Summer

Why makes Barack Obama special?

Larry King: OK, obviously, he’s special. I mean his critics would say he’s special. His opponents would say it. What is it? What does he have?

Michelle Obama: He’s a great orator. He’s inspirational. He’s brilliant, all of that. But you know what? He’s a good man. He’s, first of all, my best friend. He’s a phenomenal support to me and the girls. I mean this is a guy who, in the midst of this race, hasn’t missed a parent/teacher conference, you know. This is the stuff that I look at. He took the girls trick or treating. He came home for a day to buy the Christmas tree. He took me out for our anniversary. I mean, you know, he is just…It’s he’s consistent. It’s just his character, you know?

And there is a warmth and a sincerity and an authenticity. And he’s also somebody who is not going to just tell you what you think you want to hear. He’s always going to play it straight and tell you what he thinks. He’s going to be honest with you.

Back pages of magazines

When thumbing through a magazine, I always get quite excited especially when flipping to the last page. Commonly, the last page features someone or something real-life-related, which I like. It’s kinda like, after glossy pages of beautiful, ethereal, perfectly styled and presented things, people and lifestyle, it ends with something real and closer to attainment.

On a recent flight which happened to be on a Sunday, I picked up the orangy-pink Financial Times, weekend edition, knowing that there’s bound to be something interesting with a somewhat international appeal in there. This print happened to come with the FT’s monthly glossy supplement, “How to Spend It”. The last page of which was some Mr Morgan describing his perfect weekend.

Nice warm article. I clicked around on the FT website, having considered for a while, and still considering, whether to subscribe to this paper daily. Delightful to find that the whole How to Spend It was available online!