"This country was founded on free land and free labor." Vinita Ricks

I think I've figured out why so many people in the U.S. are upset by President Obama receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace. This country was founded by people who forcibly took the land from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Narraganset, Iroquois and others who had lived here for generations. Then they yanked people from their homes in Africa to do the hard work required to make the fortunes that built the institutions to carry forward their way of life.

And the power brokers in America still believe they should take whatever they want, wherever it is: the natural resources from other parts of the world--diamonds from Africa, oil from the Middle East, etc., and all the cash from American citizens. Now we have a country where that 1% has more wealth than the bottom 95% combined.

These people actually feel so entitled to bully the world that China's growth makes them nervous. It's a threat to their hegemony. And, that's why they are incensed at Obama's Nobel prize. He is offering an America to the world that is not a bully. They don't want that.

Ethnic Identification

With a view toward dividing the country into black and white and pretending that no other ethnic identities exist, laws were passed during the formation of the U.S that isolated people of African descent by placing us outside the "mainstream." Everybody else, unless whites said no, was white and presumably a part of the mainstream. These laws and the unwritten customs that accompanied them operated to maintain the myth of white supremacy. They also made black the embodiment of all that is bad/evil/wrong, and of course white the opposite. Other "obvious ethnics" (see W. Kamau Bell's comic turn on this term) resent this black-white division with good reason.

One result of lumping all Europeans into the "white" category is that many of them no longer have any notion of their ethnic origins. And, in California I've observed that many could care less as more and more people ignore ethnic boundaries. I know one young man who is the product of an Italian-American mother and Mexican-American father. His wife is the product of a father who is Greek-American and a mother who is Korean-American. They have two children. How do we classify them? And, who cares?

At some point we may even stop using that ridiculous appellation, "bi-racial," usually reserved only for the offspring of one white parent and one obviously ethnic parent. Unless, of course, that offspring becomes the first black president of the United States.

At this point, as global interaction on every level increases, I think ethnic identification will become far less significant than it has been. That won't happen anytime soon, but things are certainly moving in that direction.

Time to Lance the Boil

Now that Barack Obama is poised to become the next president of the U.S., it's time to lance the boil of racism that has infected America from its inception.

We need a national, open, and thorough discussion of racism in every venue. On network and cable television--including PBS, HBO and Showtime--the Internet, in film, comedy clubs, and live theater.

I recommend an examination of racism that includes the treatment of American Indians, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. The history of ethnic group exclusion should also be mentioned, e.g., the treatment of Jews, and the period of discrimination against the Irish and southern Europeans.

However, the main focus needs to be on the treatment of the most persistently despised group in the U.S., the descendants of the Africans who were enslaved. The examination should also include how our insistence that the U.S. live up to its expressed ideals has made this a better country.

The time is now!

A thought on Hillary as Barack's VP

If Barack Obama selects Hillary Clinton as his running mate, he will need full body armor and two tasters, one for his food and another for his beverages.

GO BARACK!

...and furthermore

Hillary Clinton's overt appeal to racists that they should vote for her, is exploding in her face. Now the public officials who are superdelegates are rushing to support Obama so as not to be identified with Hillary's racist entreaties.

When this campaign is over and Obama has the nomination and does not select Hillary as his V-P, I will feel sorry for her. But not until then.

Besides, I have to agree with Chris Rock...does Hillary really want to occupy the same office where Bill got his blow jobs?

Tell it, sistah!

Can I Just Tell You?

by Michel Martin

Expect Obama to Walk Out on Wright? Spare Me

Sen. Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Tell Me More, March 26, 2008 ·

It probably won't shock you to know that when I was in high school, I was an avid member of my school's debate team. I wasn't the first African-American on the team, but because kids' interests can change, I was often the only one. That's not so surprising, as there were not that many kids of color at my school back then, just as there were not that many in most of the other schools we competed against in our part of New England.

Frankly, I didn't think about it all that much — not until one debate competition, when my team was hosted for dinner at the home of one of our competitors, a dinner at which I was promptly invited by my young, white host to socialize with his black maid in the kitchen.

My teammates, with whom I hung out and lived 24-7 because we went to a boarding school, did and said nothing.

My coach, a faculty member who was extremely well regarded in debate circles — and was, in fact, a relative of a courageous civil rights advocate in the Kennedy Justice Department — did and said nothing. And, in fact, he said nothing to me about this for more than 20 years, until he called me up out of the blue one day to apologize for letting me down.

"I just did not know what to say," he said.

I mention all of this because I have had it up to here with members of the commentariat who keep lecturing us about how they would never have tolerated the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's more incendiary sermons, and they wonder why Barack Obama did. They would have walked on out [of the church].

Can I just tell you? I don't think so.

Setting aside the fact that I question how many of these people have actually darkened the door of any house of worship in recent years — because I hope they would not be so smug and cynical if they had — let me just posit the theory that if the tables had been turned, if it had been their church, their family, their friends, their turf, they would have sat right there.

They would have sat right there just like aides to Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman sat right there when their bosses privately used the "N" word and other negative language to talk about the African-Americans on whose behalf they were often working, language which has been well documented on White House recording devices.

They would have sat right there just like the Rev. Billy Graham did when Richard Nixon used anti-Semitic language.

They would have sat right there just like countless good people do when their friends tell racist jokes, or when their employers refuse to return phone calls of applicants they suspect might be black or brown, or refuse to rent apartments or work with people of color.

I know this because, over the years, I have met too many white people who have told me how they have struggled to find their voices when language or behavior emerges from people they otherwise care about — who they believe to be good people — but who, nevertheless, say or do things they think are wrong.

I know this because I have met too many brown people who have struggled to find their voices when someone they care about has made an anti-Semitic or homophobic remark, and they agonize over how much to object, knowing that those views are deeply rooted. And they fear causing a breach over something they think won't change.

Obama has explained his relationship with his minister at some length. One is free to accept or reject his explanation. But please — spare me the moral outrage about what you would have done or would do in that situation. And just do it.

Obama's speech on race

Thank you, Barack Obama. If I weren't already supporting you, I'd be forced to support you after hearing your speech yesterday.

Your speech served as a reminder of why you will make an excellent president, and of how you operate far above the usual political sound bites. You were honest, compassionate, direct, and eloquent.

You are the kind of person this country needs as president, and even if people are convinced otherwise, at least you will have elevated the discourse so that whoever is elected will have to operate on a higher level than if you had not been involved.

Despite the prevailing inclination of politicians and pundits to focus on our worst aspects, to spotlight our mistakes and flaws, you insist upon appealing to the better angels of our nature. This insistence will not go unrewarded because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Whatever the outcome of this presidential campaign, I know that you are and will be a powerful influence in this country and the world for many years to come.

Desperation setting in

Geraldine Ferraro says that Barack Obama has come this far because of his color.

We can expect even more outrageous and absurd comments from the Clintons' campaign and their supporters as Obama continues to add to the states he's won, gains more of the popular vote, and increases his delegate total.

The Clintons will not give up. They will try to change rules they previously agreed to abide by as they did to no avail in Nevada, and are now trying to do with Michigan and Florida. They will do ANYTHING in their effort to win. They want the power, glory, and money-making potential of the White House back! Just think, Bill has made millions since he left office. How much more can they rake in as the only couple to have both been president of the U.S. Not to mention double-dipping in the generous former president pension plan, plus Hillary will also have a pension from serving in the senate. Isn't this absolutely disgusting!

By the way, remember Hillary's claim that she helped bring peace to Ireland? Well here's what Former Northern Ireland First Minister William David Trimble — who shared a Nobel Prize for his peacemaking efforts in Northern Ireland had to say about that claim.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Even for the Clintons.

OBAMA WINS TEXAS!

Despite the Clinton's announcement of a "stunning" victory in Texas, Barack Obama actually won the most delegates.

Texas has a complicated system that includes voting in a primary election AND caucuses. Hillary won the primary. Barack won the caucuses. The net effect is that Obama won more Texas delegates than Hillary in her "stunning" victory."

Meanwhile [March 11,2008], CNN estimates show that Obama won last week's Texas Democratic caucuses and will get more delegates out of the state than rival Hillary Clinton, who won the state's primary."


TOTALS: Barack Obama = 1607, Billary Clinton = 1476

YOU DECIDE!

Nothing More Powerful

I read a Newsweek article today contrasting the boomers, who were activists in the 60s, to the millennials, young people who are now active in the presidential campaign. According to this article, boomers are more combative and confrontational, while millennials are more consensus oriented and practical; preferring to effect change from the inside. Barack Obama, despite his age, embodies the qualities millennials admire, and therefore represents them.

Chronologically, I'm pre-boomer, but if this article is correct, my sentiments are distinctly millennial. I was certainly combative when I was younger, but assumed I had mellowed with age. Perhaps that's not it at all.

Upon further thought, I believe we're in an epoch where a critical mass understands that this is not the time for confrontation. Life, history, world development is cyclical and evolutionary. There are many indicators that we are in a new cycle. We are moving rather quickly toward a global economy. Despite the technological and economic superiority of the United States, this country is no longer able to exercise its will over other nations, beginning with the debacle in Vietnam and currently evident in Iraq. Additionally, we are seeing increased philanthropic activity by the wealthy and celebrated--Bono, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney. And technological innovations on the Internet--MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube--allow and encourage increased expression of ideas and participation in the political process.

Of course, there are always those who resist change of any kind who will continue to rail at the disintegration of "values." And they will continue to scream and protest while adapting to inevitable changes. (Like, for example, the vociferous, independent women who make a living insisting that women should be wives and mothers who submit to their husbands and don't work outside the home.)

Visionaries, like Barack Obama, are in touch with this seismic shift in our world and have surrendered to it. Now is our time for a new way of operating the government and the country.

And there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

Co-presidents: Is this what you want?

"If the Clintons succeed and win in November, the nation will have something truly unprecedented: an unelected, unofficial, but nonetheless true co-presidency." Newsweek

So, for all those women who believe they are voting for Hillary, know that you are actually also voting for Bill, the philanderer you love to hate.

As a private citizen, Bill Clinton, a former president of the United States is welcomed (and well paid) around the world as a "speaker/consultant." As a consequence, Newsweek poses a rhetorical question. "His private dealings raise inevitable questions about who might come seeking favors if he and Hillary move back into the White House."

Frankly, I find the prospect of Bill Clinton back in the White House scary, but then I've managed to survive two Reagan terms and I'm still standing after seven years of George Bush II, so I guess I'm stronger than I knew.

But is this country strong enough to survive another 8, or even 4, years of an administration whose primary goal is enrichment of themselves and their donors? The country is already trillions in debt, and counting, to lenders around the world.

By the way, Obama's campaign is largely financed by small donations from tens of thousands of contributors; not by corporate lobbyists. The day that the Clintons loaned 5 of the millions Bill has made from "consulting" to their campaign, Obama's supporters gave him $3 million.

There is a part of me that prefers to see the Clintons inherit this mess, but the part that wants something to be left for my as yet unborn grandchildren, is desperate for Obama to win because at this moment in our history, he is our best hope, as Michelle Obama so elegantly points out.

Can you imagine Hillary giving a similar heart-felt speech about Bill?

Me neither.

The beat (down) goes on

I saw a few minutes of last night's debate fight between Hillary and Barack on the PBS news tonight. Then a cut to Hillary saying that because of the results in New Hampshire and Nevada, Barack is getting "frustrated."

Does she think Barack can't add? He's AHEAD in the delegate count, Hillary. And we know you've noticed otherwise you and Bill wouldn't be beating up on him so much.

I hope Barack's attention to their attacks is merely a ploy to keep it fresh in the minds of South Carolina voters and not an indication that he's going to operate the remainder of his campaign like this.

The media presents this race for the White House like a sports competition, and I must say that the last time I felt like this was when I lived in Chicago and was rooting for the Bulls.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to feel that the outcome here is finally no more important than the outcome of a Bulls game. After all, George Bush has never actually won (in terms of votes received) a presidential election; however, he's been running the country (into the ground) for nearly 8 years.

"double O's an arresting team"

I had no idea some folk were upset about Oprah's endorsement of Obama, but I was reading back issues of The Nation and found this.

O O, way to go!

Delegate totals

For those who are not reading the fine print in news reports or who get swept up in the hype, please note the delegate totals.

Obama 38, Clinton 36, Edwards 18.

Enough said.

Bloomberg getting ready

Even if Bloomberg doesn't run (and I believe he will); it's good to have a voice in the mix who can speak out without worrying about offending party bosses. One of the things that bothers me is that if the Clintons get the nomination, Barack will be obligated to campaign for and support them.

Bloomberg is rich enough so that the media will not ignore him (as they have Kucinich) or make fun of him (as they did Nader). In the good old U.S. of A. having lots of money earns you respect.