Since I last wrote…

…Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States and the explosion of joy in downtown Manhattan felt like a liberation, the end of a long war.

The party was over, for the president-elect, as early as November, 6, when he received his first PDB – “presidential daily brief”, the state of the world as described by intelligence services. (Later, Al Qaeda’s perplexity, faced with a black man named Barack Hussein Obama succeeding George Bush, became perfectly clear).

Soon enough, Barack Obama was holding regular press conferences, announcing his cabinet and the priorities. Rahm Emanuel was the first major figure to be designated, soon followed by Obama and Clinton loyalists, and of course Hillary herself at the State Department.The economy quickly became the top priority, with record job losses and the debate about a bailout for Detroit’s “Big 3″.

In line with the new approach of the campaign, the transition team put itself on-line. “Chicago” and the less than stellar tradition of Illinois politics came back with a vengeance, though, with the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused by the FBI of a “pay to play” scheme involving the appointment of Barack Obama’s successor in the Senate (but not involving the president-elect or his team, the prosecutor quickly pointed out).

And yes, there was a new song - and speaking of songs, one of the reasons this blog was once again lost in the shuffle is that, besides preparing a book (in French, and no, I have no intention to translate-blog it!) and trying to keep up the French-language “Americana” blog, I volunteer for a cause I believe in: the creation of an Innovative Arts Center in downtown Manhattan. Yes, we need it – creation and imagination is more crucial than ever in tough times – and yes, we can! And yes, there is a Gala Fundraiser this Monday, at the Orensanz Center. Good cause, good art, good party…

McCain, Ayers and the mob: the missing question

I just watched John McCain’s interview on ABC News – here, if you missed it.

“This is a tough campaign”, he says. Tough indeed, when the crowds at his rallies are whipped into shouting “kill him!”, or “terrorist!” as a speaker makes a reference to Barack Obama. Does this make John McCain uncomfortable? Does it give him pause enough that he might ask his surrogates and his running mate to lower the rhetoric? Would he consider warning his supporters publicly that this sort of language and behavior is “unacceptable”, to use this season’s most overused word? Or does he actually think it’s part of what’s fair in the blood sport of politics?

We’ll never know, or at least we will not know tonight. Charles Gibson never asked.

The ABC newsman dutifully asked the questions one expected on a day when the Dow plunged again – on the economy, on McCain’s plan to buy 300 billion dollars worth of bad mortgages. Then the anchorman moved to the other topic of the day: Bill Ayers. Yes, once again, since after signaling they might drop the issue, the republican ticket actually embraced it with a new vengeance. Check the Internet ad – here.

John McCain asserts that Hillary Clinton said the relationship between Ayers and Obama “should be” brought up; she actually said it  “would” – and her spokesperson proceeded to tear into McCain for manipulating a choice selection of Hillary’s words. – here.

But this is certainly not the end of the story – nor of the crowds frenzy.