Addis, Ethiopia

Good humor from The New Yorker.

The day ends without a deal on the bailout of the U.S. financial system.  According to this report from the Washington Post there was a deal agreed to last night, but today House Minority Leader John Boehner, a Republican, raised concerns that House Republicans couldn’t support the deal.  Reports the Post, ” The proposal angered Democrats, who accused Boehner of acting on behalf of GOP presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) in trying to disrupt a developing consensus. It also displeased White House officials, including Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who — half-jokingly — dropped to one knee and pleaded with the lawmakers not to “blow up” the deal, according to two people present at the meeting.”

There is still no word as to whether McCain will attend the debate Friday night.  Today, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, said the debate would go on.  Here’s the latest from the AP.

Barack Obama and John McCain will return to Washington today to meet with President George W. Bush to discuss the state of the economy.

There is still no word whether McCain will participate in Friday’s debate in Oxford, Mississippi.

This afternoon I attended the annual fundraiser for the Clinton School of Public Service.  The event raises money for scholarships and is held at the Little Rock Convention Center in downtown Little Rock, just a few blocks from the school.  Last year, author, commentator and radio host Mitch Albom gave the keynote address.  It was one of the most remarkable speeches I’d ever heard.

This year, in a refreshing and untraditional move, the Clinton School decided to allow one of its own students to give the address.  But the student wasn’t just any student, she’s Beatrice Biira, a woman from Uganda who gained national fame for the re-telling of her family story in the children’s book “Beatrice’s Goat.”

Biira was raised in very poor conditions in Africa.  Her family couldn’t afford the tuition to send her to school.  Until 1991, when the Arkansas-based charity Heifer International introduced 12 goats to 12 families in Biira’s village.  Her family was one of the fortunate recipients and because of the proceeds from the sales of the milk, she was able to go to school.

As a result, Biira came to America and attended a post-graduate high school year in New England before receiving a full scholarship to Connecticut College, the prestigious liberal arts school in New London where she graduated in 2008.  In 2005, she was the subject of a feature on “60 Minutes”.

The presidential election has taken a few interesting turns over the cours of the last week.  With conflict in Georgia, voters have a new foreign policy threat on their mind as we head into the conventions.  Most media outlets give the edge to McCain, obviously, but will the conflict resonate with voters?  With the impact that it has on US oil (not to mention Valdimir Putin’s obvious attempts to expand his regional influence) it should.  If you’re interested in more on Georgian politics, I suggest “Democracy and Autocracy in Eurasia: Georgia in Transition” written by my Middlebury College classmate Irakly Areshidze.

Barack Obama took another hit when Republican political operative turned book publisher (who knew it was that easy!) Mary Matalin agreed to publish right wing hatchet man Jerome Corsi’s new book “The Obama Nation” which debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  Obama quickly issued a 40-page rebuttal.  Corsi was the guy behind “Unfit for Command,” a generally fictional account of John Kerry’s wartime service in 2004.  Of course, the Kerry camp didn’t take it seriously until too late and it doomed the campaign.

Sen. Hillary Clinton will have her name placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention.  It’s a symbolic gesture, they say, and is being done in an effort to unite the Democratic Party.  Pundits are making a lot of noise about this.  Is it much ado about nothing?  The Democrats have to hope so.  Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News opines, “The fleeting sense that he is a magnanimous nominee won’t get him a single vote he wouldn’t get anyway. Ditto for the idea that he’s going the extra mile to unify the party. Those who refuse to accept him as the legitimate winner aren’t likely to do so just because he caves into her demands. It makes him look weak and ratifies Clinton’s sense of entitlement to share party leadership and the convention spotlight.”  Toby Harnden of Real Clear Politics agrees, “Fuelled by an unholy brew of victimhood and entitlement, Clinton’s supporters threaten to steal the show at the convention. Don’t be fooled by the sweetness-and-light joint statement released by the two campaigns. According to one member of Clinton’s camp, Obama’s “elbow was twisted”. Any future negotiations with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran will probably seem like a picnic.”

The veepstakes is still running at full steam.  Rumors have been swirling about McCain strongly considering former Pennsylvania Gov. and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge as well as Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman for his No. 2.  Hannity and Colmes discussed the issue with Dick Morris.  Morris loves the idea of a McCain - Lieberman ticket.  Rich Lowry notes the absurdity of it.

As for Obama, he’s been in Hawaii so there hasn’t been much talk.  Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine seem to be leading the pack.

Does it feel like a made for television movie?

At first I thought this was a funny bit of satire.  According to the New Republic, that isn’t the case.  Andrew Klavan means what he writes, apparently.  President George W. Bush is Batman.  Seriously.

On July 6, 2008, Frank Rich, in his weekly column in the Sunday New York Times, declared “Wall-E,” the latest Pixar creation, for President.  In the piece he concludes, “Americans should see it to appreciate just how much things are out of joint on an Independence Day when a cartoon robot evokes America’s patriotic ideals with more conviction than either of the men who would be president.”

Michael Gerson of the Washington Post invoked similar themes in this op-ed. He observed, “What is perhaps most surprising about “WALL-E” is its daring. Not the false daring that transgresses lines of brutality or taste. Rather, the daring of savagely lampooning people in padded lounge chairs consuming supersized drinks — who suspiciously resemble audience members (including me) in a luxury theater.”

Today, Daniel Engber at Slate offers a contrary view of the film.  He opines, “It’s easy to imagine how they might respond to Pixar’s dystopic vision of our fat future, in which puffed-up bodies are played for cheap laughs. What happens when the movie ends and the lights come up? Does the rest of the audience stare at the lone fatty as she waddles her way towards the theater doors? Do they see in her body a validation of the film’s “darker implications”—a signpost for what we might become if we don’t change our ways? Or do they just scowl at her, convinced that she’s part of the problem?”

I reviewed “Wall-E” over at Moviegoer.  I thought the film was an astouding cinematic achievement.  It’s certain to win the animated Oscar.  And it’s themes simply cannot be overlooked because it’s not a live-action film, which is why I’m glad that people are writing about it.  I think it raises important questions about our culture of consumption.

As you can see, I’ve added outbound links to state and national commentators to the homepage of the site.  This should help you stay in close contact with what these folks are writing without having to dig through their own sites to find it.  If you’d like other folks to be added to commentary roll, let me know.  Enjoy.

Introducing life at the Clinton School of Public Service

ABC News is launching a new initiative to tap college students as newsgatherers.  “ABC News on Campus” is a joint venture with five of the top journalism schools in the United States: The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University; the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University; the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill College of Journalism and Mass Communications; and the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism.

Students, selected and vetted by professors and ABC News, will have the chance to produce content for all the ABC News platforms and work with mentors from the network.  In each bureau, one student will be hired as “bureau chief”—and unlike many news internships, participating students will be paid.

On his 81st birthday, Pope Bendict XVI travels to the White House today to meet with President George W. Bush.  You can catch live coverage on MSNBC and CNN.  The Washington Post will carry live streaming web coverage on its site.