Have we met?

After countless hours spent browsing news Web sites, it's become clear that among all the other things the Web does for writers, it allows them to put multiple headlines on the same story. This is great.
I appreciate a good headline, the way I appreciate a good Shoe comic. Good heads are fun, succinct, but leave you wondering where the rest of the story might go. They should be accessible to anyone. For years, I valued the tabloid headlines at the Boston Herald above all others. What the paper lost in the vitriol some of its columnists it made up for in the wittiness of its head lines. I can't recall any now, because like the paper and ink they were forged in, my memories of good headlines have faded and been reduced to pulp.
The same is true for the engaging headlines over at Slate, but I think that news site is on to something bigger in the way it presents its stories. Browse Slate for too long and you will inevitably end up clicking on the same story twice. Why? Because the Web site uses different headlines to link to the same story. While paper editions are forced to choose one headline and run with it, Slate can come up with three or four and appeal to a wider range of readers to click on the story and maybe read through it.
It's a great idea, and other news Web sites should steal it. If I could put multiple heads on this story, they would include "What's in a name?" "A rose by any other name..." "The beast of a thousand heads" or "AKA" - which would probably look great splashed across the front of a tabloid. (I decided to go for the lamest and last example I could think of, "Have we met?")
These multiple entry points will only draw more readers. The head line is the introduction, the come-on to the story. And first impressions count for everything when you're dealing with readers who can turn just about anywhere else for another story.

What to do!

Well, for the past four months I've been checking the presidential primary polls regularly, looking to see who the nominee will be. But you know what? I think I'll just let that sit for a while. It's like waiting for a cake to bake. Check it too many times and all the heat will have whooshed out of the oven. And we don't want that.

So what to do while the primaries wrap up... I think maybe I'll bake a cake. Of course, first I'll have to do the dishes, and I should do those anyway.

Next, I think I'll do a bit of laundry and then get a haircut.

Presidential politics can be exciting, but it can turn into a bore. I think I'll check back after Pennsylvania votes.

ciao.

Bitter your tongue

Slate blogger Melinda Henneberger sums up my thoughts on the controversy Barack Obama caused in his remarks during a San Francisco fundraiser.

It smacks of blame the little guy.

To be sure, he cushioned his statements with "it's not surprising" that people are bitter and looking for somewhere to turn after losing their jobs in an economy that overlooked them.

But his comments rip the carpet out from under the lives these small town people have built, and the ideas and philosophies that have sustained them.

I would have had no qualms with anyone hypothetically saying, "It's no wonder people in America are uninformed and forget about the war and the catastrophic debt and the plight of low-income and no-income people - Most people get their news from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp."

But Obama sounds patronizing to the people who obviously weren't there at a fundraiser in San Francisco.

I don't think the Jeremiah Wright flap should have been a big deal. I like the idea of a politician listening to sermons he might not agree with. I didn't think the "typical white woman" thing was anything more than poorly chosen wording. Hell, the thesaurus says the word normal is a synonym of typical. And who hasn't wanted used the word normal to describe someone?

No one should claim to understand the forces that effect peoples thinking unless they're damn sure of it. That may sound hypocritical coming from a journalist (and blogger) who does that sort of thing for a living, but it's true.

The thing that really gets me is he didn't have to say that. A lot of people already believe those stereotypes.

And lastly, unfortunately I don't have the time to go into the problems I have with Bill Clinton's error-ridden defense of Hillary's wacko Bosnia sniper-fire story. However I would like to see a YouTube mash-up of the 3 a.m. phone call commercial and the (paraphrasing) "It was late at night, she was exhausted, she misspoke" defense.

Happy (early) April Fool's

Quid pro quo... or tit for tat

Slate's John Dickerson brings up an interesting question: How did Barack Obama win the support of former candidate Bill Richardson?

Dickerson suggests the two pols might have worked out a deal, where Obama gets the endorsement, while Richardson gets picked as the vice presidential nominee or wins a cabinet role if Obama is elected.

It's not hard to imagine Richardson as Obama's running mate.

The current governor of New Mexico's long resume would add experience to the Democratic ticket, and his Mexican heritage would help bring the Latino vote into the fold.

But, I think there may be other factors at play.

Maybe the governor felt miffed by Hillary Clinton's suggestion that Obama would make a fine vice presidential candidate, on her ticket.

After all, this winter, Clinton was making similar (and maybe more realistic back then) invitations to Richardson.

Of course, most people saw Clinton's suggestion that Obama take the VP slot as a ploy, rather than a genuine invitation.

But maybe Richardson felt passed over by the former front-runner, and wanted to let her know she can't have it both ways.

Or maybe after Clinton used the hypothetical VP pick to undermine Obama, the New Mexico governor looked back at her hints this December with a new set of glasses.

When compliments become condescending, the formerly flattered might feel miffed.

And this wonderfully written piece in the New York Times shows just how pissed the Clintons were about the endorsement - and that Richardson knew perfectly well how the former first lady would see it.

Ferraro flap

Whether by chance or design, Barack Obama and his supporters have been lured into attacking former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro.

That is a mistake, because on the face of it, there is not a real argument you can pick with Ferraro's original comment.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." - Ferraro as quoted in the Daily Breeze

It is a ridiculous argument to make, either for or against it.

Obama is neither of the two, and nothing Ferraro says is ever going to change that.

Obama could have turned ignored it or spun it around into something positive, but he, and more importantly his supporters, took the bait, and Ferraro started reeling in.

Because of the back and forth between the two campaigns, it Ferraro's comments may have sounded like another over-the-top insult, like "monster" or Kenneth Starr.

But they weren't.

And by responding to it as though it were an overt attack, the Obama camp starts to sound paranoid about his ethnicity.

Sure, Ferraro's comments are dismissive of Obama's candidacy, but they are rooted in a Bizarro world, so they are meaningless and without substance, a glimmer of nothing.

Responding to the comments just gives them more validity, and - worse for Obama - more play in the news.

Plus, now Ferraro has gone out on a limb claiming any criticism of Obama's campaign is considered racist, which is bound to be supported by the public's response to this skirmish.

Ferraro knew what she was doing: Make a seemingly harmless comment about Obama's race in the middle of a food fight between the two campaigns.

The only way for Obama to avoid race baiting is to not bite the worm.

TrendVigil, we hardly knew thee

This is my first post in a long time. I have been very busy doing other things. I'm cooking something up in my head that I will put down on paper later this weekend.