Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"The chief flaw the embassy officials exhibit in the documents is one to which journalists, too, are very much prone: the tendency to give too much credence to the people you like. The diplomats in Tbilisi who, as the New York Times points out, swallowed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's version of the 2008 war with Russia whole, may have been guilty of believing what they wished to be true. So, in a very different way, was the departing U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, who in 2007 optimistically predicted President Robert Mugabe's impending demise. But none (so far) are clueless; as yet there's no Ellsworth Bunker reporting from Saigon on the battle for hearts and minds. The cables may have the unexpected effect of countering the stereotype of diplomats as lickspittles with a mastery of etiquette. I can think of no better example than Anne Patterson, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan until this past October. Patterson was a career diplomat; I first met her when she was acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2004 to 2005, and then again in Pakistan in 2008. Our conversation in New York had been notably bland, and in Islamabad she seemed quite comfortable defending -- off the record, of course -- the George W. Bush administration's unwavering support for Gen. Pervez Musharraf in the midst of massive demonstrations calling for civilian democratic government, a policy that had come to seem increasingly tone-deaf. Why expect otherwise? (James Traub)

"In the mid-1980s, Jackie and [her editorial assistant] Shaye Areheart flew out to Encino, California, in order to meet (Michael) Jackson, something she rarely did for her authors. Those who weren’t already based in New York usually flew there to meet her. Areheart tells one version of this meeting and the sub­sequent writing of Jackson’s book in the new edition of Moonwalk, rushed out in 2009 after Jackson’s unexpected death. According to Areheart, Jackie and Jackson got along well. Jackie was present at the initial meeting with Jackson in Encino in 1983, but it was Areheart who had to follow up when the project got messy. At the first meeting Jackson took Areheart and Jackie to his trailer adjacent to the studio where he was making the music video for his song 'Thriller,' and there they talked about what the book might look like. Jackson proposed a kind of picture book with text, and both Doubleday editors were willing to entertain that as an idea. It was in his trailer that Jackson asked Jackie to write the foreword and she agreed. She also wanted something unusual from him, though: to reveal something important about a life lived in the spotlight ... J. C. Suarès, the designer hired from outside Doubleday to work on the book, was present at Jackie and Areheart’s second meeting with Jackson in California, when they showed Jackson some layout ideas. Even before Jackie went to California, Suarès’ answering machine recorded a fragment of her dismay at being involved in the project. 'How the hell did I get [to be] doing a book on Michael Jackson? I’m still trying to think of why,' her voice says on the tape. 'Someone must have told me to go and do it.' Suarès remembered the Encino meeting as a bizarre occasion. He, Jackie, and Areheart had arrived at Jackson’s house and been seated at a long table. Jackie was at one end. At the other was an empty spot for Jackson. He was late. It was not enough that Jackie had flown out to meet him; he had to show his superior star power by being the last to arrive. On the plane back to New York, Jackie asked Suarès, 'Do you think he likes girls?' and she went back to the subject several times while they were working together. The star’s studied ambiguity on the question made them curious." (TheDailyBeast)

"Elaine Kaufman died last Friday at Lenox Hill Hospital. She would have been 82 next February 10 ... I saw Elaine around the place then but I didn’t personally know any of her well-known customers at the time, and I didn’t know her; I don’t think we ever met. I finally met her in the early 90s when I’d returned to New York, through a mutual friend, Ann Downey ... Christmas 1994 I spent in Palm Beach at Ann Downey’s house, along with Elaine. We were the only two house guests. That tough lady some people saw in the restaurant was no where around or apparent. Off-stage, shall we say, Elaine was, in my experience, a not-shy but quiet, contributing guest. She loved conversation and even just loved listening to conversation ... That Christmas in Palm Beach, Elaine brought a five-pound tin of Beluga as a house gift. For the three of us!! I don’t think we even made much of a dent, and we were always at it, just to give you an idea of how much five pounds of caviar is." (NySocialDiary)

"Cherry Vanilla is the ex-groupie/Bowie-publicist/rock performer with a new book out about the great times she had popping her Cherry. At a reading I went to the other day, Cherry sat on a gigantic, red high heel--though in the past, she's sat on other things--and told the crowd how much fun it was 'to be young and cute and sleeping with your idols.' She entertainingly read chapters about the wonderful sex she had in the '70s with stars like David Bowie and Kris Kristofferson, who were as amazing in bed as they were onstage, fireworks and all. And she added, 'It can be addictive, but I don't regret any of it! 'The only thing I regret is not sleeping with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.'" (MichaelMusto)

"The invite said the doors would open at 8. But by then, the line in front of The Box, Serge Becker's reservations-only, bordello-meets-sideshow nightclub, was already snaking down Chrystie Street. The crowd was made up of all sorts. White guys in nice suits; a black girl out of a music video with a cumulus cloud Afro in blue leggings and a shearling coat; the Indian guy behind me in a heavy flannel shirt with a fitted baseball cap; clusters of blondes whose lives had been irrevocably altered by Lindsey Lohan's sartorial style. There was a lot of name-dropping. It was a Friday night downtown, so it all made sense. A more perplexing issue that evening was discerning what we were all there for. Jay-Z's publicist had sent the invitation early that same morning. It read, Jay-Z invites you ... to an evening of magic, experience, The Turn. Doors at eight, performance at nine." (Observer)



"Overlooking a stunning vista of the Biscayne Bay at the Mondrian Hotel, AOL and Paper Magazine co-hosted a brunch yesterday in honor of artist and graffiti renegade Shepard Fairey, who served as the mag's first-ever guest editor for the November issue. 'We've known Shepard for almost 15 years,' said magazine co-founder David Hershkovits. 'Carlo [McCormack, an editor at Paper] curated his first show back in 1994.' Paper's relationship with Fairey goes back to his nascent days as a T-shirt-making skateboarder living in Providence, R.I. His current all-star status, due to the André the Giant OBEY posters, inspirational Barack Obama HOPE posters, and large scale art shows (he showed at Deitch Projects earlier this year), has made him a bit of a household name. 'It's amazing when you know someone who succeeds years later," said Hershkovits. 'Talent is not everything you need a lot of more too.' The event, which was sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger, drew fellow artists and blogging phenoms alike. Todd Selby arrived in a very Southern Florida-looking blue tee that featured white kittens (courtesy of his friend Mark 'The Cobrasnake' Hunter, who was also in attendance). Other creative types included Diesel honcho Renzo Rosso, and of course Paper's merry band of editors Kim Hastreiter, Mickey Boardman, Alexis Swerdloff, and Elizabeth Thompson." (ArtBaselAOL)

"But a lot of specialty films had their debuts or expansions including Fox Searchlight's drama Black Swan from Darren Aronofsky starring Natalie Portman (18 theaters in 8 cities -- NY, LA, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Dallas, Toronto). It had Friday's best per screen average with $23,660, and the studio knew it was overperforming when Friday's matinees were double the per screen average of Aronfsky's previous The Wrestler. Black Swan grossed $1.3M with a gross per theater average of $77,459, setting an all-time record for Fox Searchlight. (More than Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, Sideways, and Little Miss Sunshine all of which were in fewer theatres.) The drama also is the 2nd highest opening of a limited release for 2010, passing The Kids Are All Right and now only behind The King's Speech." (Deadline)

Why President Obama Should Hire Michael Bloomberg

Clearly, Michael Bloomberg wants to be President. He once stated on the record that there are four supremely perfect jobs in the world: Mayor of New York, the Papacy, Secretary General of the United Nations and, finally, President. In that time, Bloomberg was elected to three terms as Mayor of New York and because of his religion, the Papacy is out of the question, and because of the politics at the UN, the Secretary General is also out of reach.

That leaves only the Presidency within the billionaire's grasp.

Michael Bloomberg has flirted with the Presidency for some time now. Various names have been floated for years -- Oklahoma Governor David Boren, former Congressman and current broadcaster Joe Scarborough, Evan Bayh -- but nothing has ever materialized on the political landscape. And there is little doubt that the maneuverings, the backroom Beltway third party chatter, all suggests, in so many words, that Michael Bloomberg would not be particularly inconvenienced if he were asked to run in 2012.

The only problem is that rosy Bloombergian scenario is that Bloomberg cannot win if Barack Obama runs for a second term -- a likely event -- because the two campaigns would cannibalize each other, appealing, essentially, to the same rational, centrist, urbane, sophisticated base of Americans, thereby electing the Republican. Awkward.

Parallel to that, Bloomberg is a fundamentally decent man and in 2008 balked at the idea of running against and somehow spoiling the legacy of the first elected African-American President. It just doesn't seem in the cards of a Bloomberg Presidential campaign if Barack Obama remains in the race. That might explain why people on the Bloomberg payroll have been not-too-subtly floating the idea of a one-term Obama Presidency (shame on Doug Shoen: he should know better). All told, it is not inconceivable that Michael Bloomberg's time for the best, most perfect job has passed him by.

Bloomberg isn't quite like any other candidate. He is the most powerful elected independent in the country. Young urban administrators with bright futures ahead of them, like Cory Booker look to Michael Bloomberg as a mentor, as an ideal pol -- a player with the personal resources and lack of a political party obligations that allows him to take risks and do bold urban policy experimentation. Like most -- if not all -- billionaires, Bloomberg shares traits with monarchs. Both billionaires and monarchs exist in a bubble, shielded from contemporary reality, catered to and pampered, thus they develop acute personal eccentricities. They also tend to be -- but are not always --unpredictable, because billionaires can act on a whim, according to their fancy, and almost never encounter opposition from within their bubble (for further reference, see: billionaire Ross Perot's quixotic exit and re-entry into the 1992 Presidential race) Bloomberg is a well-known eccentric and has been known to go off message, offering pronouncements.

According to Forbes, he is the richest New Yorker and the eighth richest man in the United States. Bloomberg finances his own campaigns. He surrounds himself with some of the smartest people in contemporary American politics -- super heavyweight political wonks and grinds of the highest magnitude. But Bloomberg is trapped, as i said before, unable to run for President, but also wanting to play in the big leagues. So why doesn't President Obama hire Michael Bloomberg?

Michael Bloomberg is many things, a politician, a billionaire, a media executive, a former Wall Streeter, but what is of greatest interest to this embattled White House is the fact that Michael Bloomberg is a businessman. They have had their differences, but they could be -- and should be -- allies. And Barack Obama has a problem -- and not a small one -- with the Chamber of Commerce, a fact that was became most evident on election day 2010 when he lost the House of Representatives. As Bloomberg told the December issue of GQ, which named him The most interesting—and most fearless—politician in America:

 “One of those things that I’ve urged the president to do is to get some business people in his close, tight circle,” Bloomberg said of the president. “I think business is—one of the president’s job is to promote American business around the world, sell our products around the world, get people from around the world to come and invest here. That’s a big part of the job. That’s our tax base. That’s how Americans earn a living and I don’t think he has enough advisers.”

Whether or not this helps Obama in the general election in 2012 -- business is not the most popular profession in America right now -- he needs non academic, non politicians in senior advisory positions who thoroughly understand the business class perspective. Michael Bloomberg is a two-fer, a businessman with Wall Street cred with a powerful political brand with independent voters (and Jewish voters as well). President Obama hire Michael Bloomberg -- and his kitchen cabinet of policy wonks -- to serve in some senior advisory position. While the administration is at it they might want to look at hiring the gritty, dirt-under-his-fingernails populist Ed Rendell -- outgoing Governor of Pennsylvania -- as Chief of Staff to provide balance to Bloomberg's centrist idealism. Rendell has a deep, pragmatic understanding of the white working class, a staple of the Democrat party -- a key to winning Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania -- that Barack Obama has had trouble attracting throughout his political career.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"THE first question people always ask when you tell them you’ve visited the Chateau Marmont, the great gothic pile of a hotel on the Sunset Strip, is 'Who did you see?' For the record, during my sojourns there last month, I saw, in no particular order: The stylist Rachel Zoe wearing fur, dining alfresco with a table of European fashionistas smoking cigarettes. The musician Joel Madden, huddled on a lobby couch with his 2-year-old daughter, eating a grilled cheese and fries. Amanda Seyfried, Keanu Reeves, Debra Messing and Carey Mulligan. Not together. Joaquin Phoenix, coolly deflecting approaching strangers at a poolside bungalow party hosted by Flaunt Magazine. The director Sofia Coppola rolling press interviews in the lobby while her publicists watched from a distance. As for the rest — a motley assortment of writers typing away on laptops, Italian tourists in neon footwear, Hollywood moms toting babies, agent types buying meals for actor types, and fashion people eating salads on the patio — they pretended diligently that the celebrities were not there at all. As one diner, surveying the lunch crowd, whispered to a friend: 'It’s always such good people-watching here. You just have to remember not to stare.'" (NYTimes)

"I have been on the road, got home late tonight (while my wife is traveling elsewhere), and amused myself with.... the C-SPAN rebroadcast of today's Don't Ask Don't Tell Senate hearings. Yes, this is exciting life for a member of The Atlantic's team. The full video of the hearing is here; don't see how to embed the original feed. Andrew Sullivan and Ta-Nehisi Coates have, I see, already mentioned the incredible crabbedness of John McCain's role at the hearings, which is on display in the opening minutes of the C-SPAN video. I'll stress the incredible part, because much more than my colleagues I can remember when McCain seemed to be a potentially Eisenhower-ish, as opposed to an increasingly Bunning-like, figure in American public life. Broad-minded, tolerant, eager to bridge rather than open divides -- this was the way he seemed to so many people starting from his arrival in the Congress in the 1980s. Seeing him now is surprising not simply because it reminds us: this man could be the sitting president, but also because it again raises the question, how did he end up this way? Even if his earlier identity had been artifice, what would be the payoff in letting it go? I have been trying to think of a comparable senior public figure who, in the later stages of his or her career, narrowed rather than broadened his view of the world and his appeals to history's judgment. I'm sure there are plenty (on two minutes' reflection, I'll start with Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh), but the examples that immediately come to mind go the other way." (James Fallows/TheAtlantic)

"Andre Balazs opened his doors to The Standard once again, but this time, to celebrate 10 years of Bruce Weber’s All American. As a full marching band performed, the most fabulous 'What the f*** moment?' occurred! The sea exploded and waves covered the dock as the art and fashion world glitterati, including Calvin Klein, Bettina Prentice, Luigi Tadini and Lorenzo Martone, stood shocked. Luckily, I was wearing my patent leather Louboutins---which survived the monsoon! The sea was theme for the evening as I rushed off to the Webster to a cocktail party hosted by La Mer. Looking forward to the not-to-be-missed gift bag of the week, Santiago Gonzalez, Chiara Clemente, Aaron Young, Jennifer Rubell and Ryan McGinley were all checking out the art while Laure Heriad Dubreuil and Frederic Dechnik, the founders of the Webster boutique, were having a moment with Alex Rodriguez–-a possible frequent shopper. As the ultimate Art Basel indulgence, La Mer has set up Spa de la Mer, where I cannot wait to pamper myself. Maybach hosted a dinner at the New World Symphony, the new building by Frank Gehry, celebrating its partnership with Julian Schnabel and the unveiling of his new sculpture, Queequeg- The Maybach Sculpture, which was named after the harpooner in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. As Naomi Cambell approached the entrance, a number of men, including the boys from The Bruce High Quality Foundation, who were standing outside smoking and checking out Queequeg- The Maybach Sculpture and an actual Maybach, got collective whiplash as Naomi walked in with her boyfriend, Vladislav Doronin." (Lisa Anastos)

"THE lecherous old lush is still on the cognac, even if there is sadly no news of the Swedish masseuses. That Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s dictator, has an abiding proclivity for the bottle has now been attested (at second hand) by a senior member of the Chinese government. But otherwise the American diplomatic cables made public in this week’s WikiLeaks deluge confirm little that was not already known about Mr Kim, or China’s relations with him. They merely add fuel to the blaze of guesswork and gossip that passes for analysis of China-North Korean relations. Still, they contain one piece of startling, headline-grabbing conjecture: that China could live with a reunified Korea, controlled by the South. China pays lip service to the idea of Korean unification. In practice it has long seemed ready to put up with almost any misbehaviour by its ally, North Korea, to prevent its collapse and absorption by the American-allied South. Even this year it has refused to condemn the North for the sinking of a South Korean corvette, the Cheonan, in March, the revelation in November of an unknown uranium-enrichment facility, and the shelling that month of a South Korean island. In fact the headline version of China’s alleged change of attitude to a takeover by the South distorts the analysis given in February this year by the cable’s source, Chun Yung-woo, who has since become South Korea’s national-security adviser. Mr Chun is quoted as saying merely that two senior Chinese officials were 'ready to face the new reality' that North Korea no longer has much value for China as a buffer state. This view, he argued, had gained ground in China since the North’s unneighbourly test of a nuclear bomb near the Chinese border in 2006." (TheEconomist)

"A corpse lies in a bathtub, illuminated by a single light bulb. The head listing awkwardly to one side is that of a young, scrawny man with close-cropped hair, clothed in a sleeveless undershirt and track-suit bottoms. The check-shirted torso of another man bustles over the body, covering and uncovering it in shadow and then light, his face masked with a bandana. He is wiping blood off a knife and whistling faintly. The tune is instantly recognisable to the Russian ear as a sappy, Soviet-era song about patriotism: 'Where does the motherland begin? With the pictures in your first book of ABCs/With good and faithful comrades/Living in the neighbouring yard.' The grotesque parody is not lost on the viewer as the whistling man grabs the corpse and begins whittling off its left ear. Then he starts sawing at the neck, beginning an hour-long process of dismemberment. The video of this grisly scene is one of many pieces of evidence in the ongoing trial in Moscow of the remaining members of the now-defunct National Socialist Organisation (NSO), an ultra-nationalist skinhead gang. The corpse was that of Nikolai Melnik, a gang member who had run foul of the NSO gang code: 'He didn’t belong fully to our group, didn’t share our ideas and goals and wanted to play us against each other,' according to the testimony of one of the alleged killers, Vladislav Tamamshev. The video of his dismemberment was posted on the internet as a warning to other transgressors. Melnik had lived the blood-spattered life of a Russian skinhead and his death is just one of 27 murders, many of immigrant labourers, for which 13 NSO members are on trial. The killings, not only that of Melnik, were routinely videotaped, the court has heard." (FT)

"Last night in Miami, the party set was all dressed up with everywhere to go—actually, scratch the 'all dressed up' bit. Albert Hammond, Jr., had trouble getting into the glitzy after-party for a screening of Julian Schnabel's latest film, Miral, on account of his hoodie and Dr. Martens, never mind that he was a guest of the filmmaker's son Vito. 'This is the nervous-I'm-going-to-get-kicked-out corner,' he explained, sitting on a bench in the lobby of the New World Symphony building. Also circulating were Alber Elbaz, Naomi Campbell, and Sean Penn, whose Haiti charity was the beneficiary of the evening's very lucrative auction (arranged by Maybach) of new artwork by Schnabel. In his sweatpants and a frayed flannel shirt, the latter looked even more than usual as though he'd just taken a late-morning stroll out to the mailbox—though presumably he didn't have any trouble at the door. Bruce Weber, a neighbor of Schnabel's in Montauk, barely lifted an eyebrow. 'Yeah, he dresses like that back home,' he shrugged." (Style)

"Everybody's Lucifer had it right. The swivel-hipped satyr could as easily been giving stage notes to Nina Sayers, Natalie Portman's bedeviled ballerina, as she struggles to embrace the psyche-splintering demands of her performance in Swan Lake which includes a dual role as the Black Swan, the Jungian alter-ego of the title figure, and the thematic engine of Darren Aronofsky's film of the same name. The dynamics were a bit different in Performance, the 1968 Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg film in which Jagger's hermetic rock god Turner plays mind games with a mob enforcer (James Fox) on the run, who has tumbled into his Dionysian lair. There, sexy druggy things ensue, before someone dies and Turner may or may not have become a doppelgangster. Seeing as Performance hit screens in 1970, when audiences were as likely to be stoned or munching blotter acid as they were popcorn, its hallucinatory style synonymous with Roeg is practically inchoate compared to Aronofsky's carefully attenuated orchestration of Nina's mental meltdown in Black Swan. That's one of the new film's strengths, even as he taps into the cinema of insanity, doubles, shattered mirrors, bent psychologies, and edgy sexuality that includes films like Persona and Mulholland Dr., not to mention freaked-out classics of mental disintegration like Repulsion, and the thriller continuum that runs from Hitchcock to Cronenberg. Aronofsky keeps an impressively tight focus on the core of his story before it gradually spins toward a tripped-out climax that rates as the most exhilarating screen moment of the year." (GreenCineDaily)

"Yesterday I had the pleasure of having lunch at Michael’s with New York luminary David Patrick Columbia, founder of New York Social Diary. Hardly a person passed by our table without stopping to shake his hand or say hello. His chronicling of New York and society began in 1993 as a monthly society column in Quest magazine. Then in 2000 David decided to become independent and take his project online. Each day, with the help of his business partner, Jeffrey Hirsch, David documents society with his unique personal reflection." (AllTheBest)

"Bloomberg BusinessWeek: What can Greece, Ireland, and other troubled members of the European Union learn from Turkey? Turkey's Finance Minister  Mehmet Simsek: 'We didn't put an end to years of crises until we convinced the markets we had a credible program to impose fiscal discipline on ourselves. We significantly reduced the ratio between debt and gross domestic product. We liquidated troubled banks. And we made it clear going forward that we would hold shareholders, bank managers, and, in some cases, their families personally responsible if they caused their banks to fail. Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland, as members of the euro zone, were never really penalized for poor fundamentals.'" (NormPearlstine)



"It's Miami, and money is rustling the town like wind through the palm trees. The Art Basel Miami Fair opened to VIPs this morning at 11 a.m. And by 5 p.m., a handful of galleries, at least, were gloating. With the Dow's climb buoying spirits, several dealers said collectors were buying ... Celebrities? Ricky Martin was living la vida loca at the Vanity Fair party Tuesday.  Julian Schnabel, natty in shorts, was touring Michael Werner's booth at the main fair; scoping out a George Baselitz. Danny Glover drew paparazzi as he strode in, and explained that he was an art collector and a former owner of an art gallery.  Perennially tanned George Hamilton, a collector well known to European dealers, checked out the wares at Zurich gallery. 'I love Miami, but not as much as St. Moritz,' he said ... Crowds, as they always do, encircled the Gagosian Gallery, where Adam Lindemann, Aby Rosen and Tico Mugrabi hung out in front of a Basquiat and discussed boats. (You can't make this stuff up.) Gagosian showed a work from a fresh Richard Prince series that was garnering much attention. Lehmann Maupin reported several sales in the mid to high five figures by day's end, including a work by Brooklyn artist Mickalene Thomas." (Observer)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"When I travel to a foreign capital, I will ask the U.S. Embassy there for a background briefing, but I know not to expect much from it. I've found it far more useful to set up meetings with the Europeans -- Germans, French, or Swiss, especially. Those are the diplomats who will give you the real dirt: juicy details about corruption and political infighting and what nefarious schemes the Russians or Chinese (or Americans) are up to in the country. The difference is so striking that I long ago concluded that the Americans -- the product of a Foreign Service selection process that encourages dutiful ladder-climbers rather than creative thinkers and then sends them out to be walled up in overprotected embassy compounds far from town -- were just not as sharp as their wilier continental counterparts. (I exaggerate here slightly -- I also have met very savvy American diplomats, including all of you who are reading this article right now.) In any case, this is what I thought until I started reading the diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks has started making public. U.S. Foreign Service officers might not like their confidential correspondence aired in public, but overall, the cables portray them as smart and perceptive, and with no illusions about the countries they are dealing with." (ForeignPolicy)

"At 47, he has devoted all of his adult life to Africa, especially the Horn and Congo, formerly known as Zaire. He’s been jailed in southern Sudan. He’s had militiamen’s assault rifles jammed into his stomach in Congo. While we sat in the Juba restaurant in October, he was fighting off a rare infection that is a precursor to elephantiasis, contracted in Sudan a week or two before. Swollen glands throughout his body made him wince as he walked across the restaurant. (John) Prendergast laid a small map of Sudan — of the nation as it looks for the moment, not yet divided in two — on a table in front of Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, an insider in the South’s government in waiting, a towering man with tribal scars, six raised horizontal lines, spanning his forehead. The two men discussed the chances of the new country’s being born without causing more cataclysmic warfare. Scribbled notes cluttered the map as Gatkuoth brought Prendergast up to date on developments in the South, on fresh pacts being sealed between the main liberation group and an array of factions. The rebel leaders know from CNN, and from Prendergast himself — 'So George Clooney and I met with President Obama last week . . .' — that Prendergast has pull with their ally America. And for Prendergast, the information that he can learn from those leaders is currency. The mix of his exhaustive knowledge and his marshaling of movie stars has placed him near the heart of the American administration’s role in Sudan’s impending rearrangement." (NyTimesMagazine)

"Naomi Campbell showed some ladylike behavior at Tony Shafrazi's Art Basel dinner on the opening night of the Raleigh's new restaurant, The Royal. When Julian Schnabel arrived, 'She jumped out of her seat to kiss him hello, then moved to another seat so he could sit next to Shafrazi,' said a spy. Campbell is trolling the Miami art fest with Russian billionaire boyfriend Vladislav Doronin and a well-dressed bodyguard." (PageSix)

"While London is buzzing with royal wedding fever, Prince Andrew has been sizing up NYC ladies. The divorced prince mingled with the city's most glamorous including Laura Brown, Mary Alice Stephenson, Tatiana von Furstenberg and a bevy of models at a party at the townhouse of his pal Ghislaine Maxwell. A source told us, 'Since Ghislaine recently split up with her partner, this was almost like a singles party. The prince seemed to be enchanted with many of the women in the room, especially one particular willowy blonde.'" (PageSix)

"A witchy brew of madness and cunning, 'Black Swan' tells the story of a ballerina who aches, with battered feet and an increasingly crowded head, to break out of the corps. Played by Natalie Portman in a smashing, bruising, wholly committed performance, the young dancer, Nina, looks more like a child than a woman, her flesh as undernourished as her mind. When she goes to bed at night, a nearby jewelry box tinkling 'Swan Lake,' a crowd of stuffed animals watches over her, longtime companions that — as Nina and this dementedly entertaining film grow more unhinged — begin to look more like jailers than friends. Crammed with twins — lookalikes, mirrored images, doppelgängers — the story follows that of the “Swan Lake” ballet in broad, gradually warped strokes. It opens with the artistic director of a fictional New York ballet company, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), announcing that the new season will begin with a 'visceral and real” version of that old favorite. To that end he dumps his prima ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder), and picks Nina to dance the dual role of the swan queen (an enchanted woman in bird form) and her villainous black twin." (Manola Dhargis via Anna Holmes)

"In Black Swan, French-born actor Vincent Cassel stars as Thomas Leroy, the fervently prickish ballet director who chooses Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) to be the swan queen in his latest production of the ballet classic Swan Lake; his psychologically and sexually abusive character unknowingly launches Nina into a classic Darren Aronofsky spiral of doom. Already a legit film star in France, Cassel is most recognizable to American audiences from his roles in Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen, but the Black Swan buzz could result in Cassel experiencing his own Javier Bardem crossover moment this winter. Vulture talked to the actor about his creepy new film and whether he's actually playing a variation on Swan Lake's Von Rothbart." (NYMag)

"Their worlds could not be further apart: She lived in a quiet, leafy and affluent corner of Westwood; he appeared to have been squatting in a transient building, in a seedy, rundown neighborhood on the east side of town. How—if at all—their deaths were connected is the question that occupies people in Los Angeles in the wake of the man's suicide Wednesday night. Described as a 'person of interest' in the killing of Ronni Chasen—the Hollywood publicist who was mysteriously gunned down in her car last month—the man known by his neighbors as 'Harold' remains an enigma more than a day after he turned his gun on himself in the lobby of the Harvey Apartments on Santa Monica Boulevard. Residents alternately described Harold as quiet and somewhat paranoid. 'He seemed like a troubled soul but was always nice, always shook my hand and gave me a half hug,' said Robin Lyle, whose apartment is a few feet from Room 329, where Harold lived. Lyle, whom Harold visited every day on his way to the store to pick up beer, said he believed Harold's last name was Smith. 'He was calm but every once in a while would get agitated and say, 'Have the cops been here, have the cops been here?' said another neighbor, who did not want to be named. This neighbor also claimed that shortly after the Chasen shooting Harold said to him, 'I messed up.'" (TheDailyBeast)

"For the art world, the opening day of Art Basel Miami Beach is simply not to be missed. The adrenaline rush begins when the doors first open at 11 a.m. for the lucky few who hold the 'First Choice' invitation to enter the Fair. Mega-collectors, such as Aby Rosen, Don and Mera Rubell, Beth de Woody, and Steve Cohen, were all in search of their first purchases of the day.  Los Angeles producer and collector Brad Schlei described opening day as 'the ultimate all-day cocktail party to see art, artists and friends.' With champagne flowing, lots of hellos are exchanged, but the magic of Art Basel remains the art, and art sales were strong on Day 1. Modern Art sold Barnaby Furnas’ Rock Concert for $300,000, while Mary Boone sold a large David Salle for $350,000 and David Zwirner sold Dan Flavin’s Untitled for $700,000. Galerie Gmurzynska's booth designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid was a flutter with activity as Calvin Klein, George Hamilton and Danny Glover all showed up at the same time, causing photographer frenzy. Although humor in art is often debated, a number of comedians have also caught the art bug. Steve Martin and Ben Stiller were both seen checking out the art work although I did not see them laughing when they were inquiring about the prices." (Lisa Anastos)

"With all the frantic hiring of young talent and established editors for The Daily, News Corp.'s new tablet-only newspaper, it's clear that Rupert Murdoch is trying to create the 'tabloid for smart people' that he's never quite been able to pull off in print. But this isn't just a gamble on content, but on technology — and that's the kind of bet the aging mogul doesn't have a reputation for winning. If he does, he could finally earn the reputation as a digital-media innovator. But how likely is that? It's not that Murdoch hasn't innovated before, in the pre-digital age. No one believed he could launch a fourth major TV network, and now, nearly two decades later, we're used to saying the phrase 'NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox.' And Fox News went from being a lark to completely dominating its predecessor CNN. But Murdoch's flashiest online efforts have flopped: See PageSix.com or his ludicrously pricey $500 million purchase of the rapidly deflating Myspace.com. With that kind of track record, outsiders are viewing the tablet newspaper with a heavy dose of skepticism." (NyMag)

"I think Veronese was way ahead of us contemps. I was reminded of that visit we made to the Villa Barbaro with the Venetian Heritage group, where we were given a concert in rooms painted with Veronese's murals, and how they still stick in my craw as beauty, mystery, history, life, humankind but immortal. The Wedding at Cana will never look the same to me after tonight. It is magnificent beyond sight. The photos I took unfortunately tell you nothing of the experience of just standing there taking it all in. It's a little like you’re standing there in that scene when the spaceship lands in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. You’re the child." (NYSocialDiary)




"As the explosive, ongoing release of hundreds of thousands of State Department diplomatic cables shows, official Washington is anxious about the direction that Turkey's government is taking the country -- and particularly the influence of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, long credited as the architect of its foreign policy. And judging by the academic-turned-international-strategist's doctoral dissertation, they have good reason to worry. The first batch of cables, published by self-described whistle-blower organization WikiLeaks on Nov. 28, express the unvarnished concerns of U.S. diplomats regarding the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has recently improved Turkey's ties to Iran and Syria and engaged in a high-profile war of words with Israel following the botched Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in May. One November 2009 cable says that U.S. officials were 'wondering if it could any longer count on Turkey to help contain Iran's profound challenge to regional peace.' Another cable quotes a Turkish government official saying that Davutoglu exerts an 'exceptionally dangerous' Islamist influence on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But the U.S. diplomatic corps shouldn't have had to wait for recent events to reveal to them the transformations that Davutoglu had in store for Turkish foreign policy. His doctoral dissertation, completed in 1990 at Istanbul's Bogazici University and later revised and published under the title 'Alternative Paradigms,' yields some important clues about his intellectual influences and guiding political philosophy.  The dissertation, written in English and buried in a neglected corner of the university library's reference collection, is esoterically titled The Impacts of Alternative Weltanschauungs on Political Theories: A Comparison of Tawhid and Ontological Proximity." (ForeignPolicy)

"It's not so much the weather down in Florida as the wind and rain up in New York, which kept Eddie Borgo, for one, grounded, and made him late to the cocktail party he was co-hosting for The Last Magazine at The Webster last night. Editor Magnus Berger was presiding over a one-night exhibition of materials featured in the latest issue, from cover pieces by Graeme Armour and Altuzarra to a racing suit and helmet belonging to 12-year-old go-kart phenom Santino Ferrucci. 'We wanted to bring the magazine to life, put it in a space where you can experience it and touch it,' Berger explained. Given all the flight delays, Cecilia Dean, Camilla Stærk, and co. were probably just happy to be there. As was Arden Wohl, who enthused that her recent graduation from the French Culinary Institute has put her on a new career path: 'I'm a pastry chef!' Just not for the next few days." (Style)

"Due to overwhelming demand, Prince announced today that he is adding another Madison Square Garden show to the previously announced New York Area concerts. The two previously announced Madison Square Garden shows taking place on December 18th and December 29th sold out in less than 30 minutes." (BrooklynVegan)

"On September 7, Japanese coast guard officials detained the crew of a Chinese fishing trawler after it rammed into two Japanese coast guard ships. The captain of the trawler was detained and faced charges that could have sent him to prison for up to three years. The incident set off a high-profile showdown between Beijing and Tokyo: the Chinese government threatened to withdraw from discussions over the East China Sea gas field and suspend ministerial-level contacts, organized demonstrations outside Japanese diplomatic missions in China, imposed an embargo on the shipment of rare earth metals to Japan, and detained four Japanese citizens for allegedly videotaping military targets in Hebei Province. Japan finally succumbed to the pressure and released the captain in late September. Many analysts have pointed to the incident as proof that Beijing has adopted a more aggressive stance toward its regional rivals. But Chinese behavior in the South China, East China, and Yellow Seas over the past several decades reveals a longstanding pattern of bullying and outright threats. As China has struggled to expand its maritime boundaries, assert sovereignty over disputed islands and vast maritime resources, and enhance its naval capabilities to counter U.S. Navy dominance in the Pacific, it has never been reluctant to use force or coercion. This long history of aggression suggests that the United States will have to be firm and proactive in countering China's expanding self-proclaimed zone of influence if it hopes to keep Beijing from dominating the coastal seas of the western Pacific. China has been most aggressive in the South China Sea, where it claims a number of disputed territories. In 1974, taking advantage of Washington's preoccupation with leaving Vietnam, China invaded the Paracel Islands -- which were then under South Vietnamese control -- beginning an illegal occupation that continues today. Over the years, China has increased its military presence on the islands, building a military airfield and an intelligence monitoring facility that can be used for operations in the South China Sea." (ForeignAffairs)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Evi Quaid called from a pay phone in Vancouver to say that she and her husband, Randy, the actor, had tried to drive to Siberia, but they 'couldn’t figure out how to get there.' She said, 'We’re running for our lives.' She wanted me to meet them the next day in Vancouver’s Chinatown—which couldn’t be arranged any other way, as the Quaids don’t use cell phones anymore, because, Evi said, 'they’re tracking us.' 'They' were 'the Hollywood Star Whackers' the couple had been talking about in television interviews ever since they arrived in Canada in October, seeking asylum. The 'Whackers,' they said, were the same people who may have 'killed' David Carradine and Heath Ledger, possibly set up Robert Blake, and could now be targeting Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. 'Are either of you mentally unstable, schizophrenic, or on drugs?,' Andrea Canning asked on Good Morning America. 'Do you think we are?' demanded Evi. 'No!' said Randy. I found the Quaids sitting in their car outside a Chinese tearoom on a block glowing with red and yellow neon lights. Nobody was around. It was night. Their car, a black Prius, was crammed with stuff—clothes, coats, shoes, papers, a pillow, blankets, and an excitable Australian cattle dog named Doji, who was hoarse from barking while he was in the pound when his owners were being detained by Canadian immigration. The car smelled of fast food and dog pee and Randy’s cigars. I asked the Quaids if they were living in their car. 'Only on nights when we’re too terrified to leave our stuff or don’t feel secure,' Evi said." (VanityFair)

"There was a time not too long ago when Snoop Dogg was persona non grata in England because of a little airport scuffle he had back in 2007. Well, the ban has since been lifted, and now the Doggfather could be all the way back in on the British isles thanks to a track he's recorded in honor of Prince William's upcoming bachelor party. England's Daily Mirror reports that William's younger brother, Prince Harry, is trying to lock down Snoop and UK rapper Tinie Tempah to perform at the upcoming stag party for Will, who announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton last week. Snoop didn't waste any time in stepping up to the plate, dropping the song 'Wet' on Tuesday as his gift to William. The racy tune, which the rapper says is a sequel of sorts to his funktastic 2008 hit 'Sexual Eruption,' was produced by the Cataracs, best known for their work on the Far East Movement smash "Like a G6.''When I heard the royal family wanted to have me perform in celebration of Prince William's marriage, I knew I had to give them a little something,' Snoop wrote in a statement announcing his gift to the Prince. 'Wet' is the perfect anthem for Prince William or any playa to get the club smokin'.'" (MTV)

"Ballet has been mourned as a dying art so often in recent years (even by its devotees—dark ash weeps from the sky at the demise of Jennifer Homans’s monumental dance history, Apollo’s Angels) that it’s a real boot when a movie comes along whose heroine believes that ballet is still an art worth passionately dying for. Or even killing for, should a drastic casting change be required. The history of film is feathered with ravishing ballerinas whose longing for transcendent flight sends them high-diving into borderline dementia, virgin brides for whom the stage is the sacrificial altar of Beauty. But none has gone as singularly ballistic as Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, whose obsession to be the perfect Odette/Odile in Swan Lake is self-devouring. Aronofsky’s previous film was The Wrestler, where Mickey Rourke’s battered carcass was the meaty battlefield. The flesh is leaner here, but even more besieged. So militantly locked-on-target are Nina’s (and Portman’s) will and focus that the movie could be nicknamed 'Full Metal Tutu.' Or perhaps 'Full Mental Tutu,' since the tunnel through which Nina careens toward opening night is rigged with trick mirrors, paintings whose features leer and melt, and eerie doppelgängers—shock-cut snapshots from the prism of a mind going crackers." (JamesWolcott)

"Halston had decided to have a drag party. It was top-secret; he didn’t want it in the news. We all spent hours getting ready in our “costumes.” I went as a man in a leather jockstrap, leather vest, beautiful black-and-white striped, silk robe, my riding boots, hair pulled back with a fake mustache and manly makeup. Absolutely no one knew who I was or even that I was in drag! All the boys thought I was another cute boy. Andy went as Dolly Parton with a big, blonde wig. Catherine Guinness went as Andy. Halston wore high heels and walked magnificently in them. A lot of people used costumes from Liza Minnelli, and Steve Rubell came in a huge, red ball gown à la Scarlett O’Hara. Steve’s dress caught on fire from one of the many candles Halston had around. We were all rushing, trying to put out the fire. Of course it was in the papers: 'Page Six' and even The Washington Post. My mother called to ask me what I was doing." (Barbara de Kwiatkowski)

"The irony is such that the word itself loses meaning. The ultimate Afghan con man, an oxymoron if there ever was one, is someone Hollywood couldn’t make up. A catch-him-if-you-can type of script wouldn’t make it past the first rewrite. Even 'based on a true story' wouldn’t help. If it weren’t for the dead and maimed-for-life, I’d be laughing my pants off. Just as funny was the timing, at least for myself. I’d gone up to Connecticut to spend the weekend at Graydon and Anna Carter’s, he being the supremo at Vanity Fair. Once there I was given a Robert Harris book, Selling Hitler, about the con man who convinced everyone but David Irving that the Hitler private diaries were for real. That particular fiasco saw a hell of a lot of self-important people end up with lotsa egg on their faces. It began on April Fool’s Day 1983, when the London Times telephoned the distinguished historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, by then Lord Dacre, to tell him of the greatest historical discovery ever. He flew to Switzerland to inspect the findings, which were in a bank vault and guarded like Fort Knox. We all know the rest. Trevor-Roper fell for the con, as did everyone else involved, meaning Rupert Murdoch, Newsweek, Stern magazine, and most journalists with the exception of David Irving." (Takimag)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Noah Baumbach is readying a Greenberg reunion of sorts: Our spies tell us that the writer-director is just now setting up his next project, While We’re Young, with Ben Stiller and James Franco already attached to star, and the project on offer to Greta Gerwig and to Cate Blanchett. Longtime Baumbach producer Scott Rudin (Greenberg, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Margot at the Wedding) will again produce. The script is being kept under tight security, but we’re told that it’s about a free-spirited Brooklynite twentysomething couple (Franco — and, possibly, Gerwig) who inspire an uptight documentarian (Stiller) and his wife (possibly Blanchett, pending the resolution of some scheduling issues) to loosen up — with comedic consequences." (Vulture)

"Yesterday, the Federal Reserve released data on more than 21,000 loans and other deals it made through a dozen emergency programs created during the financial crisis. ProPublica's Karen Weise and Dan Nguyen looked at three of these programs and created an interactive news application analyzing the almost $15 trillion that the Fed loaned to financial institutions in hopes of boosting commercial lending and liquidity. To create this database, Dan and Karen had to organize and clean data from over 6,000 loans, which were often attributed to different sections and departments within financial institutions. The result is an interactive database that lets readers sort the more than 400 recipient institutions by name, program, and amount borrowed." (ProPublica)

"The Wednesday-it’s-Michael’s-lunch: Catherine Saxton with Laura Steinberg; Terry Allen Kramer with Jean Doumanian (discussing what show they’re gonna produce next); Stan Shuman with former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein; Diana Taylor and pals; Randy Jones with Dorothy Kalins and Lauren Sydney; Joan Gelman with Joan Hamburg; Quest’s Chris Meigher with Chuck Whittingham and Marian Heiskell; documentarian (“Lucky Ducks”) Tracey Jackson with Kelly Langberg; Holly Peterson; NY Times’ fashion commentator Cathy Horyn with Steven Stolman; Dr. Robi Ludwig with Diane Clehane; Gene Colan of Marvel Comics Captain America; David Zaslav of the Discovery Channel, Interactive Media’s Jim Casella; TV Guide’s Jack Kliger; WSJ’s Anthony Cenname, Cablevision’s Charlie Schueler; Christine Taylor; and at Table 1, Dr. Gerry Imber, Jeff Greenfield, Jerry Della Femina, Michael Kramer and Andy Bergman." (NYSocialDiary)

"The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers. Foreign Policy presents a unique portrait of 2010's global marketplace of ideas and the thinkers who make them." (ForeignPolicy)

"Coming Of Age" Stories Chart

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had the unenviable task this week of calling her counterparts in world capitals to tell them the bad news: Thousands of secret cables documenting their private views, as well as the uncomfortably candid assessments of U.S. diplomats, were about to be dumped into the public arena thanks to WikiLeaks, the self-styled global whistle-blower website. With revelations ranging from Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi's penchant for Ukrainian nurses to Saudi King Abdullah's exhortation to 'Cut the head off the snake' in Iran, the documents make for far more titillating reading than WikiLeaks' previous efforts, which consisted mainly of hard-to-parse raw reports from Iraq and Afghanistan. This time, U.S. officials were sharing their unvarnished views of American allies and adversaries alike, often in colorful, gripping prose. " (ForeignPolicy)

"Like The Wrestler, Black Swan is an acting vehicle—it exists to document a highly physical, totally immersive performance. Rather than fueling a geezerly comeback, however, the movie is propelled by Natalie Portman’s game determination and near-excruciating anxiety as Nina, a dogged, delusional, mildly masochistic, possibly virginal, and severely repressed little ballerina plucked from the ensemble to dance the Swan Queen and, as is customary, her evil twin in a new vision of Swan Lake concocted by the sleaziest ballet master to ever slime Lincoln Center (Vincent Cassel). Frequently heard to whimper that she just wants to be 'perfect,' Nina is one tense chick." (VV)



"THE OLD GUYS with money are hiring the young people with talent, which is tough on the young people with talent because they can't simply say that the old guys with money are all morons who don't understand anything,' Paul Ford, formerly the Web editor of Harper's and more recently an iPad consultant to Condé Nast, told The Observer in an email. 'I think the era of people who 'get it' and 'don't get it' is over. Now that platforms like the iPad are here to stay, with all the requisite app stores, 'getting it' is less important than 'getting paid.' Daily staffers are getting paid, well. The staff is still under construction. Thirty or so hires are publicly known, out of an expected total of 100, with more names trickling out all the time. (Add Aussie Shannon O'Meara and Justin Rocket Silverman to the list.) Offering $75,000 for some starting writers, at a time when the hiring pool is deeply stocked, the Daily has had no trouble attracting young talent. Older ones, too: Sasha Frere-Jones, the culture editor, adds New Yorker cred; Steve Alperin, the managing editor for video, is a tough-as-nails newsman from ABC; Richard Johnson is overseeing gossip, a lion not yet in winter. Freelancers will fill out the ranks, lured in with magazine-caliber rates." (Observer)

(Steven Antin, Christina Aguilera and Cher)

"The intense Hollywood couple who were the creative force behind 'Burlesque' have gone their separate ways following a series of explosive fights on the set of the Cher and Christina Aguilera movie. Pictures Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper, 54, and Steven Antin, 52, his boyfriend of 20 years who got his first directing gig on the movie, reportedly had such nasty arguments that Aguilera tearfully complained to her manager, Irving Azoff. A friend told us, 'Steven moved out of their Hollywood mansion and has been living at the Sunset Tower Hotel since the end of October. He has been telling people it is over with Clint. They've broken up before and always got back together. Some friends expect them to reconcile, but this time Steven is saying things are different. Working together was intense' ... According to The Hollywood Reporter, Culpepper poured ice tea over Antin's head during one fight. It reported that Aguilera tearfully turned to Azoff, who told Culpepper, 'Dude, she came from an abused childhood . . . You can't yell like this.'" (PageSix)

"Last night at Cipriani 42nd Street, they held the 7th annual UNICEF Snowflake Ball celebrating the annual lighting of the UNICEF Snowflake that hangs above the junction of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, intended to serve as a beacon of hope, peace and compassion to the vulnerable children around the world ... Auctions are one way to pull some extra cash out of the gala-goers’ pockets but their success is like the weather – always changing for day to day. Claudia Lebenthal came up with a brilliant alternative for those of us who aren’t well-padded enough to go the hundred grand for a weekend at Sunny Marlborough’s Blenheim Palace (as David Koch did at the AMNH gala a couple of weeks ago) but would like to do something more and something tactile. At each place setting was a deck of cards called 'Get Inspired.' This allowed everybody to participate and make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters in need. The cards are the donor’s options. You buy what you can afford – from $31.25 for a soccer ball for the kids, or $86.25 or $119.15 for a First Aid Kit -- to $363.60 for Malaria Bed Nets or $558.04 for Basic Family Water Kit or even $2697.31 for a Motorcycle. You also get to see what specific difference you can make in the life of another not so fortunate." (NYSocialDiary)

"One night my young son came home and announced he had just seen Bad Lieutenant, where Harvey (Keitel) plays a drug-sodden cop who screws everything in sight while shooting up heroin and chasing bad guys. J. T. went on and on about the film, so I told him to come to dinner next evening at the Monkey Bar. I had Keitel and his wife Daphna for dinner, and when my boy saw Harvey, his eyes nearly popped out. Bad Lieutenant was a very powerful film, as were Mean Streets, Reservoir Dogs, and Taxi Driver–where Harvey played Jody Foster’s pimp—but my favorite is The Duellists, Joseph Conrad’s Napoleonic saga of an obsessed French officer who keeps challenging a brother officer to a duel throughout their careers for no apparent reason. The atmosphere alone is worth the admission price." (Takimag)

"White House officials do not expect liberal commentators who view President Obama as the compromiser-in-chief to lessen their criticism of the administration in the coming two years. In fact, they expect it to get worse. That’s because Obama has shown every indication that he is reading from former President Clinton’s playbook and moving toward the right in the name of bipartisan compromise. And nobody at the White House is pushing back on that description. In the days following the Democrats’ November shellacking, Obama has given every indication that he is serious about joining Republicans in their at-least-rhetorical push to cut spending. That continued Tuesday as Obama, after meeting with Democratic and GOP leaders at the White House, said that he is looking for 'common ground' with Republicans. Obama made it clear: He favors results to ideological purity, and he expects the same from Republicans." (TheHill)