Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Presidential Candidates & Wealthy Wives

Maybe we aren't connecting to John McCain for the same reason we didn't connect at all to John Kerry.

Sweet Caroline - Every reason for President Obama to dump her

In the July 9th THE NEW REPUBLIC article "External Flame: Why Caroline Kennedy needs Obama," Michelle Cottle classifies Sweet Caroline as "an unqualified and twitty political dilettante."  But that's fairly irrelevant, isn't it, to getting and keeping power.  There are plenty of political lightweights such as Huffington who do well for themselves in the arena of influence.  What is relevant is Barack Obama's ability to create a whole new zeitgeist.  Clearly, the old Camelot model would only be a distraction.

Gen Next Talks - "I'll always register independent"

Gen Nexter Carol from Ann Arbor, Michigan says, off-the-record, "Being a Democrat or being a Republican is like being in school: You better know and parrot back the party line.  That's why I'll always register independent."

Gen X takes on Gen Next

"Gen Nexters like Geoffrey and Peter Dilenschneider were not gifted with a political sixth sense," reports in Gen Xer Seth from Armonk, New York, off-the-record.  "Anyone who has been struggling economically, doing anything to get health insurance, and wanting their homes to be their private castles [not bugged] got it that Barack Obama was the must-vote-for.  No one else but Obama offered any sense of hope."

Gen Next Talks - Gens Silent, Baby Boomer, X, Y Listen

It was Gen Next who predicted Barack Obama would win, at least among the Democrats.  And as McCain keeps himself sandwiched between Barbies Cindy and Carly, Obama could well win in November.  Baby Boomer me found this out from my colleagues and clients who had Gen Next offspring.  For instance, public-affairs guru and global coach to leaders Bob Dilenschneider, Chief Executive Officer of Manhttan's The Dilenschneider Group, clued me in to the thinking of his sons Geoffrey and Peter.  In April 2007, these seers called it: It'll be Obama.

Mid-Careeer Political Conversions - Does anyone care David Mamet turned right?

It used to be those mid-career religious conversions that factions trumpeted.  When I was in a Catholic women's college - Seton Hill - in the 1960s, we were force-fed T.S. Eliot's embrace of Catholicism.  Not that any of us students cared.  Our minds were on chasing boys and scouting up copies of Cliff Notes.  Now it seems that the conservatives in the U.S. are embracing aging baby boomer playwright David Mamet's political turn to the right with plenty of pomp and circumstance.  The cover of the June edition of THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR crows about it.  The headline reads "Yes, Mamet: Leaving the Brain-Dead Left."  But does anyone care?

Like Freud, McCain baffled by what women want

John McCain is proving to be the bull in the China shop when it comes to attracting women voters.  To begin with, he's surrounded himself with two aloof Barbie dolls - his wife Cindy and his economic adviser/possible VP Carly Fiorina.  Them we don't need and don't want as role models, or buzzing around the White House.  If McCain does select Fiorina as his number-two, he can kiss the presidency good-bye.

Sign Obama will win: AMERICAN SPECTATOR takes on Michelle

The bookmakers and polls are predicting an Obama victory.  But we know that they are frequently wrong - Think a recent horse race.  I trust the intelligence of the conservative publication THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR more.  When it spent pages and pages ripping apart Elizabeth Edwards and her book, I knew that her husband John was going to run in Campaign08.  Now that it's taken on Michelle in its June edition, we might assume it will be Obama by a landslide.

Father's Day - What daughterless dads need

Maybe because America is still a man's land, families who had their male heir and a spare usually didn't continue procreating to produce a daughter.  So, many aging men this Father's Day find themselves without daughters.  That's a tragedy.  After all, it's the daughter, not the son, who will be there for pop during his declining years.  That's the default caretaker role in our society. 

Happy Trails to You - Like Dale/Roy, Hillary/Bill Ride into Sunset

The Clintons were everywhere.  And then they were gone.  Maybe it's the 24/7 news cycle and the proliferation of Citizen Journalism that made them so yesterday so quickly.  It's unlikely they will resurface as Presences.  No doubt they will still knock around. Obama is bound to throw Hillary a bone.  Bill will still pull down decent fees for his speeches.  But their time has passed.