IF YOU WERE ELIZABETH EDWARDS: COULD YOU FORGIVE YOUR HUSBAND'S INFIDELITY

Bill, Jack, Franklin are just a few of the Presidents who reportedly had other women in their lives sexually. And the list goes on... Gary Hart, a Democratic nominee for the highest office in the land, though saw his campaign derailed when he tried some monkey business with Donna Rice. So, what's the message: be a family man when you are running, then bring on the other woman once you've wooed the voters and won?


All of the women married to the men above--Hillary, Jackie, Eleanor and even Lee Hart, Gary's wife, stood by their man. But it is Elizabeth Edwards, with her terminal cancer, who is getting the most heat for accepting former Presidential candidate, John Edwards' liasons.


We vote by secret ballot on whether we will stay with a husband who strays. None of us are in Mrs. Edwards' shoes. Yet, so many seem aghast that she doesn't tell her long-time mate to take a walk. I was struck by the Edwards' dream home. When I see the perfect setting, inevitably it seems what is marred is the marriage. But that is just an aside--something I've noticed in the suburban streets I've lived strewn with divorces. But this is Elizabeth's marriage--and home, which she is not abandoning easily.

I wouldn't have voted for the $600 haircut man if he didn't cheat on his dying wife. Actually, if I were ill, I would probably give my husband a free pass to have elsewhere what I couldn't give. But that's just me.


Could I forgive my husband if he cheated. It depends--if it were "just" sexual or a new emotional bond and if it didn't turn our life into a house of horrors. Would I stay for the sake of our children. Yep--if I felt it were in their best interest. Just don't tell my husband.

PAPA, DO YOU HEAR ME? (OR WHY I FIXED MY DAD UP ON A BLIND DATE DAYS BEFORE HE DIED)

The sins of the fathers may be passed on to the sons--but so are the blessings. My father passed away on July tenth four years ago. He left me a legacy of strength and good will. I gave him well some crazy experiences.


We all have regrets when someone dies. My mom--the only girl my dad ever was with (those were the days!) passed away in January. I wish I had involved her more in my life. So I decided with Dad I would rectify that mistake.


Dad, who had been living a few towns away with mom in a condo by the sea, moved next door to me. My house was small--so it was like a compound. I say moved--but it was more like dragged. He didn't want to go. He was living along with a nurse's aide in what seemed to me like a mausoleum. Mom's memories were everywhere--he was buried in them. Piles of her papers, belongings were scattered everywhere. One night I called though and he said he was going into the kitchen to make "breakfast." The next day the aide told me she thought he was mixing up his pills. But hell no, he didn't want to go. Finally I told him they were tearing up the floor to his condo as they were having plumbing problems. Well, suffice it to say, we practically had to carry him out--he didn't want to part with her memory.


Now, next door, my daughters, ten and 12 at the time, visited him before and after school, he ate breakfast in the morning and had a steady stream of visitors. My husband took guitar lessons every Saturday, and dad, an old drummer who loved music, joined in. He requested they do songs like "Sweet Adeline" and "When the Saints Come Marching In." But he went along with crooming "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" and "I Want Some Hot Stuff." Hey, once a musician, always a muscian.


The guitar instructor taught piano to an older widow who had gone to Juillard. She was so lonely, she asked Greg, the kindest rocker and music teacher one could meet, if he knew any older people. Bingo! Why not my dad? He was a former welder. But this wasn't a date. With 4th of July coming, I mentioned to Greg that he should stop in for burgers. Ok, the day came and Greg called and asked if my invitation stood. Sure, I answered. May I bring a couple friends, he asked. Of course, I replied. He explained it was the kind and trying-to- be merrier widow and her daughter.


My dad hadn't bathed in days. I called the nurse and said, tell dad he must let you wash and change him--we are having a barbeque. I want him to join in the get-together for the holiday. I figured if dad met all my friends' parents, he might not feel so lonely and cut off from society as mom had.Oh, why hadn't I thought of this great idea for the sandwich generation before?

Well, the widow showed up--looking like Ms. Palm Beach down to her Lilly Pulitzer dress. Where is the drummer, she asked. I showed her a photo. My father looked like Antonio Banderas--and Dad could still turn the ladies' heads with his Adonis-like face.


I would like to actually meet him, said the widow. I picked up my cell and dialed the nurse. The male nurse said dad wouldn't let anybody touch him. A mood, I figured. Just do it, I said. I don't want him lonely and moping.

Soon the nurse rang that dad could receive visitors. Then Dad proceeded to sing "I Can't Get No Satisifaction" and other rock hits for two hours. The widow was enthralled. My father was ready to give me his gravesite. "How could she (me) do this? I just buried my wife!"

Explaining it was just making friends with senior citizens didn't console him much. So I sang "You Made Me Love You" and he smiled and hugged and forgave me. He even ate a burger and played with his granddaughters. It was a fourth to remember. He complained not once after that.

Six days later, the nurse called me in the middle of the night. Dad had just passed in his sleep. I went and sat next to him, holding his handsome hand. I called for clergy, the hospice nurse didn't like this, but I didn't care. My father was going no where until he had last rites. So we sat for hours, until the sun rose, as did the clergyman.

Dad had wished to be cremated, but when they came to take his body, I did the worse thing. I said you can't cremate that gorgeous man. That's like cremating Brad Pitt. No, no, I cried. But they took his beautiful body away, as he had wished.

They couldn't take his legacy though. He had been a good sport until the end. He would never be unkind to anyone. If you came to visit, true to form, he would be a host.

At the memorial I said: No one ever said a bad word about my dad... What a legacy. If I can be a tenth of the person he is I will be proud. And I hope when he entered heaven they were playing "When the Saints Come Marching In." He was one to me.

LETTERMAN VS. WOMEN: SCORE ONE FOR GIRL POWER

Extra, Extra, read all about it. David Letterman, late night funnyman who made Palin's teenage daughters' bodies the butt of his jokes apologized. No kidding-- about adults knocking up kids! Knock, knock: who's there? The new and improved--and slightly humbled host.

Some cynics say CBS made him do it; others give the credit to his sponsors. Probably the call from his mother reportedly taking the Palin teenage girls' side felt like a "time out."

Maybe it was just his own sense of morality kicking in--when the protesters wanted to boot him off the air. They picketed even after Dave caved. But the apology was accepted by the Palins.

It takes more than one man, one village (idiot), one sponsor or one network to keep our daughters safe from verbal harrassment. Thanks to all of those who stood up for what is right--and I don't mean politics. I'm talking gun powder and grrl power.

NOW even stopped looking like the Leaning to the Left Tower of Sistahood. It's enough to make you want to stand up and sing in unison: I am woman, hear me roar. We're going to have to girls, if we want to score. It's still a man's world--until we band together and seize our half of it. Bear arms--and mouths!!!

SOMETHING BETTER COME BETWEEN CALVIN KLEIN AND HIS JEANS

Calvin Klein's daughter was kidnapped when she was younger. You would think that would have made a father out of him first--and a businessman second. One would have hoped it helped mend his way of abusing our youth. Does it really take child porn to pedal denim? Calvin is in desperate need of ad- vice. His latest ad is a vice. It was reportedly banned on U.S.A. television. That's saying a lot when you think of what is broadcast.

Ah, but the "borderline" ponographic display was plastered on a billboard in Manhattan's trendy Soho neighborhood, home to many families. And because this newest, lewest display was so controversial the sexually suggestive sales pitch appeared in many newspapers to say nothing of the world wide web. Thus, it gave Klein plenty of free advertising (smart--dollar and cents wise; dumb--morality and sense wise).

The infamous ad depicts a young topless girl in her Calvins (what else?) who appears to be having a three way sexual liason with two men on a sofa. She is straddling a shirtless guy with his hands down her pants, while she is kissing another boytoy in just jeans above her. A third boy holding his pants open is lying on the floor beneath them looking on dreamily. So many people passing by were looking on with disgust, the ad came down by popular demand.

But isn't that like getting a remark before the jury--and then telling them to strike it from the record. I almost didn't write about this because it gives the company the publicity they crave at any price. Maybe these ads are cash cows--but the people who hawk them are pigs.

Asked about the message in the ad, a Calvin Klein spokesman said the "intention was to create a very sexy campaign that speaks to our targeted demographic."

Well, guess what? My teenage daughters will never be part of your demographic. Go place your ads in front of a whorehouse--that is your demographic is this mother's eyes.

THEY SHOOT MOOSE DON'T THEY: SHOULD PALIN BE TAKING AIM AT LETTERMAN

By now, you've heard David Letterman's not-so-cheap shots at Governor Palin's daughter. His writers are paid well, as is the Late Night sixty-two year-old, comedian. So those "jokes" cost good--no make that bad money. All our daughters paid a price for the desperate yet not really jovial jabs at young girls having sex with older men.

Palin struck back. Letterman counter attacked. The press came to his rescue--except for Fox. Oh, yes, and little Elizabeth struggling to take on Behar and others on "The View."


I lay my bias before my swing: an autographed photo of David hangs in my den, wishing me good luck... So, I should show a little gratitude, huh. Well, let's take the names away. If it were Jay Leno who made the cracks, are they fair? Jay never autographed a napkin for me--or offered an encouraging word. Same answer though.

I don't need late-night jokesters to talk about A-Rod knocking up any teenage daughter, no matter your name or fame. Yeah, I know all is fair in love, war and being funny. I have made some blunders I'd like to suck back in my big mouth trying to get a yuk.

Okay, David and his crack staff say they got the fourteen- year- old Willow, who attended the ball game that started the anti -Palin family punch lines rolling mixed up with the 18-year-old Bristol. The theory I suppose is that because the older daughter, Bristol, got pregnant and talks about the baby, jokes about her having sex is grist for a jester?

Well, first, as they say, if you can remember to take your ginko, you don't need it. David and staff: repeat after me: Willow, fourteen, Bristol, eighteen. You got older fish to fry. And even then, eighteen is not old.

Wait until your son, Harry, is that age, David--and you worry about him driving because the frontal lobe doesn't develop until you are twenty five. (Forget about your speeding tickets--you'll be too old to remember them anyway. I don't mean that as a dig--I'm in the same boat, or car in this case.) Except it's a man's world--and a boy's... Males aren't called sluts, they are studs. There are not interchangeable words for the two genders.

And would people please leave politics out of this. Left, right--it's wrong in any direction. Pundits are now pouncing on Palin for protesting the remarks against her daughter. What was she supposed to do? Say: bring it on fellows!


Hey, Dave, apologize--not with a joke, like, "Oh things are all right between the governor and me--she invited me hunting. Ha Ha Ha Read: Remember Cheney. Good comeback. Dave. But not good Dave.

I have never physically hurt anything other than a spider I was afraid would bite my daughter. But don't anybody who makes a sexual remark about my teenage daughters ask me to go hunting because I do know who is fair game.

I'd miss with the shot gun. But I sure as shooting would take aim--and fire with all my might til I got the target to wake up and smell the gun powder.

Come on, Dave: Do the right thing. You can boost your ratings with the family feud --if you are out of jokes against the Governor alone. Or you can show how you really rate.

OMG: KRIS CROWNED, SIMON FROWNED, AMERICAN IDOL NEEDS A NAME CHANGE

American Idol has become my show to unwind to. I loved the contestants this season.I thought Adam was ready for the big time--an idol in waiting. Then, I picked up scuttlebutt there was a Christian movement behind Kris (not that there is anything wrong with that. Hey, it got Bush elected.) I never noticed, but the article said Kris wears crosses. The article didn't say, but everybody notices Adam paints his nails and looks more like he came from vampire country than the bible belt. But could he belt it out or what.

I didn't see the big deal. Nobody ever died from wearing a cross--well, I'll take that back. Crosses are very symbolic--but they have also become a common piece of jewlery.

Although Adam couldn't pull one off. When Adam appeared with Kiss, the I- wannabe -an -Idol didn't look that freaky. He could work the stage and hold his own with rock's weirdest and wildest.

Then, the vote came in. Simon didn't even pretend to like the verdict. His silent stare said it all.

Hey, Kris we wish you the best. But although it makes me feel like callous Cowell, Adam you were the best....

The public got that wrong. Even cute Kris seemed uncomfortable taking the crown. The moral of the story: maybe the judges should have kept that one vote they had to overrule the audience for last--and saved Adam!

My sixteen year old daughter who years ago used to phone in votes, threw up her hand and went to her room wearing her Ipod before the dueling duo duked it out on stage. It's just a popularity contest she said to Ma and Pa (that's my middle -aged husband and me, making us feel as though we were tuned to Lawrence Welk). My fourteen year old who lives for rock concerts scoffed too. They've outgrown American Idol.

More votes like this--maybe I'll see it for the unreality show it is. Anyway, the final show was spectacular--but let's rename it after this to what it's become: "That's Entertainment."

THE BACHELOR BAWLS: IN REALITY, MEN CRY

For those not plugged in to this year’s ABC hit reality show: “The Bachelor,” here’s why ratings are up, and tongues are wagging. Jason, a 32-year-old single dad and insurance agent from Seattle, had to choose between twenty five competing beauties. And the winning-woman was: da-da-- Melissa, a 26-year- old Dallas -born event planner. This meant he had to reject runner up 24 -year-old department store buyer, Molly, after which he broke down sobbing (with cameras rolling, natch).

But then there came an Event that Melissa didn’t plan on and 27 million viewers watched in all its heartbreaking gory. The twosome came back to ABC- TV for the episode, "After the Final Rose", Melissa flashing her Neil Lane engagement ring from Jason. Soon though her finger was ring less as he called the whole thing off and she was calling him “a bastard” (The host of the show sat with them during this “intimate” moment, which I found peculiar.)

The real humiliation though for Melissa was that the dumping was done on TV and that Jason, father to a 4- year- old son, admitted there was another woman in the picture. Oh, yes, soon she would be sitting next to him for her tube time—Molly, the girl he had tearfully said good-bye to so he could propose to Melissa. Remember her?

Jason did—indeed, he couldn’t get her out of his mind he claimed and had to follow his heart. They are currently a couple: Molly is moving to Seattle; they talk daily and are in love.
The debate rages from the water cooler to chat shows on whether Jason was a cad.

Melissa now says once the cameras stopped rolling she saw the relationship “was heading South,” Jason claims he did what he thought what was best for everyone, and Molly says “…he is more incredible than the person you see on the show.” (Some would argue that's not hard to believe, as anything would be an improvement over his televised behavior.)

Melissa landed on her feet, for sure. She didn’t miss a beat, as shortly thereafter the ex-Dallas Cowboy cheerleader became a last-minute contestant on the ABC reality show "Dancing with the Stars," and has a beau to boot.

But there was another question that loomed over the "The Bachelor": Were Jason’ s tears real when he rejected Molly the first time? And if so, well—some maintain he should have stifled them because Big Boys Don’t Cry!

Jason says it was not a set up—they were not made for TV tears, it was a geuine outpouring.
And while I don’t condone Jason’s courting style, I say, let’s get real about men displaying tears—Big Boys Do Cry. Anybody who has been close to a guy can tell you that. They cry at movies, births and break-ups. Just as we women do—though not at other people’s weddings, as far as I know. Although a few guys may gave cried at their own.

The bigger question is why doesn’t society let them cry in public, that is? Women want equal rights—what about men? Some experts have speculated that women cry, men turn their sorrow into anger. I’d rather have teardrops falling on my head than a blunt object, thank you. Oh, if only O.J. would have cried instead of killed.

Why is it a sign of weakness for men to feel sorrow and show it? Is it that women like to think there have to be macho men who don't have “feelings”? I think the fault lies not with the man breaking down in tears—but society frowning upon these emotional responses.

Women play sports, crack jokes and do all the things once considered “masculine.” Men should be able to cook, nurture children, let the tears flow and do activities once deemed feminine. Tit for tat (no pun).

Just think, ladies, one day your prince in touch with his feminine side may not even cringe when you say “can we talk.” As the song says: why can’t a woman be more like a man? Really, why can’t a man be more like a woman? But back to "The Bachelor" ballyhoo: If Jason, the jilter was faking the tears, they should give him an acting contract. If they were true, then a drop or two or more of the real deal is just what a reality show needs.

HAIL TO THE HISTORY BOOKS

Barack Hussein Obama is President of the United States. It's one giant step not only for African-Americans, or the USA--but mankind.

Now, we await the day when there's one giant step for womankind as well. As Abigail said to John: Remember the ladies...

If others won't, women must...

But for now, let nothing rain on this Inauguration Parade. Congratulations, President Obama!

ASK THE MAN WHO HAD ONE: THE GREATEST GENERATION ON THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Another Great Depression? The possibility is the talk of Main and Wall Street--and the Belt Parkway.

If hindsight is 20/20, seeing today's economy through the eyes of The Greatest Generation seems worth a look. They realize it can happen because it did to them. They put stock in little--let alone the stock market after the crash.

We Baby Boomers don't have to look further then our own families. My parents are a case in point: in the high flying '90's, I bought my mom a Cartier watch, opal birthstone ring, and faux fur coat. Having cut her baby teeth during the Great Depression, she put that "fancy smancy stuff" away. Hey, she may have missed the fun of frivolity, because of her "you never know" attitude. But stash the cash was her gut reaction to the crash.

When their bodies made them homebound, I thought cheery Fruit of the Month is just what the daughter should order.The first fruit of the month club selection arrived --and I felt like the offspring of the year.

Mom: (Opening the box) Why did you send us so many bananas? Do we look like monkeys?

Dad: Don't answer that--and you know I hate brown bananas.

Baby Boomer Daughter (BBD): Since you can't get out much to buy fruit (or carry it I thought but didn't add) I wanted to keep you healthy.

Mom: Keep yourself wealthy. You paid good money for fancy wrapping paper, which nobody eats--bring a couple bananas in a brown bag.

Dad: Plus, her back will act up from making so much banana bread. Then, she'll be living on Advil. Mama Mia (he said with his Italian-American accent). Do I look like I own a Korean fruit stand. I don't think you'll ever hear us say (singing)--yes, we have no bananas, we have no bananas today...

Mom: Don't try to be Caruso.

Dad: I thought I sounded like one of the Sex Pistols.

Mom: I shouldn’t have humored you all these years. Or your daughter with her high-falutin' ways.

BBD: Next month you get oranges--filled with Vitamin C, which Linus Pauling swore cuts colds!

Dad: I'll be damned. Linus-- wasn’t he Charlie Brown’s friend who always needed a blanket?

Mom: Forget him. What about me?! Oranges? Are you trying to kill me? You know I'm allergic to oranges.

BBD: Well, you can give some to the neighbors. Spread the wealth--uh--I mean--

Dad: Now, we’re going to feed the whole neighborhood? Plus you know I try not to eat oranges in front of your mother--it could set off a craving. Forbidden fruit.

BBD: Okay, the next month, you get, let me see, apples. Ma you always said an apple a day keeps the doctor away!

Dad: Yeah, when you have teeth to bite them--your poor mother slaving over a stove again making apple sauce.

Mom: What?! You're going to give us enough fruit for the Brady Bunch over and over? We don't have enough worries. Is this a life sentence?

BBD: No, I just charged it for a year--

Dad: Charged it?! I'm eating unpaid for food?

BBD: Yeah, but look at the next selection--it's the combo tropical special-- kiwi and pineapple.

Dad: Pineapples weigh a ton. Do I look like Arnold Schwarzenegger? And you pay for shipping when you could just walk to the corner?

Mom: We'll wind up supporting her careless ways with our Social Security checks.

Dad: We should be so lucky. They’re always warning we could run out of money. They scare us out of our wits--then wonder why we keel over from heart attacks--the numbero uno killer after The Sopranos.

Mom: Plus we're still fighting the insurance company for the big bills after your Dad's by pass. All you can be sure of with insurance is they make you cough up the premiums.

Dad: Count on no one. That's what we learned in the Great Depression. Don't count on the government. By the time FDR stepped in, your mother's father—gentlest man in the world-- almost shot his kids rather than see them starve.

Mom: And he was a Quaker. He didn't believe in violence. He had to steal a gun from a neighbor. Poor dad--him and mom never slept in the same bedroom again, he felt so guilty for having too many mouths to feed. And he almost became a Jehovah's Witness because they don't eat meat.

Dad: The only thing you can count on is death and taxes. Oh, yeah, they get you on the way out--'til death do us part

.Mom: Yeah, and don't put your faith in big business. We busted our butts for those big shots' bonuses.

BBD: Well, you can count on me. (Laughter almost drowned out the reply)

Dad: You mean well, honey--but you think money grows on fruit trees. When I was fourteen--

BBD: I heard this story 14 times.

Dad: And you still didn't get it. 15 might be the charm. My father forged papers so I could quit high school which I loved. I got shipped to California at Christmas with the WPA and picked oranges off the trees at Camp Mosquito to keep a roof over my family's heads in New Jersey. But I wasn’t under that roof with them for four years. Now, how do you like those oranges?

BBD: You mean apples?

Mom: (looking at the fruit of the month list in the box) No, oranges--apples is the next month.

Dad: I mean: does she get it? Depend on yourself! Now and forever--no matter what the politicians say.

And those were my father's famous last words on the subject of bailouts. His words are still fresh today--although I baked and ate a lot of fruit pies along with a humble one that year before I saw Dad was right on the money.

REAL TALK: WHEN IS CHRISTMAS SHOPPING, ACTUALLY SHOPPING.

On Christmas Eve day I received the following email from amazon.com where I had bought a complex toy--with many components, one dependent upon another. This is what I received.


.Greetings from Amazon.com,
We're sorry, but the following order from Hubbagames has been canceled.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
==================================================ORDER DETAILS==================================================
1 of Wii Fit with Mat Bundle for Nintendo Wii
Your credit card was not charged for the order. To view your transactionstatus online, please visit:
http://www.amazon
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Amazon.com

The bottom line: They end with thanking me for shopping with them. Actually, didn't the letter inform me I had not shopped with them?

Merry Christmas--and I mean it--to all...and to all a wonderful year!

NOVEMBER 4, 2008: HISTORY IN THE MAKING--AND THE WAITING

Did you ever read something that opened your eyes and changed the way you viewed the world? I did as a young girl. I read a story in one of my grandmother's women's magazines. The heroine, came to feel like my friend, as she talked about herself.

She spoke with great frustration about how she tried and tried, but couldn't get the job or lead the life she wanted due to a handicap. She never said though what it was that held her back until the end. Then, she revealed, much to my dying curiosity and surprise, it was because she was a Negro, the term used to describe an African-American at that time. Her plight stayed imbedded in my mind.

No matter who you were for in the Presidential campaign this year, virtually every American had to feel we had broken down a door we didn't even feel could be knocked on, let alone passed through by a person of color."Free at last, free at last..." Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words of some forty years ago played once again in black and white on our now color TVs. God had truly blessed America -the first African-American had been elected President of the United States. For that, we all had reason to be elated and celebrate. History was made.

Of course, as women we also care about "herstory," and I thought of the woman I became "friends" with as a child in that ladies' magazine. The story didn't say it, but as a girl, I instinctively knew it. There were two handicaps that had to be overcome--race and sex.

Eighteen million cracks may have been put in the glass ceiling during the campaign, but we still have to break through it. So, today let us take pride in President-Elect Obama's--and America's--victory. But let us not stop thinking about tomorrow...

THE LAST WORD ON REAL TALK: A SAVVY GUIDE TO THE HIDDEN MEANINGS BEHIND WHAT PEOPLE SAY

As the Presidential campaign draws to a close, I remember back in 1992 when I was on book tour and Bill Clinton was running against George Herbert Walker Bush.

My first child was on the way, and I used to say I didn't know what would come out first, the baby or the book. The book beat the baby by a month.

It was before anyone was using the word spin. But I had noticed how often people didn't say what they meant--everywhere from the bedroom to the boardroom. to the campaign trail, for sure.

When our first child was being conceived, I was nursing a recently dear divorced cousin who was answering personal ads. She had been attracted to one that had said "an exotic man was looking for a woman to make a committment." She should have known in Real Talk that would turn out to mean an illegal alien was looking for a way to get admitted to the country. It would have saved her much grief.

Yes, a little book, Real Talk: A Savvy Guide to the Hidden Meanings Behind What People Say, was born along with my tiny baby. But I adored the latter more.

Still, I was invited on hundreds of talk shows translating the words of everybody from politicians to realtors. Then, I became too busy planning my daughter's Christening and hung up my mic, giving up a number of big opportunities for little old me.

Well, it is 2008 and spin is in--people refer to it often. Bill O'Reilly, who I remember watching as a TV Celebrity Tabloid reporter, turned interpreting spin in to a fine art with a huge following. I became a Stay at Home Mom with two toddlers following me everywhere--yes, even the bathroom. Writing and going on the high-profile shows as an expert became out of the question. I was lucky to do a talk show for women like myself--from an at-home studio.

Now, my darling daughters are teens in high school and dissecting the words of Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin. I sometime whip out an article for the local paper, in addition to my regular gig on The Dary Day Show. Reverend Wright and this election certainly motivated me to write.

Listening to the pols stomping 16 years later I wondered what happened to what I had written before closing my laptop so I could bounce my babies on my lap. I had been offered a position as a communications and relationship expert on network TV in my Glory Days. But would they still love me, would they still need me when I was well not 64...but was definitely ready for a botox commercial?

I began making up a resume , as I now prepared for a new chapter in my life called Empty Nest Syndrome.

I searched on Amazon.com to see if my book was even still in print, and there I saw it listed for sale for two cents (used). Well, at least I got to give my two cents worth to someone, and I loved reading that the book was very marked up. I felt like buying it to see what the reader(s) had liked or disliked.

The highest priced copy was on sale for $21.95--not the original $12.95. It was promoted as a "Collectible," no less! I was impressed with myself until I saw it was described as "in excellent condition -never been read." It had been collecting dust as I had been wiping it up all those years. Aha, so that's what a Collectible means. Well, maybe I could reenter the work place full force--from all that I read and hear, there's still it seems a need for someone to translate what people say into Real Talk.

WHY REAL WOMEN DON'T HAVE TIME TO BLOG

Wow, I looked at my last post--and it was like back to the future.

There has been so much I wanted to blog about--but real women don't have time to blog.

Real women are filling out more forms than the Army requires to send their kids to drama camp. My daughter was innoculated enough to go to Africa, even though she was only going to the Catskills to study acting and hip-hop.

Speaking of Africa, (this is called multi-blogging or rambling mind), I am helping to put together a photography exhibit for Annabel Clark, a very talented photographer. You may know her wonderful book on which she collaborated with her mother, the actress Lynn Redgrave. It is the very moving Journal: A Mother and Daughter's Recovery From Breast Cancer.

Ah, wonderful women. I had the privelege of helping to host a book party for BonnieLow-Kramen, author of Be the Ultimate Assistant--and Bonnie has been one to Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis and Louis Zorich for 22 years. What a book, what a woman--I keep it on my desk and nightstand (the book, not Bonnie)!

Books, books, we get stacks and stacks of books on the Dary Day Show. We're taking a hiatus now to put on our "mom hats, " but as soon as we return one of our favorite guests best-selling biographer, Christopher Anderson, will be on to talk about his very inspiring book: SOMEWHERE IN HEAVEN: THE REMARKABLE LOVE STORY OF DANA AND CHRISTOPHER REEVE .

Up in heaven now, is one of my favorite all time guests, Tim Russert. I think of Tim on our show--so gracious treating me as he would a President or Secretary of State. Well, actually a lot better. LOL Tim spoke so lovingly of his Dad and son, Luke. I saw Luke on TV. Big Russ, Tim's Dad had a signaturer saying: What a Country! About Luke: I can only say: What a son! You have every right to be a proud papa, Tim. I love Tom Brokaw--another guest we love having on our show. But I am sure Tom would join me in saying Meet the Press will never be the same without Tim. And who in this hi-tech age is going to hold up a little white board with handwriting on it and say: "....."Florida, Florida, Florida. .." What zest, what passion for politics. We all lost, when Tim left us way too soon.

Well, I'm off to see one of the apples of my eyes--my fourteen year old daughter: she is performing in a play this year with a Southern accent. If I didn't know better I would think Meryl Streep was her Mama Mia. You're welcome for the plug, Meryl. I know you need it LOL. My darling daughter last year went around speaking with an English accent so long her sister threatened her with bodily harm or a man in a white coat taking us all away if "the drama queen," didn't start going around saying "whatever" and "cool" like a normal teen again, ok.

Drama nerds as they are also known at our house are a special breed. This year "entertaining" tee-shirts are the must-have apparel at camp. I spent five days searching down tees with sayings such as: "IN AN EMERGENCY BREAKDANCE" -SHE DIDN'T GET IT); "MAKE ART, NOT WAR" (SHE GOT THAT, UNFORTUNATELY); "NERDS HAVE BIGGER HARD DRIVES" (WE ARE STILL DEBATING IF THIS HAS SEXUAL OVERTONES--SHE DOESN'T THINK SO BUT THEN AGAIN SHE JUST TURNED FOURTEEN). Others still under scrutiny for not being morally correct are: "SHAKE IT LIKE A SALT SHAKER" (WITH AN ILLUSTRATION OF TWO KIDS SHAKING THEIR BUTTS) AND "SOLAR ENERGY MAKES ME HOT" (BUT IT DOES, MOM, ASK AL GORE). Al Gore? Remember the kiss with Tipper.

Meanwhile I had to sign a contract for my oldest daughter's Sweet Sixteen party--and was warned that I had to check their water bottles as they may have poured in vodka. OMG Yes, I can just see them now saying: Oh, yes I should have had a V-8. More about this later.

I am steamed up over "f-me heels"--otherwise known as stilettos. Why did sweet Kelly Ripa hold a race in them. Visions of Chinese women's bound feet dance through my head. Truly, did we baby boomers burn our bras just so we would need breast lifts (well, make mine a fork lift). I've got to do a whole post about this one for sure!

Oh, gosh, there was more I wanted to mention...but as the old saying goes, If you can remember to take your ginko, you don't need it. I can't even recall where my Ginko is. And I'm sorry it looks as though I couldn't find my blog for a month and a half too. But Real Women really don't even have time to read blogs--let alone peck one out.

AND THE VEEP IS...

Obama is meeting with Hillary as I type this.

Does Obama want her?

No.

Will he take her?

If he needs her to win and is wise, yes.

He appointed Caroline Kennedy to be on his committee to choose his Vice-President.

JFK chose LBJ for VP--even though the animosity was great.

So, will Obama take Hillary to be his lawfully selected veep?

Yes, if he needs her in order to be in a situation where he needs a Vice President.

A DAY FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS

Senator Barack Obama was declared the official Presidential candidate of the Democratic party.

It was one gigantic step for the African-American community--and an even larger one for the USA.

Nothing--devisive primaries,a biased national press,Hillary holding back her concession speech,debate about who should be veep...can take away from the importance of this historical day.

SECRETS OF A SOCCER MOM: JUST THE KICK I NEEDED

If you are a mother, run to the Snapple Theatre in New York City and see the new Kathleen Clark play, Secrets of a Soccer Mom., directed by Tony-Award winner Judith Ivey. Your kids don't play soccer? No problem. Soccer moms are really all mothers who are trying to do their best by their kids, often losing big chunks of their own dreams and ambitions in the process.

Three actresses, each of a different age group, are on stage--and yet make you feel you are on a soccer field at a moms-against-the sons game. Of course, the moms are going to let their sons win. Shouldn't they? Don't you hold yourself back so your kids can get ahead? Isn't that modern day motherhood, which if unchecked could turn into martyrdom?

To me, that is one critical question the women grapple with at Snapple Theatre on Broadway and Fiftieth Street--and that mothers everywhere struggle with each day.

As the talented actresses talk about throwing the game, they also find themselves tossing out juicy gossipy tidbits and secret after secret to each other. One woman is having an affair with a school coach. Another feels the other moms look down upon her. The gifted playwright could have been peeking in our windows, because this is straight from our real lives. Nothing is taboo here including chatting about how many times a week the moms have sex, which gets a big rise (no pun) from the audience which resembles Harper--or any--Valley PTA. (This is a great outing for groups.)

By the end, the women must choose if they will give the game their all. Should they shine even if it means not putting their sons above themselves? One mom, an ex-jock, as muscular as Madonna, is pumped up to do just this. Will her gutsy drive win over the others? How will their children feel if the moms say, hey, I have a right to make the most of myself? Moreover, how will the moms feel about themselves as women--and mothers?

You'll find yourself cheering one way or another--and you'll discover more about yourself before the curtain falls.

Well, that was the burning issue Secrets of a Soccer Mom I was so grateful this touching, laugh-out-loud play turns the spotlight on. I recognized each character from my own children's playground and especially identified with the over-extended mother whose schedule, like her bulging tote bag, is so crammed, she checks her calendar and then tells another mom: "Call me between nine and 9:10 tomorrow."

Indeed, I laughingly bought an incriminating coffee mug with that slogan on it in the lobby, which was set up like a chic boutique for playgoers. And there are more parent perks: the matinee began at eleven a.m so we could get home to pick our kids up at school, there's champagne to sip, a free massage chair to sooth, and discounts at nearby restaurants. Why not get take out for dinner--while you take in this witty, wonderful comedy that will give you lots of food for thought. But best of all Secrets of a Soccer Mom gives you something to chew on.

I adored the ending. I won't spill it and spoil your day at the play, but it made me mull over the way I'm going to spend my own children's school years, and oh, yes, my life. Who could ask for anything more?

MEMORABLE MERYL STREEP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER GALA TRIBUTE

Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Robert Redford--what do they all have in common? They are A list actors who have co-starred with Meryl Streep. Meryl--the actress who holds the record for receiving the most Oscar nominations--was paid tribute to last evening at Lincoln Center.

I've watched actors and directors honored year after year at this annual black-tie tribute. But I have never seen anybody receive such applause from the standing room only audience. Everyone at Avery Fisher Hall was on their feet giving a standing ovation at the mere mention of Meryl's name, when the opening montage of her movies flashed across the screen.

The first star to pay tribute to Meryl was Robert Redford. I had met his actress daughter in New York City--and all that struck me is he doesn't look old enough to have an adult daughter. Redford spoke of Meryl's craft and how he was in awe of it.

Up next was Robert DeNiro--a heavy hitter, for sure. The way it works at the tribute is you watch a clip of one of Meryl's many movies--and from that you guess who the next speaker will be. A scene from The Deerhunter played--and then out of the darkness, DeNiro appeared on the stage.

He was funny. Looking down at his notes, he talked about how he and Meryl were going to sell DVDs of The Deerhunter out in the lobby (because none of us clapping had gone to see it), about how he felt when was asked to speak about Streep. He said to the chair of the event (she lines up the speakers), should I talk about what a great actress Meryl is? He was told no we have others who can do that better than you. Well, then Meryl's role in cinema?. No, we have more authoritative experts than you for that too, DeNiro claimed he was informed. What then? DeNiro asked. Tell anecdotes. The crowd wants to hear stories.

The super star said he could come up with no anecdote about Meryl. So, he became desperate as this night grew near. He thought of using stories about other people in film he knew--and just substituting Meryl's name. But he said Streep and Scorsese just weren't that interchangeable. Marty Scorsese, of course, is Bob's bff. Robert the Great jokingly said he even thought of trading anecdotes with others. He would offer Barbra Streisand stories for a good whopper about Meryl--but he had no takers.

So, he said that he would talk about the real reason for being there. Ta ta: he wanted to make another movie with Meryl! Who doesn't? But he couldn't get her agent on the phone, since he had left CAA (the hot Hollyood rep). Now, the top agency to the stars wasn't taking DeNiro's calls! Right--the Godfather would take DeNiro's call. DeNiro said he didn't know if the ticket he had bought for the gala was high enough in price to get him in to the after party, which the crowd was decked out for, red carpet style.

So, DeNiro looked up at Meryl, sitting in a box in the theatre with the other celebrities and her family, and he said, "...so call me Meryl." He ended his congratulations speech, with a motion that signaled phone me! You got the impression he wasn't kidding.

The bottom line is: DeNiro doesn't come out easily to these events. I saw him at a dinner for Billy Crystal. Bobby had flubbed his lines which he was reading from a telepromppter that night, and when Billy teased him and said he needed another take, Bobby came up and gave his co-star of Analyze This and Analyze That a big kiss and hug. You got the feeling he and Crystal were buds--but like everyone else, DeNiro is in professional awe of the mighty Meryl.

Uma Thurman was worshipful. She said Hollywood actresses fall in to two groups: Meryl Streep--and then everyone else. Uma is also really tall, and her long legs slipped through her sleek gown. She's nice--I had not seen her since her split with Ethan Hawke. She seemed none the worse for the divorce.

Stanley Tucci who just played with Meryl in the Devil Wears Prada said when you ask anyone what it is like to work with Meryl--they have one word: "DON'T." SHE IS JUST TOO GIGANTIC OF A TALENT. In short, anyone pales beside her.

Others who toasted the grand dame of acting were Christopher Walken, Garrison Keilor, Amy Adams who was nominated for as Oscar for Junebug. Amy said she didn't even have enough courage to write Meryl a thank you which is customary on a movie set when they did the filme Doubt together. She got up the gumption now. Yes, Meryl brings out reverence in people. This would be no roast.

And yet I remember Meryl at one of these award dinners when her co-host Jack Nicholson was a no show. "Well, I guess I'm not a co-ho," Meryl had quipped, "I'm just a ho." Meryl is not reverential. She's fun.

Directors Jonathen Demme and Mike Nichols spoke of her with adoration. Except Mike, Diane Sawyer's husband made one jab. Pointing to his nose, which is of lengthy proportion--he said Meryl and I can't be in the same room because of our noses.

Then Meryl took the stage.

"Oh, how I dreaded this evening," she began sighing dramatically. "First," she said, "there was the dress." She pulled at her black long sleeved, demure designer gown. No slit skirts for her. "Then," she said, "there was the family--the relatives. Oh, gosh, I'll send the actors presents tomorrow, but the family will just get a nod."

She lamented laughingly how one wanted to sit next to Uma, and another wanted to sit next to some one else. "And, oh God, we still have the party yet," Meryl complained laughingly as if she were facing a family Thanksgiving dinner.

What I like about Meryl is she loves motherhood and being a wife as much as acting I think. She thanked her husband--an artist--the most and then her girls. She once said at another event, she got the same high watching her daughter as she did acting. When all is said and done, she seems just Meryl the Mom,not Meryl the movie star. She seems, well, like one of us.

Only with extraordinary talent. She acted out a story of how when she was 18, a drama teacher at Vassar taught her to cry, even though she wasn't remotely sad. She
was a music major she emphasized. She didn't want to be a drama major because they were "flaky," she said, looking mischievously at her actor friends. She could have gotten another Oscar nom on the spot for how comically she imitated her quite pompous drama professor.

She took many dramatic and entertaining bows--you got the feeling she wanted to give the crowd their money's worth. The closing montage of her movies from Silkwood with Cher to the tearjerker Sophie's Choice will always make her memorable. It also showed she can really sing and ended with a clip of her latest film--Mama Mia , in which she really belts it out. Her fans will be pleasantly shocked to see her remind them of Julie Andrews.

For me though that spring night, sitting with my husband as old as hers almost, holding his hand, I will remember Meryl for this: making my leading man forget for a couple short hours that he had just come from a critical medical consultation, for making him not have to focus on his troubles. As she gazed adoringly at her long-time husband, I couldn't help but think this is how Meryl would have felt if our roles were reversed.

But then again that's what the wonderful world of movies and make-believe are all about. I thought of how popular movies were during The Great Depression, when people had much to escape from in their own lives. And that is why I liked being there to pay tribute the magic of film making and the achievement--and character--of Meryl Streep.

THE FILM "YOUNG@HEART" HONORS MY FATHER

Did you ever see a man in his eighties dance on a walker and sing "Living on a Prayer." That was my dear Dad six days before he died three years ago.

It was the 4th of July and Dad, never one for pity or to be a party pooper, although in great pain, sang and danced along at our holiday barbecue as bravely as he had fought in two wars. As he kept beat with that walker which bounced across our patio deck to the tune of "We Are Family,", I thought "Oh, my God," what if he keels over?" My aunt (old enough herself for Willard Scott to wish her Happy Birthday on the Today Show) said to me, "I thought the same thing--but it would have been the way to go, honey..."

Dad didn't go softly into the night--he went nobly. He went out with a song and a dance...fighting his failing body all the way. Today is his birthday--he would have been 85.

Dad had been a drummer when he was young. My husband loves to sing--and dad would chime in. Every Saturday a long-haired voice and guitar teacher we adored used to come over and give my husband and Dad a lesson. I got one too. I learned that older people don't have to spend their final days in rockers--they can rock on. My Dad would ask the music teacher if he knew songs like "You Are My Sunshine" and other oldies but goodies. But when the rocker/teacher didn't, my darling Dad would just join in and belt out "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" and "I Feel Good."

There is a wonderful film that captures his spirit--it's called Young@Heart. It is the story of The Young@Heart Chorus, which is made up of a group of senior citizens who sing rock songs, as my dad did. But they perfected and performed them forr the public. They met and practiced about three times a week to get ready for their concerts around the world. They needed walkers, have had heart attacks--and two choir members pass on during the course of the filming. Ah, but the beat and tour goes on. One older gent talks in to the camera and tells us he's not worried about cancer coming back. Then he says, "Did I convince you?"

He convinced me as my Dad did that older folks can be the bravest people in the world--and we're lucky to have them as role models. I used to try to tell those who didn’t know my Dad, how courageous and uncomplaining he was in his final days. Now, I can just say, go see Young@Heart.

For a preview, log on to google right now, type in Young@Heart-Staying Alive, then click on You Tube. If you have elderly relatives, have them run (not walk) on their walkers if need be, to see Young@Heart and watch it with them. You'll see the elderly in a new light. It should be rated R--for required viewing by all ages. It is more than the novelty of watching older folks sing rock 'n roll--the music of rebellion. It is about older people rebelling against the restrictions their bodies and society try to put on them. It is about how they don't let anyone reign in their spirits. It is about all those who forever stay Young@Heart.

ARE THE DEMOCRATS WINNING THE PRESIDENCY FOR THE REPUBLICANS?

Right to Run

Hillary has the right to run until the bitter end. Bitter is a key word--one that set off a backlash against Obama. The Clintons were busy flubbing up on their own. Their botched Bosnia story is starting to look like a skit on Saturday Night Live.

The longer Obama and the Clinton camp duke it out, the more bloodied they will be. They are giving the Republicans a gift. They are both doing the dirty work for McCain's campaign.

Now, this is fine--if they don't care if a Republican takes the Presidency. But maybe to paraphrase JFK's famous phrase, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what your country can do for your country, perhaps it's time for the Democratic candidates to answer this: Ask not what the Democratic Party can do for you, ask what you can do for the Democratic Party.

Again, I'm not saying Hillary should call it a day. I just wonder if she and Barack had shook hands, and come out fighting as a team long ago if they would be in a better position to beat say McCain and Rice--the ticket the Republican nominee now has the free time to bandy about.

There was a talk of a Democratic dream team many primaries ago. Yes, they would have had to huddle and decide who would be on top. But could that answer be neither of them come the fall because they were wounded in battle. Just asking.

Is ending the war in Iraq more important to them, then stopping the war between themselves. It's a quesion I put to both Clinton and Obama. I can't help but ponder if historians will be asking it when President McCain is sworn in.

THAT THREE A.M. PHONE CALL TO THE PRESIDENT

There was much ado about Hillary's commercial showing the red phone ringing at 3 a.m. Saturday Night Live, even did a skit on it.

But let us say the unspoken--let us talk about the white elephant in the room, so to speak.

If that red phone rang in the middle of the night, Americans know if Hillary answered she would say, "Bill, what would you do?" in so many words.

And so those who liked what he said when he was President, can sleep in peace. That is what the message of that ad is really about.

For those who counter Bill would be off playing around, never under estimate the power of a politician like Bill to multi-task. Bill may forever be chasing skirts, but he loves the seat of power.

DOES BEING A FIRST LADY HELP PREPARE YOU TO RUN THE COUNTRY?

If you were Pat Nixon, no. Richard Nixon, reportedly, was one of the rare Presidents who never really discussed anything with his wife.

If you were Eleanor Roosevelt--Hillary's role model, even from the other side, yes.

And let us not forget that President Wilson's wife ran the country as he lay too ill unable to do so...

And let us remember Hillary and Bill ran as a two for one team. Hillary Rodham Clinton wasn't baking cookies.

DITTO: AS I SAID WATCH THE DEMOCRATS DECONSTRUCT

Well, as I said awhile back: watch the Democrats deconstruct.

If it keeps up, pretty soon I will change this post from Ditto to past tense: watch how the Democrats deconstructed after President McCain is sworn in.

The Spitzer Spin-Off: The New York Porn

A nearly nude young girl stared out at us at breakfast from the front of the newspaper.

Yes, there is my teen daughter doing some last minute studying at the breakfast table, and I open the New York Post--make that New York Porn--to show I am keeping up on current events. I think I am being a good role model.

Between sips of her orange juice, my daughter is reading me her essay on John Adams and Hamilton and the politicians during our early days as a country. Many died to give us that free nation.

I am reading about the men that followed in our forefathers' footsteps. This morning that consists of seeing a nearly nude young girl cupping her breasts on the front page of the newspaper and getting fame and fortune for satisfying the sexual needs of a man old enough to be her father for money who happened to be our Governor.

My daughter is going away to school. She has applied to one that had a sex scandal. I tell her about it as a cautionary tale. She waves her hand at the newspaper and says, There's sex scandals everywhere, mom. Haven't you noticed?

I quickly flip the page of the naked twenty something...only to discover that there is page after page of the nude flavor of the month... It's as if I am reading Playgirl at the breakfast table. The story of Obama and his preacher friend was buried way after the nude layouts.

Was showing this girl over and over uncovered by clothes really the way to cover the story? Maybe the editor of the New York Post should go back to school and take Journalism 101 if he doesn't want his paper to be renamed the New York Porn .

But then since the hooker made so much money, I guess the Post feels they should use a hooker's flesh to bring in the bucks too. Talk about pressing the flesh.

Well, my daughter got her history lesson from the Post today. My daughter had stayed up until 2 a.m. studying how we financed the revolution (that was truly the topic she had to give a speech on) because some kids in her study group didn't do their share of the project. She was legitimately griping about how it wasn't fair that she had to work so hard while they slacked off and took the easy way out.

I couldn't help but think if she wondered about how another young girl just used her body to get fortune and five times the press coverage of those aspiring to be another John Adams.

Thank you New York Post for printing all the photos that are unfit to print and then some... I think I'll find another way to show my girls how to keep up on current events. Your paper should have been in the porn section or come with an X-Rating Warning and Brown Cover. Or maybe it's safer to stick to reading the cereal box...Food for thought.

Oh, yes, the New York Post is the conservative paper. And to be fair, at the bottom of the front page nude photo, the Post did put "Bad Girl." Maybe they should have added "Bad Paper." But then again this story is about hypocrisy. Maybe they got the essence of the story just right.

SEE HILL RUN, WATCH OBAMA JUMP--LOOK AT THE DEMOCRATS DECONSTRUCT

Obama was the great new hope--Oprah in politics, JFK reincarnated...

Then along came Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas--and Obama changed.

A member of his campaign team called Hillary "a monster," another staffer told the Canadian government to disregard official campaign rhetoric as just politics, the Clinton camp compared the Obamiams to the abomitable Ken Starr... How low can they go? I think we haven't seen anything yet.

By the time the Pennsylvania primary is upon us, the two Democrats left running will be so bloodied by the campaigning, they will have beaten--each other. Right now, they are both running for--not against McCain.

DID FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN SECEDE FROM THE USA?

Hello, lest it has skipped anybody's mind or they've had their heads in the beach sand, the residents of Florida and Michigan, are American citizens. They have paid their dues--taxes, maybe risked getting shot defending their country.

Is it really going to kill us--to give the right to vote in a real instead of a faux primary to those who may have died fighting for the U.S.A.?

And if the system denies these newly minted "second class?" American citizens their rightful say, to me that is taxation without representation. Isn't that one reason why we broke away from England? Remember the Bosoton Tea Party? How about a Biscayne Bay or Lake Michigan revolt against the party?

I say, allow the citizens from Florida and Michigan to have their votes be equal to every other American's. If that means holding a primary, so be it? What price democracy?

Do not disenfranchise these voters through bureauacratic bungling and technical flubs--don't make them the new "chads" and "dimples" this go-round.

Otherwise, no matter who wins, we all lose the true meaning of the word election!

LET'S HEAR FROM THE EQUALLY GREAT STATES OF FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN! LET'S GET OUT THE VOTE--NOT REMOVE VOTERS FROM OUR MUCH-FOUGHT FOR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS!

HILLARY LAYS IT ON THE LINE IN OHIO

Hillary was truly overjoyed in Ohio. Just Hillary, with noncontroversial, sweet Chelsea at her side. Bay boy Bill from Carolina campaigning was needed in D.C. In Real Talk, he was not wanted or needed at her side for now.

Yet, truly he must have had a hand or his handlers did in her best lines this critical night. Hillary made Democrats remember in recent times, no candidate has captured the Presidency, without declaring victory in Ohio first. As Ohio goes, so goes the nation she said, pounding the point home. I thought the old saying was as Maine goes..

No matter, what she is really saying is: you want change, you're going to have to change this political fact.

What she's really implying is: Democrats I won the big states. Want them? Come and get me. I'm not giving them up. Barack, baby, you're going to need all the charisma you have. Unfortunately, for Hillary, Obama's charisma runneth over. The question is does it run far enough to take him to the White House. Stay tuned.

AND OBAMA WON THE SPEECH--AND MADE A MASTERFUL POLITICAL STROKE

Hillary just gave her victory speech in Ohio; Barack spoke from deep in the heart of Texas.

The difference is Obama always sounds like it comes from the heart--the man can talk. Does the term the great communicator come to mind? Ah, combine that with the charisma of JFK. Ovey (learn it Obama--you could stand to brush up on your Yiddish).

The pundits are dissecting the speeches. They are talking about Obama's keeping that spotlight on Iraq. Smart.

But what they are not picking up is Obama did something mighty clever. He lumped Hillary and McCain together. Whew--does that put Hillary in enemy territory.

Whew, does that make her and John old Washington. More important though, how really smart to try to strike them out with the same bat and hard ball.

Will Hillary Go Softly Into the Night?

Hell, no, she won't go.

The polls haven't begun to close--but here is my prediction:

Hillary will not quit even if she just wins Ohio.

If she takes both Ohio and Rhode Island, she's in...

Anything more, she'll ask her house husband to call the movers.

Stay tuned.

BILL: THE COMEBACK CAMPAIGNER?

It is the night before the Texas and Ohio primaries, and even if you aren't deep in the heart of campaign country, just checking out C-Span shows that Bill has gotten his groove back.

Just ask yourself this he challenges the crowd. At the end of Hillary's term as President, ask yourself: Am I better off than I was four years ago, am I more secure from terrorists? Whew, she is going to make us richer and safer, thinks the cheering crowd. This is music to the voters' ears. This is vintage, victorious Clinton.

Bill the Great Politician appears to be back,focusing on making Hillary sound electable, not trying to make Barack, attackable. Obama has a coat of teflon on him, Bill. Haven't you noticed? Trying to scrape it off with your barbs leaves Hillary damaged not America's flavor of the year. You were picking on America's latest golden knight on a white horse, but it was making Hillary fall from grace.

Well, Mr. Vice president/First Spouse hopeful you seemed to have changed tactics in the race. The question is are you a few days and delegates late?

SAY GOOD NIGHT, HILLARY

Stop saying you are honored to be on the stage with Obama one minute (your finest moment of late) and then say shame on you the next.

Focus on your own strengths, don't try to tear him down with petty points and bickering.

Indeed, you're going downhill in your campaigning, Hill, soiling your reputation on the way. So, if you don'tshape UP fast, you need to take a cue from George Burns: Say Good Night, Hillary.

Senator Clinton: "Good Night, Hillary"

BYE BYE TO EMPTY NEST SYNDROME

I don't do depression. It's too depressing. I'm too action oriented and am afraid of the actions depressed people take. I do anxiety, nervousness. I just overload my plate until I feel like a nervous wreck. So, Emypty Nest Syndrome was my first brush with impending doom and gloom.

See, I like the chaos kids bring. On the worst days, when I need a mega-supply of Calgon, Hagen Daz and Valium to calm down a few notches, I still opt for kids. It's business, it's life. I'll take it even when it's bad--like when my teenager brings tears to my eyes because she talks to me as if I'm a telemarketer who called on Thanksgiving.

So, I've enjoyed giving them roots--except now they are ready to sprout wings. I have gone into mourning. Regrets? I should have had more children. Kick, kick. Everytime I see the V-8 commercial, I feel like thumping my forehead and saying I should have had more kids.

I have a life. I have a talk show, I write, I volunteer, I have friends, I have a great husband... I would like to say I got along without my children before I had them, so I'll get along...

But I wasn't totally happy without kids, at least not since I was one myself. Even when I taught second grade in my '20's, I could have adopted any one of my students. It just made me want little tykes who threw paper airplanes when I wasn't looking more. I wanted my house full--not just my classroom.

I became a writer and love being creative. But what compares to creating a human life. I know now I shouldn't have stopped at two children--but I'm too old and poor to have more. So, that's all, folks.

One friend said, oh they still come home. Yeah, if they don't settle in Oshkosh.
Another said, in the end, it's you and your mate. Maybe. I have a few friends left without husbands, as it seems so is most of the state of Florida when I visit.
No. This is it. I am back where I started--alone. Actually, more so. My mom and dad are gone now. I have no sisters or brothers. Plus I am physically limited and pretty much house bound. I can get out about once a week. So, I started getting down. Then, I realized the solution.

Accept reality. Yes, I may be alone. So, I better think of lots of things to do on my own. I have surrendered to it. I will stop getting all teary eyed about how fast my kids grew. I will resist thinking of how much I will miss their laughter filling our home.

I'll turn on the TV if I want noise. Yes, I'll try forming groups: bridge, anyone? Chess? I need to choose sit-down activities. A writers group. A reading club. Maybe if I can afford it, I'll go some place where there are others facing their golden years. I'm an older mom though, and I hate doing that when my kids are still in college. Yeah, honey, bring the gang home and we'll whoop it up with the 55 and older set. I don't think so.

But maybe we'll downsize to a condo. It's only my husband and me for as long as we have each other. Yeah, first steps and playdates are long gone, as are my wrinkle free skin, a perky bust and size five figure. That's the way the body crumbles.

But once I accepted that the old part of my life is over, it was easier in a way. You can't fight kids growing up. When you fall in love with a man, you hope you'll be together forever. You love your children just as much, but they are just lent to you for 18 years. That's the deal.

My youngest is going to boarding school at 14--next year. So, I feel cheated as if she reneged on the agreement we made when she was in the womb. Premature Empty Nest Syndrome--it's not fair. Yes, I could stop her. Why? To keep me company. Is that why we have children. Yes. Partly. But not enough to deny them opportunities they want.

You have to let them go mentally before they walk out that door. You have to say, now is the time for a new phase, a passage. You have to say The Serenity Prayer over and over: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

College was a slam dunk. No parent would think they can change that. The boarding school decision pulled me apart. I wish I hadn't agreed to let her do the mountain of work to apply--admission tests, applications, school visits, long essays, hopes and dreams. I almost wish I hadn't given up four months of my own life helping her and guiding her every step of the way.

But then I wouldn't have been a mother in my mind if I didn't try to help my daughter reach her goals. I couldn't stand to see the spark leave her eye because she wasn't challenged and really wasn't happy in the local school. So, I am challenged by early Empty Nest Snydrome--a condition that could have been avoided for four more years. I made a mistake--for myself. For her, no. It's the path that will take her farthest in life.

Now, I have to find a path that will lead me to a happy place. Yes, I'll adore the homecomings, holidays, everyday IMing, e-mails and calls. I'll always be grateful for the priceless lifelong connection you have with children and watching with joy as they have their own.
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But while I'll always live for them, I can't just live through them. Nor can I just accept Empty Nest Syndrome, like a terminal condition. I have to embrace it, find the fulfillment in this new season in my life. This is the only life I have--I can't waste it wallowing in regrets or wishing for the past! No, I'm going to mine for gold in them there golden years.

And looking on the bright side--I have experience. I just prepared two kids to want to be on their own, seeking as much fulfillment as they can find. When they think of the future, they smile with a gleam in their eye that says: Bring it on! So, I should be able to do this one more time--for myself. True, I may have to take a little time to work through this Empty Nest Syndrome business. But then after I nurture myself a bit, it's time to say: Hello, world, here I come!

WHAM BAM: HAS OBAMA KNOCKED OUT HILLARY?

I just finished an interview with best selling historian Kenneth C. Davis, author of "You Don't Know Much About the Presidents." He does know! We made an on-the-spot gut level "prediction" on who would be the Democratic nominee. Let me say, the good-natured, entertaining, extremely well-informed author only did it because he wanted to be a great guest, which he was.

He is smart enough to realize no one knows. So, am I. Hey, but "I don't know" isn't fodder for a talk show.

So, the brilliant author said when all was said and done he thought Hillary would be the last man standing after the primaries-- or, well, words to that effect.

I could see his point--and only a fool would count her out. After all, she has the politcal machine and history on her side. Plus, she'll go to Eleanor for advice. Only kidding. But the Clintons know how to wangle a win.

Yet, I chose Obama. Actually, it was partly my husband who pushed Barack over the finish line in my eyes. My husband has been part of corporate America and Wall Street since I met him. Also, he's a candidate for Grecian Formula--in other words he's not your everyday Barack backer. But wham, bam, mam, he walked in and said to me with a twenty-something enthusiasm, "I'm for Obama!" After I picked myself mentally off the floor, I heard him rave about Barack's wife--how brilliant she was! What is it with the candidate's spouses this year? He thought Obama was charismatic, another JFK.

Forget the momentum, Caroline Kennedy's endorsement/annointment, Ted Kennedy's stomping, Maria Shriver's speeches, the youth vote, and even Oprah's mighty--some would say almost almighty--powerful backing of Barack. (Listen, anybody that can get America reading classics has power unmatched in this country!)

Still, I was looking for the X Factor. There it was. My very own old white man who practically slept in a three piece suit. An unlikely voter for Obama.

Then the next day a woman who reveres the NRA and Fox News said the Senator from Illinois was fine with her as a candidate. The X Factor at work "again." All we need are a few more "agains". They add up. They win horse races.

Ah, race. Will there be people in the privacy of the voting booth who vote McCain while they give the "O" sign to look cool. Yep. That's why you need the X Factor--the people you wouldn't expect to back Barack. Now, there is just one question:

What is the value of X?

GULIANI: TAKE MY WIFE PLEASE

No thanks.

Remember when Guiliani was ahead in the polls. Well, then he appeared in a front page photo kissing wife #3 Judith Nathan as if they should get a room.

I wrote an earth to Rudy blog saying kiss babies in public like any other phony politician. Your third wife is not exactly America's idea of a First Lady. I called it "The Kiss of Death of Guiliani's Presidential Campaign." And I maintian it was.

Rudy, I said, remember how you announced to the world you were ditching 2nd wife, Donna Hanover, the mother of your children, before you told mother and child. We do. But why shove it down our throats again and get photographed looking like you were shoving your tongue down your old mistress' throat who took Donna's place.

Why, Rudy, why? Okay,true, along came 9/11 and we filed your marital record under yesterday's news. Still, to start your campaign for President with a liplock with "the homewrecker" made the public see Judith as a "(White) House wrecker" as well.

But there was no getting you to think like a Presidential candidate, instead of a lovesick newlywed. What was your next move? Having Judith call you in the middle of a lecture you were giving to who--I think the National Rifle Association. Actually, all anyone remembers is Judith interrupting to say bye, bye love before she stepped on an airplane. You asked her if she wanted to say hello to everyone. No thanks, said the silent crowd. That was a meaningful political message. The Judy and Rudy show continued: candidate shows he is gaga over "the other woman-turned-wife." This was becoming your platform--one that was bringing about your fall.

Of course, your own kids-- who you paraded before our eyes when you were Mayor-- came out and said they wouldn't stomp for you. Actually, you all were estranged. And so the voters moved farther away too. You know, fatherhood, apple pie and all that stuff.

Still, I was rooting for you Rudy. You were America's Mayor. And since we're telling it like it is here--I am an Italian-American. I had a hidden agenda--yes, part of me would have loved to hear "That's Amore" in the White House. But nobody wanted to see it on the campaign trail.

Then, there was Bin Laden. Terrorism is alive and sick, and you make one hell of an enemy. Yep, I would have liked to see you go toe to toe with the terrorists. I would have slept better at night knowing it was your watch.

Everybody I spoke with though from servicemen in Iraq to the woman on the street said, Rudy? Ugh, I can't stand his wife. Sorry Judith, they did. I said she won't be President. She'll just be at his side and calling him during meetings when she's not. Is that too much to put up with to give the terrorists the signal that we are going to keep America safe?

Apparently, yes. The pundits blame your political demise on bad campaign strategy. I do too. Yes, you didn't give it your all in the primaries until it was too late. But another primary reason is from the get go you gave us too much of your mate.

And the Oscar Goes To:

My Predictions--not necessarily my preferences:

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men

Best Actress: Julie Christie

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Director: The Coen Brothers

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem

Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee

Best Original Screenplay: Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country For Old Men

Stay Tuned...

HILLARY: DOES IT TAKE A VILLAGE TO TELL YOU BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY THAT MUCH

Dary to Hillary:

Re: Tearing Up

A little tearing up goes a long way. Once in a while, it's understandable. Two times so close in public, I even fear you are starting to unravel privately. You are tired and that is understandable. But so is Barack. So is McCain. My God, you suffered Bill's indiscretions. But McCain was a POW.

Hillary get some rest. Then, get out on that campaign trail--and well take it like a man.

Daniellynn: Living Anna Nicole Style

Am I the only one who thinks Anna Nicole's daughter really shouldn't be our Entertainment Tonight every day without her consent? The child hasn't had a moment of privacy since birth. Look

She walks.

She sits on Larry King's desk.

She has a birthday party.

She barely gets a day away from the "DannyLynn" Reality show.

She is a TV personality--virtually day in/day out.

We all sit in horror looking at the fate of child actors'-Britney, Lindsay, et al.

Is there any reason to think that a child raised in front of a camera will turn out as a happy and normal as a child brought up without the constant public glare?

What chance are we taking with this child's welfare in the name of Entertainment?

Yes Larry is a cute, proud Dad. But maybe just maybe he could give his daugher a little privacy.

If she wants to be in the public eye non-stop, can't he wait until she becomes of age and makes that decision herself.

There's plenty of instances that children brought up privately with a loving parent fare well.

Where does Larry get the idea tht a child brought up in front of TV cameras grow up healthier than the fallen child stars.

Larry, why are you taking this chance with your daughter. Anna Nicole lived for and died by the constant public exposure. But she chose it.

Let your daughter choose her own profession. How do you know she wants to be a reality star.

I am not saying you are using her as a prop. But can't you get on TV alone.

You can make that choice for yourself. Give your child some normalcy--if you want her to be more likely to have a normal life. Did Anna Nicole die in vain?

GIANT PARADE NEEDS GIANT CONFETTI

Nothing could take away from the Parade for the Giants, let's be clear on that. They have spirit and fans to spare.

But, hey, can't we bring back that ticker tape effect where it seemed like a sea of snow was falling. If our teams can overcome every obstacle to win, can't we create confetti galore? Let's do it for their next Parade.

Go,Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEWARE OF POLLS

You'll be seeing a lot of polls. When you look at them, keep this one taken in March, 2007 in mind. This is what Americans said regarding McCain's race--yes, even in these post-Reagan days.

About two thirds of those polled said they would not vote for someone seventy or older.

On Super Tuesday--February 5, 2008 Senior Citizen Senator John McCain (born August 29,1936), became the Republican front runner. Who did they poll Democrats?

OBAMA BANDWAGON

Who Will Win the White House?

Obama: "Chances are super strong--if Oprah signs on as the vice-presidential candidate. Actually, Obama has great appeal to whites and blacks. He transcends color."

FLASHBACK:
This is what I wrote about Obama back in March, 2007 when I was giving a quick take on the candidates when some people were still saying Obama who? And then along came--

THE "O" FACTOR
Did I think then Oprah would step up and give Obama the "O"kay? No. I just know Oprah is a force equal to none in the public's eye--and rightfully so in my opinion. She doesn't have to be Obama's vice-president--she just has to be in his corner, which means to me and many others at least she'll be in the kitchen cabinet in an Obama White House. After her endorsement, whenever I thought of Obama as President, I had this vision of the Oprahzation of the world. I felt uplifted. I saw good will, spirituality and optimism spreading across the land--crossing country lines! Could it be? Could we be a world filled with hope and good will? Could the US government be a political version of the Oprah show? The thought was enough to make people of every gender and ethnic background born-again voters.

BAMOLOT
Then along came the second half of the double whammy--Bamolot. Caroline Kennedy's endorsement is more like an annointment, considering the political pedestal on which Americans have put her. Let's face it, Caroline, as only youngsters may not know, is the sole living child of the legendary President John F. Kennedy and iconic First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and is as close to royalty as this country gets. Moreover, Caroline lends her support ever so selectively to any cause--and she has never compared a Presidential candidate to her father. The statement was a politcal earthquake to the Clintons, no matter how they spin it. Caroline is close to her Uncle Teddy, and some pundits have pointed to Teddy's endorsement as all-important. But Senator Ted Kennedy, like all politicians, has his opponents. Some ultra right wing conservatives think of him as being left of Karl Marx. Caroline Kennedy has a place in Americans' hearts and minds that rises above politics. I know Caroline ever so slightly--meaning I've been in her company a few times and she has been a guest on this show twice. She is bright, independent, admirable and is a talented writer and a devoted mother of teenagers. Since I have a teenage daughter who makes the letter O with her fingers when I ask who she wants to be President, it didn't surprise me that Caroline Kennedy heard and listened to the voice of the younger generation in her own home.

THE YOUTH FACTOR
When Obama, the charismatic orator speaks, the youth in this country listen--and vote! He is bringing a whole new group of voters to the table, or rather booth. Will it be enough to offset the well-oiled Clinton political machinery that has been in operation and raising mega-bucks since Hill replaced Bill as a candidate. Can Barack overcome the racism among the old ("I'll vote Republican," one transplanted Georgian senior citizen told me recently)? Thank goodness these attitudes are "so yesterday" among the younger generations. As for those of voting age, well, the good news is only less than 10% of people in one poll said they wouldn't vote for an African-American. But if Obama wins, it will partly be because the youth came marching in... And that is reason enough to beat the band, even if your political beliefs don't have you jumping on the Barack Bandwagon.