it finally happened :). now maybe my political fatigue will ebb away.
obama '08.
si se puede!
Showing posts with label barack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barack. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
unhelpful= maureen dowd
not only do i really dislike her headshot, as it seems a bit pompous and smug (i'm sorry, is it sexist to comment on her headshot? i read her column at least once a week and this is the first time i'm saying it...does that make it better? probs not, eh? oh well, forgive me feminist goddess), but i also really dislike her op-ed today on hillary and barack. i just don't think passages like this are helpful at all:
anyway, if you want useful analysis of the situation, check out the JJP post, and i'm sure dailyKos will have some interesting stuff. the painful journey down primary road continues...
Is he skittish around her because he knows that she detests him and he’s used to charming everyone? Or does he feel guilty that he cut in line ahead of her? As the husband of Michelle, does he know better than to defy the will of a strong woman? Or is he simply scared of Hillary because she’s scary?
He is frantic to get away from her because he can’t keep carbo-loading to relate to the common people.
neither is this:
dowd-y. friend. could you be any more crass? could you be any less useful right now? he wants to go back to his "organic scrambled egg whites"? WTF? who are you helping? who are you hurting? at the very most, you're just annoying those of us that sometimes think you have something useful to say.But this is clearly a man who can’t wait to get back to his organic scrambled egg whites. That was made plain with his cri de coeur at the Glider Diner in Scranton when a reporter asked him about Jimmy Carter and Hamas.
“Why” he pleaded, sounding a bit, dare we say, bitter, “can’t I just eat my waffle?”
His subtext was obvious: Why can’t I just be president? Why do I have to keep eating these gooey waffles and answering these gotcha questions and debating this gonzo woman?
Before they devour themselves once more, perhaps the Democrats will take a cue from Dr. Seuss’s “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!” (The writer once mischievously redid it for his friend Art Buchwald as “Richard M. Nixon Will You Please Go Now!”) They could sing:
“The time has come. The time has come. The time is now. Just go. ... I don’t care how. You can go by foot. You can go by cow. Hillary R. Clinton, will you please go now! You can go on skates. You can go on skis. ... You can go in an old blue shoe.
Just go, go, GO!”
anyway, if you want useful analysis of the situation, check out the JJP post, and i'm sure dailyKos will have some interesting stuff. the painful journey down primary road continues...
Friday, April 18, 2008
he brushed his shoulders off
yes, it's everywhere already. now it's here too. as dnA said, "gullyness at 2:20":
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
bowling=white?
from shakesville:
Sweet Jesus, I Still Hate Chris Matthews
| posted by Melissa McEwan | Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Chris "Paleface" Matthews, on yesterday's Hardball, discussing with Howard Fineman and Michelle Bernard the very, very newsworthy and important fact that presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama isn't a fantabulous bowler (about which Spudsy posted yesterday):
FINEMAN: … He definitely needs some bowling lessons. He should do what we used to do in Pittsburgh, which is all-night bowling for a dollar, you know, really work on your game. I think he did get [former Pittsburgh Steelers football players] Franco Harris and he did get Jerome Bettis, the Bus, to endorse him. And he's traveling around on the bus with the Bus. But if you can't do something like that, you shouldn't do it. He should have stuck to shooting hoops—
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I know.
FINEMAN: —which he's very, very good at, by the way, and which translates racially, too, especially during the NCAA basketball tournament. Don't do something you've never tried before in front of a national television audience, OK?
MATTHEWS: You know, Michelle—and this gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder—
FINEMAN: That doesn't surprise anybody either.
BERNARD: Well, it certainly doesn't surprise anybody black, I can tell you that.
…MATTHEWS: [Watching video.] This is a killer. Look at this killer. Because it isn't the most macho form there, I must say, but who knows?
But how does he smell, Chris? HOW DOES HE SMELL???!!!
Sweet Jesus, I Still Hate Chris Matthews
| posted by Melissa McEwan | Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Chris "Paleface" Matthews, on yesterday's Hardball, discussing with Howard Fineman and Michelle Bernard the very, very newsworthy and important fact that presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama isn't a fantabulous bowler (about which Spudsy posted yesterday):
FINEMAN: … He definitely needs some bowling lessons. He should do what we used to do in Pittsburgh, which is all-night bowling for a dollar, you know, really work on your game. I think he did get [former Pittsburgh Steelers football players] Franco Harris and he did get Jerome Bettis, the Bus, to endorse him. And he's traveling around on the bus with the Bus. But if you can't do something like that, you shouldn't do it. He should have stuck to shooting hoops—
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I know.
FINEMAN: —which he's very, very good at, by the way, and which translates racially, too, especially during the NCAA basketball tournament. Don't do something you've never tried before in front of a national television audience, OK?
MATTHEWS: You know, Michelle—and this gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder—
FINEMAN: That doesn't surprise anybody either.
BERNARD: Well, it certainly doesn't surprise anybody black, I can tell you that.
…MATTHEWS: [Watching video.] This is a killer. Look at this killer. Because it isn't the most macho form there, I must say, but who knows?
But how does he smell, Chris? HOW DOES HE SMELL???!!!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
i know we all know, but still
derrick ashong knows what's up, and deserves a read. i, for one, started crying as i finished reading obama's speech on the train today. the man understands. some things. he doesn't seem to agree with me on the majority of foreign policy, but. but. the man can speak on what is, at the very least, some of my truth.
i never dared hope that i would hear a major politician understand my truth, much less speak it aloud for all to hear. much less to have it published in the new york times and almost every other major US news source. i didn't dare hope. as jeremiah and barack would both say, i didn't have the audacity. he does.
i can't wait to teach this speech next year. it's already on the curriculum map.
derrick's comments: Courageous Obama poses challenge to America
full text after the jump...
By Derrick Ashong
Editor's Note: Derrick Ashong is a musician, activist and entrepreneur. He recently became a You Tube "phenom" after posting a passionate defense of Barack Obama. Ashong identifies himself as an independent.
Derrick Ashong says Barack Obama spoke with "candor and compassion" about race relations in America.
Like many Americans I watched Sen. Barack Obama deliver his speech titled "A More Perfect Union."
I watched in a state of minor shock, not so much at the deftness with which he defused the sophomoric conflation of his call for national unity with the inflammatory rhetoric of the retired head pastor of his church -- a conflation that would imply that we must each swallow whole the entirety of views expressed by our friends and associates.
It was not his repudiation of small thinking that struck me. It was the fact that here we had an American politician speaking with both candor and compassion about the proverbial elephant in our national living room.
Race is an issue that continues to confound this country. It is an undercurrent that paints our description, understanding and valuation of people in American society whether spoken or not. It is the subtext that places NBA star LeBron James and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen on the cover of Vogue, in uncomfortable caricature of brute and ingénue.
It is in the minds of some the very reason a person of color would even be considered a serious candidate for the presidency of the nation -- never mind that three centuries into the American experiment there has been to date, only one such person.
I watched Obama's speech with a measure of disbelief that he had the gumption to come out and say what we all know -- that the problem of race remains one that we as a nation have yet to conquer. To be sure we have made strides towards reconciliation. But the hard conversations continue to be harder than most are willing to deal with.
Black America has yet to come to grips with its responsibility to tackle head on the problems that plague our communities. White America has yet to acknowledge the fact that here in the "home of the free," true liberty has evaded many for far too long.
Too often these conversations are ended before they've truly begun, due to the ignorance, intransigence or simple unwillingness of people to acknowledge the validity of what the other side has to say.
Who can honestly argue that black America is not today contributing mightily to its own social, cultural and economic decline?
Who can honestly argue that white America has not been willfully blind and too often complicit in the injustices that continue to be visited upon people born with darker hue or stranger accent?
Who will have both the courage and the commitment to the promise of universal justice and equity that undergirds our country, to call upon the nation to move beyond the divisive rhetoric of racial "one-upmanship" and to embrace the challenge of fulfilling that promise?
Apparently a junior senator from Illinois by the name of Barack Obama.
For days pundits have pondered whether Sen. Obama could weather the controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's racially polarizing comments. The question at this juncture is not whether the candidate will rise to the occasion, but rather, whether America will.
i never dared hope that i would hear a major politician understand my truth, much less speak it aloud for all to hear. much less to have it published in the new york times and almost every other major US news source. i didn't dare hope. as jeremiah and barack would both say, i didn't have the audacity. he does.
i can't wait to teach this speech next year. it's already on the curriculum map.
derrick's comments: Courageous Obama poses challenge to America
full text after the jump...
By Derrick Ashong
Editor's Note: Derrick Ashong is a musician, activist and entrepreneur. He recently became a You Tube "phenom" after posting a passionate defense of Barack Obama. Ashong identifies himself as an independent.
Derrick Ashong says Barack Obama spoke with "candor and compassion" about race relations in America.
Like many Americans I watched Sen. Barack Obama deliver his speech titled "A More Perfect Union."
I watched in a state of minor shock, not so much at the deftness with which he defused the sophomoric conflation of his call for national unity with the inflammatory rhetoric of the retired head pastor of his church -- a conflation that would imply that we must each swallow whole the entirety of views expressed by our friends and associates.
It was not his repudiation of small thinking that struck me. It was the fact that here we had an American politician speaking with both candor and compassion about the proverbial elephant in our national living room.
Race is an issue that continues to confound this country. It is an undercurrent that paints our description, understanding and valuation of people in American society whether spoken or not. It is the subtext that places NBA star LeBron James and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen on the cover of Vogue, in uncomfortable caricature of brute and ingénue.
It is in the minds of some the very reason a person of color would even be considered a serious candidate for the presidency of the nation -- never mind that three centuries into the American experiment there has been to date, only one such person.
I watched Obama's speech with a measure of disbelief that he had the gumption to come out and say what we all know -- that the problem of race remains one that we as a nation have yet to conquer. To be sure we have made strides towards reconciliation. But the hard conversations continue to be harder than most are willing to deal with.
Black America has yet to come to grips with its responsibility to tackle head on the problems that plague our communities. White America has yet to acknowledge the fact that here in the "home of the free," true liberty has evaded many for far too long.
Too often these conversations are ended before they've truly begun, due to the ignorance, intransigence or simple unwillingness of people to acknowledge the validity of what the other side has to say.
Who can honestly argue that black America is not today contributing mightily to its own social, cultural and economic decline?
Who can honestly argue that white America has not been willfully blind and too often complicit in the injustices that continue to be visited upon people born with darker hue or stranger accent?
Who will have both the courage and the commitment to the promise of universal justice and equity that undergirds our country, to call upon the nation to move beyond the divisive rhetoric of racial "one-upmanship" and to embrace the challenge of fulfilling that promise?
Apparently a junior senator from Illinois by the name of Barack Obama.
For days pundits have pondered whether Sen. Obama could weather the controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's racially polarizing comments. The question at this juncture is not whether the candidate will rise to the occasion, but rather, whether America will.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
someone is trying to bamboozle you
oh, barack. "we're being bamboozled and hoodwinked." you are sooooo smart. and lord knows i have a thing for smart men. thank god you're running for president.
h/t to what tami said on this one.
h/t to what tami said on this one.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
"caving" to obama
i want to be able to say that i don't see any of kimberley's critiques in myself. i want to say that i always feel 100% about my support of barack obama. but that's not true. kimberly's article, reposted after the jump from the black agenda report, speaks directly to me. i caved. i did. i have always known that i didn't really feel that barack was on my side of the fence, but i gave in because i felt i didn't have a ton of other options. read the article. she has a great point about the lack of any truly palpable progressive movement in this country at the current moment, and our seeming disinterest in creating one.
yes we can?
Freedom Rider: Progressives Cave to Obama
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
"There is no movement left to speak up or fight back."
FRobamaSpeeching The progressive movement is on its death bed, in critical condition for many reasons. Activists are demoralized after George W. Bush cheated his way into office, committed crimes against humanity, and subverted the constitution without punishment or even serious risk of political damage. Eight years of evil doing have taken their toll on activists' willingness to take action.
The Democrats are not blameless. The prospect of a Hillary Clinton nomination was another slap in the face to the most loyal Democratic voters. The Yale educated lawyer claimed she didn't know the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq was just what it said. The sorry excuses went on forever and the disgust only grew. Her vaunted inevitability silenced Democrats, who prepared to hold their noses and support the lesser of two evils.
The prospect of more humiliation from yet another Clinton put restless Democrats in the mood to look for other options. Barrack Obama scored points because he expressed opposition to invading Iraq back in 2003 when the crime was first committed. It doesn't seem to matter that as a United States Senator his votes on Iraq are the same as Hillary Clinton's. It doesn't matter that he once opposed establishing a deadline for withdrawal. It doesn't matter that he parrots the words of Republicans when he speaks of "the excesses of the 60s and 70s." None of what he says matters, because speaking up would mean fighting back, and there is no movement left to do that.
"MoveOn never bothered to make demands of Obama."
The end of movement politics has infected nearly everyone, like a mysterious illness in a science fiction film. If a movement still existed, MoveOn would not have made an Obama endorsement via popularity contest. They never bothered to make demands of him, to ask questions before giving him their support. Their endorsement is worthless because it gives Obama cover and asks nothing in return.
MoveOn spreads the conventional wisdom that super delegates are more likely to be pro-Clinton and are willing to subvert the popular will on her behalf. They have even circulated a petition to prevent super delegates from choosing the nominee. What MoveOn doesn't say is that both Clinton and Obama have used their political action committees to make contributions to super delegate campaign funds. They also fail to mention that Obama leads in making these contributions.
His PAC has given $698,200 to super delegates. Hillary Clinton has made $205,500 in contributions to super delegate coffers. In other words, Obama is more adept at buying votes than Clinton. "Yes we can" indeed.
"Obama is more adept at buying super delegate votes than Clinton."
MoveOn is not alone. It is incomprehensible that The Nation magazine endorsed Obama after making the following statement. "This magazine has been critical of the senator from Illinois for his closeness to Wall Street; his unwillingness to lay out an ambitious progressive agenda on healthcare, housing and other domestic policy issues; and for post-partisan rhetoric that seems to ignore the manifest failure of conservatism over these past seven years."
If The Nation has so many qualms about Obama, why endorse him at all? The editors could have simply made a statement of non-support for Obama or Clinton. The sad plight of progressives is all too obvious. "While his rhetoric about ‘unity' can be troubling, it also embodies a savvy strategy to redefine the center of American politics and build a coalition by reaching out to independent and Republican voters disgruntled and disgusted with what the Bush era has wrought." The Nation should explain to readers why Democrats ought to "redefine the center" with independents and Republicans instead of having their own agenda and fighting to make it a reality.
If even The Nation bows down in thrall of the over hyped "center," then all hope for true change is gone. In other words, capitulation is the order of the day, and Obama makes it more palatable than Hillary Clinton does.
"Capitulation is the order of the day."
After eight years of Clintonian triangulation, and another eight years of Bush lawlessness, the center isn't what is used to be. The center will accept an occupation of Iraq, as long as there is pretense that it will end. The center will not undo the Bush attacks on the Constitution. The center will tell black people that they are "90% of the way" towards equality. Actually, Obama already declared that "there is no black America" so the fight for equality will become irrelevant.
Black voters are overwhelmingly pro-Obama. Now supposedly anti-war and progressive organizations have also thrown in the towel. Race pride, however misguided in this case, explains Obama's appeal to black Americans. White progressives have no such excuse. Nevertheless they have chosen to suspend disbelief and jump on the winning bandwagon.
The stampede to Obama reveals the emptiness of the Democratic left. They are every bit as cynical as the man they support. They want a seat at the table. They don't really care what is decided at that table as long as they are included. Pro-war, anti-war, who cares? Just spell the name right on the White House invitation and let the triangulation begin.
yes we can?
Freedom Rider: Progressives Cave to Obama
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
"There is no movement left to speak up or fight back."
FRobamaSpeeching The progressive movement is on its death bed, in critical condition for many reasons. Activists are demoralized after George W. Bush cheated his way into office, committed crimes against humanity, and subverted the constitution without punishment or even serious risk of political damage. Eight years of evil doing have taken their toll on activists' willingness to take action.
The Democrats are not blameless. The prospect of a Hillary Clinton nomination was another slap in the face to the most loyal Democratic voters. The Yale educated lawyer claimed she didn't know the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq was just what it said. The sorry excuses went on forever and the disgust only grew. Her vaunted inevitability silenced Democrats, who prepared to hold their noses and support the lesser of two evils.
The prospect of more humiliation from yet another Clinton put restless Democrats in the mood to look for other options. Barrack Obama scored points because he expressed opposition to invading Iraq back in 2003 when the crime was first committed. It doesn't seem to matter that as a United States Senator his votes on Iraq are the same as Hillary Clinton's. It doesn't matter that he once opposed establishing a deadline for withdrawal. It doesn't matter that he parrots the words of Republicans when he speaks of "the excesses of the 60s and 70s." None of what he says matters, because speaking up would mean fighting back, and there is no movement left to do that.
"MoveOn never bothered to make demands of Obama."
The end of movement politics has infected nearly everyone, like a mysterious illness in a science fiction film. If a movement still existed, MoveOn would not have made an Obama endorsement via popularity contest. They never bothered to make demands of him, to ask questions before giving him their support. Their endorsement is worthless because it gives Obama cover and asks nothing in return.
MoveOn spreads the conventional wisdom that super delegates are more likely to be pro-Clinton and are willing to subvert the popular will on her behalf. They have even circulated a petition to prevent super delegates from choosing the nominee. What MoveOn doesn't say is that both Clinton and Obama have used their political action committees to make contributions to super delegate campaign funds. They also fail to mention that Obama leads in making these contributions.
His PAC has given $698,200 to super delegates. Hillary Clinton has made $205,500 in contributions to super delegate coffers. In other words, Obama is more adept at buying votes than Clinton. "Yes we can" indeed.
"Obama is more adept at buying super delegate votes than Clinton."
MoveOn is not alone. It is incomprehensible that The Nation magazine endorsed Obama after making the following statement. "This magazine has been critical of the senator from Illinois for his closeness to Wall Street; his unwillingness to lay out an ambitious progressive agenda on healthcare, housing and other domestic policy issues; and for post-partisan rhetoric that seems to ignore the manifest failure of conservatism over these past seven years."
If The Nation has so many qualms about Obama, why endorse him at all? The editors could have simply made a statement of non-support for Obama or Clinton. The sad plight of progressives is all too obvious. "While his rhetoric about ‘unity' can be troubling, it also embodies a savvy strategy to redefine the center of American politics and build a coalition by reaching out to independent and Republican voters disgruntled and disgusted with what the Bush era has wrought." The Nation should explain to readers why Democrats ought to "redefine the center" with independents and Republicans instead of having their own agenda and fighting to make it a reality.
If even The Nation bows down in thrall of the over hyped "center," then all hope for true change is gone. In other words, capitulation is the order of the day, and Obama makes it more palatable than Hillary Clinton does.
"Capitulation is the order of the day."
After eight years of Clintonian triangulation, and another eight years of Bush lawlessness, the center isn't what is used to be. The center will accept an occupation of Iraq, as long as there is pretense that it will end. The center will not undo the Bush attacks on the Constitution. The center will tell black people that they are "90% of the way" towards equality. Actually, Obama already declared that "there is no black America" so the fight for equality will become irrelevant.
Black voters are overwhelmingly pro-Obama. Now supposedly anti-war and progressive organizations have also thrown in the towel. Race pride, however misguided in this case, explains Obama's appeal to black Americans. White progressives have no such excuse. Nevertheless they have chosen to suspend disbelief and jump on the winning bandwagon.
The stampede to Obama reveals the emptiness of the Democratic left. They are every bit as cynical as the man they support. They want a seat at the table. They don't really care what is decided at that table as long as they are included. Pro-war, anti-war, who cares? Just spell the name right on the White House invitation and let the triangulation begin.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
is anyone else feeling a little uncomfortable?
there's something about the way that barack is currently being presented in the press that bothers me.
an article from today's front page of nytimes.com:
well, for one, there's a typo in the blurb. they forgot the word "said." i've been known to publish a few typos in my day, but i'm not the new york times, goshdarnit!
for two (is that how you follow up to the phrase "for one"?) , i don't like the way this is being spun. i don't know who's spinning it, though i am pretty sure barack's campaign is at least partially responsible. this dirty, competitive, one-up-driven typical politics stuff is exactly what i thought i wasn't going to get from mr. barack obama, and what i'm tired of getting from our biased, somewhat ridiculous national press machine.
i thought this campaign was going to be about change. i thought we were hoping for unity. what i didn't think the campaign about was petty schoolyard bullshit about who was picked first for the softball team.
now i know that it's not really that drastic. and i know the press is pitting the two against each other in hopes that people will do what i have done and get other people to click through to their sites. i know. and i know that if obama didn't toot his own horn, the media would continue to spin the news in the direction of their own endorsed candidates, trying to change the minds of americans in a not-so-subtle, completely dishonest way, without any ability for the campaign to get the truth out there.
i guess i just wish american politics could be more about the issues and not all about the benjamins. i wish being a viable candidate for president didn't necessitate being a multimillionaire. i wish our individual votes counted for more, and were counted more accurately. i wish i really believed that the quality of my life, and the quality of life of people that look like me all over the globe, would actually be positively affected by anyone that could actually be elected to the presidency of our country. i wish my hope weren't so shallow and short-reaching. in short, i wish the world were a completely different place.
that's not happening anytime soon.
so in the meantime, i do what i can. and so does barack. and i settle for what i can have right now.
an article from today's front page of nytimes.com:
okay, okay, why am i hating, you ask?Obama Outshines Clinton’s Success at Raising Funds
After the Clinton campaign said that it had raised $7.5 million online this month, the Obama campaign that it had raised the same amount in 36 hours.
well, for one, there's a typo in the blurb. they forgot the word "said." i've been known to publish a few typos in my day, but i'm not the new york times, goshdarnit!
for two (is that how you follow up to the phrase "for one"?) , i don't like the way this is being spun. i don't know who's spinning it, though i am pretty sure barack's campaign is at least partially responsible. this dirty, competitive, one-up-driven typical politics stuff is exactly what i thought i wasn't going to get from mr. barack obama, and what i'm tired of getting from our biased, somewhat ridiculous national press machine.
i thought this campaign was going to be about change. i thought we were hoping for unity. what i didn't think the campaign about was petty schoolyard bullshit about who was picked first for the softball team.
now i know that it's not really that drastic. and i know the press is pitting the two against each other in hopes that people will do what i have done and get other people to click through to their sites. i know. and i know that if obama didn't toot his own horn, the media would continue to spin the news in the direction of their own endorsed candidates, trying to change the minds of americans in a not-so-subtle, completely dishonest way, without any ability for the campaign to get the truth out there.
i guess i just wish american politics could be more about the issues and not all about the benjamins. i wish being a viable candidate for president didn't necessitate being a multimillionaire. i wish our individual votes counted for more, and were counted more accurately. i wish i really believed that the quality of my life, and the quality of life of people that look like me all over the globe, would actually be positively affected by anyone that could actually be elected to the presidency of our country. i wish my hope weren't so shallow and short-reaching. in short, i wish the world were a completely different place.
that's not happening anytime soon.
so in the meantime, i do what i can. and so does barack. and i settle for what i can have right now.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
sexy sexy
South Carolina Unofficial Results
Democratic Presidential Preference Primary - January 26, 2008
Statewide Results
| Joe | Hillary | Chris | John | Mike | Dennis | Barack | Bill | |
| Biden | Clinton | Dodd | Edwards | Gravel | Kucinich | Obama | Richardson | |
| Totals | 78 | 14317 | 33 | 12263 | 22 | 63 | 28566 | 90 |
| Percentages | 0.1% | 25.8% | 0.1% | 22.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 51.5% | 0.2% |
this really just gets me going. i cannot WAIT for february 5th, and my turn in that booth. ugh, it's so nice to be excited about politics in this country for a change!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
hmmm. was bill clinton the first black junkie president?
cuz he's talking like his brain's on drugs. you know, like those saturday morning commercials with the egg in the frying pan? i mean, straight crack talk. what is this?
"At the Greenville event, Bill brought up Obama’s joking reference to him in the debate, about how Obama would have to see whether Bill was a good dancer before deciding whether he was the first black president.
Bill, naturally, turned it into a competition. 'I would be willing to engage in a dancing competition with him, even though he’s much younger and thinner than I am,' he said. 'If I’m going to get in one of these brother contests,' he added, 'at least I should be entitled to an age allowance.'"
- from Maureen Dowd's 1.23 op-ed in the Times, emphasis mine
Okay, so, granted, Obama's "joking reference" was a little silly, as it really relies on a sort of critical consciousness that we can't take for granted in America's voters. I mean, why set people up to potentially think you mean what you say? That's a quick way to end up Dave Chappelle-like, running off in a frenzy of self-loathing and getting lumped in with Mariah Carey's really crazy ass.
So Obama has been a little silly and given a setup, but what does Bill say? Bill's response to this "joke" is a suggestion that he is, in fact, at least as black as Barack-- now he as a white man is eligible for a "brother contest"-- go fuckin' figure! And I was sitting here thinking that a white man that goes through his life with all the privileges of white supremacy at his back, and who has SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES would have to acknowledge that there's really no way for his dumb ass to be black, literally or figuratively. You would think that he would acknowledge the assertions of the completely idiotic black leaders that feel the need to open their mouths every G-D day and then modestly back away. You would think he would intelligently point out the differences in his experiences and that of a black person, and express a sense of flattery, but that the assertions minimize the reality of racism and discrimination in this country. You would think.
Basically, it would be hoped that he would put down the crack pipe, if only for a minute. Bill, as we "blacks" often say to each other, you've GOT to do better.
Friday, January 4, 2008
OH MY GOD, HE TOOK IOWA?!
wow. i went to bed early last night, just randomly got up to pee and thought i'd stop by my comp on the way to relief. but when i saw the nytimes.com headline about barack winning iowa, um, i started to freak out. like, freak. out. on the toilet i'm gesticulating wildly, staring at the mirror with this pride, like, "A BLACK MAN TOOK IOWA!!!!!!!!!" and i'm kind of crying right now.
the funny thing is, i didn't know i was such an obama supporter. i didn't know. i thought i was torn between barack and hillary. but i've never felt anything like this insane flurry of giddy disbelief/pride/happiness. do i think he'll win? i don't know. do i think there are no flaws in his campaign, or that his triumph will make discussions of race in this country move in a new, more positive direction? not necessarily. but am i going to start believing in the "audacity of hope"? hell yes. i am going to hope the HELL out of barack obama's ability to change our country, even if just a little bit, for the better.
now i need to squeeze in my last half hour of rest.
p.s. DUDE i've always been one of those fairweather friends, haven't i? i think i just didn't want to get my hopes up with barack. but he got me, he got me good. :)
the funny thing is, i didn't know i was such an obama supporter. i didn't know. i thought i was torn between barack and hillary. but i've never felt anything like this insane flurry of giddy disbelief/pride/happiness. do i think he'll win? i don't know. do i think there are no flaws in his campaign, or that his triumph will make discussions of race in this country move in a new, more positive direction? not necessarily. but am i going to start believing in the "audacity of hope"? hell yes. i am going to hope the HELL out of barack obama's ability to change our country, even if just a little bit, for the better.
now i need to squeeze in my last half hour of rest.
p.s. DUDE i've always been one of those fairweather friends, haven't i? i think i just didn't want to get my hopes up with barack. but he got me, he got me good. :)
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