Dana Perino is No Ainsley Hayes

In late November former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino made headlines with career moves, then a World's Worst Person nomination. First former Clinton administration PR guy Mark Penn hired her for his DC firm Burson-Marsteller where she joins the likes of Bush pal Karen Hughes and Clinton speechwriter Josh Gottheimer.

Within the week the Obama administration nominated Perino for the federal Broadcasting Board of Governors. According to the Hill the board:

...governs all government sponsored, non-military international broadcasting outlets, such as Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and Alhurra. The BBG is a nine member, bipartisan panel.

Next thing we know, Perino, as part of a regular gig on Fox News describes the recent Fort Hood nightmare as a domestic terrorist attack and appears to forget Sept. 11, 2001 when she claims there were no such attacks during President George W. Bush's watch. This goof garnered her a World's Worst Person award from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Fresh off a wonderful West Wing jag with S, I cannot help but be struck by the stark difference between Perino and the fictional blonde Republican whom WW's President Bartlett hires as White House counsel because, as his Chief of Staff Leo McGarry says, "he likes smart people who disagree with him." Early in season two, Ainsley Hayes catches a vaguely smug smartypants Sam Seaborn flatfooted on a live television show and proceeds to demonstrate intelligence and charming nerdiness enough to fit in with the rest of the WW crew.

Here in real life, Dana Perino forgot who was president when the World Trade Center was attacked in 2001, so I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have known whether Gilbert and Sullivan's "He is an Englishman" was in Pinafore or Penzance. Both Hayes and Seaborn knew it was Pinafore.

Obama is a Civilian

Just saw the slide show (only eight pix) of the President's quick visit to Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base posted at TPM. As I paged through them I felt an unaccountable sense of relief as I watched the serious, dark-suited leader of our country. I couldn't quite decide where it came from until I remembered our last president's military base visits.

GWB's fake military jacket and Alfred E. Newman grin made me cringe for eight years of troop rallying. President Obama's dark suit conveys gravitas and respect. Finally.

Yet Another Reason to Read Sunday's NYT

Though I fantasize about spending part of every Sunday reading the NYT and sometimes buy one, it was probably 1998 when I last actually did it.

Articles like this one about the Obamas' marriage by Jodi Kantor make me think about ways to put the Grey Lady back in my weekend. This piece reads a bit like an episode from "West Wing."

The opening 'graph:

Another Washington dusk, another motorcade, another intimate evening played out in public view. On Oct. 3, just a day after their failed Olympics bid in Copenhagen, Barack and Michelle Obama slipped into a Georgetown restaurant for one of their now-familiar date nights: this time, to toast their 17th wedding anniversary. As with their previous outings, even the dark photographs taken by passers-by and posted on the Web looked glamorous: the president tieless, in a suit; the first lady in a backless sheath.

Accepting Obama's Challenge

Yesterday, Jon Robbins, my sophomore English teacher and husband of the pastor at Sheepscott Community Church, told me a story about what happened to him after he heard President Obama's Inaugural Speech and its challenge to work toward solutions on our own. Jon said he had run his errands and was on his way home when he approached St. Patrick's, the Catholic church in Newcastle. A large sign advertising a blood drive beckoned. "I gave blood," said Robbins.

The President's speech "had an effect," said Robbins. Now, I am sure Mr. Robbins has given blood before. I failed to ask. For all I know he gives blood every month. This probably was not an earth shaking move for this classically educated English teacher who now binds books by hand--complete with gold-edged pages. His point, I think, was that the President's speech had an effect, however humble.

Though I wish I could say I have made similar moves, humble or not, today I saw a local opportunity for someone trained in the trades to make a difference in a seriously Obama-ish way.

In Bath, the state's first Regional School Unit, RSU 1 is "seeking a student centered instructor with knowledge of new, electrical alternatives, including solar and wind." Now is the chance for someone with these critical skills to help the community, state, nation and globe in one fell swoop.

This is when I wish I had fewer liberal arts and frou-frou skills. I mean, can a lovely plié and a well choreographed dance effect much positive change in an economic disaster? Actually, I believe they can. However, that does not keep me from envying those with more practical, Whole Earth Catalog skills. (I can can, though--and not just the dance.)

This Bath vocational school work, helping teenagers get some semblance of a useful trade as we move away from fossil fuels, seems nearly as important to the world as the work of my public service heroes, Doctors Without Borders. No, whomever takes this Bath job will not be dodging bullets from the Janjuweed or risking Ebola virus in the Congo. However, he or she will almost certainly have to bob and weave with the dissonant rhythms of adolescence and institutional learning, motion that when repeated sometimes can make one feel under attack and a bit ill.

Whom do we know who could give this job the weight and attention it deserves? We know a lot of people you and me. For more information go to the Maine teacher job website.

Because I Love England, Obama and Robin Williams

Have you caught this?


n.b. I'm no particular fan of Prince Charles's mind you, though he's a fair horseman I hear.

A Constitutional Scholar in the White House. Just Think.

A quick look at the Obama transition website reveals a conservative truth about the president elect. He signals what would appear to be a dramatic reversal in the way we can expect government to function. Click on "Organizational Chart" on the left hand menu, then notice the place of the U.S. Constitution in the flow chart.

In Case Rahm Emanuel is New to You

Here's a taste of President-elect Obama's attitude toward his new chief of staff. Keep in mind this is a roast.

Free At Last

Gail is a beautiful, smart, kind widow whose husband, a lovely, peaceful, generous Episcopal clergyman, died way too young. She runs a totally groovy kitchen equipment store on Route One between Nobleboro and Waldoboro, called the Well Tempered Kitchen. [n.b. if you're in the mood for shopping, either visit scenic Waldoboro or pray the online store reopens quickly.]

At the driveway entrance stands a sign usually reserved for sale info and cooking class times.

This morning, the day after we elected Barack Obama to the presidency, as I was driving to Thomaston and my first day of work as an Ed Tech--after six months of seeking a teaching job--I saw this sign and started to cry. I could hear MLK as if he were coming out of my car radio.

Yo Thomaston P.D.! You've Got Crime

Dear Thomaston Police Department:

When are you planning to stop the crime against our free speech occurring on the median strip at the intersection of Routes 1 and 131?

According to a sign there now, five Obama-Biden signs have been stolen from this public space. As a member of the public I ask you to put up a camera in the vicinity and keep the peace on this little political island.

I am certain you are busy with other mischief. Stealing political signs is not mischief; it is criminal. The thief (thieves?) of free speech has five times operated with impunity in your town. Are you not embarrassed?

With Election Day just over a week away emotions have grown strong. The fearmongering and inciting perpetrated by the McCain-Palin camp have pushed otherwise good people to conduct themselves shamefully.

You have the power to limit this behavior. Please do so. Want to borrow my video camera?

Yours truly,

Leola Roberts
Alna
(with family in Tenants Harbor)

Vote Barack a la Venga Productions

The pair who brought us the living room tune about Sarah Palin has a high energy and amusing vid encouraging us to Vote Barack. Hat tip to local Democratic state senate candidate Peter Drum.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Dollars, Maybe a Vote or Two

From the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center.

Half the country thinks Obama's tax plan will raise their taxes. They're wrong. Please tell them.

Do you know any millionaires who need tax cuts? The handful I know well are old enough to remember the 90-something rates of Dwight Eisenhower. Also, McCain's plan loses revenue for the U.S. Shrinking government to aid billionaires. Great. Just great.