If I were a better person I would feel sorry for HRC.
"If" being the operative word.
I am just petty enough to enjoy watching her implosion.
Not that it's all a function of my failure as a person, Hillary has made it difficult to feel sorry for her.
First, she painted herself as the indomitable snowwoman, perhaps rightfully so. But once one comes to view you as comprised of iron and will and not much else it becomes difficult to connect to them emotionally. We assume you do not have any emotions. This could well be a trap of being a woman on the big stage but I think it is just as much the fault of Hillary as a person. Other powerful women have somehow managed to appear both human and strong.
And then Hillary did the unforgiveable, according to my admittedly arbitrary standards: she underestimated her opponent.
Now, i'm sure pundits and historians will suggest that had nothing to do with Barack's race but all about his inexperience.
Bullshit.
I smell it, I call it.
HRC and camp know the working class, blue collar America that is all about racial equality in theory...not so much in practice. To say that knowledge in no way colored their perception of Barack's electability is foolish.
Hillary's campaign hung a significent part of her inevitability on a racist America not changing her stripes.
So you will have to forgive me if her miscalculation, and what that miscalculation says about my country, does not inspire in me pity for her position.
As she is fond of saying, she'll be alright after this election win or lose.
America's well-being isn't so guarenteed.
We deserve Barack Obama as much as we need him.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
For about twenty seconds TN was too close to call. In the end it looks like it goes to Clinton. but it's close enough - they're talking less than 1 percent here folks - that Obama still picks up a significent amount of delegates. And the fact that it use to be comfortably in her column and he split it in half is still quite impressive.
He gets IL and I believe she took MA.
*pours some more wine*
He gets IL and I believe she took MA.
*pours some more wine*
And so the games begin.
First call of the night is an easy victory for Barack in GA.
All of the wonks want you to know that 43% of the Klan put away their robes long enough to vote for Chicken Obama George. /eyeroll
He carried almost 90% of the black vote in GA. Thank God. I was beginning to want negroes back into slavery -- all this self-defeating, ignorant hate for Obama was nauseating.
Now, apparently, we see if the Latinos are desperate enough to be white that they'll continue to eschew the candidate of color. Some anchor from telemundo was on MSNBC earlier and he's the only one I've heard say, flat out, that Latinos will not much "vote for an Afro-American" because he, presumably, may grow an afro that obscures their view from the border?
Whatever.
Good times!
All of the wonks want you to know that 43% of the Klan put away their robes long enough to vote for Chicken Obama George. /eyeroll
He carried almost 90% of the black vote in GA. Thank God. I was beginning to want negroes back into slavery -- all this self-defeating, ignorant hate for Obama was nauseating.
Now, apparently, we see if the Latinos are desperate enough to be white that they'll continue to eschew the candidate of color. Some anchor from telemundo was on MSNBC earlier and he's the only one I've heard say, flat out, that Latinos will not much "vote for an Afro-American" because he, presumably, may grow an afro that obscures their view from the border?
Whatever.
Good times!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The speech had already been written
Damn my full-time job and full-time school career! Because of all this real life stuff I was unable to hop-on immediately to share my realization about Ted Kennedy's emotional support for Barack Obama yesterday.
I spoke on the historic nature of the moment - Camelot, with all it's magic and prestige and unassailable political clout being willingly handed over to a black man. It was more than emotional and powerful, it was, I believe history will bear, the flag that announced the last lap of generational change in our political life.
Caroline and Patrick rounded out the picture of family solidarity but it was Ted Kennedy who drew on the emotional connection so many of us feel for the Kennedys that struck a chord with me. There is the obvious symbolism - a silver-haired, aging white man from the Northeast beside a young, spry, black Man with a trans-global heritage - but I saw something else as Teddy shook with passion about Barack.
This is the speech, perhaps, he'd hoped to one day give for JFK, Jr.
The emotional undercurrent of his support for Barack is the type normally resolved for the beloved children or tolerated in-laws in a family very cognizant of their legacy. It was like seeing an uncle groom his nephew to take over the family business.
Only this family business is American politics and Barack, white momma not withstanding, ain't exactly part of the family.
Really, could you not have seen the same intensity of emotion had Obama been replaced by JFK, JR?
Though he denied often any desire to run for political office it is no secret that almost everyone with fond memories of Camelot expected JFK, JR. to grow into an elected official.
And while we will never know what could have been it seems safe to assume that JFK, Jr. would have been the beneficiary of all the magic the Kennedy family can offer: an elder statesman hitting the campaign trail to work decades old relationships in his favor, a spotlight shy Caroline willing to emerge from the shadows to compare him to her father, Patrick serving as emcee for a crowd of rabid young voters thirsty for the kind of vision and inspiration that defined JFK and Bobby's legacy.
Only the candidate is black and his being black was never mentioned.
A pretty good day to be American.
I spoke on the historic nature of the moment - Camelot, with all it's magic and prestige and unassailable political clout being willingly handed over to a black man. It was more than emotional and powerful, it was, I believe history will bear, the flag that announced the last lap of generational change in our political life.
Caroline and Patrick rounded out the picture of family solidarity but it was Ted Kennedy who drew on the emotional connection so many of us feel for the Kennedys that struck a chord with me. There is the obvious symbolism - a silver-haired, aging white man from the Northeast beside a young, spry, black Man with a trans-global heritage - but I saw something else as Teddy shook with passion about Barack.
This is the speech, perhaps, he'd hoped to one day give for JFK, Jr.
The emotional undercurrent of his support for Barack is the type normally resolved for the beloved children or tolerated in-laws in a family very cognizant of their legacy. It was like seeing an uncle groom his nephew to take over the family business.
Only this family business is American politics and Barack, white momma not withstanding, ain't exactly part of the family.
Really, could you not have seen the same intensity of emotion had Obama been replaced by JFK, JR?
Though he denied often any desire to run for political office it is no secret that almost everyone with fond memories of Camelot expected JFK, JR. to grow into an elected official.
And while we will never know what could have been it seems safe to assume that JFK, Jr. would have been the beneficiary of all the magic the Kennedy family can offer: an elder statesman hitting the campaign trail to work decades old relationships in his favor, a spotlight shy Caroline willing to emerge from the shadows to compare him to her father, Patrick serving as emcee for a crowd of rabid young voters thirsty for the kind of vision and inspiration that defined JFK and Bobby's legacy.
Only the candidate is black and his being black was never mentioned.
A pretty good day to be American.
My folk, my folk
It has taken a much more disciplined writer than myself to expound upon the real "fairy tale" in this Democratic race: Bill Clinton's supposed savior status within the black community.
Now, y'all, I know how some of us feel about a "good" job and we remember fondly the 90s as a time when you could tell your boss to kiss your black ass because you knew another "good" job right down the road. But time may have made your memory fuzzy, much in the way crack makes a whore disillusioned about her sex appeal. So consider this Clinton Re-hab:
The Clinton Fallacy: Did blacks really make big economic gains during the '90s?
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Posted Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008, at 12:46 PM ET
Hillary Clinton's campaign deployed President Bill Clinton in South Carolina for the specific purpose of delivering the black vote, aiming to remind African-Americans of the good times when Clinton was president. Which raises the question: Why do so many people think the Clinton years were good times for black America?
A hopeful African-American electorate was at the core of Bill Clinton's successful bids for the presidency. In many ways, the scandal-marred, deeply partisan years of the Clinton administration proved disappointing in the face of such early optimism.
Welfare reform, the growth of black imprisonment, and the public abandonment of progressive African-Americans like Lani Guinier are some of the most memorable racial disappointments of those years. Even through these disappointments, African-Americans were among Clinton's strongest supporters because many believed Clinton's era was an economic boon.
But there is evidence that Clinton's unmatched popularity among blacks confused many about the true economic impact of his presidency. In a 2005 article I co-authored in the Journal of Black Studies, I analyzed five national surveys from 1984 through 2000. The data show that nearly a third of black Americans held false understandings of black economic conditions during the Clinton years.
By the time Clinton left office, many African-Americans incorrectly believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites. In the '80s, barely 5 percent of blacks believed blacks were economically better off than whites. By 2000, nearly 30 percent of African-American respondents believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites.
This belief is simply wrong.
Rest here:http://www.slate.com/id/2182745/
Now, y'all, I know how some of us feel about a "good" job and we remember fondly the 90s as a time when you could tell your boss to kiss your black ass because you knew another "good" job right down the road. But time may have made your memory fuzzy, much in the way crack makes a whore disillusioned about her sex appeal. So consider this Clinton Re-hab:
The Clinton Fallacy: Did blacks really make big economic gains during the '90s?
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Posted Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008, at 12:46 PM ET
Hillary Clinton's campaign deployed President Bill Clinton in South Carolina for the specific purpose of delivering the black vote, aiming to remind African-Americans of the good times when Clinton was president. Which raises the question: Why do so many people think the Clinton years were good times for black America?
A hopeful African-American electorate was at the core of Bill Clinton's successful bids for the presidency. In many ways, the scandal-marred, deeply partisan years of the Clinton administration proved disappointing in the face of such early optimism.
Welfare reform, the growth of black imprisonment, and the public abandonment of progressive African-Americans like Lani Guinier are some of the most memorable racial disappointments of those years. Even through these disappointments, African-Americans were among Clinton's strongest supporters because many believed Clinton's era was an economic boon.
But there is evidence that Clinton's unmatched popularity among blacks confused many about the true economic impact of his presidency. In a 2005 article I co-authored in the Journal of Black Studies, I analyzed five national surveys from 1984 through 2000. The data show that nearly a third of black Americans held false understandings of black economic conditions during the Clinton years.
By the time Clinton left office, many African-Americans incorrectly believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites. In the '80s, barely 5 percent of blacks believed blacks were economically better off than whites. By 2000, nearly 30 percent of African-American respondents believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites.
This belief is simply wrong.
Rest here:http://www.slate.com/id/2182745/
Monday, January 28, 2008
Camelot Comes To Harlem
I grew up listening to my Mother wax poetic about how altruistic the Kennedy's are.
My grandmother had three commerative plates on the wall, hung in a place of honor: White Jesus, Martin and Kennedy.
They are not southern or southern baptist or black but the genuiness of their spirit has, for numberous reasons, spoken to our community for generations now.
So as I sit here today and hear the Kennedy family effectively hand over the torch of their legacy to Barack Obama I am afraid that I may be dreaming.
Win or lose, this man not only looks presidential today - he looks like great American history in the making.
And who would know what that looks like better than a Kennedy?
Live stream: http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream1
My grandmother had three commerative plates on the wall, hung in a place of honor: White Jesus, Martin and Kennedy.
They are not southern or southern baptist or black but the genuiness of their spirit has, for numberous reasons, spoken to our community for generations now.
So as I sit here today and hear the Kennedy family effectively hand over the torch of their legacy to Barack Obama I am afraid that I may be dreaming.
Win or lose, this man not only looks presidential today - he looks like great American history in the making.
And who would know what that looks like better than a Kennedy?
Live stream: http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream1
Friday, January 25, 2008
This is my Party and I'll Kick Your Ass if I want to!
In this election cycle minorities, women and working class Americans with democratic leanings should be ecstatic. Instead, far too many of us have been marginalized, insulted, condescended to and dismissed...by our own Democratic Party. I cannot speak for anyone beyond myself, a young African-American female who has voted in every election big and small since she was 18 years old, but I imagine I am not the only one tired of being caricatured as an idiot, regardless of who I support.
I am an Obama supporter but that is not what this petition is about. This is about our party not recognizing itself as such. For 40 years the black voter has helped keep the Democrats viable and in exchange we have gotten the leading party statesman wagging his finger at us for daring to think for ourselves.
We have watched elders like Mr. Rangel sell his political clout, ostensibly on our behalf, in exchange for a seat at the table of another Clinton White House.
CNN reduced black female voters in S.C. to nothing more than cliches of race and sex, overlooking our ability to think as mothers, daughters, sisters, entrepreneurs, students, activists or Americans.
Gloria Steinman suggested that black female voters should ignore the history of racism within the feminist community and forgive her for a poorly written and ill-advised op-ed in the New York Times.
Through this all the Democratic Party has allowed its strongest, most faithful constituency to be treated like an after thought. I cannot be certain what smarts more: their silence in this storm of hatred and race-baiting or the clear assumption that we can be brought back into the fold in time for the general election.
I am tired of this. And I am betting that I am not the only one.
By signing this petition you can send a message to the Democratic Party: the black vote is not to be taken for granted. Neither is it to be bargain-rated.
Should this party and its candidates continue to treat us this way, your signature says you will revolt.
It is a new day in American politics. The Democrats are not the only show in town. And I do not hate a vote for McCain or an Independent candidate nearly as much as I hate being treated like the help at my own Party.
If you feel similarly please sign here and spread the word.
I am an Obama supporter but that is not what this petition is about. This is about our party not recognizing itself as such. For 40 years the black voter has helped keep the Democrats viable and in exchange we have gotten the leading party statesman wagging his finger at us for daring to think for ourselves.
We have watched elders like Mr. Rangel sell his political clout, ostensibly on our behalf, in exchange for a seat at the table of another Clinton White House.
CNN reduced black female voters in S.C. to nothing more than cliches of race and sex, overlooking our ability to think as mothers, daughters, sisters, entrepreneurs, students, activists or Americans.
Gloria Steinman suggested that black female voters should ignore the history of racism within the feminist community and forgive her for a poorly written and ill-advised op-ed in the New York Times.
Through this all the Democratic Party has allowed its strongest, most faithful constituency to be treated like an after thought. I cannot be certain what smarts more: their silence in this storm of hatred and race-baiting or the clear assumption that we can be brought back into the fold in time for the general election.
I am tired of this. And I am betting that I am not the only one.
By signing this petition you can send a message to the Democratic Party: the black vote is not to be taken for granted. Neither is it to be bargain-rated.
Should this party and its candidates continue to treat us this way, your signature says you will revolt.
It is a new day in American politics. The Democrats are not the only show in town. And I do not hate a vote for McCain or an Independent candidate nearly as much as I hate being treated like the help at my own Party.
If you feel similarly please sign here and spread the word.
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