I will be 38 years old in September. I was born in Chicago, a city with racial segregation built into every neighborhood. I live in the Southwest. My roots are Scottish and Italian. I am about as white as they come.
I am a liberal Democrat.
I am a bisexual woman.
Tonight my party voted, by acclaim, to make Barack Obama the first black Democratic Presidential candidate in American history.
I’ve never in my life experienced a physical reaction after reading something on a computer screen. Sure, there have been diaries here or articles that have brought the proverbial tears to my eyes but never had I actually felt chills run through my body. It was a rush, like William Gibson’s "freight train running up my spine" after the protagonist in Neuromancer pushed on an adhesive patch of amphetamine.
Of course in that world, the street "held the axe." For a long time people all over this country, in our inner cities and our impoverished rural towns have been waiting for that axe to fall. I hope they feel, as I do, that the axe has been stayed. For more, follow me after the jump.
Snohomish County Republicans on Tuesday stopped selling phony $3 bills at their Evergreen State Fair booth bearing a picture of Barack Obama wearing an Arab headdress.
In addition to the image of Sen. Obama, the likely Democratic nominee for president, the "Obamanation Note" design includes a silhouette figure of a camel, identifies Obama as "Da Man" and is signed by "Teddy Kennedy, Chief Socialism Advisor," and "Al Sharpton, New Spiritual Advisor." The serial number, "IBD14UOK" when read aloud, is fractured English: "I be de one for you, OK."
These bills are an illustration of the true nature of the GOP, and the level of desperation they must feel in advance of the election to distribute these things for fundraising purposes.
Here is a link to an AP account of the meth-head-white-supremacists who were caught during a traffic stop I found in my local paper, the Boston Globe.
AP is trying to play down the assassin aspect by choosing this as their title:
Police say 3 men posed no real threat
Well, I beg to differ, AP. These guys could have been convenient fall guys, while a pro slipped out the back door, for all we know. If anything, they pose a threat to society, driving around with powerful weapons, possibly high as kites, and crazy as racists.
I sure do hope they investigate those would be assassins better than that. Go over everything they've done, please, policemen, and look over their finances, possible accomplices, and whether anyone incited them to do this and/or helped them procure their weapons, money, and paraphernalia. (I trust the local police so much more than I trust the FBI. Well, I trust some FBI agents, but I don't trust the apparatchiks upstairs calling them off important leads prior to 9/11 and the ones who declared the anthrax case solved, when there are so many holes in the case.)
I've read a few diaries complaining about the coverage of the Convention, and part of the criticism is the TV celebrities think it's all about them. From what I saw, the celebrities reminded me of a pre-game or half time football show with Howie and Bradshaw. There was no game, just their opinions and jokes about a game.
I'm no celebrity and I'm sure it comes with the territory. It's a hard job, although it pays quite well. And I like Olbermann and Maddow and a few others. But I see a diary on the Rec list by Keith Olbermann about his issues with the NY Post. Maybe on another day, it'd be all cool. Hey, Keith's on our side. And the NY Post sucks.
But today an African American will be nominated for President by a Party that prior to the Civil War accomodated slavery and, under Woodrow Wilson, segregated the civil service. It's also a Party that fought in the 1960s to bring civil rights to all.
This is truly historic. There should be diaries about Barack Obama on the Rec list. It's his day.
KO has a good correction to my title in the Update, which I adopted in part in the Updated version.
Amazingly, in the past several months I've been called a racist 3 times, more than anytime in my life! The first time was when the Jeremiah Wright thing broke out and I defended the guy, I was called bigoted against whites. Then, just the other I was called first "pro-Black" then "racist against whites" because I favored Barack Obama over that walking museum piece from Arizona. Now, today, the conservative economic blog site, Carpe Diem, is labeling people like me racist for demanding things be made in this country!
I was just stunned watching Morning Joe, because I thought we had FINALLY gotten beyond the kind of thing that I just saw. The first hour plus were devoted to how Hillary's speech last night was a deliberately lukewarm "endorsement" of Barack Obama the Democrat, but conspicuosly failed to endorse him as a person.
Then they switched to how Barack and Michelle Obama were totally at fault for this because Barack Obama had failed to call Bill Clinton, and had claimed that he was "too busy." Then they talked about how Hillary Clinton had supposedly repeatedly called Michelle Obama, but Michelle had supposedly refused to return her calls.
I was at our local Quicky mart today, in line to pay for my gas. There was a fairly long line, and as I often do waiting in long lines, I grew bored. I checked out the candy on the isle next to me, noting the new 'Pop Rocks Chocolate Bar' while casually wondering how the hell they came up with that, when I noticed the woman in line in front of me had a pin on her bag that said "Obama/Biden '08."
I should preface this by stating that I live in a small southern Midwest town, there is a church on every other corner, and it is a rather Republican/conservative leaning area. We're not quite the 'South' - but close.
Some talking heads have been speculating that the Clintons are looking ahead to a presidential run in 2012, but understand that any Clinton fingerprints on an Obama defeat would be fatal to their future presidential prospects.
At the Convention Tuesday, Sen Clinton gave a brilliant speech appealing for Democratic unity and victory, an affirmation of her supporters, a full throated endorsement of Obama for president, saying "it's not about me" and powerfully contrasting Obama and the DP to McCain, Bush and the GOP on issue after issue. The pundits agree that her speech was effective inside the convention, moving her grieving supporters to the stage of acceptance. Her rising to the occasion reminded me of athletes like Shawn Johnson, Michael Jordan and Diana Taurasi, who perform best under the greatest pressure.
But what HRC omitted was what was most needed: a testimonial to Obama's personal qualification to be President, to bring around the millions of undecided voters watching on TV. As Michael Beschloss noted on Charlie Rose, she needed to refute her ad hominem attacks on Obama during the primary, on such themes as 3 AM calls on the red phone, and her assertion that she and McCain are ready to lead on day one, but Obama, maybe not.
I'd like to share a little story with you. I spent the weekend defending Obama. I was at a family birthday party with friends and neighbors (in Pennsylvania). It was a backyard BBQ at my sister's house (also an Obama supporter), and she invited family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. I decided to wear my Obama shirt, and brought a few yard signs and bumper stickers to hand out to other Obama supporters (I made sure to ask my sister first, she said of course!). There were also some non-supporters, and the day was filled with "lively" discussion.
This is a Netroots Nation success story. I met Irwin Tang, the author of Gook: McCain's Racism and Why It Matters, at the Netroots Nation Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus. I'd heard of McCain's use of the word "Gook" before, but even as a half-Chinese person myself, I'd dismissed it as understandable. I mean, he'd been tortured by the North Vietnamese, right? He had a right to be angry, or so I thought.
"Gook" is just the beginning of McCain's racism. As Irwin pointed out, it goes much deeper, to the point of being White supremacist racist. I found myself piping up and said, "This needs to be a film and I want to work on it!"
In my beloved state of Minnesota, our State Fair is going on. I was, with my family, on an outing to the Fair, and much as I do every year, I dropped by the Democratic Farmer-Labor party pavilion to see who was there (it was Atty. Gen. Lori Swanson this time) and see how busy they were (mildly).
It was at the Obama table I overheard a Fair-goer demand information about why Obama was avoiding the question of "race", which he said was "very important" this election cycle.
The man seemed to be in his mid-fifties, and white. I was curious, so I eavesdropped.
He said he didn't want to end up having to pay "reparations" under an Obama administration. This made me laugh in disbelief, but I decided to engage the man. More after the flip.
Mike Montoya, a 51-year-old online book salesman, firmly committed to McCain and the GOP, interjected with a complaint that the Obama campaign has claimed racism
"every time there is something critical said about him... If he is going to be President, he has to put his blackness behind him."
(my emphasis)
I just saw this in an article at HuffPo and it blew me away
I pray that I'm wrong, because I am a certified (certifiable) Obamaniac. I think he's just what this country needs.
Why am I concerned? Because I spoke with my 100-yr-old blind and mostly deaf Jewish grandmother the other night. She's a woman who has likely never voted for a Republican in her life. She told me that she will vote for McCain. No, she didn't come out and say it was because Obama is African American, but that's what was behind it. She uses the "he has no experience" meme, but that's not the real reason. Later in the conversation, we were talking about character and I threw the fact that McCain dumped his wife when he returned from Nam. Her stunning response? "She had gotten fat, you would have dumped her too." Huh? Grandma? Is this the same grandma who was married for over 50 years to the same man?
Last night I was watching MSNBC and one of the pundits stated that in order for Michelle Obama's speech to be successful, she needed to be "Less Jackee, More Jackie O."
I was blown away by this racist statement. The NY Post attributes it to CBS, but I know I heard it on MSNBC.
I watched the Bartoshevich advertisement this morning, and something about the closing really concerned me.
In addition to addressing women, and particularly, purportedly, former Clinton supporters, this ad is a play for undecideds in general or for people who are planning on voting for Obama, even though they may have reservations they can't quite put their figure on. White women, it would make sense, represents a demographic the McCain campaign knows they need and they think they can sway, to some extent, with this kind of permission to vote their prejudice coupled with a non-argument argument.
It's like, "It's okay, you don't even need a real reason to vote for McCain, and there's no reason to feel bad about it. Come on...everyone's gonna do it."
Check out this collection of recent articles about the MOVE 9. Through journalists for Mumia, I helped in the campaign to grant parole (starting a petition and sample letter for the parole board) via move9parole.blogspot.com and was very disaapointed with the denial. Also, check out this video I made.
Those of you with long memories will recall the 1990 senate campaign in North Carolina between African-American Democrat and former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, and incumbent Republican Jesse Helms. Gantt ran a strong campaign and was leading in the polls close to the election, but then Helms ran the infamous racist ad (produced by Alex Castellanos) titled "Hands":
Gantt responded with a "This time, don't be taken in by the sleaze" counterattack, but it wasn't good enough and Helms won. I don't think we should be surprised if the McCain campaign tries a similar desperate gambit in late October of this year. What do fellow Kossacks think the best strategy (in response or pre-emption) for dealing with this would be? (If you think "that ad could never run today"-- well, that's what they thought in 1990 too...)
