I was down by flu this week and uncompelled to blog though I thought it noteworthy that the two indy films I voiced only qualified enthusiasm for (below) were both nominated for Oscars. Draw your own conclusions; do not cheat by looking at the conclusions being drawn by the person sitting next to you.

The political needle moved little in that time. (I speak here of the Democratic primaries; the GOP has its own hell to raise.) The last debate was an embarrassing mudfest, good only for allowing Edwards to emerge with some dignity which is how he will be remembered as he exits the stage in the next few weeks. My man Obama looked a bit flustered caught between him and Hillary and I got a glimpse of how he might be manhandled if he were to become our party’s candidate. He looked young, and lord knows how our political system likes to exterminate youth.

But the desperation of the Clinton camp has become quite galling, and only serves to motivate those of us who would like to see some young blood in charge for a change. Forget about Bill’s maddog approach — I think part of him always wished he was a thug, a backroom brawler, and now in the guise of defending his wife’s honor, he is getting to act out another fantasy: that of the caring husband. I speak of the mudslinging being done on Hil’s behalf by other members of her posse.

In Bob Herbert’s column in the Times today, he quotes Andrew Young saying, “Bill is every bit as black as Barack. He’s probably gone with more black women than Barack.” We are not talking about Bill’s premarital dating history, of course. This would be tasteless enough if the ex-president himself hadn’t used Young as a reference to establish his black-like-me (or me-like-black) bonafides. (By this logic, Robert De Niro should win the nomination.)

Then Herbert (who is, by the way, black) found this gem from former US Senator (and current New School president) Bob Kerrey: “It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”

This from a man who admits to murdering unarmed civilians during the Vietnam war; should that experience be considered a big deal?

None of this rear-guard action kept the Times from endorsing Hillary yesterday, even if their endorsement was somewhat tepid. Like Captain Hook, they would like to pull the plug on this whole youth & optimism thing before it gets out of hand. They are probably hoping that she will be elected (the paper’s endorsement of McCain was even more half-hearted) so they can recycle some of those old headlines: Clinton Blocks Investigation, Clinton Targets Enemies, who knows? maybe even Clinton Courts Impeachment. Nothing like a familiar refrain.