INFOMERCIAL

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama's 30-minute TV ad, which ran simultaneously on broadcast and cable networks at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, is muscle-flexing that has little precedent, a campaign advertising expert said.

Sen. Barack Obama aired a 30-minute campaign ad Wednesday night."It's evidence, if you needed any, that the Obama campaign has more money than there is ad time left to buy," said Evan Tracey, director of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. "This is flexing the muscles."
Tracey estimates that it will cost the campaign "in the $4 to 5 million range -- at a minimum, $3.5 million."

But, he said, spending the money is a "no-brainer" for the Democratic presidential hopeful.
"The strategic brilliance of this for Obama is that he is going to consume about 24 hours of the news cycle," Tracey said. "It boxes [John] McCain in, takes the oxygen out of the room."
In the carefully produced infomercial, Obama laid out his plans for the economy and for bringing an end to the war in Iraq.
It also featured stories of struggling families in swing states such as Ohio and Missouri and included testimonials from high-profile supporters, including Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Obama's Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, was not mentioned, nor was the GOP. The spot ended with a brief, live Obama address to a rally in Florida, another hotly contested state in this year's campaign.
"I'm reminded every single day that I am not a perfect man," he said. "I will not be a perfect president.
"But I can promise you this: I will always tell you what I think and where I stand. I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you when we disagree. And, most importantly, I will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved in your own democracy again."
There was so much buzz surrounding the infomercial -- which was announced about two weeks ago -- that on Tuesday, Time magazine's Mark Halperin put the ad's two editors on his daily list of the "five most important people in American politics not running for president."
Those editors, Erik Smith and Mark Putnam, were "still in an edit room" cutting the 30-minute piece Tuesday when he published the list, according to Halperin, Time's editor-at-large and senior political analyst.

The ad ran at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, BET, TV One and Univision, the Spanish-language network, six days before Election Day.CNN declined to run the spot, and talks between ABC and the Obama
campaign fell apart.

"We were approached by the Obama campaign and declined their request," said Sal Petruzzi, senior vice president for public relations of Turner Broadcasting, CNN's parent company.

"We did not want to pre-empt our programming lineup with a 30-minute spot. We would rather use our air to continue to cover the campaign, candidates and issues like we always do, from all points of view with the best political team on television."
An ABC spokeswoman declined to comment about the network's talks with the Obama campaign.
"As a matter of policy we don't comment about clients with whom we are doing business," said Julie Hoover of ABC. The Obama campaign has bought advertising on ABC in the past, she said, "but they did not buy the half-hour."

Obama taped an interview Wednesday with ABC's Charles Gibson, which is to run Thursday, his campaign said.
A source familiar with ABC policy suggested the network had offered the Obama campaign a different time slot.
"Hypothetically, we would have offered them equivalent time," the source said. "We don't have to give them the exact slot they are asking for."
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said ABC had ultimately offered Obama the slot he wanted, but the campaign turned it down.
"By the time they agreed, we had already committed our resources," Burton said.
The Obama campaign reported last week that it had raised a record-shattering $150 million in September.
Obama has outspent McCain by a huge margin, according to CNN's consultant on ad spending.
Between the time the two candidates clinched their party's nominations in the spring and October 25, Obama spent more than $205 million on TV ads. McCain spent more than $119 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group.
The McCain campaign launched an ad Wednesday attacking Obama for his 30-minute special.
"Behind the fancy speeches, grand promises and TV special lies the truth: With crises at home and abroad, Barack Obama lacks the experience America needs," the ad said.
The timing of Obama's informercial pushed back the start of a World Series game, provoking a jab from McCain during a Wednesday afternoon appearance in Florida.
"It used to be that only rain or some other act of God could delay the World Series," he said. "But I guess network executives figured an Obama infomercial was close enough."
The Obama campaign did not ask that the game be delayed, said a spokesman for Fox, which broadcasts the World Series.
"They asked Fox to buy the air time," the spokesman said. "Fox went to our partner, Major League Baseball, and asked if it would be OK to delay the game to take this important political advertisement. They agreed.

MLB's willingness to delay the fall classic for a political ad shows how very unusual the Obama TV spot is.

"Ross Perot did it in 1992, but it wasn't this close to Election Day, and now you have a very different media consumption environment. You didn't have the cable then," Tracey said. "There is no precedent for this sort of an ad this late in the race."

CORRERE PER VINCERE - RUN TO WIN

http://video.corriere.it?vxSiteId=404a0ad6-6216-4e10-abfe-f4f6959487fd&vxChannel=Dal%20Mondo&vxClipId=2524_406be192-a5ab-11dd-8fd0-00144f02aabc&vxBitrate=300

Could the polls be wrong?

Sen. John McCain and his allies say that they are. The country, they say, could be headed to a 2008 version of the famous 1948 upset election, with McCain in the role of Harry S. Truman and Sen. Barack Obama as Thomas E. Dewey, lulled into overconfidence by inaccurate polls.

"We believe it is a very close race, and something that is frankly very winnable," Sarah Simmons, director of strategy for the McCain campaign, said yesterday.

Few analysts outside the McCain campaign appear to share this view. And pollsters this time around will not make the mistake that the Gallup organization made 60 years ago -- ending their polling more than a week before the election and missing a last-minute surge in support for Truman. Every day brings dozens of new state and national presidential polls, a trend that is expected to continue up to Election Day.

Still, there appears to be an undercurrent of worry among some polling professionals and academics. One reason is the wide variation in Obama leads: Just yesterday, an array of polls showed the Democrat leading by as little as two points and as much as 15 points. The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll showed the race holding steady, with Obama enjoying a lead of 52 percent to 45 percent among likely voters.

Some in the McCain camp also argue that the polls showing the largest leads for Obama mistakenly assume that turnout among young voters and African Americans will be disproportionately high. The campaign is banking on a good turnout among GOP partisans, whom McCain officials say they are working hard to attract to the polls.

"I have been wondering for weeks" whether the polls are accurately gauging the state of the race, said Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota. Borrowing from lingo popularized by former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Schier asked what are the "unknown unknowns" about polling this year: For instance, is the sizable cohort of people who don't respond to pollsters more Republican-leaning this year, perhaps because they don't want to admit to a pollster that they are not supporting the "voguish" Obama?

If so, that could mean the polls are routinely understating McCain's support. "I have no evidence that this is happening," Schier said, but he added: "I'm still thinking there's a 25 percent chance that this is a squeaker race and McCain pulls it out."

Other experts are less uncertain. Ruy Teixeira, a political demographer at the Center for American Progress and the Century Foundation, said averaging the daily polls points to "pretty much the same thing -- that the race is pretty stable and that Obama has a stable lead. Typically, when you are this far ahead at this point, it's hard to lose."

"It is very unlikely that we are going to get surprised by a last-minute movement," said John R. Petrocik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Missouri. "Obama has been running six to eight points ahead for the better part of two weeks, and it's hard to imagine that turning around."

The McCain campaign's case that the race is closer than many polls suggest appears to rest largely on the proposition that the composition of the electorate this year will closely resemble that in 2004.

McCain pollsters do anticipate that turnout could be even higher this year than the robust turnout four years ago, but they also expect that Democratic gains among African American voters and younger voters will be offset by higher turnout among more Republican-leaning voters. They also assert the race is tightening in battleground states, with independent voters increasingly receptive to McCain.

"As other public polls begin to show Senator Obama dropping below 50% and the margin over McCain beginning to approach margin of error with a week left, all signs say we are headed to an election that may easily be too close to call by next Tuesday," McCain pollster Bill McInturff wrote in a memo released last night by the campaign. Obama officials voiced confidence in their ultimate victory but said they have always expected the election to be close.

To buttress its point of view, the McCain team points to results reported yesterday by the Gallup organization, whose daily tracking poll showed Obama up 49 percent to 47 percent using Gallup's traditional turnout model, which assumes that turnout will follow the patterns of past elections. Obama has a larger lead, seven points, using a model that allows a higher presence of first-time voters.

A Pew Research Center poll released yesterday shows a 15-point lead for Obama, a result based on relaxed criteria for when to consider an African American respondent a likely voter, said Andrew Kohut, president of the center. He said the poll shows that roughly 12 percent of the electorate this year is black, up from 2004, with a similar increase among younger voters. Kohut defended this approach, saying there are historically high levels of interest in this contest among both demographic groups. At the same time, he added, "we've consistently shown less enthusiasm and engagement among Republicans than is typical, and the composition of the electorate shows that."

Kohut said several variables signal Obama has not convinced voters, such as a large number of respondents in the Pew poll who see the Illinois Democrat as a risky choice. But Kohut said the odds are against "a huge shift" in voter preferences by Election Day.

Some polls show Obama with a healthy lead even without an assumed surge in African American and young voters. Obama's seven-point lead in the Washington Post-ABC News poll is not premised on disproportionately higher turnout among those demographic groups. The poll's turnout model currently shows that 10 percent of likely voters are black, compared with the 11 percent who voted in 2004, according to the network exit poll. Voters younger than 30 make up 16 percent of the Post-ABC sample, little different from the 17 percent four years ago.

Post polling director Jon Cohen said the survey designers "carefully consider a range of likely voter scenarios and use our best judgment. Our polling throughout the campaign has been on target and, we believe, helpful to understanding what is really happening. I hope it stays that way."

He noted that to address "one potential pitfall," The Post and ABC conduct interviews with a random selection of those who have only cellular phone service alongside a traditional random sample of those with residential phone service. One recent criticism of current polling has been that it does not accurately capture the sentiments of those who primarily use cellphones.

Blog & Election

"It's official. This US Election matters to me more than it should," Perez wrote shortly after the first presidential debate. His two-year-old blog, Ako Mismo, or "I, Myself" in Tagalog, is written mostly in English, with some Tagalog mixed in. In a phone interview, the 25-year-old says following the White House race has been "like a religion."

The Web is flat, especially when it comes to this marathon campaign. Every twist and turn, every new character, not only unfolds stateside in real time, endlessly commented on by the blogosphere, but also keeps the rest of the world on its collective mouse, with bloggers from countries as disparate as the Philippines, South Africa and Brazil glued to the historic race.

Differing time zones aren't considered barriers on the Web, where different languages can be easily translated on Google. Sure, many foreigners have paid attention to America's presidential elections through newspapers and television in the past. But the continued mainstreaming of the Internet, online experts say, has given non-Americans access to more information than ever before -- and, through blogging, an interactive platform to express their views. David Sifry, founder of the search engine Technorati, says: "As the tools have gotten simpler and easier to use, there's been an absolute explosion in the number of bloggers outside of the U.S., and one of the subjects they blog about is politics."

And right now, American politics.

Just visit Voices Without Votes, an aggregator of the international blogosphere. An offshoot of the nonprofit site Global Voices, which aims to summarize the goings-on in every blogging corner of the World Wide Web, the site focuses solely on the U.S. presidential race.

Voices Without Votes was born in early February -- yep, in time for Super Tuesday -- and it's edited by Amira Al Hussaini, a 35-year-old journalist from Bahrain who currently lives in Canada. The site's motto reads: "America votes. The world speaks." Recent elections in Zimbabwe and New Zealand have attracted some attention online, Al Hussaini says, but not nearly to the extent that the battle for the American presidency has.

"The Internet makes the world smaller, just a few clicks away, right?" says Al Hussaini, who was the former news editor at the Gulf Daily News, the largest English newspaper in Bahrain. With Voices, she says, "Americans can see, if they don't realize it already, that their votes affect the rest of us when it comes to foreign policy, the environment, the global market, you name it."

The site is not an online hit, garnering fewer than 100,000 pages views since its launch. But what Voices lacks in traffic, it makes up for in the scope of its content. There's nothing else quite like it.

Voices is funded by Reuters, whose server hosts the site, though Mark Jones, Reuters's global community editor, says the news service doesn't control what's on it. That falls to Al Hussaini, the site's only paid staffer. She manages an eclectic group of about 20 volunteers, all in their 20s and 30s, who speak English but are also fluent in other languages.

Scattered throughout the world, they scour the Internet, reading blogs and searching for mentions of the upcoming election. From February to August, 300 to 400 blog entries were featured on the site. It grew to 800 in September and about 1,100 this month.

There's no single directory of international blogs, Al Hussaini says, and she and her staff specialize in specific regions. They make sure that no one region is overrepresented on the site. It's a labor-intensive process. Though many sign their names in their blogs, just as many do not. Each volunteer has to read the blog, contact the blogger and locate where he or she is. "A lot of people write blogs without telling you where they're from," explains Al Hussaini, who speaks Arabic and monitors a list of about 1,000 blogs in the Middle East. Most bloggers write in English. Some, however, need translating.

Paula Góes, one of the volunteers, grew up in Bahia, in the northeastern part of Brazil. She moved to London six years ago and works as a translator. Brazil is a country of mixed races, says the 32-year-old, and many Brazilians are closely watching Sen. Barack Obama -- so much so that, as Góes wrote in a blog for Voices, six candidates in the country's local elections added "Obama" to their names. None of the Obama wannabes won. "The Portuguese blogs have been all over this election," Góes says in an interview. Even Tina Fey's impersonation of Gov. Sarah Palin has been dissected.

When Sen. John McCain visited Iraq in April, Iraqi bloggers chimed in. "I'll bet you anything, that the Americans will vote for McCain," a blogger named Layla Anwar predicted. Like many Americans, foreigners reacted with surprise at McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate. Some heralded the pick. Others didn't. A blogger in Kuwait, citing both Palin and Sen. Hillary Clinton, wrote on a site called Teach the Masses, "All in all this is a good lesson for the girls in our schools -- they have seen through Hillary Clinton and now Sarah Palin what a woman with an education can do." But a blogger in France, after watching Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention, wrote of the vice presidential nominee: "She is someone who believes in creationism and who thinks that global warming is a hoax! In the most scientifically advanced nation in the world, this is beyond shocking."

Al Hussaini says Voices tries to feature postings on McCain and Obama equally. She points to a Pakistani blogger who thought McCain won the first presidential debate, which was intended to focus on foreign policy. Still, there's no contest when it comes to online global popularity. Echoing the results of recent Gallup polls conducted in 70 countries showing overwhelming support for the Democratic nominee, most international bloggingheads are fascinated by Obama. On a site called If the World Could Vote, created by a 23-year-old Obama supporter in Iceland, about 475,000 people from 200 countries have cast their ballots. As of yesterday, Obama trumps McCain, 87 percent to 13 percent.

Perez, the high school teacher in Manila, can rattle off every state that Obama won in the primaries. Even his margins of victories. And state polls that now show him in the lead. "I've been too busy paying attention to this American election," Perez says, "that I don't really know what's going on here in the Philippines."

| vestiti della Palin

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/10/23/fashion/20081023-palin-slideshow_index.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Elettori di Facebook unitevi !

Noi di provincia siamo così. Ci dicono che con un clik possiamo diventare internazionali ed eccoci approdare su Facebook. Per chi non lo sapesse è un social network, cioè una rete mondiale di amici o meglio, di contatti on line. I fans di Obama stanno usando i social network in lungo e in largo e qui, da noi, anche i politici più attempati si sono messi il loro bel profilo con foto maliziosa (i più audaci azzardano anche slides show) e cercano di sedurre le folle più giovanili. E da qui discussioni su discussioni sul legame tra politica e web e via dicendo. Quello che non si dice o non si è detto è che Facebook è essenzialmente un gioco nel quale si entra e si esce come e quando lo si vuole ed è tale in quanto ognuno è libero di inserire i dati che meglio crede. Per quanto mi riguarda ho in corso uno stretto scambio di notizie con un ventitreenne cileno (credo) che mi crede una ventenne americana e non è detto che lui/lei sia un pensionato/a o un/a dodicenne svizzero/a. Insomma, ognuno decide che profilo darsi, che foto pubblicare e che storie raccontare. L’età media dei partecipanti, sono le ricerche serie a dirlo, è di 22 anni e non per niente i fondatori di Facebook sono dei ragazzini che consentono ai loro coetanei di rintracciare i compagni di college e via dicendo. I raduni di Facebook sono dei fantastici rave party senza droghe dove ci si confessa l’identità (forse) e ci si confronta in carne e ossa e poi vedremo. Trovare su Facebook il profilo dei politici italiani è uno shok per i ragazzini liberal del resto del mondo che sono convinti che dietro a quei nomi si celino dei tardopunk o dei coetanei in vena di scherzetti. Ma siccome ai confini degli imperi si pensa che, sai tu! qualche voto lo si riesca a raccattare anche nel popolo dei social network può succedere che un politico alla domanda su cosa stia facendo in quel momento risponda: “cerco di far fronte alle istanze della gente”. E giù tutti a ridere pensando che sia un modo di dire per intendere in realtà di star smanettando sui siti porno. E sul wall finiscono risposte tipo:”fuck you! I’m playing with my cat…”. Ah, che mondo!

Avviso ai naviganti fedifraghi /Time docet

1. Infidelity is not as common as you might think. A 2006 online survey of 46,000 people revealed that one in five married men and one in ten married women had committed infidelity during their marriage (BBC's UK Lovemap).

2. If there is no way that your partner will find out about a one-off misdemeanour on a business trip, and you want your relationship to survive, honesty is not necessarily the best policy.

3. Crippled with guilt or need advice? Respect your partner and talk to a neutral third party rather than confiding in a friend. Relate offers telephone counselling for £45 an hour on 0300 1001234. Or call the Samaritans on 08457 909090.

4. If the affair is ongoing and there is a chance that someone else will tell your partner, come clean. A one-night stand might just be excusable; lying never is.

Our relationship expert says although an affair can feel right, you may have suspended a lot of guilty feelings to keep it going

Two years ago, I had an affair, which resulted in us both being divorced by our spouses

Background

• My lover has a girlfriend and kids

• Should I leave my husband for my lover?

• Should I end my affair for cheating fiance?

5. Nor is compromising your partner's sexual health. If you were dumb enough to have unprotected sex, get tested for STIs. Some STIs can't be picked up for two weeks or more, and HIV has a three-month dormancy period. So even if your initial results are clear, you may need to tell your partner the truth so that he or she can get tested too.

6. When you tell your partner your motive should be a genuine desire to improve or, if necessary, gently terminate your relationship. Don't confess to ease your own guilt, vent anger or get even.

7. Infidelity is often a symptom, not a cause, of trouble in a relationship, and confessing may force you to address the underlying issues. For example, if you were drunk or high when your infidelity happened, drugs and alcohol may be the real problem.

8. Frank Pittman, a psychiatrist and relationship expert, says there are four types of infidelity: accidental infidelity (an unintended act of, usually drunken, carelessness); the romantic affair (you meet somebody wonderful while you are going through a big crisis in your life); the marital arrangement (comfort while you avoid dealing with a marriage that won't die and won't recover); and the philanderer (men who continually need their masculinity affirmed, women who are the daughters or ex-wives of philanderers).

9. Extra-marital affairs remain the biggest cause for divorce, according to the UK management consultants Grant Thornton.

10. Only 3 per cent of 4,100 high-powered, but unfaithful, men divorced their wives and married their lovers (Dr Jan Halper, the author of Quiet Desperation: The Truth About Successful Men). And the divorce rate among those who marry their lovers is 75 per cent (Frank Pittman).

DINNER

NEW YORK -Barack Obama and John McCain appeared together at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. The entertaining pool report here comes from the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny:

Sen. Barack Obama was preceded - actually, introduced - at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner by Sen. John McCain, who took the first turn at the lectern. He delivered many lines that left Mr. Obama laughing out loud.

"I can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me," Mr. McCain said, turning to the far side of the stage. "I'm delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary."

Mr. McCain assured those in the ballroom that his rival was not fazed by being called, "That one," during the second presidential debate.

"He doesn't mind at all, in fact, he even has a pet name for me: George Bush," Mr. McCain said.

Mr. McCain offered several words of praise, which Mr. Obama acknowledged with applause and a nod of the head.

"My opponent is an impressive fellow in many ways. Political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. I have seen this man at his best. I admire his great skill, energy and determination," Mr. McCain said. "It's not for nothing that he has inspired so many folks in his own party and beyond. Senator Obama talks about making history and he's made quite a bit of it already.

"There was a time when the mere invitation of an African American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult in many quarters. Today, it's world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. And good riddance.

"I can't wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well."

After a handshake, Mr. Obama took the lectern for his turn.

"I was originally told the venue would be Yankee Stadium. Can somebody tell me what happened to the Greek columns that I requested?" Mr. Obama said.

Later, he added: "I do love the Waldorf Astoria. I hear from the doorstep you can see all the way to the Russian Tea Room."

(Yes, Mr. McCain laughed. A lot.)

Mr. Obama, noting his age, said he did not have the pleasure of knowing Al Smith, but added: "From everything Senator McCain has told me, he was a great man."

Then, he gave a shout out to Mayor Bloomberg.

"The mayor recently announced some news that he would be rewriting the rules and have a third term, which prompted Bill Clinton to say: You can do that?" Mr. Obama said.

As Mrs. Clinton laughed on stage, Mr. Obama added: "I'm glad to see you made it Hillary. I hear Chuck Schumer tried to tell you that we really did move this event to Yankee Stadium."

Mr. Obama continued with Mrs. Clinton, saying: "She's the primary reason I have all this gray in my hair now."

Mr. Obama called it "a tribute to American democracy" that the two rivals could come together two weeks before the election to "sit down at the same dinner table without preconditions."

He drew boos from the crowd when he tried making a joke about AIG, noting that the fine wine and gourmet food resembled a retreat of the troubled insurance company.

Finally, Mr. Obama did a riff on the question that Mr. McCain has been asking voters: Who is the real Barack Obama?

"I actually was not born in a manger," Mr. Obama said.

"Barack is actually Swahili for That One," he added.

"I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I would ever run for president," he continued.

He predicted that several October surprises were likely to occur, including: "My middle name is actually Steve," he said, speaking over loud applause. "Barack Steve Obama."

The McCains - the senator and his wife - clapped only tepidly when Mr. Obama said, "Fox News accused me of having two African American children in wedlock." The crowd, it seemed, wasn't sure how to respond.

Mr. Obama praised the service that Mr. McCain has made to the nation, saying: "I'm proud to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you."

He closed on a serious note.

"No matter what differences or divisions or arguments we are having right now, we ultimately belong to something bigger and more lasting than political parties," Mr. Obama said. "We belong to a community, we share a country, we are all children of God. In this country there are millions of fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters, who need us very much - especially now."

The motorcade waited about 30 minutes before departing at 10:20 p.m. for the final event of the evening: the fund-raiser with Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.

Perchè amo l'America

Because I like America

Tribune endorsement: Barack Obama for president

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama campaigns in Roanoke, Va. today. (Getty photo by Joe Raedle / October 17, 2008)

However this election turns out, it will dramatically advance America's slow progress toward equality and inclusion. It took Abraham Lincoln's extraordinary courage in the Civil War to get us here. It took an epic battle to secure women the right to vote. It took the perseverance of the civil rights movement. Now we have an election in which we will choose the first African-American president . . . or the first female vice president.

In recent weeks it has been easy to lose sight of this history in the making. Americans are focused on the greatest threat to the world economic system in 80 years. They feel a personal vulnerability the likes of which they haven't experienced since Sept. 11, 2001. It's a different kind of vulnerability. Unlike Sept. 11, the economic threat hasn't forged a common bond in this nation. It has fed anger, fear and mistrust.

On Nov. 4 we're going to elect a president to lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose.

The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud to endorse him today for president of the United States.

BODY LANGUAGE IN THE DEBATES

The body language seen in the 2008 presidential debates between Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican John McCain is very important in conveying nonverbal messages to voters.
Roger Axtell, author of Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World, said he believes McCain did not look at Obama during the first presidential debate on September 26 because he was “trying to stay focused with his audience.”
Axtell, formerly vice president of worldwide marketing for the Wisconsin-based Parker Pen Company, said he viewed McCain’s keeping his eyes focused on the audience as a deliberate gesture.
Americans, he said, are taught to establish eye contact when speaking to another person. In other cultures, such as in Japan, looking too long at another person is considered rude and impolite. American Indians, he added, also are taught “that you don’t stare at your elders.”
During the second presidential debate on October 7, with a “town hall” format, McCain jotted down notes, while Obama sat on his stool and did not take notes, Axtell said. Obama “seemed to signal that ‘I don’t have to write notes — I’m ready and can handle anything.’”
Axtell expressed puzzlement at Obama “looking out with no expression” when McCain talked. “I don’t know what [Obama] was trying to signal. I’ve never seen that before” in a debate, Axtell said.
The two candidates exchanged quick handshakes at the start of the first two debates. Axtell said Americans are taught to give “good, firm handshakes,” while the Latin culture has a “touching society,” in which a handshake is often accompanied by a hug or a hand on the shoulder or elbow. In cultures including those in the Middle East and Japan, offering a “squeezing” handshake is considered rude, Axtell said.
The use of teleprompters creates a problem for McCain’s public speaking, Axtell said, in that he constantly shifts his eyes to read scripted material. Darting your eyes about is “disconcerting” to an audience, Axtell said.

CONTRARY VIEWS ON BODY LANGUAGE OF MCCAIN, OBAMA

Deborah Tannen, a professor of linguistic at Georgetown University in Washington had a different view on the performance of the two candidates during their second debate. She said Obama sat in a “relaxed stance” on his chair as McCain spoke, while McCain seemed to be “pacing nervously, grinning awkwardly and standing impatiently by his chair rather than sitting in it.”
“Obama came across as knowledgeable and composed, and he calmly but firmly countered McCain's most unjustified accusations; his outstretched arm was an effective gesture as it pointed to McCain but also came across as reassuring,” said Tannen, best known for her books on interpersonal communication and public discourse.
A famous nonverbal signal from previous presidential debates occurred in 1992 when incumbent president George H.W. Bush looked at his watch while his opponent, Bill Clinton, who would win the election, spoke. Tannen said Bush’s gesture conveyed “boredom, he doesn't want to be there, maybe he doesn't feel confident” and wants the debate to end.
Carol Kinsey Goman, president of the California-based Kinsey Consulting Services, which specializes in coaching executives on communication strategies, said body language is important because it conveys “the emotional impact behind words.”
Body language is an instinct that derives from prehistoric times, she said. “We still have that prehistoric part of our brain” in operation “when we evaluate people.”
Goman, author of The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work, said the reasons behind specific body language are less important than when certain gestures are used.
McCain not looking at Obama during the first debate, Goman said, sent a message that was counter to McCain’s stated position that Democrats and Republicans need to work together on behalf of the American people.
McCain’s failure to look at Obama “was so off-message that if I had been coaching [McCain] I would never have allowed it,” Goman said. “I think it was the biggest nonverbal against-message-point I’ve ever seen” in presidential debate.
Goman said she does not accept the explanation that McCain avoided looking at Obama because he was concentrating on his own response. “It’s one thing to concentrate on what you’re going to say. It’s another to shift your body away” from the other person.
McCain’s “prowling around” the stage while Obama spoke during the second debate was also “nonverbally disrespectful,” Goman said.
But she complimented McCain for “impressive body language” when during the second debate he walked into the audience and touched a U.S. military veteran on the shoulder, and then gave him a handshake, which produced a “genuine smile from the veteran.”
The “power of touch ... creates a bond,” Goman said. McCain’s gesture was “exquisitely done” and worked very much in the Republican’s favor, she said.

Conservative

Di solito quando si usa l'espressione «un uomo d'ordine» si allude a una persona conservatrice, amante della disciplina e di probabili simpatie a destra. Secondo un team di psicologi americani questa verità è ora confermata da uno studio, già molto discusso, pubblicato su The Journal of Political Psychology. E d'ora in poi l'ordine può entrare a far parte «scientificamente» dei valori di destra (e viceversa il disordine diventa caratteristica di sinistra).

LO STUDIO – Secondo un'indagine effettuata tra 76 studenti e 94 professori di college, dei quali sono state anche ispezionate le stanze, il disordine caratterizza con puntualità le scrivanie e le camere di chi pende a sinistra. A quanto pare, tra le altre cose, i conservatori amano uffici e stanze ordinate, illuminate, calendari, bandierine; i liberal sprofondano nel disordine e nel colore, ma si circondano anche di libri (specie di viaggio) e di tanta musica. Dana Carney, assistente alla Columbia University's Business School di New York, e Sam Gosling, professore di psicologia all'Università del Texas, entrambi co-autori dello studio, spiegano come molte caratteristiche caratteriali abbiano spesso una valenza anche politica. E, come puntualizza un terzo autore dell'analisi, John Jost, della New York University, esistono già test psicologici che dimostrano come alcuni tratti della personalità siano legati alle simpatie politiche. Basta saperli interpretare.

BIG FIVE QUESTIONNAIRE - Il Big Five Questionnaire per esempio è un test psicologico che valuta la personalità del candidato su cinque grandi «dimensioni» (ciascuna di esse ulteriormente suddivisa in due sottodimensioni): apertura mentale, coscienziosità, estroversione, gradevolezza, stabilità emotiva. Secondo il professor Jost in questo test sono contenute importanti indicazioni dell'orientamento, soprattutto nelle prime due esaminate.

DESTRA E SINISTRA - Resistono comunque le vecchie distinzioni tra destra e sinistra cantate da Gaber. Pur nella sua semplificazione, il testo della canzone rimane difficile da smontare: fare il bagno nella vasca è indubbiamente più di destra e ancor più lo è il reggicalze. La doccia, il minestrone, la musica e il disordine rimangono di sinistra. E ora lo dicono anche gli psicologi.

United Colors

Se non fossero così dem, quelli di Zelig potrebbero ampiamente ispirarsi alla neo tivvù dem per le loro adorabili idiozie. Dopo il cinema polacco (ahhhh....lo adoro) adesso abbiamo una vera parodia della televisione polacca ben inferiore alla gemella demtv del kurdistan (www.demtv.biz). Dopo aver inneggiato al red e al suo sommo ispiratore meglio è stendere un velo (green) sulla misera ambientazione dem allietata da una formidabile nota augurale del re(d) dei reds. DabliuVì, a cui il verde deve aver dato alla testa (svolta ambientalista in agguato?) temo abbia così pensato: facciamo una televisione semigeneralista di sinistra e, tanto per essere à la page, la piazziamo sul web. Ambiente (air), quest'ultimo, che con la Tv tradizionale con studio e conduttori non ha nulla a che fare (do you know youtube?). We can, you dem, they change... That's life!

CRAC & YUPPIES

di JAY McINERNEY

Ho sentito per la prima volta la parola «yuppie » nell'83, quando vivevo nell'East Village. Allora dividevo un appartamento con il mio miglior amico, scrivevo il primo romanzo e mi guadagnavo da vivere come lettore di dattiloscritti a Random House. Mi stavo godendo una prima colazione a mezzogiorno, da Veselka, sulla Second Avenue, ancora in preda alla sbornia della notte prima (...). In precedenza, mi fermavo da Binibon, ma proprio sul marciapiede Jack Henry Abbott aveva pugnalato il cameriere-drammaturgo Richard Adan e dopo il fattaccio il locale era stato chiuso per mancanza di avventori. Seduto accanto a me al bancone c'era un pittore, che viveva nel quartiere e amava pavoneggiarsi con gli abiti schizzati di vernice, e a un tratto l'ho sentito borbottare, «Yuppie di merda ». Ho alzato lo sguardo e ho visto una giovane coppia elegante, ovviamente di buona famiglia, del tipo preppy per intenderci, che aspettava che si liberasse un tavolo. I due ragazzi sembravano provenire dai quartieri alti dell'Upper East Side, pantaloni cachi e camicia di cotone. Noi invece eravamo tutti uniformemente anticonformisti nei nostri jeans neri, Ramones nere ai piedi e T-shirt con i logo delle TV. (...) Questo «yuppie» mi suonava nuovo.
Pare che il termine sia apparso per la prima volta nel 1983, quando l'opinionista Bob Greene scrisse un articolo sull'ex leader yippie Jerry Rubin, che organizzava incontri sociali allo Studio 54. In quel giro, a detta di Greene, c'era un tale che giurava che Rubin, da capo degli yippie, era diventato capo degli yuppies. Il neologismo stava per Young Urban Professionals (giovani professionisti metropolitani) e sarebbe passato alla storia come yup, se non fosse stato per Rubin. Il termine yuppie suggeriva una certa traiettoria evolutiva — o involutiva — rispetto a hippie e yippie. E vantava una storia avvincente: la duplice ironia del perditempo rivoluzionario che si trasforma in imprenditore e capitalista convinto; sullo sfondo, un'atmosfera fascinosa screziata di fatuo edonismo, per non parlare dell'acronimo arguto, che descriveva a puntino una nuova minoranza immediatamente riconoscibile(...).
Il tono con cui si pronunciava la parola yuppie sulla East Fifth Street si caricava progressivamente di odio e disprezzo man mano che i prezzi immobiliari nell'East Village schizzavano verso l'alto. Nel corso di decenni di relativa stabilità, la zona era diventata il bastione degli immigrati dall'Europa orientale e dei giovani artisti. È facile dimenticare, a distanza di tanto tempo, che questa era anche una zona di guerra, dove scippi e stupri erano all'ordine del giorno e non facevano nemmeno più notizia. Gli Hells Angels imperversavano sulla East Third Street, e al calar della notte si andava a est della Second Avenue a proprio rischio e pericolo. I poliziotti non ci mettevano piede. La East Tenth, oltre la Avenue A, era un supermercato della droga, con spacciatori minorenni che sgattaiolavano dentro e fuori da palazzi fatiscenti. In realtà, vasti settori della città erano invasi dalla sporcizia e in mano alla criminalità. Persino il West Village era assai deprimente in confronto a oggi e a Times Square regnava uno squallore spettacolare. Andate a rivedere Taxi driver o The French Connection se volete rivivere l'atmosfera di queste zone, allora ridotte a un deserto urbano.
Ma non si trattava solo di estetica. A quei tempi New York era una città, nel complesso, molto più provinciale di oggi, suddivisa a seconda dell'etnia e del ceto sociale. A Little Italy abitavano in preponderanza gli italiani, mentre l'East Village contava per lo più ucraini. I ricchi Wasp (bianchi anglosassoni protestanti) vivevano invece nell'Upper East Side, a ovest della Third Avenue, e Harlem, ovvio, era al 99 percento nera. Molti bianchi avevano il terrore mortale di appisolarsi in metropolitana e di svegliarsi in corrispondenza della 145a Strada. La classe media bianca defluiva poco a poco dalla metropoli, dove imperversava la criminalità e l'eroina dilagava come un'epidemia (...). Questa era la Manhattan prima dell'arrivo degli yuppies, una città, oserei dire, alla disperata ricerca di riscatto e di rilancio (...).

Reagan spiana la strada agli yuppies
Il mondo artistico dell'East Village, inaugurato dall'apertura della Fun Gallery di Patti Astor nel 1981, era già lanciato alla grande per la fine dell'83. Le gallerie attiravano i clienti danarosi, ovviamente disprezzati proprio dagli artisti dell'ambiente. Gli yuppies, appena identificati come tali, incarnarono subito la principale contraddizione del settore artistico, che oggi diamo quasi per scontata: sono proprio gli esponenti della borghesia i consumatori finali di tutto quello che l'arte produce al fine di épater la bourgeoisie.
Basquiat certo non vendeva le sue tele da cinquantamila dollari agli amici tossicodipendenti.
Sin dall'inizio, si percepiva una certa confusione soggetto/oggetto nel concetto di yuppie, quasi una riflessione sul fenomeno, del tipo «abbiamo conosciuto il nemico ed è dentro di noi». A parte gli occupanti abusivi del centro città, era difficile talvolta trovare un abitante di Manhattan che non avesse adottato il nuovo stile di vita in qualche sua sfumatura. L'iscrizione alla palestra ti qualificava come yuppie? E sniffare cocaina? O mangiare pesce cru do? Quando ho sentito un agente cinematografico che scagliava sprezzante quell'epiteto contro un gruppo di banchieri all'Odeon, mi sono chiesto che fine avessero fatto i classici oggetti di lancio, quali pentole e piatti.
A livello nazionale, il terreno era stato preparato dall'elezione di Ronald Reagan alla presidenza, l'ex attore con il sorriso Colgate accompagnato dall'imperiosa Nancy, sua moglie. La signora Reagan sborsò 25.000 dollari per il guardaroba dell'inaugurazione, mentre per rinnovare gli arredi dell'appartamento presidenziale alla Casa Bianca non esitò a spendere 800.000 dollari. Pare che a quei tempi fossero un sacco di soldi, a giudicare dallo stupore con cui la cifra passava di bocca in bocca. Per il servizio di porcellana, la fattura fu di 209.508 dollari, che sembrano tanti ancora oggi. Che lusso! Dopo gli anni di Jimmy Carter, che compiangeva il malessere nazionale e ci raccomandava di ridimensionare le aspettative e trasportare da soli le nostre valigie, i Reagan irruppero sulla scena come fautori inconsapevoli della bella vita. I consumi sfrenati erano una buona cosa. In America era spuntato finalmente il sole, secondo Reagan, quasi a voler dire che gli anni Sessanta erano davvero finiti.
All'epoca non lo sapevamo, ma la nascita della nuova specie potrebbe risalire al 22 settembre del 1982, con la prima puntata di Family Ties (in Italia «Casa Keaton ») e l'apparizione di Michael J. Fox nei panni di Alex Keaton, il giovane repubblicano con la ventiquattrore in mano. A ripensarci, sì, Keaton era proprio il proto-yuppie. Nato in Africa da genitori hippie impegnati in interventi umanitari, Keaton porta la cravatta anche in casa, adora la ricchezza, il successo negli affari, Ronald Reagan, e sogna di far carriera a Wall Street. La serie conobbe sette stagioni, dall'82 all'89, e illustrò una strana inversione culturale in cui una nuova generazione conservatrice accantonava tutti i valori liberali dei padri. Gli ideatori della serie, invece, intendevano focalizzare l'attenzione sui genitori, ma il giovane repubblicano ben presto si accaparrò le luci della ribalta. Se sulle prime Keaton poteva apparire un'anomalia, nel giro di brevissimo tempo si trasformò nell'avatar dello Zeitgeist.
«Chi sono tutti questi tipi ambiziosi, con le bottigliette d'acqua firmata, scarpette da corsa, parquet anticato e appartamenti da mezzo milione di dollari in quartieri degradati?» chiedeva la rivista Time il 9 gennaio del 1984. «Gli yuppies», ci veniva spiegato, «si dedicano al duplice obiettivo di fare un mucchio di soldi e di raggiungere la perfezione, grazie alla cura del fisico e della mente, con palestra e psicoanalisi» (...).

Jay McInerney

PUSTETTO'S JOB

PR Consultant

During her first months in office, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin kept a relatively light schedule on her workdays in Juneau, making ceremonial appearances at sports events and funerals, meeting with state lawmakers, and conducting interviews with Alaska magazines, radio stations and newspapers.
But this spring, Palin's official calendar chronicles an extraordinary rise to national prominence. A fresh face in Republican politics, she was discovered by the national news media at least in part because of a determined effort by a state agency to position her as an oil and gas expert who could tout Alaska's determined effort to construct a natural gas pipeline.
An outside public relations expert hired under a $31,000 contract with the state Department of Natural Resources pitched the "upstart governor" as a crusader against Big Oil, a story line that Palin has adopted in her campaign as Sen. John McCain's running mate. The contract was the only time the Palin administration hired an outside consultant to set up media interviews, a function performed in many states by government employees.
At the state Capitol, Palin agreed to be "shadowed" for days by some national reporters, and her dealings with the legislature dropped off so dramatically that some House and Senate members donned red-and-white "Where's Sarah?" buttons to show their disapproval. But her high-visibility campaign paid off, helping Palin win notice from political pundits, who began including her on lists of long-shot choices for the GOP vice presidential spot.
"We were glad she was out there promoting energy development," said Alaska state Rep. Jay Ramras (R), an occasional critic of Palin. "Who would have guessed the self-promoting element would have led to such an improbable move, to place her on the ticket, but it worked."
Palin's gubernatorial calendar, obtained by The Washington Post under the Alaska Public Records Act, adds to the understanding of Palin as a political phenomenon, a governor from an obscure state who exploded onto the national stage after just 21 months in office. While many factors played a role in Palin's rise, including her background in broadcast journalism and the appeal of her life story, she also benefited from expert counsel on how to take her message to a national audience.
Palin made energy a priority as she took office in December 2006. Much of her time was devoted to discussions of a proposed 1,700-mile pipeline that would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states. The issue had long been controversial, but Palin vowed to tackle it without making too many concessions to oil companies. Her first contact with Washington came on Jan. 17, 2007, when the vice president called her to discuss the project, the calendar shows.
In early January 2007, Palin met with Marathon Oil executives, and the next month, while attending a meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, she met privately with Exxon Mobil executives, including the president of production at the time. The conference also provided her first audience with President Bush, who hosted the governors at the White House.
But Palin's typical day during her first months in office was far more mundane, the calendar shows. Her schedule shows long gaps in her official business on school holidays, appearances at local events and festivals, and frequent out-of-town trips with a child or two in tow.
Meetings on the pipeline became regular features on her calendar, and the Department of Natural Resources wanted to heighten national attention on it, said Kurt Gibson, a member of Palin's oil and gas team. Despite the project's "unprecedented" nature, state officials were not attracting the interest of national media, he said.
"We are a small state far removed from major media markets. We needed someone with expertise. The objective was to raise national awareness of the project," Gibson said. "It benefits not just the state of Alaska, but Americans in general. We want the public to understand this."
Gibson said Palin was an articulate advocate for the project and "the best person to deliver that message."
The agency signed a contract last year with Marcia Brier, who is based in Needham, Mass. Brier's Web site says she has been a public relations expert for 20 years, working mostly with law and medical firms. She represented Bader al-Saud, the Saudi prince, in his plea deal on a vehicular homicide charge. Another Brier client is the law firm Greenberg Traurig, which is providing legal services to the state of Alaska on the pipeline and recommended Brier to state officials.
Reached by telephone, Brier confirmed that she worked with Palin, "but once she became the vice presidential nominee, I stopped."
Brier began pitching Palin for media interviews as early as October 2007, when an e-mail was sent to The Post.
The media campaign did not take off, however, until this year, after Palin announced that TransCanada was the only firm to meet the bidding requirements for the pipeline. As events unfolded, Brier pitched stories promoting Palin, casting her as the force behind creating the pipeline plan and convincing the legislature to go along.
Media pitches sent to The Post in mid-May were titled "Big Oil Under Siege" and "Alaska's Love-Hate Relationship With Big Oil." Each offered an interview with Palin.
"The announcement of the winning bidder for a new Alaskan pipeline is a major blow to ExxonMobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips, the three oil companies operating in Alaska," Brier's pitch said. "These companies have blocked construction of a new pipeline for decades. . . . But now, the new governor of Alaska has devised a way to circumvent Big Oil's delaying tactics."
Another pitch said: "Even Alaska's upstart governor, who has been key in pushing through the pipeline project that oil companies detest, depends on these very companies for her family income. Her husband, Todd, works for BP as a field worker."
Adding to the media's interest in the 44-year-old governor was the delivery of her fifth child, Trig, on April 18. Palin flew home from a Republican Governors Association meeting in Texas to have the baby at a Wasilla hospital, and the schedules show that she returned to work three days afterward. She resurfaced to attend a meeting on the pipeline at the Capitol.

McCain shows up twice on Palin's calendar during the months he was considering her as a potential running mate. In February, he hosted a gathering with governors at a Washington hotel during the Republican Governors Association's winter meeting. The next month, Palin promoted McCain at the Alaska Republican Party's annual convention in Anchorage, reading a letter from him that expressed his regrets for not being able to attend.
On May 22, Palin recommended that the legislature approve the selection of TransCanada for pipeline construction. That same day, Brier scheduled an interview for Palin with the New York Times. She also did telephone interviews with The Post, Fox News, Fortune magazine and "60 Minutes" this spring and summer.
In June, Palin called the legislature into special session to consider the pipeline proposal as well as her plan to give state residents $1,200 oil-dividends checks. The Wall Street Journal flew in to shadow the governor, her calendar shows.
Before long, the spotlight on Palin had expanded to include personal profiles and stories about her staunch opposition to listing polar bears as endangered. People magazine, which sent a reporter to follow her, featured her in a cover story with photos of her holding Trig.
Some lawmakers complained about the governor's preoccupation with media coverage, blaming it in part for her absence at the Capitol.
There also was some resentment that Palin presented herself as the driving force behind the pipeline. "This didn't happen because of one person," said state Rep. Beth Kerttula, a Democrat and House minority leader. "We saw changes because many, many people wanted them and worked for them." The legislature ratified the TransCanada proposal in August.
Larry Persily, an associate director in Alaska's Washington office until June and a former Anchorage Daily News opinion page editor, said the governor initially might not have known how to reach out to national media, but she was well versed in doing interviews from her experience with Alaska news outlets. By the time there was some national buzz on her, he said, she was ready, and an easy sell to reporters.
"The national media loves it when we make the news, because we are so weird out there" in Alaska, Persily said. "Editors across the nation started saying, 'Let's go find out who this woman is.' "
Gibson, the oil and gas team member, said the contract with Brier ended when McCain picked Palin.
"We'd achieved our objective with getting the national attention," Gibson said. "There was no need anymore to use state money to achieve that. She has the platform. She can deliver the message. She doesn't have a problem reaching out to the media."

NO GELMINI NIGHT

Come alla prima della Scala. Una arriva al teatroudine.it (giovannidaudine si è definitivamente capito essere tout simplement un coiffeur pour hommes) e già da lontano sospetta che i lumini vaganti che lo circondano siano indizio di una protesta – like the Sixties! - pervasa di mestizia. Siccome sa che è più facile trovare Perahia alla Carnegie Hall sulla 57a che in via Trento, magari si è messa due strass in più, tanto per sembrare più metropolitana e, per coerenza, lo small black dress d’ordinanza. E mentre con tubino e svarosky la poveretta si incammina verso Mozart e Chopin ecco apparire i dimessi Cgil’s boys della scuola che ritengono buona l’occasione per una No Gelmini Night possibilmente sotto gli occhi del grande pianista a Udine sulla rotta New York – Beijing (se non ci fossero state le olimpiadi avremmo continuato a credere che la salma di Mao riposasse semplicemente a Pechino). E siccome davanti agli sciccosissimi spettatori della Scala i protestatari inalberano solitamente eloquenti striscioni, ecco i militanti in notturna del teatroudine.it esibire al variegato pubblico locale i dezebao in marilenghe in difesa della scuola pubblica. In assenza di un red carpet e con gli spettatori che arrivano da tutte le parti, gli insegnanti nel mirino della Gelmini e di Brunetta fanno gruppetto a sé se non fosse che a raggiungerli siano l’esperto nazionale in scoliosi e noduli tiroidei seguito a ruota dall’ex magnifico che risplende come un tardivo tedoforo sulla via della seta. Come alla prima della Scala. Solo che da quelle parti non è consueto che i Borrelli o i Veronesi (black tie, please) superino la barricata per poi infilarsi nella platea più prestigiosa che c’è anche se i manifestanti sono i verdi animalisti del loro stesso credo vegetariano. Per non dire della sottovalutazione della Gelmini sotto la cui aria sbiadita potrebbe battere il cuore di una qualsiasi Pivetti che, dopo aver scampanellato onorevolmente nella Camera bassa con un ghigno da tabagista e un look da flowers children, si è lucidata i denti e riesumato l’armamentario bondage per ascendere al piano nobile delle tivù. Nulla vieta quindi che tra cinque anni la ministra, smesso il tailleur e i tagli alla scuola, diventi like a Virgin in borchie e latex e selezioni gli ospiti di un suo invidiatissimo talk show tutto lap dance e cultura liberal classic pop. E quando direttori artistici e sindaci le ricorderanno i trascorsi televisivi per essere riammessi all’emozione della messa in onda controllerà la rubrica del sul suo nintenedo wii-sex e troverà un appunto con scritto Quelli che a Udine. Avrà giusto il tempo di resettare i nomi prima di fare un duetto con Bondi gongolante proprio come McCain e la sua Palin.

RED TV

Dear D'Alema, sa quali sono i vantaggi del vivere così lontano da Roma da essere quasi in Austria, in Slovenia e in Croazia, praticamente in Europa? Che quassù (laggiù, dicono i tedeschi) di red o reds non c'è traccia. Succede cioè che mentre dalle vostre parti si impiantano le televisioni nel cuore del sistema (Palazzo Grazioli è la location più spiritosa che si potesse immaginare: equivale alla presa del Palazzo d'Inverno!) qui il solo red di cui si abbia notizia è il mio amico scomparso, ahimè, vent'anni fa e che di professione faceva il ladro di biciclette militante di sinistra. Che mi ricordi è stato lui l'ultimo red a scaldare i cuori sbiaditi dei compagni allo sbaraglio chiusi nel dibattito se era meglio architettura a Venezia o sociologia a Trento. Lui era red di natura e con ciò intendo rosso, quel fantastico colore che il compagno (?) DabliuVì ha buttato alle ortiche e sostituito con un verde ammiccante e un po' di bandiera. Insomma, per me red, lo avrà capito (e come lo ha capito!) è sinonimo di rosso, il colore della migliore gioventù, della mia e della sua, quando il primo maggio andavamo a sfilare a Cervignano (amena località a nord di Gallipoli). E siccome io l'adoro (ha capito benissimo, non si intimidisca!) non potevo non dirle che l'idea del red in versione televisiva è una genialata, sua e di quel talentuoso scugnizzo che è Velardi. Non vedo l'ora di non vederlo questo canale per parlarne come tutti ne parleranno. Lucia Annunziata sarà un avatar così come lo sarà Red (ha notato l'iniziale finalmente maiuscola?) e voglio vedere, questo sì, come faranno i dem a ritagliarsi uno spazio nel web, come dire nel niente.
Sono una sua fans e conti pure su di me: già a Cervignano sognavo di votare un giorno per i Riformisti Europeisti Democratici. Che genio! Che glamour! Che red!

PALIN'S STYLE

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's style is exceptionally ordinary. Nothing about it connotes authority. No detail announces that she is in charge. And that's what makes it so powerful.

The rimless glasses that dominate her face are as banal as modern spectacles come. The entire goal of their design is to have them go unnoticed. They are not meant to frame her features as much as they are crafted to avoid detracting from her big brown eyes.

Her clothes are unpretentious, but they are also unremarkable. They have nothing to do with Fashion. It's fashion show season now, with designers unveiling their spring 2009 collections in New York, Milan and soon Paris. So far, none of them have suggested that the next new thing for the power-wielding woman is a straight black skirt with a boxy, oyster-colored blazer, which is what Palin wore when she accepted the vice-presidential nomination in St. Paul, Minn.

In the narrow confines of political style, the accepted rule is to dress in a manner that implies empathy for one's constituency -- so don't wear anything too expensive -- but also conveys authority. Palin has embraced the former and utterly ignored the latter. Nothing about her style jibes with the image of power. She does not dress like a boss lady, an Iron Lady or the devil who wore Prada.

Her clothes don't have the aura of sophistication like that of Michelle Obama's sheaths and pearls. They do not have a patina of glamour like Cindy McCain's heiress wardrobe. And they do not announce themselves with the confidence, assertiveness and listen-to-me-ness of Sen. Hillary Clinton's bold pantsuits. Palin's clothes are common. Everyone knows someone who dresses like her, which is partly why so many folks seem to think that they know her.

Palin likes to wear a super-size Old Glory brooch that shouts with as much patriotic bravado as one of those monster flags that wave from a car dealership. Her flag was on display during a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Mich. And for the record, it has no kin among the statement jewelry currently being championed on the runway.

The ruby slippers she wore on the campaign trail, the ones she paired with the black jacket and skirt that pulled just so across her hips, churn up images of another small-town girl who'd suddenly landed in Oz. A peep-toe pump is coy -- coquettish even. But not an emblem of gravitas.

Despite what every optometrist with a publicity agent has to say, there is nothing remotely striking about her eyeglasses. It's only notable in an age of contact lenses and Lasik surgery that anyone in the public spotlight regularly wears them at all -- except, perhaps, when they're trying to make a point, such as when television interviewers keep a pair of reading glasses perched on the tip of their nose in a way that makes them look like professors skeptical of a student's ability to withstand their Socratic interrogation.

Palin is the girl next door. And yes, much about her attire emphasizes youthfulness, most distinctly her hair.

The hair, which has been highlighted, teased and scrunched, is a standard-issue, mommy-is-in-a-rush style. Since motherhood has been laid out by her campaign like one of the pillars of national service, the mop-top hairdo is practically a battle scar.

Executive women tend to avoid wearing their hair in ponytails or looking like they have it tacked to the top of their head with a chip clip. Like a good female news anchor, they get themselves a haircut that falls no further than the shoulders, is feminine and easy to maintain. They do not want to be wind-blown and tousled when they walk into a boardroom. Hair shouldn't be a distraction.

Palin doesn't have Maria Menounos's Pantene hair. But it is chestnut brown and long and is the antithesis of what most women do with it as they come into their own. They typically become more polished and controlled, not less so.

Palin has been referred to as America's hottest governor by sources as varied as Alaska Magazine and button-wearing Republican conventioneers. But Palin's power isn't in her physical looks as much as in the packaging.

Palin seems to dress for pretty rather than powerful. She is willing to be sexual, with the occasional fitted jacket and high heels. She wears dangly earrings. Campaign photographers can't seem to resist shooting her legs, as if they've never seen an American female politician with bare gams wearing three-inch heels. (Then again, they probably haven't.)

She talks tough. She doesn't blink. She speaks of "guys and gals." What is a gal? One thinks of a waitress in a bar who knows that if she pretends she doesn't notice when a guy's ogling her legs and gives as good as she gets when it comes to off-color jokes, life will go along more smoothly. She's not one of the guys, but she doesn't confront them with either a lawyer or rhetoric from a women's studies seminar.

Palin's style serves as evidence that a woman can step onto the national political stage without having to manipulate her wardrobe into some torturous costume calibrated to make her look authoritative but not threatening, feminine but not sexy, serious but not dour. Palin proves that a woman can wear red patent-leather shoes and still take questions on foreign policy and the economy.

The test, of course, is whether this particular gal knows the answers.