-
Heroes and Heels: The Best and Worst of Campaign 2008 — So far!
The Democrats appear to be quickly moving to unity after a delayed but, in the end, very powerful concession speech from Senator Hillary Clinton. She endorsed Obama with stentorian clarity. She also pledged a committed fight to secure victory for the Democratic ticket in the fall. Bravo! One cannot have watched this prolonged primary season…
-
Clinton Collateral Damage
Something is wrong. Perhaps the trouble lies with me, though I think it lies elsewhere and that I’m not the only one experiencing this creeping sense of dread at a point when I should feel ecstatic. Fighting off the scourge of political cynicism has been a more formidable challenge in the past few months than…
-
Time to Fire Some Folks
There is an image from the 1988 presidential campaign that I can no longer get out of my mind. It is a Doonesbury cartoon. In this four-frame strip there is no dialogue and no action. Each frame simply shows the unmoving figure of Michael Dukakis covered in mud. It pains me greatly that this awful…
-
Chelsea Breaks The News: ‘Mom, It’s Over.’
I had a dream recently that involved two people who, ordinarily, are never in my dreams: Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter Chelsea. It was set in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia where Hillary and her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama had just finished their “debate.” Although maintaining her toothy smile…
-
Obama's Genie
The last Democratic Presidential debate was both uplifting and depressing. The uplifting part of it came in the moments of real substance from Sens. Clinton and Obama. For my part, Obama was the steadier, clearer, and the more inspiring voice over the full arc of the evening. The depressing parts were many of the questions…
-
What Would King Say About the Black Gulag?
Martin Luther King once said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I often wonder what life would be like if Dr. King had not been snatched away from us 40 years ago. I know one thing, for sure, would be at the top of his agenda for justice…
-
Is Clinton Getting a Pass on Race?
After Barack Obama’s historic and uplifting call for the nation to “move beyond race,” I had hoped the campaign would return to some of the real issues — the economy, health care, education, and the war. My hopes notwithstanding, race remains an insidious subtext to the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Ironically, our civil…
-
Will Black Democrats Abandon Clinton Over Race?
The first thing to know about me is that I am a lifelong Democrat. I have voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1976, when I was first eligible to do so. Furthermore, in 1984, I was a new assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and on Oct. 12th of that year, I…
-
Watch Your Back, Barack
Legend has it that early in his political career, aspiring Texas politico Lyndon Baines Johnson ran a campaign in which his camp started a rumor that his opponent was having sex with his farm animals. There was never any hint of truth to the charge. Still, his opponent spent all his time trying to put-off…
-
Secrets of the Neocon Noir
A friend of mine once referred to a prominent black conservative writer as a “blackface mercenary.” In kind of a knee-jerk response, I agreed, since I disagree with most so-called black conservatives. On deeper reflection, I asked myself: is that really a fair characterization? And then I recalled a curious little essay by one black…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
