White Folks Rap For Obama

I shit kid you not.  Enjoy…er, or not.

I’m not real sure whose side that guy is on.

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Obama Big Donors Change Status

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, America’s last two investment banks, and two of Barack Obama’s largest donors, have been granted a request by the Federal Reserve to change status to “bank holding companies,” according to AP News.

The Fed announced that it had approved the request of the two investment banks. The change in status will allow them to create commercial banks that will be able to take deposits, bolstering the resources of both institutions.

What does it mean?

The change of status means both companies will come under the direct regulation of the Federal Reserve, which regulates the nation’s bank holding companies. The banking subsidiaries of the two institutions will face the stricter regulations that commercial banks are required to meet. Previously, the primary regulator for Goldman and Morgan Stanley was the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In related news, Politico announced that Obama says he will likely keep Henry Paulson “involved” in his administration, if elected:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said Sunday that if he’s elected, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would be “involved” in the new administration’s transition – a very unusual move when the White House changes parties.

Paulson, 62, is the wealthy former chairman and chief executive of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, and is widely respected on Wall Street.

Kevin Hall, of McClatchy News, wonders if that is a good idea:

Making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeatedly said today’s financial problems were long in the making. He should know. He was part of the Gold Rush that has brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse.

Paulson presided over one of the most profitable runs on Wall Street as chairman and chief executive officer of investment banking titan Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1999 until President Bush nominated him on May 30, 2006 to take over the Treasury Department .

Goldman Sachs ($208,395) and Morgan Stanley ( $233,272) have both donated to John McCain, too, but not quite as much.  Obama got $691,930 from GS and $318,070 from MS.

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Vote Before The Other Shoe Drops?

NOTICE

Applications for registration must be completely filled out without any assistance or suggestions of any person or memorandum.

After 10 days applicants names and addresses are published for two consecutive weeks in the newspaper. They cannot be ruled on for 14 days after the second publication. Therefore it can take as long as 33 days before we can give you an answer as to your application being accepted or rejected.

Your indulgence is appreciated.
The Registrar.

Is the recent media push for early voting somehow tied to the recent media push for racializing the election?  In the past few days so many articles have featured so many people speculating, implying and downright accusing Americans of harboring enough racial animus to prevent Barack Obama from prevailing in his White House bid solely by nature of his blackness, that it is hard not to wonder, as our friends at HillBuzz do, what’s everybody really so afraid of?   The HillBuzzers contend that John McCain’s new “attacks by association are fair game” attitude might have something to do with it.  Well, of course attacks by association are fair, if not, Obama’s whole campaign is out of bounds, since it’s built on a “McSame, 4 more years of Bush” foundation.  A visit to McCain/Palin’s TV Ads website shows no new Rev. Wright or Rezco or Ayers ads, but that doesn’t mean none are forthcoming.  And there are those 527’s and other party loyalists with digital video skills and You Tube accounts to consider.

There have also been a lot of articles and blog posts about early voting.  Some states, like Virginia, have already begun the process.  While mailing in a ballot is certainly more convenient than standing in line at a voting booth, it’s doubtful that concerns for minimizing voter’s free time sacrifice is what drives both campaigns to encourage it.  The increased potential for fraud would also have to be a concern to both campaigns.  So, why the push, especially by Camp O?  Maybe a fear of “the bloom falling off the rose?”

For one thing, votes cast now are binding and can’t be “taken back.”  Anything can happen between now and election day.  What happens if one of those legions of subliminally rabid racists has a change of heart and decides that voting for the black guy is the only way to get to heaven?  If one of the candidates performs horribly in the debates, or makes a major public speaking gaffe, or is implicated in a high profile scandal, or even kicks a puppy or bites a baby’s nose instead of kissing it, there’s no recourse for an early voter’s resultant “buyer’s remorse.”  Since I don’t plan to vote for either one of the major party candidates, it doesn’t matter whether or not I don’t do it early.  That being said, even if I did think one of these guys was worth voting for, if some devastating information came to light affecting one of the them between now and the election, I would want my options open.

Besides, I’ve never had to stand in line to vote in my life.

“But, I don’t think you’ll see it clearly. Barring some unforeseen development like in — something happens in the debates we don’t know about. I — I — I — it may not be apparent in the polls until last week or two of the election. But, I believe that it will be apparent on election day. I think that — I think Senator Obama will win this election.” – Bill Clinton

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Barack Obama Unplugged

Barack Obama sings for his woman here.  And sings for Aretha Franklin here:

How many advisers does he have, again?

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What If Obama Was White?

Given the recent spate of articles in the press about America’s pervasive undercurrent of latent racism, like this, and this, as well as this, this, this, and this, and it’s potential to derail the presidential aspirations of Barack Obama, it’s time to revisit Geraldine Ferraro’s controversial comments about the role such racism plays.  On March 11, 2008, ABC News’ Jake tapper reported:

Clinton campaign finance committee member, former vice presidential candidate, and former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-NY,  told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Ca., that, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

Of Clinton, Ferraro said that the press “has been uniquely hard on her. It’s been a very sexist media. Some just don’t like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.”

“I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he’s going to be able to put an end to partisanship. Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship – that’s the way our country is.”

Let’s see, right off the bat, it’s pretty obvious that if Obama was white, Ferraro never would have had a reason to make that statement and would still be considered a grande dame of the Democratic party.  It’s just as obvious that Barack Obama would also not have thrown his hat in the ring this year and would not now be said party’s nominee.  Even he knows that much.

It’s hard to imagine that the Democrats would have supported the presidential run of the 99th ranked, brash young senator from Illinois under any other circumstances.  He has no breakout legislation to his credit, he does not come from a political family, he is not a veteran and he has some rather “eyebrow raising” associations.

Obama’s resume would not be nearly as compelling if he were white.  He probably would never have been invited to speak at the 2004 convention.  He surely would not have been assured of 90 percent of the black vote in the primaries if Hillary and Bill Clinton had not been characterized as an out-of-touch, racially insensitive, white couple, making black America’s identification with Obama’s ethnicity more sympathetic.

John Kerry’s assessment of his protege’s foreign affairs potential would have had even less basis, and Obama’s articulate, eloquence might not have been considered quite as noteworthy, either, if he ever did have occasion to display it.  How many rock concert-sized crowds does the average US Senator ranked 99th in seniority get to address?

I came to Washington with a celebrity that, to be honest, was a bit inflated, and a bit undeserved. What many people don’t realize is that in the Senate, it’s seniority, not celebrity, that’s important. Right now, I’m 99th in seniority in the minority party, so when I got here they handed me a toothbrush and said, hey Obama, go clean the bathrooms.

If Obama was a white man, it’s almost a certainty that he would never have joined Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church, even if he embraced the United Church of Christ.  Videos of Wright’s sermons could have been sold on the internet forever without creating enough of an uproar to cause Obama to give a history making speech “worthy of Abraham Lincoln, in an ultimately futile attempt to cover his ass.

If Obama was white, his life story wouldn’t be very interesting, either.  For one thing, he wouldn’t be Obama.  At least his name wouldn’t be.  There’d be no “Kenyan father, white mother from Kansas,” or “skinny kid with a funny name,” or “Selma got me born” stories to exploit.  The fact that he went to Harvard would be no big deal, since 7 other white alumni have already broken that well trod ground.  Jr. Harvard Grad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Average America is, well, pretty ordinary in politics.

The question is not only “what role will racism play in Obama’s potential defeat?” but  also, “how many ways did racism help him secure the nomination?”  Because, the most striking, yet always unspoken, truth is that if Barack Obama was an urban black man, he probably wouldn’t even be a senator.  On the other hand, if Obama was a white man, Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee.

Bottom line?

If Barack Obama was not a mixed-race black man, he would not be where he is.

And the country wouldn’t owe Geraldine Ferraro half an apology.

*UPDATE: Today’s obligatory Politico article about race and Obama gives us some insight into the candidate’s long-held feelings on the subject.  Quoting Obama after the NH primary, (the one where Jesse Jackson, Jr. invoked the image of O. J. Simpson “attacking a white woman” to contextualize the scope of his challenge against Hillary Clinton) Obama said at the time:

“I’m less interested in a conversation about race in the abstract,” he said. “All the self-flagellation, it’s not useful. African-Americans get all riled up, and whites get defensive.”

Wonder what the cross-bred offspring of Munchkins and Keebler elves do.

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