In an article in The Amerian Prospect about ( what else? ) Democratic “party unity,” there’s a very interesting little gem in the very first paragraph.
A random sampling of delegates arriving in Denver suggests that the mood is nervously hopeful. There is broad anxiety about why Obama is not doing better, given the favorable external circumstances. However, the selection of Joe Biden as running mate played even better than expected. The running joke is that the white guy is going to give the black guy some soul, as well as some street-toughness that Obama has lacked.
The rest of the piece goes on predictably, Clinton must deliver…blah, blah, blah…delusional bitter supporters…blah, blah, blah…Obama won fair and square…yada, yada, yada…good of the party…just get over it…gag me with a spoon. Okay, the last part’s not in there, and I paraphrased a lot of the rest, but I’ve read so many of these cattle-prods of semi-pseudo-quasi-journalism that my eyes are crossing from being stuck at the top of my head so long.
What’s fascinating, though is the ballsy assertion that Biden is capable of infusing Obama with “soul.” What the hell? Define “soul.” First of all, what is it that a normal person would assume a black guy should have, that Obama obviously doesn’t? If it’s something black that Obama is lacking, why is Obama so popular with black people and Biden isn’t, since Biden’s rumored to have it? Does “street-toughness” equate to black? Or is “street-toughness” “soul?” Is Obama missing both “soul” and “street-toughness?” Do you need these things to be black? President? Frankly, I’m confused. And I’m black. I guess I’ll have to wait for one of Obama’s “interpreters of black expectations” like Roland Martin, or Bob Herbert or Eugene Robinson to explain to me how I’m supposed to feel about this statement. Because left to my own devices, I’m liable to get pissed.
“Things are fine, no really, go on about your business, there’s nothing to see here. Ease on down the road. Go on, now, git!”
That’s what some of the good folks running the DNC are saying to those silly people who want that pesky principle called “democracy” to have some meaning at the Democratic National Convention this year. And they act like there should be no penalty at all, like say, losing a slam dunk election, for doing such a thing.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that Hillary Clinton had created a “whip team:”
In an unusual move, Hillary Clinton’s staff is creating a 40-member “whip team” at the Denver Democratic convention to ensure that her supporters don’t engage in embarrassing anti-Obama demonstrations during the floor vote on her nomination, according to people familiar with the planning.
The team, which is being organized by longtime Clinton staffer Craig Smith, is working in conjunction with Obama’s floor organizers to help foster the image of a unified front during a roll-call process Clinton herself has described as an emotional “catharsis” for her disappointed supporters.
Got it? Hillary and her longtime staffer, okay? Keep that in mind, it’s very important. Because in yesterdays’ New York Times, was this:
The Obama campaign is leaving little to chance. It has created a rapid response team — led by Craig Smith, a former top operative in the Clinton world — to head out to the convention floor at the first sign of any trouble from Clinton supporters.
Lest you think that was a typo, a mix-up, miscommunication or some other sort of mistake, the Times provides this little nugget:
Mr. Obama’s campaign began sending out a one-page sheet of daily talking points to delegates, instructing them what to say and what to avoid in talking to reporters. (In one last week, according to a recipient, the central thrust was how to parry questions about Clinton-Obama strife and Mrs. Clinton’s speech by saying, “I can’t wait to hear Hillary Clinton talk about the future and am excited that her candidacy is unifying our party!”)
I wonder what else Hillary said that Hillary didn’t say, hmmm? And once again, I gotta wonder, what do these people use for brains, and do they use toilet paper after?
How can people entrusted with so much responsibility be so clueless? For anybody to think that you can make a sham nomination of a fraudulent candidate legitimate by forcing people to pretend they’re cool with it, is so amazingly stupid that it’s hard to believe that anyone with mental ability beyond what it takes to scrabble on walls with a crayon could think of it, let alone try to pull it off. But hey, that’s Nancy Pelosi, for you.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is chairwoman of the convention, acknowledged Monday that Democrats are not yet united following the bitter primary fight, especially among women. She said a “gender gap” in Obama’s favor had emerged “even before the convention, and even before the complete reconciliation that we need,” she said.
“But to stay wallowing in all of this is not productive,” she said. “So we can talk about this forever, or we can talk about how we’re going to take our message to the American people, to women all across America, to see the distinctions” between Obama and Republican candidate John McCain.
The biggest difference, Madame Speaker, (it’s a shame when using someone’s title qualifies as a dig, considering Congress’ approval ratings ) is that John McCain won his nomination fairly. Don’t you get it, honey? For a lot of us, that’s huge.
I can’t tell you how relieved I am to read so many articles going to such extraordinary lengths to reassure me, and the rest of the world, that Barack Obama is still black. Who knew? Now, I know that I have, on occasion, told him to cut it out. I mean, how far can you go with the black thing? How much of this “vote for me because I’m black, y’all” or “prove you’re not a racist, vote for my black half,” are we all supposed to endure? Well it seems that a lot of the media don’t agree with me. They seem to think you can never have too much of a good thing.
Barack Obama’s quest for the White House, which began some 18 months ago on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., reaches a historic milestone this week, when he becomes the first African American to accept a major party’s nomination for president.
Eight years into a new millennium and nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the nation is poised to make a historic leap with its first African American at the top of a major political party’s ticket.
It is historic, isn’t it? Doesn’t matter how he got there, right? Even if there are allegations of caucus fraud, lackluster performance during the bulk of the primaries, thug-like tactics by surrogates, or any of that stuff, at least he’s black. The mayor of Trenton, N.J. , Doug Palmer, ( a black man ) is all choked up about it, too. He never thought he’d see a black man nominated for president.
Every American with some basic understanding of our nation’s development must contemplate this week how the 2008 Democratic Party nomination of Sen. Barack Obama as our candidate for president is truly historic.
Obama must really be black, and that must really be historic, huh? Even though, ABC News wants you to know he’s not too black:
The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, Obama spent formative years in Hawaii and Indonesia, worked his way through college and began his political career as a community organizer in Chicago.
But Bloomberg News reminds us that a little black is historic, too.
He is the first to have such an exotic biography, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia and has relatives on four continents.
Of course, being black comes with risks, as the Wall Street Journal points out:
Barack Obama’s rise is driving a sometimes uncomfortable debate in the black community: What does it mean to be black in America?
Sen. Obama embodies contradictions in the community that are starting to bubble to the surface — largely out of the earshot of whites. He is the biracial son of an African father and a white mother in a community where most people are descended from slavery or whose ancestors had direct experience with segregation. He is the married father of two in a community in which more than 60% of children grow up in a single-parent household. He’s a politician who isn’t steeped in the civil-rights struggles of the 1960s and didn’t grow up in the inner city or in a black neighborhood.
Barack Obama is in a situation similar to Jackie Robinson, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) said Monday at a Politico panel on race and the presidential election in Denver. Just as Robinson had to perform well on the field while ignoring racial taunts and refusing to hit back, Obama must do the same, he said.
“No one wants an angry African-American man in the White House,” he said.
Even the British press gets it. The Telegraph thinks Camp O is just making excuses, though:
The Left is preparing its excuse in advance for Barack Obama losing the presidential election. All together now, let’s hear it: It’s All About Race. However few Americans there may be who are actually prepared to utter the words, “I wouldn’t vote for a black man”, the truth, it is said, is that racial bigotry is at the heart of Obama’s failure to take a convincing lead.
This week’s events in Denver are fast turning into a critical moment in Obama’s bid to be America’s first black President. What was once seen as an anointing of his candidacy is becoming a chance to right a campaign facing a series of unexpected crises.
Some black people in this country are conflicted about Obama being black, believe it or not. From the New York Times:
Mr. Harrison, a demographer who is black, says he expects to feel chills when Mr. Obama becomes the first black presidential candidate to lead a major party ticket. But as the Democratic convention gets under way, Mr. Harrison’s anticipation is tempered by uneasiness as he wonders: Will Mr. Obama’s success further the notion that the long struggle for racial equality has finally been won?
Never fear, Barack is here! He knows what the deal is and has plans to handle this biz. From Yahoo News:
Obama, 47, who will become the first black presidential nominee, said Sunday he will try to convince voters he is just a normal middle class American despite his exotic upbringing and Republican claims he is an elitist.
Then Barry’s gonna get his wife to help everybody chill on the black thing. Again, from Yahoo:
“You will have a sense of who she is and what our values are and how we are raising our kids, and I think what you will conclude is `gee, he’s sort of like us,”’ Obama told voters yesterday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Barack Obama’s campaign plans to relaunch his “urban agenda” Monday in what people close to the strategy say is an effort to assure urban leaders and voters of the Democratic nominee’s commitment to cities and minorities without alienating skeptical white voters.
Boy, this being black thing can be hard work, can’t it? But CNN assures us that the black guy remembers that we’re all in this together:
The delegates will make history this week by officially nominating Sen. Barack Obama, the first African-American presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party.
Monday’s kickoff — which features the theme of “One Nation” — has a lineup of heavy hitters guaranteed to sing the praises of Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, while also tearing into McCain.
Before we get too giddy, however, the New York Times reminds us that it always comes down to race:
LIKE so much in his presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s search for a running mate was shadowed by the specter of race.
I feel for Barry O. It’s hard to be black all the time. Compared to that, being president is a piece of cake. And as B. I. Conway says in a TriCities.com article, since both Jesus and Obama are dark liberals, why should we let our prejudices prevail?
So, Virginia, please see that you need not fear Mr. Barack Obama because of his color or his liberalism and progressive thinking. He is less liberal than Jesus. Mr. Obama has already told us that he does not want our guns and will enforce the death penalty.
Edit
I think it not a coincidence that Mr. Barack Obama, a Christian and a man of mixed black and white blood, has risen up to us as he has with such a strong belief that we can come together.
Say what you will about Mr. Conway’s theory of Jesus’ dark skin and liberalism, he’s right about one thing. We do have to come together. I’m just not sure we have to do it as one nation under a Barack Obama groove.
In an article in The Amerian Prospect about ( what else? ) Democratic “party unity,” there’s a very interesting little gem in the very first paragraph.
“Things are fine, no really, go on about your business, there’s nothing to see here. Ease on down the road. Go on, now, git!”
How can people entrusted with so much responsibility be so clueless? For anybody to think that you can make a sham nomination of a fraudulent candidate legitimate by forcing people to pretend they’re cool with it, is so amazingly stupid that it’s hard to believe that anyone with mental ability beyond what it takes to scrabble on walls with a crayon could think of it, let alone try to pull it off. But hey, that’s 
I can’t tell you how relieved I am to read so many articles going to such extraordinary lengths to reassure me, and the rest of the world, that Barack Obama is still black. Who knew? Now, I know that I have, on occasion, told him to cut it out. I mean, how far can you go with the black thing? How much of this “vote for me because I’m black, y’all” or “prove you’re not a racist, vote for my black half,” are we all supposed to endure? Well it seems that a lot of the media don’t agree with me. They seem to think you can never have too much of a good thing.
