a "Republican strategist." He didn't flinch at the title. This is a long way from the fellow who produced the TV spots for Democrat Ann Richards in her successful 1990 Texas governor's race. She lost to George Bush in '94, and by '99 McKinnon was on board Bush's presidential bandwagon in the same role. He stayed for the '04 reelection. Not once in those years did he ever call himself a Republican, per se. He was always careful to thread the needle as he made the long transition from left to right. That phase is obviously complete. Host Chris Matthews mentioned that Mark was a McCain adviser in the '08 election cycle, asking if he actually told the campaign he wouldn't be able to continue if Obama became the nominee: MARK MCKINNON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: That's right. When I joined the campaign in January of '07, I wrote a memo to the campaign saying that if in the general election, it turned out to be John McCain and Barack Obama, I'd step to the sideline. I still supported McCain, but I just didn't want to be the tip of the spear attacking Barack Obama. MATTHEWS: Why? MCKINNON: I liked his candidacy. I think it's--you know, I think it says--it's great for the country. I disagree with his politics, but it was an historic candidacy. And I think he's got good character. I think he has good integrity. I disagree with his politics, but I think he's a good man. And I wish him great success. So, the strategist doesn't share Obama's views ("his politics"), and "supported McCain," yet didn't want to be the "tip of the spear" and thinks Obama becoming president is "great for the country." Well, now. That's a mouthful to decipher, and for what it's worth, Matthews effusively confirmed: "I know a lot of Republicans like you, anyway -- not a million, but I know a lot." Since the core of any candidate, after all, is their politics, what is McKinnon really saying here? Regarding Obama's politics, he ran as a centrist in the general election. He campaigned mightily as one who would roll up his sleeves to tackle the problems created by Bush, ideology be damned. McCain, on the other hand, remained stuck in his end of the field, by his own choice and conservative demands. Rush Limbaugh, for example, publicly ordered that he not choose a running mate who failed to show proper fealty to the Right's most strident views. Politics is played between the twenty yard lines, as they say in football parlance, and McCain never crossed the 50. That's why he lost. McKinnon is implying that although he personally prefers McCain's politics, Obama deserved the keys to the Oval Office for another reason: because he's African-American. That smacks of tokenism. It's also not the reason the Illinois senator won. McKinnon may think so because voters have shown shallow tendencies before, and he's exploited them. Obama, however, ran on substance and competence. In 2000, we were told incessantly that we wanted Bush because he was the one we'd enjoy having a beer with at a backyard barbecue instead of the know-it-all Al Gore, remember? That was apparently the breadth and width of our collective wisdom, and McKinnon's slick TV ads sold his candidate as a regular Joe, fitting the meme. It's the nature of the beast, and on it goes. On Thursday's NY Times blog "The Caucus," McKinnon chimes in on Obama's identification with Abe Lincoln. Here's his take on why it's an effective approach: "People think in a simple narrative construct. And the dots connect: Tall skinny guy from Illinois. Country divided. Fierce partisan fighting. Very gloomy times. Pulls country together. Gets the job done. Hope floats." I realize that selling a product, whether beer or soap or politicians, requires boiling the most important points down to their essence, but the condescension toward voters in that quote is palpable. We all opted for change, and, yes, that's a slogan. At the same time, most of us deeply understand why change matters. It starts with foreign policy, and that's hardly a "simple narrative construct." Neither is burning the midnight oil at the kitchen table while trying to decide between paying medical bills or the mortgage. These are complex matters, and we've all experienced the full measure of the past eight years at home and abroad, not some Cliff's Notes version. It's indeed historic that an African-American is in the White House for the first time, but let's be clear: he's there because his message and ideas -- "his politics" as McKinnon dismisses it -- were deemed a better fit by the American people than John McCain's tepid offer of a third Bush term. This president's worthiness isn't skin deep, and it's insulting to suggest that it is. More on President Obama
 
Patricia Zohn: Culture Zohn Off the C(H)uff: Misha (That's Baryshnikov) Mixes It Up Top
All the way downtown on the subway and over to Hell's Kitchen where towering new apartment construction abuts the Lincoln Tunnel, I am thinking -- with not a little trepidation: I'm going to meet Mikhail Baryshnikov , or Misha as he's known to almost everybody. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz, courtesy Mikhail Baryshnikov Exclamation point! For an ex-dancer, even one whose career was long-ago nipped in the bud by a mother who didn't believe ballet was a path likely to produce a house in the suburbs and 2.2 babies, I find myself walking a little taller, the slight turnout that sometimes imports vestigially when I even think about a ronde de jambe as I cross the scaffolding on the overpass. But my pilgrimage is not about my dancing, or even, really, his. I am coming instead to talk to a master of self re-invention, to find out how you can shape shift repeatedly and still come up smiling. They say everyone has four or five careers now, but not everyone has the potential to fail with the eyes of the world upon them. Baryshnikov, Russian superstar dancer-actor-impresario-photographer-father, pays this no heed. Most of his decisions about career shifts "came from the heart", anyway, he insists, and were not premeditated. (Check out the vast YouTube library , which documents his career.) Misha greets me in a small conference room atop his now three-year-old Baryshnikov Arts Center , a home for itinerant dancers and performers of all stripes, his elegant, wiry frame still fit and ready for action. In between raising money for his new theater (home to the Wooster Group), acting as a facilitator (he hates the word "mentor") for other dance companies, being a benevolent landlord, honing his photography, being a "better" father to his four children and grandchildren, Misha is planning a round-the-world tour of a new series of dances with Ana Laguna in late spring, choreographed by Russian sensation Alexei Ratmansky, who will become artistic director of American Ballet Theater next year, Mats Ek and Benjamin Millepied. Yet he opens with, "I don't know what or who I am," later reiterating, "I really don't know half the time what I am doing." He is overly modest, claiming he, "never had any reputation," ceding pride of place to "friends" like George Balanchine or Jerome Robbins, who guided him while they were still alive. Though he admits to some "mistakes," left vague, his eagerness and enthusiasm, even overlaid with a bit of weariness, shows through. When I ask him if he reads the Huffington Post , he says with a twinkle, "like Governor Palin, I read what's put in front of me." At first a "Hillary" supporter, he lined up for Obama when he became the candidate and they share a number of the qualities of compelling leaders. Like Obama, he relies on a "collective" decision-making apparatus, one in which everyone's opinion around the table is taken into consideration, preferring a "chamber" way of working: small, intimate, and where presumably he can still have some measure of control. And like Obama, he is an agent for change. But there is something a little bit different about dancers than, say, the Cabinet. "We're a little bit like a bordello," he confesses wryly. "We wait for the kindness of strangers." And he singles out Obama's "wife and children" as his most impressive accomplishment, that the way they comport themselves "says a great deal about who he is as a parent and human being." In fact, his tone changes to regret only once during our chat, when he confesses to being a "quite-absent father," presumably one of the "mistakes" with which he is "trying to catch up." His own children are 14, 16, 19 and 27, the eldest the child he had with Jessica Lange. He is the first to admit: "some young people have old souls." Yet even showing me around the studios later, or chatting with Hugh Jackman, who has come to present himself between rehearsals for the Oscar number he's working on, one sees the deference, the homage that's paid. Misha's goal of putting creative people together with the express intention of having them rub up against each other has worked at BAC and plans for its expansion continue deservedly unabated even in the current economic climate. On Friday night, Philippe Petit of Man on Wire will be there to present his film, first in an initiative with the Cinematheque de la Danse . I can only imagine, two men in the same building who dance on air! Misha doesn't teach except for the rare master class -- he's more comfortable giving advice only when asked. He is self-deprecating to a fault: one wants a little bit of the Russian impresario to emerge, just because, well, he is larger than life and we have so few heroes left anymore. 2008 Mikhail Baryshnikov He had fun with Sex and the City and his other movie work, but does not seek it out. Things and people seem to come to him; he has the easy charm of someone who doesn't have to fight for attention. Yet there is a gravitas that alternates with the charm, one he says all artists have as they experience the "exaltation versus the depression, the shifts of mood... Nobody loves being unhappy," or being a "brooding soul" (even if that's what we expect from Russian literature), yet it comes with the territory of "chasing something that is not quite manageable." Baryshnikov could have long ago put his masterful feet up and sat back and rested on his considerable laurels. But he still seems curious about so many challenges and is one of those people who begins each morning by "thinking about moving forward." "What is this day," he asks himself as he gets out of bed , "going to propel you to do?" The tour dates are April 29 - July 5, 2009, beginning in Latvia and then on to Sweden, Italy, Poland, Holland, and Serbia -- other destinations to be announced. More on Sarah Palin
 
Karen Dalton-Beninato: Valentine Vintage Mardi Gras Beads, Green Glitterati and a Rainforest Spa Top
If your Valentine's Day is also a green day, here's a tip for repurposed vintage Mardi Gras beads, either the Czech crystal from the '30s or the brightly colored strands that followed. Instructions follow at Live Green Orleans , but timewise who am I kidding - Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Plan B? For a West Coast gift option, Global Green USA is offering a two for one ticket sale through Valentine's Day for its Pre-Oscar Benefit on February 19 in West Hollywood. They've added Cheryl Crow and Gavin Rossdale to the entertainment lineup with hosts including Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Penelope Cruz, Rosario Dawson, Marisa Tomei, Kate Bosworth, Norman Lear and Heather Graham in case your loved one would be into attending a groovy gala of green glitterati. Try saying that three times fast. And down in New Orleans Global Green is presenting a Green-It-Yourself Workshop on Valentine's Day at The Jazz and Heritage Center. This week's workshop features how-to demonstrations of green building techniques for those still coming home. The workshops are free and you could win a kit with green building supplies. Plan C? Feel like a winner? Green Spa Therapy in New Orleans is offering a drawing for its Rainforest Spa Package. Join the Live Green Orleans online eco-community for a chance to win HERE . Green Spa Therapy will also sponsor fifteen trees planted on behalf of each Rainforest Spa Package. Throw in a recyclable box of wine and you're in business. More on valentine's day
 
Conservative Columnists Energized By Obama Top
NEW YORK Ask Charles Krauthammer what he thinks of covering a liberal Democrat like Barack Obama after eight years of George W. Bush, and the conservative columnist will tell you there is a definite upside. "It is a lot easier to be in opposition, it is easier to criticize," he says. While he agreed with the former president's policies and wishes John McCain had won, Krauthammer admits a certain eagerness in having someone in the White House with whom he will more than likely disagree. "It is actually more challenging when the side you are ideologically attuned with is in power," says Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize-winner who is syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group. "I take an ideological approach to politics that is different than most Democrats."
 
Buffalo Plane Crash, House Destroyed (VIDEO) Top
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS AND SLIDESHOW A Continental flight with 48 people aboard crashed into a home near Buffalo, New York at 10:10 tonight. Everyone aboard, and one person on the ground, were killed in the tragic crash, which leveled a home in Clarence Center, a neighborhood about 5 miles from Buffalo International Airport, where there was light snow and light rain on Thursday night. The flight was Continental Express flight 3407 heading to Buffalo, N.Y. from Newark, N.J. Relatives of passengers aboard flight should call 1-800-621-3263 for information The crash is America's deadliest since a Comair commuter jet crashed in Lexington, Ky., on Aug. 27, 2006. That crash also claimed 49 lives. Here is video of the plane crash: Here is MSNBC video with accounts from witnesses: Dramatic recordings of cockpit-control tower communicatons capture the repeated attempts to get in touch with the plane. "All of a sudden, we have no response... We're not talking to them now, " says a controller at one point. Listen to the recording: Here is CNN video of the press conference held by emergency officials: Click through this slideshow of the crash scene: UPDATE 2:30 AM : Chilling recordings of a female pilot's communications with air traffic controllers, from the Website LiveATC.net , capture the moments before the crash. Nothing seems unusual as the plane is asked to fly at 2,300 feet. But a minute later, when the controllers tries contacting the plane and doesn't get a response, he makes another attempt. The Associated Press reports what happened in the next few minutes: Then the controller asks the pilot of a nearby Delta Air Lines plane to see if he can see the Continental flight. "Delta 1998, look off your right side about 5 miles for a Dash 8 about 2,300 (feet). You see anything there?" he asks. "Uh, negative," the Delta pilot says. UPDATE 2:10 AM : The plane came in low and fast, according to witnesses interviewed by CNN and the Buffalo News reports that the plane had experienced mechanical problems: Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer said there was little communication between the plane, Flight 3407, and the tower before the crash. Crew members aboard the flight from Newark Airport had reported mechanical problems as they approached Buffalo. The plane reportedly was a Bombardier Q400, a twin-engine turboprop with a passenger capacity of about 74. Reuters reports : A commercial plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York, and burst into flames, and there was no immediate report if there were any survivors, CNN reported on Friday. The plane, which could seat up to 60 passengers, was on a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, when it crashed late on Thursday night, it said. The New York Times reports : [Erie County executive Chris] Collins said the plane, Continental Airlines Flight 3407, crashed about 10:20, five minutes before it was due to land. The house it crashed into was still fully engulfed in flames at 12:30 a.m., and Mr. Collins said that about 12 houses were evacuated and a limited state of emergency was declared. Here is more info on the flight path of Flight 3407. CNN talked to some bystanders who witnessed the crash: Area resident Keith Burtis said he was driving to the store about a mile from the crash site when he heard the plane go down. "It was a high-pitched sound," Burtis said. "It felt like a mini-earthquake." Shortly after the crash, Burtis said he saw a steady stream of fire trucks rush by him as smoke billowed into the sky. More on Slideshows
 

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