Tag: barack obama

In July of last year, in my finale of the three-part series on Barack Obama, I made a few predictions about the presidential race. One of those predictions upset many of my friends. It was the one where I said that Barack Obama will be president of the United States of America, unless a couple things happen: one of which was “an assassination”. I have never retracted this. In fact I wrote later in the year that the Secret Service needed to step up their detail, and protect this man at the highest level ever afforded a presidential candidate. I also berated Barack (slightly) for his cavalier attitude towards the fears of many many black people. I wasn’t kidding. I have met him on three different occasions and I didn’t like what I saw as the security arrangements around him.

Many people have been asking me to wade in on who Barack Obama will choose for his vice-presidential running mate, once it is clear to the latecomers, that Billary Clinton’s campaign is going nowhere- an observation I made here months ago. After some analysis, I have concluded that he will select a woman to be his running mate. This will be the second time that Democrats choose a female for that spot; and of course the next time the Republicans choose a woman for that spot, it will also be the first time for them.

Given the energy that female voters have displayed in this long arduous primary contest, I expect the Obama campaign to do the right thing by them. Women should be rewarded with a spot on the ticket for a multitude of good reasons. And despite some who will consider it to be risqué for a black man and a white woman to be on the same ticket (since they will expect/project a white-male backlash), I believe that the person Barack chooses will be: KATHLEEN SEBILEUS.

Someone once said that it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought of as a fool by everyone, than to open it and prove everyone right. Geraldine Ferraro probably never heard this old adage. It’s not just that the remark(s) she made- relative to Barack Obama’s good luck- were in itself absurd, but it’s the fact that Gerry has been out there defending her stupidity and being feisty with it too. She has been on television and radio, all belligerent like she just passed a course in stupidity with flying colors, and angry that no one seems to be paying her the respect she deserves. Who would have thunk that a woman who faced a stereotyping similar to Obama, would in turn demonstrate a type of racial insensitivity akin to the gender discrimination that she and her ilk regularly complain about?

For the past six months, mainstream media has been playing catch-up with me. Their talking heads have proven over and again, that their analysis fits in precisely with their agenda of pseudo sensationalism: for attention and profits no doubt. This counterfeit sensationalism has thrived because of one simple rule: in US politics most folks refuse to do the heavy thinking. Thus mainstream media will stir up the pot more times than a witch stirring a burning cauldron. And like the witches of Macbeth: mischief is their only brew. This supposedly unending presidential primary between Barack and Hillary has been over since Super Tuesday, last February 5th, 2008; somebody wake up the mainstream media please.

The gatekeepers at Fox News network like to boast that their news is fair and balanced: that’s bullshit. I think it is fair for me to say that Fox News network has an obvious right-wing slant that they don’t even try to disguise. And that’s okay to a point, since it’s their business. But when it comes to electing the next president of the USA, human decency should dictate that some level of fairness be considered when the principals are being reported on; and relative to how they are scrutinized and treated. Fox News network has been trying to destroy Barack Obama’s candidacy for quite some time now and it is time to stop this obvious vendetta. The world is watching.

The biggest impediment to solving the problem of racism in the USA is the denial that comes from all sides of the divide. Only when this denial is confronted will we get anywhere closer to solving this seemingly intractable issue. Let’s take the latest Clinton campaign dust-up. Geraldine Ferraro- one of HRC’s big feminist supporters- made probably the most nonsensical statement of this campaign cycle so far, when she suggested that Barack Obama has gotten where he is (his success in this presidential race to date) because he is lucky to be black. This is the same woman, who in 1988 said that Jesse Jackson was only running in the presidential primary (and with some success too), because he too “was black”. Talk about double-speak/lol; or is it double-talk? This was not accidental or coincidental; this was deliberate on Ms. Ferraro’s part. This lady needs some sensitivity training; even at age 72 it can be useful.

On the street corners of many a black congressional district, you would often hear soul-folks saying: “no big thing but a chicken wing”. This can be heard whenever there is a fuss about something or the other that soul-people think is being overblown. On corners of white congressional districts (and by white and black, I am only alluding to where the majority of the residents are of that color; that’s all), you may hear the same sentiments expressed this way: “much ado about nothing”. Well that’s how I feel about all this super-delegate noise, coming out from many tense corners of hot and heavy political competition; like the kind taking place between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama- as they compete for the Democrat’s presidential nomination.

If you look up the word “mulligan” in the dictionary, you would find that it is a re-taken golf shot; or better still: a shot that- against the rules- a golfer allows an opponent to take again. Bill Clinton is known to take many mulligans when playing friendly games of golf; his wife (Hillary Rodham Clinton) seems to have learned this bad habit quite well. It is all about changing the rules in mid game, especially when things aren’t going their way. It’s about refining techniques that give them an unfair advantage in any competitive event. It is cheap, low and crass.

If Billary were to go to any toy store to purchase a device for their pleasure, what they would find is that in near all devices sold: “batteries are not included”. So after Tuesday’s primaries (Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont), all rational Democrats need to emphatically make the case- to both Bill and Hillary Clinton- that mulligans (just like batteries) are not included in the rules of this year’s primary elections.

When Hillary Clinton was a teenager in the nineteen-sixties, a young black boxer named Cassius Clay was streaking undefeated towards the heavyweight crown. This young man later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, on his way to becoming the most popular international sports-figure in history. Next Monday (25th) will be the forty-fourth year anniversary of one of the greatest challenges Ali ever faced. It was the first title fight between the mean and surly champion named Sonny Liston and the charismatic Ali himself. It was the first of two meetings between these boxers. The Liston v. Clay saga is being re-played today folks; right before our very eyes; only the names have changed.

Barack Obama’s broom has been busy lately. It has been sweeping caucuses and cleaning up primaries. It hasn’t surprised me one bit, as I have been telling you guys for a while now: you are watching history unfold, folks. Okay: so I like to rub the noses of my detractors into the groundings of my political predictions come true; live with it; get over it.

Last week I told you guys that Obama could sweep the seven upcoming races (including Maine-which everyone and his brother thought Billary would win). I said the worst he could do was win five of seven. I also said that Billary’s best shot for an upset was in Maryland; well take Maryland off the table now. I didn’t even consider The Virgin islands worthy of discussion, since there were only three delegates at stake: but then that was already in the Obama win column. Tonight, I expect Barack Obama’s broom to sweep through the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. Billary will be cleaning up late tonight folks. Start calling her the “clean-up woman”; she will be doing a lot of cleaning up after Obama keeps winning. By tonight he would have won about two dozen caucuses and primaries; this is rally impressive folks: it is time to admit that you Clintonistas.