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The women in this photo could be models. The men in this photo are, well, typical schlubby D.C.-types. I’m sure they’re all crazy-impressive, but I wonder who sets the bar for women’s admission to the West Wing (or, perhaps, to the Times Sunday Magazine).

Regardless, this story is some great power porn and a nice source of tabloid ennui for anyone of a certain age and with a certain subset of college diplomas. Read it and self-flagellate.

# All the Obama 20-Somethings from the Sunday Times Magazine

Francophile et francophone

Heyo! Maybe I’ll pontificate a bit further, in English even, on Sarko’s speech at Columbia this morning – I really did find it compelling, even after a second viewing and debate with Lauren back at the apartment. For now, I’m just here to brag about being quoted in Libération, the leftist French paper. Well, the reporter’s blog, at least; it’s not clear if I make it into print. Either way, I think she helped me come off well – and «francophone» ? I’ll take it! In case you’re wondering, “pitrerie” means “bufoonery,” natch:

Malgré cette pitrerie, après le discours les étudiants semblent plutôt séduits. « Je sais qu’en France on le trouve très à droite, observe Steve McFarland, 23 ans, étudiant en théologie, francophile et francophone. Mais là, vu des Etats-Unis, il m’a semblé très très à gauche. Il fait des réformes pour essayer d’emmener la France un peu plus à droite, je l’admire pour cela. Obama essaie lui d’emmener les Etats-Unis un peu plus à gauche. On pourrait se rencontrer quelque part ». Le couplet de Sarkozy sur la nécessaire coopération entre les peuples du monde ne l’a tout de même pas totalement convaincu : « En France et en Europe, il me semble bien que la xénophobie gagne aussi du terrain, non ? »

The full post has the snarky title, Sarkozy, c’est qui? She was delighted to know that Ahmadinejad had attracted a bigger crowd.

Great bit of guerilla activism in Prospect Heights, protesting the disastrous Atlantic Yards project (helmed by developer Bruce Ratner) which just broke ground earlier this month. [via Brownstoner]

"Privately, a Columbia official said that compared to other visits to the school from world leaders, preparations for this one were among the most complicated and detailed. Requests included a special espresso-making machine ready to serve him coffee in an office reserved especially for him. The French also flew in their own podium for the president, but failed to install a rug they wanted to put in place for the speech."

—

I just got out of this speech by Sarkozy. His charms cannot be denied, and somehow even a rightist French xenophobe sounds like a breath of fresh air over here. He spoke forcefully about the dangers of capitalism, and then he shook my hand. Also, his wife was there. Here’s the AP:

# Sarkozy urges world finance rules in US speech

And if Libé uses any of the quotes I gave their reporter, I’ll let you know! Also, Stiglitz and Dinkins were there! And, as I tweeted, lots of insufferable Eurotrash international affairs students.

My lady’s (fleeting) entry into the record of our nation’s senate, back when she was an intern on the hill. Eep!

EDIT: Lindsay Graham is totally reading the paper at the end there. Your government at work!

The Acorn Sting

In his weekly column, Clark Hoyt, the Times’ Public Editor, revisits the Acorn hidden-camera ‘pimp’ sting that has pushed the organization to the brink of bankruptcy. Hoyt quotes an independent auditor, who confirms the most damning clips, but also,

said the news media should have been far more skeptical, demanding the raw video from which the edited versions were produced. “It’s outrageous that this could have had this effect without being questioned more,” he said.

The narrative for months has been that this story was picked up by Fox and right-wing blogs, but buried by the Liberal Media until it became so big that it couldn’t be ignored. And in truth, that seemed pretty credible in this instance. I believe Hoyt had even said as much in previous columns.

But that quote reveals the real harm to the public of having unaccountable bloggers and house organs like Fox News dredging up our news: in the pursuit of a partisan story, they don’t hold themselves to basic journalistic standards. By waiting until they had to take a reactive, hasty plunge into this story, the rest of the media accepted and perpetuated the frame offered by Fox and the far right and failed to do any further reportage.

If the Times – or any real news outlet – had broken this story, they would have gotten the unedited video. It wouldn’t have been quite so salacious, but it would have been responsibly done. When conservative activists want to take down a progressive darling, and have a partisan cable channel at their beck and call, all of a sudden it poisons the well for the rest of the conversation. I knew Fox was bad for people who watched or cared about Fox, but here’s a case where it was bad for everyone. It’s all of the Sarah Palin “death panel” fallout, with none of the immediate push back, and that’s scary.

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A fabulous, and not entirely disingenuous, bit of infographics which succeeds in making me feel better about the fate of the nation. Seen on the Slate Political Gabfest page in response to news of Tufte’s appointment to the administration, although it’s not clear he’s behind this particular graph. Still, great work.

# Road to Recovery

"Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”) “The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said."

— I think I read about this in the book of Revelation:
# Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards

Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment →

Un-effing-believable. Edward Tufte is the high priest of information graphics, and this is just a kick in the pants – talk about the intersection of politics and design! Congrats.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint several individuals to serve on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel.

[via Gruber]

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The 2008 election was long and tumultuous, but one clear winner emerged from the rumpus: typography. An immeasurable amount of ink was spilled on the Obama campaign’s slick identity work, particularly on the thoughtful use of Gotham, the HFJ font.

John McCain famously used Optima in that election cycle. Today, I clicked over to McCain’s site to listen to him curry favor with the teabaggers in the first radio ads for his 2010 Senate reelection campaign, and guess what! Gotham.

Not a bad move – it certainly has accomplished more than Sarah Palin in the last couple years.