That’s the line that has stuck with me from Barack Obama’s inaugural speech because it not only applies to the developing world but the developed world, large or big societies, community and the individual as well…
Tag Archives: black president
So what if Obama smokes cigarettes?
Obama is still smoking. You know it and I know it and if you believed that he really had quit that smile he gave on Meet the Press yesterday was a dead giveaway that he hasn’t.
According to him he’s tried to quit and he’s ‘ fallen off the wagon a few times ‘, code words for, ” You know I do, but you just wouldn’t catch me…” lol
But people, is it really a big deal that he smokes? Don’t we have bigger things to worry about?
We’re losing our jobs and our homes. Our country is falling apart, state by state, figuratively and physically and we’re worrying about whether or not the man at the wheel, the President of the United States gets a bit of satisfaction from puffing on a cigarette?
Gimme a break!!!
Smoking is a digusting habit and Obama obviously tries really, really hard to quit for his own health but I for one am not going to be worried about whether or not he lights up in the White House. I’m more worried about whether or not I’m going to have a job next year and if I’m going to be able to get a student loan for law school.
And if you don’t have more important things to worry about, good for you, you’re definitely one in a million but the press et al shouldn’t try to convince me that Obama’s smoking is one of the things that I should lose sleep over ’cause he isn’t (believe me he’s more worried about Detroit collapsing) I’m not and I’m sure millions of my fellow Americans aren’t going too either.
***UPDATE*** As of March 1, 2010 Obama is still smoking..and the world is still turning!
A tale of two men, Obama and Kilpatrick a tale of America..
One was born with almost every advantage and was destined to succeed.
Family: A powerful well connected upper class political family.
School: Attended one of the top historically black colleges in the nation and earned his law degree from Michigan State University.
Political Life:Guaranteed. A bit of money. The right family. The right connections. A successful early entry into US political life by becoming mayor of one America’s largest cities at the age of 31.
What he did: He is the first sitting mayor in the history of Detroit to face felony charges.
What do the people say?: Easy come, easy go.
Born with EVERYTHING. HE lost EVERTHING
The other man had the wrong name, the wrong background and to many the wrong views.
Family: Raised by an educated single woman and middle class grandparents with few political connections.
Schools: Attended a two year liberal arts college before attending two of the top schools in the nation. Graduated with a law degree from Harvard.
Political Life: Toss up. Not wealthy. No family. No connections. He won his first race by signatures. His second race his major opponent dropped out.
What he did: He became the first black man to hold the presidential nomination for a major political party.
What do people say? By the sweat of your own brow, shall you eat bread…
Born with NOTHING. He earned EVERYTHING.
Why such divergent paths for these two politically talented men? One didn’t have anything to prove, the other had everything to prove. One got everything handed to him the other had to work for it all. One had a HUGE sense of entitlement. The other felt and knew he was entitled to nothing.
Yes, their stories are complex and I have indeed simplified them here but I think their stories are more reflective of our society than many of us would care to admit.
August 28th 2008, Obama’s acceptance speech……
And just in case you were wondering. why I didn’t blog after Obama’s historic speech.
An explanation, I figure (it might just be me that thinks this..lol) is indeed necessary.
You see, although, I had seen this day coming for months now, when it finally happened I was and if I’m honest with myself and with you I continue to be overcome with emotion. If I sit and think about what happened that night my brain is flooded with images.
And I’m not talking solely about the image of him on that stage, or the thousands of flashing lights that greeted him as he walked onto the stage to the deafening cheers of thousands (millions if you count the ones watching on tv) in fact the most pronounced images of that night, for me, were created by strangers I had met only a few minutes before Obama’s speech.
You see, I watched Obama’s acceptance speech holding the hand of my husband, in the living room of the home a young, jewish family surrounded with strangers of every race, of every persuasion and of every age group.
Young, old. Black, White and Asian. Jewish, Christian and Muslim. We all sat together in hushed silence listening to a man we have come to admire and to trust. A man that we want to lead us and this nation to better days.
And as I looked at these people cheering and clapping loudly in support of this black man, who happens to share the same skin tone of my mother, I was instantly transported to a moment I once shared with my historian father (a man of the 60s and 70s but a realist of the 80s..lol) one afternoon while driving, we were discussing the state of black America and how far we’ve come when he said that he would know that things had really changed in the world when America elected a black man as its president.
I remained silent as I had often done when he made this observation. Unusual for me, but what is there to say when you do know that this one change would indeed speak volumes about the state of the world in which we live?
I should add that my father didn’t think that day would happen in his lifetime and he went to his grave believing that it may never come at all.
Over the years, I came to believe that in my lifetime I WOULD see a black president but I thought, to be honest, that day would come when I was in my later years.
But to watch Obama that night and to watch his supporters of every race, of every background in that living room, holding the hand of my husband was such an intensely personal moment to me..that to be honest I didn’t know if I wanted to or even more honestly if I could accurately articulate my feelings about what I witnessed that night.
To understand and to come to a realization, that you are helping to shape a future that will be infinitely better than the one your parents gave you while recognizing their sacrifice and the role that they have played, including my pessimistic father, in helping to create that moment I witnessed on August 28th..at times fills my heart with such pride, my throat with a lump and my eyes with tears because it took so long but at the same time, thoughts of that moment, of that day leaves me breathless…because I KNOW for a fact that the world has finally changed and it will never, ever be the same again and I could finally say these words to my father. “Dad, the world has finally changed.”
The next time I visit his grave I will.
Obama’s tune up..
Barack Obama said today that he’s going to fine tune his campaign in order to reach those low income, white voters that will be critical to winning the presidency come November after losing them by a pretty high margin to Clinton, once again, this week in Pennsylvania.
Obama as I have said on numerous occassions and in earlier blogs needs to reach out and connect with this demographic on their terms and in their communities in order to make inroads into Clintons’ base.
In order for Obama to win this constituency he must convincely and sincerely convey who he is and what he stands for since many even at this late stage still claim to have little or no knowledge about Obama.
Now, I don’t profess to know the inner workings of a presidential campaign or any political campaign but I do believe that if a candidate has had consistent problems with a particularly crucial demographic, like Obama has had with the white working class, he/she should work harder and consistently speak with the members of this group in order to understand why he/she isn’t at least breaking even with their opponent especially if they are both offering pretty much the same policies and ‘promises’.
This is what Obama needs to do.
He should be doing more impromptu stops. He should be greeting the farmer in his fields. The waitress at her dinner and the construction worker on the job site. And more importantly he should look comfortable doing it. He sometimes looks as though he doesn’t know what do in those settings and it comes off as if he’s uncomfortable around everyday folk he can’t appear that way anymore. This is the end game. And in the end game every thing matters.
His novelty, has started to wear off and he’s now got to show them, the white working class, why he’s the best and only man for the job and not just some black guy, with a Harvard degree and a funny name who is the democratic party’s flavor of the month.
I concede Obama, may never win the majority of them over completely for a number of reasons including race.
But, if he fights tooth and nail with Clinton and then McCain for every single white working class vote and he’s willing to convey that he understands and show that he respects that God and guns sometimes go hand in hand in many places in this land, without compromising his own core positions on specific issues like gun control I’m willing to bet the same people that are now voting for Clinton and have voted for a Republican in almost every single presidential election since 1977, wouldn’t ‘hold their noses’ and vote for him come November but will actually on voting day march to the polls in greater numbers than we expect and cast their ballots in support of the black guy, with a funny name because they know that he’s the best man for the job and he earned their votes and their respect just like any other candidate.
Ultimately, for the first viable black presidential candidate it boils down to if he can earn their respect he’ll gain their vote!
The goal posts keep shifting as they always do….
I understand the premise of never underestimating the Clintons and in particular Hillary Clinton.
Whenever they have been counted out they have come back bigger, harder and stronger..what was Bill Clinton known as? the comeback kid.
So, it is quite understandable why people have been hesitant to count them out but before today it was said that she needed to win both Ohio and Texas to stay in the race, even her own husband said as much, in the last few days it has changed to she only needs ONE to stay in the race. I haven’t heard it yet but I’m waiting to hear some prominent Clinton surrogate or supporter or a t.v commentator suggest or state that she doesn’t need to win any more primaries or caucuses instead all she needs to do in order to secure the nomination is to keep raising money and collecting super delegates, show up at the convention in August and the nomination is hers!
I’m serious, every week the Clintons are allowed to determine the finishing line instead of it being determined for them however as ridiculous as this is, IT IS necessary.
As the goal posts have shifted and the touch down line pushed further and further back Obama has risen to the challenge each and every time readjusted his game plan and has kept on playing because in the end Obama even more so than any other candidate has to be seen as winning this race fair and square and with the Clintons playing as hard and fierce as they have in the end it just makes his story even more epic.
And for that story to become that of legend he needs to keep running the hurdles and jumping through hoops in order to become the legitimate Democratic presidential nominee and ultimately the first black president in US history.
I just wonder that if the shoe was on the other foot would Obama have been allowed so many chances my guess is no he wouldn’t but then again life isn’t fair so why should we expect a presidential campaign to be..
***As usual I will be live blogging the results tonight..join me, please..it’s going to be a long one I can’t do it alone….lol***
Super Tuesday was the first day of the Obama phenemenon…
Today we talk about the the Bradley effect when discussing African American candidates in the future we will be talking about the Obama phenomenon when discussing candidates of any race or gender who defy expectations and generate momentum in non traditional areas!
February 5th was indeed a historical day.
Now, Obama did not take Hillary Clinton down (he got 841 and she got about 837) but with his wins and delegate splits he was saying to her ”I’m not going anywhere!” and that this race is going down to the wire.
But what is the real story? To me, it’s WHERE Obama won and with WHOM.
He won in Colorado, Utah, Missouri, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota and North Dakota! He won in NORTH DAKOTA!!!
Now, ten years ago if you told me that there would be a black presidential candidate in my lifetime winning primaries and caucuses in these states I would have laughed and vehemenetly disagreed with you while secretly concealing in my heart the desire and hope of it being true.
Today Obama won these states and he closed the gap between him and Hillary when it comes to white voters and women. Obama has shown that Hillary does not have a monopoly over these demographic groups and that his message is making in roads with these voters like it should.
As a man should not be ‘judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character’ and today we saw yet another step in the direction of that finally being realised.
Neither candidate has a clear advantage but if Obama fails to get the nomination the effect of this day will still resonate with potential non-traditional political candidates because Obama has shown how it can be done and more importantly than that we are starting to see a generational shift where race and gender are viewed quite differently.
This election will be not be determined by that generation exclusively but it certainly wouldn’t be decided without them.
You see, I know that Obama is the candidate of choice for my generation however if he fails to become the nominee it will be due to OUR work, OUR perserverence and OUR selection of his opponent and from this time onward we, today’s youth vote will finally be given our due recognition.
And with Obama’s victories today still fresh in the minds of all let it be known that, if he wins the nomination and goes on to become the president of the United States, that we the members of Generation X and Generation Y, those raised on Sesame Street and Nintendo, those who have never experienced life without computers, punk rock or rap music have shown that we are tuned in and that we have no intention whatsoever of tuning out and we will fight up until our last breath to fully realize the dreams of our parents and grandparents and thus return this country to the heights of greatness it so rightly deserves!
To hell with the Clintons..
I’m ashamed of Bob Johnson for allowing himself to be used not just on Sunday but for the past 30 years he’s been willing to do and say just about anything for the almighty dollar at the expense of his people.
I know he’s not the only one and I also put a lot of other black leaders, artistes and business people into that category as well. It’s a shame because with so much power comes great responsibility and Johnson has shown that he has none of the latter.
I’m ashamed of the Clintons for allowing this tactic along with the fake tears to become part of their campaign strategy. I had always admired, Hillary, for her grace and candor but now I see that she’s just like the rest of them she’ll do and say anything to win, she’s no different instead she’s just as bad as the Republicans.
I am ashamed of my people, particularly those in the Hillary camp who have risen to defend Bob Johnson’s comments and
I am ashamed of the Obama camp for falling for their ruse.
But I’m not at all surprised.
The Hillary campaign machine is desperate, they can see their fates looming on the horizon. The writing is starting to form on the wall regardless of how well she did in New Hampshire she knows that’s a one time deal. She wouldn’t be able to pull that BS with women again, well at least most of us I hope and she has to stop the Obama machine some how and this is the only way she can by using youthful indiscretion to create adulthood doubt.
I’m not surprised at all many campaigns have utilizes this tactic what I’m bothers me is the way, whom and how she did it..
The Clintons like most of the major members of the ‘establishment’ Democratic party in general are willing to utilize the African American community to enhance and solidify their power base but when their major opponent happens to be an articulate, honest and charismatic African American they are suddenly confronted with a quagmire.
How do we take him down without losing African Americans?
Hillary showed us that when all else fails, she tried to go after him policy didn’t work, she tried to go after him on inexperience it didn’t work go low, real low. So now she’s willing to get dirty, real dirty because the one thing that she can use is the image of a scary, drug using black guy with his finger on the ‘red button’ to scare half of the US, particularly the white part into not voting for him.
But the clincher for me was the fact that she got another black guy to do it for her!
The richest black guy in the history of the United States.
She sent Bob Johnson one of the biggest villains, in my opinion, in the black community to do it for her because her campaign knows that you could always claim his words were taken out of context. He meant this instead of what the media is saying, the media is pushing something that isn’t there etc, etc..whatever.
We all know what he meant and we all know that Bob Johnson the man who when he was head of BET didn’t create any original programming but pushed and solidified stereotypes of black men and women in the minds of millions of people including his own for profit. BET the only channel to accept hard-liquor and refused to adopt the voluntary TV ratings system for his station for profit, that Bob Johnson the former president of BET, the first black billionaire is always for sale.
The Clinton’s paid up and Bob Johnson did as he was told.
This isn’t a one way street. Bob has a lot to gain if she wins maybe ambassadorship, lucrative business deals who knows what the deal was/is between them but whatever it is the Clinton’s paid a price. A big price.
She’s lost a lot of African American women including me completely and believe me I’m not the only one.
I don’t know but until the writing of this post she still hasn’t spoken out against his comments and Bill continues to make the rounds defending Hillary while berating Obama.
It’s amazing I read in one post that he’s even trying to insinuate that maybe their might be some strife between Obama and Bob. That’s right Bill pull the old divide and rule tactic set one black person againt another black person trick and suggest that it’s just two jealous black guys and one is just talking sh#$ about the other.
You know what that might have worked in the 80′s and 70′s bro but it isn’t going to work today.
Johnson’s comments were low, so low that nothing the Clinton camp or Bill Clinton, the one president the black community has identified with in the last 20 years says will work to quell the anger and disappointment we all feel and the only thing that could work would be an Obama presidency and we’re all going to work on making that a reality.
And then we’ll really have the first black president.
