Not all of my writing is virtual…

Not all of my writing is virtual...

Some of my (incomplete) work is now in book form, spanning the “Bush to Bush” era that shaped the United States that Barack Obama now leads. A look back, from the hopes of the end of the cold war, the promises of the Clinton years, to the three catastrophies (9/11, the invasion of Iraq and Katrina) that define the fourty-third president’s legacy and set the scene for the most unlikely candidate to emerge as the savior of the American dream.

Find out more here

and yes, by all means, buy the book!

Erica Jong, not lost in translation

Note to celebs: sensational there will be sensational here. Latest case in point: Erica Jong’s pronouncement that “blood will run in the streets” if Barack Obama loses the election. She was talking to the Italian Corriere della Serra. For good measure, she talks of a “second civil war” and explains that “President Bush has recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets”. She adds that “voting machines are rigged”. For gossip value, she informs the Italian public that Jane Fonda “cried all night” from stress and that “Ken Follett and Susan Cheever are extremely worried”.

Would she have spoken in the same manner to an American media? Probably not.

It’s the pain and joy of writing for the foreign press.

The pain is, if there are no American interests at stake (a product or a treaty to sell to the overseas audience), most Americans have no interest in talking to the foreign media. There is one notable exception: the British press, often used as a conduit for material that would not be first printed in the US. Latest example: Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni’s story. Otherwise the operating rule is, in the memorable words of an American elected official: “Why should I speak to you, your readers don’t vote for me”.

On the other hand, when they do accept to talk, there is always the latent impression that foreigners don’t know much, and thus need to be properly impressed with simplified or exaggerated statements. There is also the assumption that nobody at home will hear of those declarations, thus the liberating experience of expressing oneself in an unguarded manner. That’s the joy of it: occasionally, people will actually speak their minds without mental reservations. For better or worse.

… and then because we’re in an increasingly Internet-ed world, someone will read it, and translate it, and it will be picked up by the bloggers or the “main stream media”, and word will spread back in English, back to the sender.

The label week

The week started with a record – Barack Obama collected 150 million dollars in September – and a new tune from the McCain/Palin campaign: their democrat rival is really a “socialist”.

VP candidates caused problems on both tickets. Joe Biden had a “Joe the senator” moment on Tuesday, when he spoke with what the democrats decided to call “flourish” about the international test the new president would be put through within six months of entering the White House.

Sarah Palin showed that her “maverick” temperament could occasionally mean she’d publicly disagree with the decisions of the top of the ticket. It appeared she is the main reason republicans and independents are deserting John McCain. She gave those worriers more to worry about when it became clear she had no idea what the job description of the vice-president is. It also turned out that the reformer had had Alaskans taxpayer foot the bill for her children’s travels, and that the RNC had spent 150 000 dollars making her look good.

On Wednesday night, the “Daily Show” did the journalists work, and unearthed a clip of John McCain, in 2000, arguing about the value and the fairness of a progressive income tax, and explaining to a student that it had nothing to do with socialism. At the time, he was campaigning against George Bush’s tax cut proposals.

In the midst of this week when Barack Obama seemed to firm his lead, John McCain and Sarah Palin gave a duet interview to NBC. Little news was made, except for the fact that the candidates looked awkward together, and that Sarah Palin changed her mind: she’s not a feminist, after all. She does not like labels, she says (except of course when it comes to labeling Barack Obama a “socialist”, or his “pal” Billy Ayers a “terrorist”).

On Friday, hours before her deposition in the administrative inquiry regarding the “troopergate”, Sarah Palin gave her first (and last?) policy speech – about children with special needs. Barack Obama had taken time off to visit his ailing grandmother, the woman who help raise him when he came back to Hawaï at age 10, and his last living relative. What was very obviously an hoax (except for those inclined to believe in big black bogeyman attacking defenseless little white McCain volunteers and carving backward letters in their face) was confirmed to be so.

John McCain concluded the week with an appearance at “Meet the Press”, on the 41st anniversary of his capture in Hanoï. He tried to demonstrate that he is not a prisoner to George Bush’s policies, but the republican rebel he once had been. The papers, at the same time, have already started dissecting the failures of his campaign, while conservative bicker amongst themselves.

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In the French media:

Dominique Nora, who blogs for the NouvelObs, got a dose of guilt-by-marketing that she took in stride – an email campaign to make sure to “get out the vote”: here.

In the midst of the current crisis, Le Figaro talks to the French ex wonder boy Jean-Marie Messier, nicknamed “J6M” (a riff on his “J2M”, turned into “Jean-Marie Messier moi-même maître du monde”, Jean-Marie Messier myself master of the world) who, after his downfall at Vivendi Universal was given a second chance in New York – where else? He does not say much except to preach “moderation”: here.