Obama '08?

<raises glass to CI>

This YouTube clip shows Fox News' "Fair and Balanced" take on the Obama candidacy:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJixL--ms

Precisely why I never watch Fox News.

For those of us who don't have audio--if anyone would bullet the offensive characterizations or incorrect information, I'd appreciate it.

I'll look for a transcript meanwhile...

Lash, Don't waste your time on that garbage they call "fair and balanced news."

It just proves they're jealous as heck, and are besides themselves with stupid statements (not worth repeating).

Interesting Obama/Clinton/soz moment today in my Milton class:

I sit in the back with a girl from Germany and two Law School English majors....they are the most intelligent guys in the class--one black and one white.

We enjoy satirical reparte and rather interesting discussions, per me. So, today, White Law Guy comes in smiling, showing his political buttons--which (worlds colliding in excess for me) are soz's avatar with Hillary's face imposed. (Or in shorthand--BPB's current avatar.)

We discuss briefly (I make no political comment )--but Black Law Guy starts making negative comments about Obama's ability to win. "The country's not ready for a black president..." and suchlike, and ends with, "But I'm gonna vote for him...." This slays me. WLG says the country IS ready, but Obama's not experienced enough. (I agree) BLG rally almost becomes incensed that we say the country is ready--like it's a personal affront.

I'm analyzing this like crazy. And, soz with Hillary's face is all over campus...

I'll have to keep you apprised of the Law Guys and our political/social conversations. Fascinating to me.

Interesting!

I'm irritated that Hillary has co-opted Rosie but it's smart, politically. ("We can do it!")

The "ready" question is interesting. I'm having a somewhat heated discussion about it on another site. It seems to come down to a moratorium on whether America is still racist or not. (I don't see it that way -- I think America is still racist but Obama can win.) Anyway, there are those who, viewing the question that way, get annoyed at being told in effect that America isn't racist anymore (thinking of BLG there).

At any rate I thought it was a pretty straightforward question ("Is America ready to elect a black president?") and am surprised by the responses it is getting.

I think America is tired of family dynasties.

I agree with you completely about your assessment of BLG, soz.

I felt so sorry for him. During class, he's exchanging heated whispers with WLG and I couldn't hear everything they said, but was shocked by one sentence from BLG: "I can't believe you're trying to tell me about hip-hop."

There seems to be a deep trench of self-defining stuff for a segment of black Americans that is sacred. A lot of it--through no fault of theirs -- is negative. One is "A black man will never be president." I really think the reason we are seeing so much negativity in the black community about a viable candidate for President is: if that hope is realized, this segment's relationship with their country will be forever changed in a way they've been told for generations would never happen.

It will force a huge redefining.

I guess it's sort of like an abnormal reaction by castaways when they've been shipwrecked for decades... A normal reaction is to run to salvation when a ship is seen on the horizon--but for those who gave up hope long ago--they doubt their vision, or they think it's pirates or something to fear or distrust... They can't allow themselves to be vulnerable to unbridled hope.

Anyway. Sorry for soliloquy This just threw me for a loop.

I sure am.

It's so un-Democratic!

Hmmm. I see what you're saying, Lash. I see it as more, "You, a white person, are trying to tell me, a black person, that America isn't racist anymore? Don't you think my experiences as a black person in America might give me a better perspective on that?"

I don't think the outcome of a black person becoming president is necessarily feared per se -- I think a lot of people would be thrilled if it actually happened. I think it's more skepticism, and I think it's probably justified.

I personally think Obama can win, but I think his unorthodox roots are part of that, his ease with the white Kansan part of his background.

Affect mostly. His behavior, ability to build rapport with white farmer types, etc. There is a quote somewhere that I don't remember enough of to look up, so this is a rough paraphrase, but something like, "I understand these people, they are like the people I grew up with, I'm at ease with them and they're at ease with me."

The Ford who made comments about Obama not being able to win was Robert Ford, wasn't it?

Oooh. Thanks for straightening out my Fords.

Obama ridicules Cheney's Iraq comments
By KELLEY SHANNON, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago


AUSTIN, Texas - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) ridiculed Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday for saying Britain's decision to pull troops from Iraq is a good sign that fits with the strategy for stabilizing the country.


Obama, speaking at a massive outdoor rally in Austin, Texas, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision this week to withdraw 1,600 troops is a recognition that Iraq's problems can't be solved militarily.

"Now if Tony Blair can understand that, then why can't George Bush and Dick Cheney understand that?" Obama asked thousands of supporters who gathered in the rain to hear him. "In fact, Dick Cheney said this is all part of the plan (and) it was a good thing that Tony Blair was withdrawing, even as the administration is preparing to put 20,000 more of our young men and women in.

"Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we'd be greeted as liberators, the same guy that said that we're in the last throes. I'm sure he forecast sun today," Obama said to laughter from supporters holding campaign signs over their heads to keep dry. "When Dick Cheney says it's a good thing, you know that you've probably got some big problems."

My respect for Obama increases almost every day.

Mine was incredibly high already, and he's done nothing to change that yet.

I really love Clarence Page...

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Blacks worried about whether Obama is "black enough" might be reassured by the grumblings of others who think he is too black.

Obama quite sensibly observed in his "60 Minutes" interview that he did not "decide" to be black. "If you look African-American in this society, you're treated as an African-American," he said, "and when you're a child, in particular, that is how you begin to identify yourself."

That response rankled talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, who apparently thinks race is something we can put on or take off like a suit.

If Obama did not "decide" his race, Limbaugh declared, "well, renounce it, then. If it's not something you want to be, if you didn't decide it, renounce it, become white!"

Ah, if only it were that easy.

Moving up fast in that silliness derby, talk-radio host Glenn Beck declared Obama to be "colorless." "As a white guy," Beck said, "... you don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" Beck added that he'll probably be called a "racist" by some bloggers for saying that. He hopes. It might help his ratings.

Why all the fuss about what Obama calls himself? Whether Obama had the "black American experience" before, he certainly appears to be getting it now.

Part of that experience is to hear other people argue over what you should call yourself. In fact, if you don't have the right to call yourself what you want to call yourself, you don't have much freedom at all.

Besides, if you look back far enough, we're all "mixed."

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0702180409feb18,1,6159149.column?coll=chi-news-col

Quot: "Besides, if you look back far enough, we're all "mixed." "


At whole lot of folks don't realize that!

Actually that's the only sentence in the article I didn't like. It's politically correct bull manure. If you look back far enough, what we really all are is mutated immigrants from Africa. I can take the historical facts. No need to drown them in harmony sauce.

But I the rest of the article was spot on, especially how Page summed it up in the first sentence: "Blacks worried about whether Obama is "black enough" might be reassured by the grumblings of others who think he is too black."