black…MYstory

Often, when I think about the current wars we are in, I don’t think about what will be asked of me. Instead, I think about my 5-year-old son. My son was born just a few months after we invaded Iraq. I know that the wrong choice of president could mean that, one day, my son could be called up for compulsory military service as we commemorate our 18th year of war in that country. I don’t want that for my child and I don’t see John McCain as a path away from that possibility.

So, when I saw this ad from MoveOn.org, I couldn’t help but think of what’s at stake this November.

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I was watching Countdown last night and there was reaction to John McCain’s comments on the Today Show where he stated that it was “not too imporant” when troops come home from Iraq, as long as they are not taking casualties. Keith Olbermann spoke with Brandon Friedman from Vote Vets to ask what McCain’s statements could mean to troops in the field.

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This one comes courtesy of Crooks and Liars and it’s a good one. It’s a clip from a C-Span appearance by Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas. Hensarling, like a lot of Republicans, is trying to blame America’s fiscal problems on the Democrats, despite the fact that they have held the presidency since 2001, had a majority of the House from 1994 through 2006 and had a Senate Majority from 2002 through 2006. That means for a good 4-year stretch, they had the legislative and executive branches of government on lock (some would argue that with their judicial appointment, they also controlled this branch). So, with them controlling the reins, you can’t blame others when things go off-track.

This is a compilation of the callers to the show that blasted him. Notice that these including some callers who identified themselves as Republicans.

The video is below:

 

 Hensarling on C-Span: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Associated Press has a story out on some of the biggest mistakes made by the Clinton campaign that cost her the nomination.

Honestly, I had thought for the longest time that she was poorly-served by the people around her, not the least of which was her own husband, former President Bill Clinton.

She has said some things that caused me to raise an eyebrow but, for the most part, it was the management of her campaign and the surrogates that spoke for her that left me most taken aback.

One section of this article stood out for me. It was how the actions of Bill Clinton ended up costing Hillary Clinton the black vote when, at the time, she enjoyed a significant advantage with black voters. It sums ups what I saw quite nicely:

Until January of this year, former President Clinton had been viewed as an asset for his wife among her aides and supporters. Although reviled by conservatives for his affair with a White House intern, Bill Clinton remained a beloved figure among Democratic audiences, particularly blacks, who remembered the 1990s as relatively prosperous and his efforts on their behalf.

That changed in South Carolina, where the former president campaigned vigorously for his wife. Her advisers, aware of his tendency to go off message, had urged him to stay positive and talk up her accomplishments, not criticize Obama.

But Bill Clinton chafed at the campaign’s reluctance to take on the Illinois senator, particularly over what the former president viewed as conflicts between Obama’s rhetoric of opposition to the Iraq war and his voting record. So he took it on himself to speak out, with calamitous results.

Obama soundly won South Carolina, and Bill Clinton then made things worse. He seemed to diminish Obama’s triumph by noting that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, never the presidential contender that Obama had already become, had also won the state’s primary years earlier.

Once so popular among blacks he was dubbed the first black president by author Toni Morrison, Bill Clinton had helped drive those voters away from his wife. Obama’s already strong black support would climb to as much as 90 percent of the black vote in subsequent contests.

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Congratulations, Barack Obama!

Last night, you went on to become the first black presidential nominee in U.S. history. More importantly, you are now the candidate designated to lead us out of the darkness of the last 7+ years.

So, for a moment, savor your victory then…get back to work!

We have a country to change.

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We might now know why the Clinton campaign adamantly denied today that their candidate will concede.

In a word — leverage.

It now appears that Hillary Clinton has signaled that she would be open to be Obama’s Vice-president.

Perhaps her delay on announcing her exit of the race would be for just that reason and put her in the position to bargain for the spot.

While it would not be the “dream ticket” I would envision, it could help unite the party (did I just say that?)

So, it seems the veepstakes is on and Hillary Clinton may have just thrown her name in the hat.

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Well, we already know that tonight marks the end of the primary season. For a while now, we have heard rumblings that indicated that we could see a delegate fight at the Democratic National Convention in August, which would pose a huge risk to the chances of a Democratic candidate in November.

However, there are signals that this won’t happen.

Today, the breaking news is that Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight will be a concession speech. According to senior officials on her campaign, if Obama has the 40 remaining delegates (pledged and super) that he needs to reach the magic number of 2,118, Senator Clinton will acknowledge Obama as the Democratic nominee.

However, it appears that she will not say that she is formally ending her run.

At any rate, I’ll be up late tonight awaiting this. If this is the case, it will not be the Obama victory speech that everyone will be awaiting. Instead, it will be the concession speech that will own tonight’s coverage.

Update: Now, some in the Clinton campaign say she will not concede. So, we will see which of these stories prove to be true tonight.

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For yet another election cycle, the Democratic National Committee is utilizing the help of bloggers to get the word out.  In this election cycle, the DNC is giving black bloggers a seat at the table.  Well, actually, it’s the card table that the little kids sit at for family dinners.

What black bloggers are finding out is that the “new media” is still as white as the old one and these bloggers are often not on the DNC’s radar.

Thankfully enough, there are black bloggers out there getting organized.  Who knows, maybe soon these bloggers will be able to argue from a position of greater strength so that in the next cycle, the Democrats will have to beat a path to their doors.

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Senator Hillary Clinton, of late, has gone down a very bizarre path.  For example, she recently compared her fight to have the Florida and Michigan delegations seated as-is at the Democratic Convention to efforts to free black slaves and to the fight for winning the right to vote for blacks and women (never mind that she was perfectly okay with Florida and Michigan being “disenfranchised” when she was ahead in the race).  We all knew it to be grandstanding but, hey, whatever, right?

Today, though, we heard something from Senator Clinton that not only showed her desperation but, also showed how low she is willing to go to still try to get the presidential nomination.

Today, Clinton offered the following rationale for staying in the Democratic presidential race:

“And again, I’ve been around long enough. You know, my husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary sometime in the middle of June. Right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just– I don’t understand it. And you know, there’s lots of speculation about why it is, but uh…”

My question is why reference an assassination when being asked why you are sticking around when you are behind in the delegate math, both in elected delegates and superdelegates?  She seemed to be saying that anything could happen, such as an unfortunate accident or even the death of the leading candidate at the hands of an assassin.

This year, we commemorated the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.  and will soon observe that same somber marker for the assassination of Robert Kennedy.  Today, we have the leading candidate who, because he is black, has received what are being called very credible death threats, so much so that he had to accept a Secret Service detail over a year ago and has to have more security at his events than either Senator Clinton or Senator John McCain.

So, to imply that you are sticking around in case something happens and one of those things being referenced is that, previously, a leading presidential candidate was murdered is beyond the pale.

Hillary Clinton’s chances were sinking more and more each day.  Now, one must ask if, after all this time, it is now the time for the superdelegates to step forward and end this.  There are rumors that Clinton has been pushing for the Vice President slot.  Well, one has to ask, would she be willing to take such a role because, hey, who knows when the presidential slot might open up.  After all, there have been Presidents who have been assassinated?  Trust me, while I was being somewhat facetious, I certainly wasn’t trying to be humorous.  Barack Obama is fully aware that there are some out there who wish to to him harm for no more reason than he is a black man who dares to dream big enough to want to be President.  The fact that another presidential hopeful, of his own party, no less, would raise the specter of assassination leaves one wondering what lurks in the mind and heart of Senator Clinton.

Of course, she has apologized, sort of.  But, this is sort of like trying to unring a bell.  Once such things are out there, it is not easy to take them back.

However, before I wrap up, I do want to call attention to one thing THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME SHE HAS MADE THIS REFERENCE.  Keith Olbermann, in a special comment on his show, Countdown, has cited no less than three previous instances where she cited her husband’s June win in 1992 and the killing of Robert Kennedy in 1968 as reasons for her to stay in the race.  In at least one prior instance, she specifically used the word “assassination” in referencing Kennedy’s death in justifying her continued campaigning in this race.  Then, as now, the inference was that you can’t be sure what would happen.  I’ll post the Countdown video shortly.

So, perhaps we have seen what may prove to be the final implosion of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.  She asked who would be ready on Day One to be president.  Today, it is clear that one person is not — Hillary Clinton.

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Well, I’m not done with John McCain just yet.

Much has been made over statements by Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright. From about 30 seconds from a couple of sermons, this man was dismissed as a racist, anti-American kook.

However, little has been made of McCain’s “pastor problem”. Though John Hagee is not McCain’s pastor, per se, he is someone whose endorsement McCain sought out for a year and, even after Hagee’s statements about referring to the Catholic church as “the great whore” and Hagee’s assertion that Jesus never saw himself as the Messiah and his claim that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for a gay-pride parade scheduled in New Orleans, McCain has said that he rejects some of Pastor Hagee’s statements but heartily accepts his endorsement.

In my previous post about Hagee, I promised that there would be more and more there is. Hagee often touts himself as a friend of Israel. There is a belief that there are some evangelicals who want to hasten the coming of Armageddon. The idea would be to bring about the second coming of Jesus and fulfill the prophecies in the book of Revelations. Part of that is to make sure that Jewish people are securely back in their biblical homeland in order for Christ to return. However, in this belief, this would not mean the salvation of most Jewish people. In fact, this belief states that Jewish people would be cast into Hell, along with other “non-believers”, unless they convert. Some friends of Israel, huh?

I say all that to help provide some context for a recently-revealed sermon from John Hagee. In a sermon delivered in the late 90’s, Hagee stated that Hitler was an instrument of God to force the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel.

You read right. Hagee stated that Hitler was doing God’s will when he persecuted, enslaved and murdered millions of Jewish people. But, I’ll let you hear the words for yourself. Someone has posted the audio of this sermon and it’s as crazy as I’ve stated here.

Some will say that McCain’s pastor problem is nothing compared to Obama’s. I would agree — it’s not the same, it’s worse.

You see, McCain clearly referred to these people as “agents of intolerance” when he last ran for president. Therefore, he knew the type of people he was climbing into bed with, politically, when he actively and eagerly sought out their endorsements. He can’t argue that the was blinded by friendship or familial loyalty. He went in with both eyes open.

So, corporate media, is this story sensational enough for you to give McCain’s endorser 1/100th of the attention you paid to Rev. Wright? It seems that Hagee has more than enough material to keep you busy.

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