Barack Obama Elected President!

[EricaKane70]

I mentioned fox because they are the main people making being a muslim associated with being a terrorist. I do think that had alot to do with people still thinking obama is a muslim. We will have to agree to diagree on it being racist because I think it is racist.

[Wales2004]

I was watching Dan Abrams' show for a little while out of curiosity when that exchange took place. I can't find any reason whatsoever for MSNBC keeping him around. I've heard him refer to Obama as "exotic" on some other show and I was hoping one of the women would say something about it this time because I think he often gets away with his code words. glad when she asked him if it was code for black and he started bumbling through some ridiculous explanation which proved he was busted.

I am editing this to add that I watched the clip and thanks for posting the link. I completely forgot about how PB claimed to be Independent on one of those shows, yet here he is clearly aligning himself with the GOP. I kind of recall one of them on CNN (I'm thinking) saying how Obama isn't the kind of guy that you'd find at Applebee's salad bar. Me neither because my local Applebee's doesn't have a salad bar but more to the point, does McCain frequent local restaurant chain's salad bars? Should I be concerned if I don't see candidates throwing down Big Macs and fries? Can you imagine what would happen if they were to find any photos of Obama eating chicken or ribs?

[Southofnowhere]

McCain is from a uppercrust Milltary Family , while Obama is from very modest roots , so i don't get this whole thing about him not coonecting too lower income peeps?

[Wales2004]

I thought this was interesting:

[EricaKane70]

Me also, but I hope they end up voting for the person who represents their policies and beliefs.

Where has hillary gone?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Her every step over the last 17 months was captured by a legion of cameramen and a press corps of journalists from around the world.

But for the last seven days, Hillary Clinton has been nowhere to seen, and Washington is speculating about where exactly the ubiquitous New York senator has gone.

WATCH: What will Clinton do now?

Is she camping out in her Georgetown home or is the former presidential candidate back at her Chappaqua estate? Perhaps she ventured to an isolated vacation spot, far removed from cable news and the political chattering class.

Members of her formal presidential campaign and her Senate staff aren't saying.

"She's enjoying some much-needed time with her family," said a staff member for her former campaign who asked not to be identified.

The two-term senator has a day job to return to, though no public events have yet to be scheduled and Clinton's Senate office is giving few clues on when she might return to the Hill.

"She'll be back before you know it," Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to Clinton said.

Laying low after a hard-fought presidential campaign is not exactly out of the ordinary.

After the 2000 presidential election, former Vice President Al Gore largely dodged the public eye, only to emerge six months later with a full beard. In 2004, John Kerry too took some down time after his loss to President Bush, though the Massachusetts Democrat was back in the Senate just over a week later.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton on Thursday made his first public appearance since his wife formally dropped her presidential bid, speaking at the eighth grade graduation of his nephew in Torrance, California.

==========

I knew this would happen. The press loves to cover the clintons because they are like a bad soap opera thats entertaining. Just leave hillary alone.

[EricaKane70]

ON DEADLINE: Obama wedged between black, white By SONYA ROSS, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jun 13, 3:13 PM ET

If Barack Obama is looking for a theme song, he should consider "Stuck in the Middle With You."

And not just because there are clowns to the left of him and jokers to the right.

It's because the man is stuck in the middle.

Anyone who looks at him — his hair, his face, his honey-toned skin — is bound to see a black man.

But the thing is, his mother was white, his father was black. He's both and neither, a completely gray place to be.

So, really, Obama's fortunes in this race for the White House hang less on his race and more on his identity.

His black identity.

Every time Obama takes a step toward November, blacks and whites pull on him as if he were a wishbone, expecting him to build up or water down his blackness as evidence that, if he becomes president, he won't drag them out of their separate silos to confront America's race problem; he'll just join them where they are.

Obama hoped the tug of war would go away back in March when he gave a speech about race in Philadelphia. He tried to explain the anger of his much maligned former black pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He tried to explain the soft bigotry of his white grandmother. He laid bare his own struggle with being "too black" or "not black enough" with all the passion he could muster and said he'd sincerely like to light the way out of this mess.

Here's what he's getting for his trouble:

Skeptical whites say, Vote for this guy? The United States isn't ready for a black president. He'll be bad for business. He'll be too friendly to the likes of Iran and Cuba.

True-believer blacks say, Vote for this guy! We are beyond ready for a black president. He'll end that war and he'll stand up for us. Surely they wouldn't kill him for that.

A plate served cold, with a side order of expectations.

Obama acknowledged the pressure during a fundraiser in Chicago Thursday night.

"They're going to try to make me into a scary guy," Obama said. "That drumbeat — we're not sure if he's patriotic or not, we're not sure if he is too black. I don't know, before I wasn't black enough. Now, he might be too black."

To put it in perspective, Obama is one of more than 6 million Americans of mixed race and one among the 0.3 percent of Americans who are of mixed black/white race. He is not the first person of black and white parentage to identify culturally as black, nor would he be the first of his particular racial blend to become the first black something or other — Halle Berry, for example, is the first black woman to win an Oscar for best actress.

Black people are glad enough to claim Obama according to the one-drop rule. The blood of his African father makes him black enough and, besides, there are other black/white mixed-race people out there who look whiter than Obama does and identify just as black as he does, if not blacker.

They look Obama over and beg him, Yo, Barack, keep it real for us, bro. Make that White House the Black House. Stick with your pastor. Play them hoops. Don't shake my hand, hit me with a fist pound. Leave Hillary alone. While you're at it pick a brother as your running mate too. You can't go white on us if you want to be our president.

White people are glad enough to claim Obama, too, what with his Midwestern roots, his international flavor, his Ivy League degrees and all.

They look Obama over and say, Listen, dude, you need to cut off that loud preacher of yours. Tell your unpatriotic wife to keep her opinions to herself. Put on a Brooks Brothers suit, be an elitist. No, wait, don't be an elitist. Put on a plaid shirt and bond with the blue collars. Leave Hillary alone. You need an established white man as your veep so you'll be more electable. What's that fist pound about? You're a secret Muslim, aren't you? You can't do all that black stuff if you want to be our president.

Whenever the expectations clash, Obama should just start singing "Stuck in the Middle With You," a piece of 1970s pop music by Stealers Wheel that warns of the contradictions bred by success:

"Trying to make some sense of it all/But I can see it makes no sense at all ... Well, you started out with nothing/And you're proud you're a self-made man/And your friends, they all come crawlin'/Slap you on the back and say/Please ... Please ...

"Clowns to the left of me/Jokers to the right, here I am/Stuck in the middle with you."

Obama may not be a first in his mixed-race subset, but he is a first in the realm of presidential politics. Therefore, black people have to come to reckoning with the fact that he is not MLK or Malcolm X or Jesse Jackson, and white people have to come to reckoning with the fact that he is not FDR or JFK or Bill Clinton.

If Obama does win the election, he's got to be president of all the people.

Perhaps Obama should talk Stealers Wheel into doing a remix especially for him: "Stuck in the Middle, With Hue."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Sonya Ross, an African-American, is a former White House reporter for The Associated Press who occasionally writes about race.

[Jess]

I just read a wire story saying that Obama picked a woman who Hillary had fired to be the chief of staff for whomever he selects as VP. I think that sends somewhat of a signal that he doesn't want Hillary. Hillary blamed this woman for her failed Iowa campaign.

[Wales2004]

Patti Solis Doyle. I saw various spins on her hiring yesterday. The prevalent one is the signal that HC won't be his VP selection. Other spins included her bridging the teams, her presence making HC more comfortable and giving HC the opportunity to fire her again. I don't think it is as much as a signal as it is an effort to move on and focus on the general election. Many of the people I saw commenting on it yesterday didn't think HC was going to be selected anyway. Dan Abrams was the only one I saw that seemed to be perturbed by it but I doubt that will make a difference to his routine push for her anyway. Though now the speculation has shifted to Al Gore and may even include John Edwards since he may have lightened up on his initial stance.

Here's a link to an article about Jon Stewart mocking the media for publicizing Obama rumors (a show clip is included):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/17/j...f_n_107539.html

[Southofnowhere]

HC moved Dole to another job and is still super-tight with her. Plus Dole is Latina and the main force behind getting Hillary the Hispanic vote. Dole made a huge mess when she was the main peep on team Hillary and speant money like it was going out of style however Obama's team are will known for not wasting money. IMO this means Hillary and Bill Richardson are on on the VP list

[EricaKane70]

Well if Gore is on obama's list then hillary is out. I still say hillary will be the strongest vp choice. Besides Gore and Hillary what other vp candidate can bring out big numbers of voters in Nov? I think Edwards could bring out some voters but not like Gore and Hillary.

[Wales2004]

Most of the media reports that I saw yesterday indicated that she was fired from the campaign. Initially she was moved to another position but at some point I recall hearing that she left and they do use the term "resigned" although they insist that she was fired. She was supposed to have been shopping a book about her experiences two or three months ago and then within a few weeks after the book rumor she was supposed to have been trying to get on Obama's team. Depending on who was doing the talking yesterday she either hasn't spoken to HC in a long time or has a strained relationship with her.

She may really just be there to help attract certain voters and because the Chicago team feels comfortable enough with her to trust her. More interesting than Dole being hired is the fact that they also hired a chief of staff for Michelle Obama.

[Wales2004]

I've never voted for a presidential candidate based on the running mate because while it's essential to have the right second on the ticket, I'm still looking at the headliner and I would never ever vote for someone with whom I felt uncomfortable just because I was okay with the second. The thing I might do though, is not vote for someone with whom I was okay if I didn't care for the running mate.

[Southofnowhere]

From all the news reports your totally right about the bad blood i just hadn't heard about it before. As for Mrs.Obama's COS i bet they have big hands , so they can cover her mouth when she starts to say something stupid!

[Jess]

Yep, I think Michelle needs a little media and public exposure training.

Is it weird to anyone else that the campaign would hire a COS for a VP rather than naming the VP and allowing that person to make the choice of his/her top aides?

[Southofnowhere]

Team Obama are control freaks and it's clear to see that any VP pick will be under thier control and not let loose to do thier own thing. I think it's clear no one will be pushing Obama around. It's very smart for Obama to hire his Wife a babysitter. I really like how Obama runds things. I also think this whole VP COS thing tells us that Obama wants to take the VP spot back to where it was before Bush/Cheney.