'Home and free'

The plane carrying former President Bill Clinton and freed journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling touched down at 5:30 a.m. in Burbank early this morning, touching off an emotional reunion.

From the New York Times:

“Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea,” Ms. Ling said in brief remarks to reporters, blinking back tears. “We feared that at any moment we could be prisoners in a hard labor camp. Then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting.”

“We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton,” she said, recounting the final moments of her ordeal. “We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here home and free.”

NYT, LAT, WaPo

Bill Clinton to negotiate journalists' release

Former President Bill Clinton is believed to have arrived in North Korea to negotiate the release of jailed journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, South Korea's Yonhap News reports.

From the story:

"We're aware that an aircraft from the U.S. landed at the Sunan Airport in Pyongyang at around 10:48 a.m.," an official said on condition of anonymity.

Lee and Ling were arrested in March while working on a story for Current TV and later tried for illegally crossing the China-North Korea border. They were sentenced to 12 years hard labor.

*LA Times story here. New York Times here.

Shorties

An interesting couple of maps.

Can Oprah save newspapers? (Hint: The answer is no.)

Dee Dee Myers explains why Bill Clinton is in the way no matter what his wife does.

Echoes of the past*

We know Hillary Clinton's past. Indeed, we probably feel we know it better than she does. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is largely unknown to us (unless we've read his biographies, which we probably haven't).

That, I think, is the real difference between the two candidates. Not to say they don't campaign with very different styles or that their race/gender don't provide some unique perspective and possibilities. But Obama is a vessel in which we can add our hopes and dreams, whereas Clinton is self-contained - you either like what she brings or you don't.

She's Hollywood formula, a well-trod storyline with a predictable ending (which is why California backed her). He's indie, interesting and captivating with an ending not so easy to predict.

He absorbs your hopes and you hope it changes him. She reflects your hopes and you hope that you like what you see.

He's a puppy, sometimes clumsy but utterly charming and full of qualities that should make him a good dog. She's a dependable older dog, loyal and wise but with peculiarities and prone to bite.

On Saturday, three states decided they liked the puppy best. Today, Maine voters get their says. We'll see if it gets decided in Ohio or Philadelphia or, worse case, by "superdelegates".

*The Washington Post has a story today about the influence of superdelegates in a close race, and it serves as a reminder of just how influential Bill Clinton might be in getting his wife back into the White House.

Bookends of history *

Ted Kennedy's endorsement today of Barack Obama interests me for the subtle irony that's involved in having a political animal of the 1960s endorse a man who says we must move beyond the 1960s if we are ever to see a revival of the generational shift in power that supposedly came about through the election of John F. Kennedy in, yes, 1960.

Here's the salient quote from TK: "As John Kennedy said, the world is changing. The old ways will not do."

Now, politics isn't always logical, and gaining the support of a baby boomer icon could provide an important bridge to the older white voters Obama desperately needs. But it also illuminates the ties that bind our future to our past, no matter how badly we wish to make a break with the old to ring in a new way of doing things.

At the same time, Obama has finally found an effective rhetorical strategy to box in Bill Clinton by establishing the former president as a guy who's tragically out of touch with what's hip today. In an age when we all want to be moving on (even while moving on means turning to styles past) this might be a winner even with the oldies.

*Updated with Ted Kennedy quote.