3.28.2008

Reason #4 Why the Clinton Campaign Needs To Be Shutdown: Clinton Money Machine Sputtering

After raising records amounts of cash for her presidential run ($175MM thus far), and then spending it unwisely, Hillary's "Inevitable" campaign and the vaunted Clinton money machine is sputtering. Actually, the wheels started to fall off as early as late January-- just a few weeks into the primary season--when Hillary was forced to "loan" her campaign $5 million.

The campaign stayed afloat by squeezing their small but ardent group of money people hard for more cash, spinning the media, and by doing well in Ohio and Texas (aided by Rush Limbaugh's sinister Operation Chaos).

Doomed by an unlikable candidate and its toxic racial tactics, the Clinton machine is has been sputtering. While MSM allies pretend otherwise, the campaign is sinking in the polls nationally, losing support from party leaders, African Americans and progressives.

The result? Finally, the pro-Clinton funding spigot appears to be turning off. (Question: What exactly have those 20 or so very rich and very politically connected folks been promised? See here, here, here and here.)

Related: Is She Broke?
Cash-strapped Clinton fails to pay bills

3.27.2008

Reason #3 Why the Clinton Campaign Needs To Be Shutdown: Only 37% have positive view of Hillary

Hillary has attempted a presidential run while donning the highest negative ratings of any candidate in recent memory. For example, polls a year ago showed that upwards of 52% of voters viewed her unfavorably.

After a week of desperately trying to raise Obama's negatives, Clintonistas, Bill, FOX, Rush, Hannity, Scaife, Rupert, et. al., have only managed to make Hillary even more unlikable. Now, only 37% of Americans have a positive view of New York's reincarnation of the Queen of Mean.

Related: Clinton takes hit in new poll on White House race

3.25.2008

Reason #2 Why the Clinton Campaign Needs To Be Shutdown: “Audacity of Hopelessness”

According to an adviser (Jim Vandehei & Mike Allen, Story behind the story: The Clinton Myth, Politico - 3.21.08), Hillary Clinton had no more than a 10 percent chance of getting the nomination.

Now, Columnist David Brooks (The Long Defeat, NYTimes -3.25.08), believes she’s probably down to a 5 percent chance.

Yet, Bill, FOX, Hillary, and her band of fanatics, continue carpet bombing Obama--along with the Democrat's presidential chances in '08.

Reason #1 Why the Clinton Campaign Needs To Be Shutdown: Pretending Not To Be Using the Race Card

3.21.2008

Bill Richardson Endorses Obama!

Text of Richardson’s Endorsement of Obama

New Mexico Gov.Bill Richardson, the nation's only Latino governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a "once-in-a-lifetime leader" who can unite the nation and restore America's international leadership.

"I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world. As a presidential candidate, I know full well Sen. Obama's unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation."
This is a significant development for these reasons:

1) It signals to the all-mighty super-delegates of the Democrat Party that a major one time loyal Clintonite has more faith in Obama than in Hillary.
2) It immediately puts pressure on super delegates in Florida and Southwest--areas Obama lost to Hillary largely due to the Latino vote.
3) It better positions Obama against a McCain match-up in states with heavy Latino populations that the GOP thinks McCain can win.
4) It answers the question about Obama's preparedness to lead because Richardson is viewed by many as the best prepared to be president by virtual of his deep and multi-layered governmental experience.
5) And it tells all decent Americans tired of divisive politics that Obama can be trusted as to serve as a uniter.

Some of us would have preferred Richardson's endorsement prior to the Texas primary. It could have taken some of the steam out of the Clintonistas-Fox-Rush Axis. On the other hand, there's value to the nation to have witnessed what has transpired, the dirty tricks, racist commentary, attempts at character assassination, stealing passport information, etc. Voters have witnessed the strength of character and decency of Obama versus the nastiness and divisness of Rush, Hannity, Coulter and Hillary.

It's Good Friday 2008 and today's lesson is an age old one: Stop the hate and division of the past and grow strong as a united people of God.

Yes, We Can ! Si, Se Puede!

Obama Wins Richardson's Support/WSJ
AP: Gov. Richardson Endorsing Obama

3.20.2008

Pastor Wright and The Clintons

Bill Clinton thought enough of Trinity Church's Rev. Wright to invite him to the White House twice. Now that Hillary is running against Senator Obama, Rev. Wright is worthy only of being trashed.

So Wright was Invited to the White House in the 90s? red_democrat - Democratic Underground

3.18.2008

Obama Coined


Obama's "A More Perfect Union" Speech: Select Reactions

Obama's "A More Perfect Union" Speech: Select Reviews

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I thought Barack Obama's speech was strong, thoughtful and important. Rather beautifully, it was a speech to think to, not clap to. It was clear that's what he wanted, and this is rare.

A Thinking Man's Speech, Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal

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On Tuesday Obama, whose momentum was evaporating in the heat of his pastor scandal and poor Pennsylvania poll numbers, did what he had to do. He did more than that, actually. He stepped to the plate and swung for the fences. Obama gave the best, straightest talk on American race relations ever heard from a national politician.

A Speech For The Ages, Rich Karlgaard - Forbes.com

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Whatever you might think of Obama, you can't say he has taken the easy way out with a speech like this - he's taken the time to confront some very unpleasant truths about race in America. And he has done it in a nuanced manner that is pretty much unprecedented for campaign rhetoric.

Obama's Race Speech, Michael Cohen - Democracy Arsenal

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The pundits were clearly stunned. They knew they had witnessed something extraordinary, a moment when time seemed to stand still and a politician in the midst of a withering electoral storm did the unspeakable: he spoke the truth.

The Meanings of Obama's Speech, Drew Westin - The Huffington Post

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If Barack Obama is elected president, his speech on race in America will be remembered as one of the greatest in the country's history. If he loses, it will still be remembered as a terrific speech, an astonishing display of grace under pressure.

Hearing the Obama Speech, Richard Reeves - Syndicated Columnist

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The rhetorical magic of the speech—what made it extraordinary—was that it was, at once, both unequivocal and healing. There were no weasel words, no Bushian platitudes or Clintonian verb-parsing.

Joe Klein on Obama's Speech, Joe Klein, TIME

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Brilliant!

With his brilliant speech on race relations yesterday at the National Constitution Center, Barack Obama showed why his campaign for president has the aura of a mission.

Editorial: Sen. Obama's Speech on Race - Philadelphia Inquirer

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Obama sounds like cool blues. The calmness of style, the strength of his self-confidence, pull us through the nervousness. If people have the opportunity to hear him in full and think about it, they will recognize the strength it took for him to open his arms this way, casting aside all defenses and evasions. With the hope and everything else he stands for, this guy is one very strong character.

Blues for Obama, William Greider - The Nation

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"That was the most sophisticated speech on race and politics I've ever heard," said CNN's Bill Schneider, the only network pundit who actually has taught American political history at elite universities. It was all the more remarkable because, while Kennedy presided over what may have been the greatest speech-writing team in electoral history, Obama -- like Lincoln -- wrote his address himself, completing the final draft Monday night.

Obama's Lincoln moment, Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times Columnist
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...[T]he image of the first viable black presidential candidate confronting America's racial history head-on was a striking one. Not in decades has a prominent candidate so bluntly tackled the issue of prejudice. The address invited comparisons to John F. Kennedy's speech on his Catholic faith almost a half-century ago.

Obama speaks bluntly on race - Chicago Tribune

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Tuesday morning, in what may be remembered as a landmark speech regardless of who becomes the next president, Obama established new parameters for a dialogue on race in America that might actually lead somewhere -- that might break out of the sour stasis of grievance and countergrievance, of insensitivity and hypersensitivity, of mutual mistrust.

Obama's Road Map on Race, Eugene Robinson - Washington Post Columnist

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I have never felt more convinced that this man's candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian.

The Speech, Andrew Sullivan

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Speaking in Philadelphia, Obama celebrated his own racial heritage but also demonstrated his ability to view the black community with a measure of objectivity and, when necessary, criticism—caring criticism. But this was no Sister Souljah moment. He did not sacrifice Wright for political ends. He hailed the good deeds of his former minister, noting that Wright's claim that America continues to be a racist society is rooted in Wright's generational experiences. And Obama identified the sources of racial resentment held by whites without being judgmental. With this address, Obama was trying to show the nation a pathway to a society free of racial gridlock and denial. Moreover, he declared that bridging the very real racial divide of today is essential to forging the popular coalition necessary to transform America into a society with a universal and effective health care system, an education system that serves poor and rich children, and an economy that yields a decent-paying jobs for all. Obama was not playing the race card. He was shooting the moon.

Obama's Daring and Unique Speech on Race, David Korn - Mother Jones Blog

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It was a bold speech delivered with the feeling of great authenticity and solemn sincerity, and it's hard to imagine someone more uniquely qualified to deliver that dose of reality than a man who was the product of a black father and white mother.

Thoughts On Obama's Speech, Mark Nickolas

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We can’t know how effective Mr. Obama’s words will be with those who will not draw the distinctions between faith and politics that he drew, or who will reject his frank talk about race. What is evident, though, is that he not only cleared the air over a particular controversy — he raised the discussion to a higher plane.

Mr. Obama’s Profile in Courage, NYTimes Editorial

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Barack Obama's hearalded speech on race is the most honest appraisal of racial problems in America I can remember a politician ever giving.

Obama's Incredible Speech on Race in America, Mimikatz

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I think this is the kind of speech I think first graders should see, people in the last year of college should see before they go out in the world. This should be, to me, an American tract. Something that you just check in with, now and then, like reading Great Gatsby and Huckleberry Finn. Read this speech, once in a while, ladies and gentlemen. This is us. It's us with the scab ripped off.

Chris Matthews, MSNBC's Hardball
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In a speech whose frankness about race many historians said could be likened only to speeches by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, Senator Barack Obama, speaking across the street from where the Constitution was written, traced the country’s race problem back to not simply the country’s "original sin of slavery" but the protections for it embedded in the Constitution.

Obama Chooses Reconciliation Over Rancor, Janny Scott - NYTimes Columnist

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...[T]he bigger and more basic reason the speech was a success is that Mr. Obama, like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan before him, has something powerful and rather rare working in his favor: Most Americans instinctively like him and want to give him the benefit of the doubt. And Mr. Obama delivered for them on Tuesday.

Obama Gives a Presidential Speech About Race, Steve Kornacki - The NY Observer

Barack Obama's Speech: A More Perfect Union

A More Perfect Union by U.S. Senator Barack Obama
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 3.18.08)

Video

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”

“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

END

3.16.2008

Tracy Morgan: Black is the New President



SNL funnyman Tracy Morgan offers his perspective on the current dust-up involving Barack Obama, the pastor, race and Hillary Clinton.

Pope: Enough With Slaughters in Iraq

Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul.

The pope also denounced the 5-year-long Iraq war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life.

"Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!" Pope Benedict, Palm Sunday Mass, St. Peter's Square

On Thursday, the body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found near Mosul. He had been abducted on Feb. 29.

More

3.15.2008

O'BAMA BOY - A YouTube St. Patty's song tribute to Barack Obama

Produced by Obama supporter and DailyKos diarist DannyB, 'O'Bama Boy' is in honor of St. Patrick's Day and set to the tune of 'Danny Boy'. The Irish Tenor is DannyB himself.

I love the ending to the related diary: O'bama '08 - Luck of the Irish to ya!

3.12.2008

Keith Olbermann Berates Hillary and Geraldine for Race-Baiting

Keith Olbermann gives Hillary Clinton a well-deserved tongue lashing for her campaign's continued race-baiting. I'm impressed that someone as prominent as Olbermann is finally calling Hillary out.

However, the sad truth is that the Clintons want the attention Geraldine Ferraro's racist comments are receiving from the media. Race-baiting through surrogates is clearly part of the Clintons MO--even if so many of their supporters are in denial about it.

The pattern has been the same. Someone connected to her campaign says makes a racist remark shortly before a primary. The person claims they didn't mean for what they said to come off the way it did. Hillary gives a weak apology. And the media idiotically pretend that both Clinton and Obama are equally at fault.

But the damage to the Obama campaign is done--and Hillary has paid little to nothing for it.

BTW: Geraldine's comments were designed to peal away any White blue collar voters support in upcoming primary states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana.

Worst, Geraldine is now "free" to fire away at Obama as a free-lance Clintonista from her perch as a FoxNews commenator. How lovely.

Barack Obama's Commander-in-Chief Speech

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., accompanied by military leaders from the U.S. armed forces, takes part in a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, March 12, 2008. Citing his judgment and ability to lead, admirals and generals from the United States Army, Navy and Air Force that together have served under the last nine Commanders-in-Chief today announced their endorsement of Obama for president.

It is my privilege to be joined by some of the distinguished generals and admirals supporting my campaign. They have defended the American people and stood up for American values with honor and distinction. Between them they have served nine Commanders-in-Chief, and I look forward to continuing to draw on their counsel throughout my campaign and beyond.

As as a candidate for the presidency, I know that I am running to be Commander-in-Chief – to safeguard this nation's security, and to keep our sacred trust with the men and women who serve. There is no responsibility that I take more seriously.

This is something that I've talked about throughout this campaign. Because I believe that any candidate for President must present the American people with a clear vision of how we will lead. There are real differences between the candidates, and important issues to debate – from ending the war in Iraq, to combating terrorism, to devising new strategies and new capabilities to confront 21st century threats.

But recently, we've seen a different kind of approach. Instead of a serious, substantive debate, we've heard vague allusions to a "Commander-in-Chief threshold" that seems to be about nothing more than the number of years you've spent in Washington.

This is exactly what's wrong with the national security debate in Washington.

After years of a divisive politics that uses national security as a wedge to drive us apart, how much longer do we have to wait to bring this country together to confront our common enemies?

After years of being told that Democrats have to talk, act and vote like John McCain to pass some Commander-in-Chief test, how many times do we have to learn that tough talk is not a substitute for sound judgment?

After years of a war in Iraq that should've never been authorized, how many more politicians will appeal to the American peoples' fears instead of their hopes?

This moment – in this election – is our chance to put an end to a divisive politics that has done nothing to keep America safe, or to serve our men and women in uniform as well as they are serving us. Because the real Commander-in-Chief threshold doesn't have to do with years tallied up in Washington, it has to do with the judgment and vision that you will bring to the Oval Office.

On the most important national security question since the Cold War, I am the only candidate who opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. This judgment was not about speeches, it was about whether or not the United States of America would go to war in Iraq. Because we did, we took our eye off al Qaeda; we have lost thousands of lives and spent hundreds of billions of dollars; our military is overstretched; and our security and standing has been set back. So don't tell me that the decision to go to war was just a speech, because it was far more than that to the men and women who have served – and continue to serve heroically in Iraq.

When I spoke out against the war, I said that I was not opposed to all wars. In fact, one of the central reasons why I opposed going to war in Iraq is that we had yet to finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. That remains true today. That is why I have consistently called for an increased commitment to Afghanistan, and why I called last August for at least two additional combat brigades to support our mission there. And that is why I will end the war in Iraq when I am President, and focus on finishing the job in Afghanistan.

I will never hesitate to defend this country and our critical interests. That is why I am the only candidate who has made it clear that we cannot tolerate any safe-haven for terrorists who threaten America. But we must also use all elements of national power to combat the threats of the 21st century, and that means deploying the power of American diplomacy before we deploy our troops. That is why we must be willing to talk to the leaders of all nations – friend and foe.

The threats we face are increasingly unconventional, and they call for new approaches. I have worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to combat the challenges of the 21st Century – securing loose weapons and nuclear materials from terrorists; working to stop ethnic killing and genocide in Africa; and investing in our ability to combat epidemic diseases like avian flu that can be deadly at home and sew instability abroad.

And one theme that I hear in talking to military officers – whether generals and admirals, or the mid-level officers who will lead tomorrow's military – is that we need new capabilities to respond to this century's new threats.

We must maintain our overwhelming conventional advantage – and I will. We also need to increase the size of our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 marines to relieve the strain on our troops, and to increase our capacity to put boots on the ground. We need to invest in capabilities like civil affairs, foreign languages, and training foreign militaries, so that we can confront nimble enemies. We need to give our civilian agencies the ability to operate alongside our military in post-conflict zones and on humanitarian missions. And we must inspire a new generation of Americans to serve their country, in the military and in a civilian capacity.

And let me be very clear: when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will seek out, listen to, and respect the views of military commanders. Under this Administration, too often we have seen civilian control turned into an expectation that the uniformed military will be punished if they tell the President what he needs to know, rather than what he wants to hear. When I am President, the buck will stop with me, but we will restore trust and open dialogue between the military and civilian leadership.

Finally, it is the sacred obligation of any Commander in Chief to give the men and women who have served the care and support they have earned. That is what I have tried to do on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee – working to improve care and benefits for wounded warriors and their families, and to enhance screening and treatment for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury, the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As President, I will ask myself every day whether I am serving our troops and veterans as well as they have served America. That means only sending them into harm's way when we absolutely must; providing them with a clear mission and the equipment they need to do the job; standing by them when they come home; and helping them live their dreams after they leave the service.

Like the men who have joined me on this stage today, my story is only possible in America. It is the story of my grandfather, who marched in Patton's Army; and my father, who crossed the globe to be a part of the dream that my grandfather defended. An America that secures its people, and stands as a light of hope for the world.

That is the America that I will defend as Commander-in-Chief, drawing on the counsel of military commanders and the courage and conviction of the American people. An America where we meet the challenges of the 21st century with sound judgment, clear plans, and a common purpose.

Obama Campaign Update: Spun out

Dear Gerry,

When we won Iowa, the Clinton campaign said it's not the number of states you win, it's "a contest for delegates."

When we won a significant lead in delegates, they said it's really about which states you win.

When we won South Carolina, they discounted the votes of African-Americans.

When we won predominantly white, rural states like Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska, they said those didn't count because they won't be competitive in the general election.

When we won in Washington State, Wisconsin, and Missouri -- general election battlegrounds where polls show Barack is a stronger candidate against John McCain -- the Clinton campaign attacked those voters as "latte-sipping" elitists.

And now that we've won more than twice as many states, the Clinton spin is that only certain states really count.

But the facts are clear.

For all their attempts to discount, distract, and distort, we have won more delegates, more states, and more votes.

Meanwhile, more than half of the votes that Senator Clinton has won so far have come from just five states. And in four of these five states, polls show that Barack would be a stronger general election candidate against McCain than Clinton.

We're ready to take on John McCain. But we also need to build operations in places like Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, and Oregon that will hold their primaries in April and May.

With our overwhelming victory in the Mississippi primary yesterday, our lead in earned delegates is now wider than it was on March 3rd, before the contests in Ohio and Texas.

And thanks to your help, we have dramatically increased our support among so-called "superdelegates" -- Governors, Members of Congress, and party officials who have a vote at the Democratic National Convention in August.

As the number of remaining delegates dwindles, Hillary Clinton's path to the nomination seems less and less plausible.

Now that Mississippi is behind us, we move on to the next ten contests. The Clinton campaign would like to focus your attention only on Pennsylvania -- a state in which they have already declared that they are "unbeatable."

But Pennsylvania is only one of those 10 remaining contests, each important in terms of allocating delegates and ultimately deciding who our nominee will be.

We have activated our volunteer networks in each of these upcoming battlegrounds. We're putting staff on the ground and building our organization everywhere.

The key to victory is not who wins the states that the Clinton campaign thinks are important. The key to victory is realizing that every vote and every voter matters.

Throughout this entire process, the Clinton campaign has cherry-picked states, diminished caucuses, and moved the goal posts to create a shifting, twisted rationale for why they should win the nomination despite winning fewer primaries, fewer states, fewer delegates, and fewer votes.

We must stand up to the same-old Washington politics. Barack has won twice as many states, large and small, in every region of the country -- many by landslide margins. And this movement is expanding the base of the Democratic Party by attracting new voters in record numbers and bringing those who had lost hope back into the political process.

Push back against the spin and help build the operation to win more delegates in these upcoming contests:

Thank you for your support and for everything you've done to build a movement that is engaging voters and winning contests in every part of this country.

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Obama Nation Map: +Mississippi

Obama - Clinton by the Numbers

Primary victories: Obama 30; Clinton 14
Pledged delegates: Obama 1411; Clinton 1236
Votes: Obama 13,278,372; Clinton 12,576,210

3.11.2008

It's 3 A.M. -- A Parody by Walt Handelsman

Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist and animator Walt Handelsman has done it again. He's taken Hillary's fear-mongering (and some say "racist") "It's 3 am" political attack ad and created a very funny parody. (BTW: Here's Obama's response ad.)

Click here for Handelsman's It's 3 a.m. version and here for more of his award-winning animations.

While you're viewing, check out this sampling of just a few of the It's 3 a.m. videos circulating in cyberspace: here, here, here and here.

WalMart's Hillary

In 6 years as a member of the Board of Directors of Arkansas-based WalMart Corporation, Hillary Clinton never once spoke up against the company's anti-union policies. The record shows there was not a peep from her in the 4 public stock-holder meetings and 24 board of directors meetings she attended. Nor, btw, did she speak up against WalMart's use of foreign sweatshops--some of which employed children as young as eleven.

Perhaps more frightening is that this video captures some of the chameleon that is Hillary. People do change over time some, but "New York" Hillary and "WalMart" Hillary are night and day. Two different personalities -- same person. The medical profession has a word for that condition: schizophrenia. Nothing against schizophrenics, but I don't think it's a good idea to elect one as president. Do you?

Iraqis still ask if U.S. invasion was worth it

Five years after U.S. and British forces swept into Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein, many Iraqis are asking if the violence and upheaval that turned their lives upside down was worth it.

The human cost is staggering -- anywhere between 90,000 and 1 million Iraqi civilians killed, according to various estimates; nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead; while 4 million Iraqis are displaced.

More

3.10.2008

We Are The Ones Song by will.i.am - Obama



"I think the thing that inspires me the most about Barack Obama is that he really is going to be the president of the United States.

You know, he's not going to be the president of the top 10%, or the president of the most powerful corporations, or the president of the most powerful lobbyists.

He's going to be the our president. He's going to speak for us. Because we put him there."


Lovely Young Women in the Video

Chicago Salsa Festival 2008

3.07.2008

Gary Hart: Breaking the Final Rule

It will come as a surprise to many people that there are rules in politics. Most of those rules are unwritten and are based on common understandings, acceptable practices, and the best interest of the political party a candidate seeks to lead. One of those rules is this: Do not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee. This is a hyper-truth where the presidential contest is concerned.

By saying that only she and John McCain are qualified to lead the country, particularly in times of crisis, Hillary Clinton has broken that rule, severely damaged the Democratic candidate who may well be the party's nominee, and, perhaps most ominously, revealed the unlimited lengths to which she will go to achieve power. She has essentially said that the Democratic party deserves to lose unless it nominates her.

As a veteran of red telephone ads and "where's the beef" cleverness, I am keenly aware that sharp elbows get thrown by those trailing in the fourth quarter (and sometimes even earlier). "Politics ain't beanbag," is the old slogan. But that does not mean that it must also be rule-or-ruin, me-first-and-only-me, my way or the highway. That is not politics. That is raw, unrestrained ambition for power that cannot accept the will of the voters.
More BTW: If you agree with Gary Hart, please sign the petition in the previous post.

Petition by Obama Supporters Who Will Not Vote For Clinton in November

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Obama Supporters Who Will Not Vote For Clinton in November"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/obama725/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Gerry Vazquez

3.05.2008

Super Tuesday II Results: Obama Holds Advantage Over Hillary

The Clintonistas are everywhere today spreading falsehoods about being back in control and claiming momentum towards the nomination.

Only one problem: Even with the aid of Rush Limbaugh and cross-voting Republicans looking to aid Hillary and hurt Barack Obama, Barack still finished yesterday with his delegate lead in tact--and there's no way Hillary can catch up.

The truth is that Hillary saw her massive leads in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont diminish over the course of a few weeks. While she had to win big, Obama neutralized her advantages and came out with a tie in delegates earned. The real results: Obama won more delegates than Hillary in Texas and Vermont; and Hillary won more in Ohio and Rhode Island.

Here's the Obama campaign's view of yesterday's results:

Our projections show the most likely outcome of yesterday's elections will be that Hillary Clinton gained 187 delegates, and we gained 183.

That's a net gain of 4 delegates out of more than 370 delegates available from all the states that voted.

For comparison, that's less than half our net gain of 9 delegates from the District of Columbia alone. It's also less than our net gain of 8 from Nebraska, or 12 from Washington State. And it's considerably less than our net gain of 33 delegates from Georgia.

The task for the Clinton campaign yesterday was clear. In order to have a plausible path to the nomination, they needed to score huge delegate victories and cut into our lead.

They failed.
Having failed to make up ground, Hillary's task is now even more taunting. Of the 14 or remaining primaries (assuming Michigan and Florida do overs), Hillary will have to get something like 97% of the remaining delegates in order to win the Democratic Party nomination out right. In addition to winning more states than Hillary (25.5 vs 11.5), Obama has a comfortable margin in total votes cast (12,890,000 to 12,130,000).

Hillary's strategy thus far has been to use fear of change, fear of black man as president and fear of a terrorist attack, along with assorted other untruths, against Obama. She's even accepted the active support of the country's harshest rightwingers hellbent on preventing an Obama presidency, and she's betrayed all of Obama's Democratic supporters by saying that only she and John McCain are prepared to be president but not Senator Obama.

So after yesterday, Hillary's no closer to winning the nomination on her own, yet her campaign is even more committed to using shameful tactics that can only gravely damage Obama's chances in the fall should he be the party's nominee.

3.03.2008

An Ohio Republican for Obama (Obamacan)

Puerto Rico to Pick the Next U.S. President? It may not be so crazy.

It's possible that tomorrow's Super Tuesday II results will give both Obama and Hillary enough to continue their battle through to the end. What's interesting is that the final primaries in June happen in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- and they could prove decisive. Really.

May be it's just me, but that thought is just a tad surreal. It's like something out of a Latin American "surreal realism" novel in which things are upside down and nothing that you see or hear is as it appears.

Think about it...Puerto Rico Commonwealth voters determining the next president of the U.S.! It'll be like "Livin La Vida Loca"-- but in a good Gabriel Marquez sort of way.

Obama as Giant Killer?

Catherine Dodge makes an excellent point (Obama Looms as Giant-Killer in Ohio, Texas as Clinton Star Dims - Bloomberg News - 3/3/08) :

If Barack Obama defeats Hillary Clinton in Texas or Ohio tomorrow, he will take control of a unified Democratic Party and enter the race against John McCain with an already-established reputation as a political giant- killer.
True.

John McCain will be transformed from despised RINO (Republican In Name Only) and favorite whipping boy of the loony right, to political hero and savior of the GOP and the country. Already he's inherited many of Bush/Cheney's Industrial Military Complex backers.

Therefore, it makes sense that McCain's Democratic opponent be someone with the proven ability to take down a revered political icon. Hillary has struggled against a newcomer and does not exhibit any of the agility, judgement, stamina and campaign smarts necessary for the task ahead.

The logical choice to play David to McCain's Goliath is Obama. Am I wrong?

Yes, We Can!

Vermont's Skeeter Sanders Take on Super Tuesday II

With the Super Tuesday II primaries tomorrow, Vermont's Skeeter Sanders (The 'Skeeter Bites Report) does a terrific job of assessing the state of the Hillary-Obama contest. He gives Obama the edge for these reasons:

- Support for Clinton Crumbling Everywhere Except Senior Citizens
- Obama's Advantages: Young People, Independents, Crossover Republicans -- and Money
- Obama Ad Blitz Shows He's Already Primed to Take On the Republicans
- Clinton Camp Damaged By Fallout Over Obama Photo. . .
- . . .And By Expose of Clinton's Defense of Rape Suspect While a Lawyer in the '70s
- Obama Gaining Momentum With 'Superdelegates,' Too

Click here for The 'Skeeter Bites Report.

Young Latino Voters on the Rise

Over a year ago, I wrote that the new primary schedule would give America's growing Latino voting population a potentially decisive voting bloc. We've seen evidence of this trend in California, Nevada, New York and elsewhere, but it's in Texas, and especially among younger Latinos, that is proving most significant.

Young Latino Voters on the Rise is an article in today's press by AP which examines this timely issue. Here's an excerpt:

The power of that fast-growing slice of the Latino vote may soon be put to the test in Texas, where Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are competing fiercely for the support of Hispanic voters in the state's March 4 Democratic primary.

About 20 percent, of 2.6 million, registered voters in Texas have Hispanic surnames, and about a third of the state's eligible Hispanic voters are 18 to 29.

''If they turn out in bigger numbers than they have in the past, it could be a real turning point. It's this very large and growing untapped pool,'' said Roberto Suro, a founder of the Pew Hispanic Center and a journalism professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.
Full Article Si, Se Puede!

Bill Clinton Endorses Obama!

Considering that Hillary has decided to attack Barack Obama by using fear, it's good to know that Bill Clinton said in '04 that it is better to vote for someone who's message is hope over fear. Since Bill is a person of principle, he's letting voters know that Obama's is his candidate. Shhhhh! Just don't tell Hillary. The video was posted on YouTube by nocoronation.

Vota Obama! ("La Bamba" version)

This pro-Obama version of "La Bamba" by Austin band Cerronato urges everyone to vote for Obama. It was posted on YouTube by sixteencoaches. This one too has a good beat and is easy to dance to. Vota Obama!

3.02.2008

Cumbia de Obama - New Music Video!

What's so much fun is to see the explosion of excitement and creativity that so many young people inspired by Senator Barack Obama are bringing to the public square during this primary season.

Here's yet another terrific Latino-produced video featuring Senator Barack Obama--this one with a Cumbia beat. It was sent to me by Sasha Costanza-Chock and produced by losobamaleros.

BTW: I love the intoxicating rhythms and sounds of the Cumbia.

Oh -- And wouldn't it be fun to finally have an American presidente con ritmo.

Sasha says ¡Clickalo! Me, too. ¡Clickalo!

Yes, We Can!

3.01.2008

Obama As HomeCare Worker

Interesting video of Senator Barack Obama spending the day doing the work of Ms. Pauline Beck, a homecare worker and SEIU member. The video captures him doing dishes, preparing a meal, folding laundry and making a bed--and he seems geniunely comfortable doing the chores and talking about the importance of Ms Beck to the health and wellness of her patient.

BTW: When viewing this video try imagining Ms Hillary, Bill, W, Cheney, or any other of their types, in Obama's place. Can not imagine it, right? Me neither.

What a difference it'll make to finally have a president that understands, values and respects the Paulines of the world and the people they care for.

Obama Texas Mashup

This YouTube by txriotgrrl gives viewers a sense of what many Texans at the grassroots are doing in support of change and the Obama campaign.

Nice beat. Easy to dance to. Filled with hope. I give it a 10.