Yes he did

Did anyone find John McCain’s speech creepy? I can’t think of any other word for it. The sing-songy voice, the weirdly out of touch tone, the cadaverous look…he’s almost hard to watch.

I think Barack Obama will need to navigate the Hillary Clinton issue carefully. While she does deserve carefull consideration, he can’t let her dominate the story by threatening him with her supporters. He needs to focus on John McCain. He paid her great due last night. I don’t think he needs to fawn all over her from now until November. She ran her campaign and lost. Its her responsibility to mend fences as well. especially after the divisive campaign she ran. Obama can’t allow the general election to turn into the Clinton in exile campaign.

Nonplussed – actually the Catholic 80 years ago was Al Smith (1828) who lost to Hoover. I’m guessing you were referring to Kennedy who did win in ’60.

Nice post, Mr. Steve.

South Africa’s segregationist past is even more recent, and they had a black President a decade and a half ago. What took you so long?

We did take much, much too long, but remember, South Africa is majority black. We will be the first country that’s majority white to have a black or biracial president.

We progressives like nothing more than to talk about Bush’s ‘bubble’ — the cocoon of fantasy he has surrounded himself with, where he is the Good Wise Cowboy/Commander In Chief leading a sometimes unwitting, unwilling nation into war with (and inevitable victory over) the Insidious Forces of Ultimate Evil.

But I worry we have built our own bubble, and that that bubble can best be described as a The Earnest Belief That America Is Ready To Elect A President Who Isn’t A White Dude.

A year ago, I was in despair at the thought that, in an election year when it seemed absolutely impossible for the Republicans to win the White House again, the Democrats were going to hand it to them anyway — by insisting on running either a woman (and not just a woman, but The Woman Most Hated by Conservatives In The History Of Humanity) and/or a black man (and not just any black man, no, if the Dems decided to run a black man for Prez, they were gonna run a first term Senator from Illinois whose father was a Muslim and whose middle name was Hussein and whose last name rhymed with Osama).

Since then, though, I’ve gotten past that, and come to believe that Senator Obama, at the very least, has a very real chance to win the Presidency. I try not think I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid. I like to tell myself that I’m still detached, still calm, cool and collected, still standing on the sidelines weighing the advantages and disadvantages and calculating the odds with my eyes wide open and my head on straight.

And yet, there’s this still small voice deep inside me that says “ARE YOU CRAZY??? THIS IS AMERICA!!!”

The America that distributed smallpox infected blankets to the people who were living here originally, and that put the survivors of those people on the worst land it could find.

The America that annexed Hawaii by force and near-genocide so a rich guy named Dole could get a little richer selling inexpensive pineapple in cans.

The America that killed a few thousand people in the Phillippine Islands so another rich guy named Hearst could sell some newspapers.

The American that rounded up Americans of Japanese descent and put them in concentration camps because, unlike all the Americans of German and Italian descent, the Japanese Americans weren’t white.

The America that, by and large, shrugs and goes about its business while soldiers wearing its flag on their uniform kill, maim, rape, and torture thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis.

The America that elected and re-elected a posturing fraudulent foolish failure to its highest office… or didn’t, but stood by and watched while he and his handlers stole both elections right in front of our eyes, anyway.

The America that ties gay kids to trees and throws rocks at their heads until they die.

Yeah, yeah, we look at the polls and we fill out our surveys and we rejoice at the news that Obama is leading McCain nationally and soon we will enter a post partisan era of Change We Can Believe In, when our very own Magical Negro will open his hands and smile beatifically and all good things will finally come to those who have waited.

Prices will go down, wages will go up, our factories will reopen and everyone will get good jobs making $30 an hour and our bridges and highways and cities and suburbs will flourish and grow and American will once more take its rightful place as internationally beloved and universally respected leader of the Free World and President Obama will personally invent a time machine and change history so that Taylor Hicks never won AMERICAN IDOL.

All will be well, and all will be well, and ALL will be well, world without end, amen.

And… are we kidding ourselves? Are we? Do we really think… do we really dare to HOPE… that America, the America of gas guzzling SUVs and cheap Wal-mart prices supported by Chinese slave labor and crappy health care and thousands dead and missing after Katrina and CIA offshore black sites and Abu Ghraib and free speech zones and the PATRIOT Act… that our America, the one we all live in, is going to elect a black man… ANY black man, much less one whose middle name is Hussein and whose last name rhymes with Osama… to be its President?

Do we really believe this?

And if we do… are we living in a bubble, too? A Democratic-liberal-progressive bubble, where we only see what we want to see, and we only believe what we fervently truly really really really want to be true?

I hope not. I hope we’re ready. I hope we’ve come far enough.

Like Fox Mulder, I want to believe.

Like Michelle Obama, I want to be proud of my country, for the very first time since childhood.

These are the days of miracles and wonders
this is the long distance call
the way the camera follows us in slo mo
the way we look to us all
the way we look to a distant constellation as its dying in the corner of the sky
these are the days of miracles and wonders
don’t cry, baby, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry

To an old cynic like me, who believes strongly in entropy, I am encouraged that a bright young man can take advantage of remnant idealism and inspire hope in all of us. I do not believe, however, the struggle is over. Even if HRC finally concedes his nomination, she will not really support Obama, or sincerely urge her gender-besotted fanatics to vote for him. She sees four years of McSame as her ticket to victory in 2012. And that’s entropy: a steady march to chaos and disorder.

Obama’s superb campaign is a proud moment for the country. It could be the beginning of an American redemption in the eyes of the world. I truly hope it is. If he prevails I will campaign for him wherever I can help, and with a great deal more enthusiasm than I did for Kerry four years ago.

In one of the Dem debates, Obama and Hillary took some jabs at one another and John Edwards said something to the effect that all this squabbling isn’t going to bring health care, or jobs, etc. The media absurdum then proclaimed Edwards the adult in the room. But over the course of this primary campaign, it is Obama and only Obama who has consistently acted with dignity and decorum. But I would love to be a fly on the wall when he discusses his choices for VP or how he’s going to handle the Middle East. Some things can’t be done in public, but he’s the guy I trust behind the locked door.

Ms. Clinton ran an “ALL-OR-NOTHING” campaign…Well, “ALL” is currently taken!

“If Hillary Clinton is so great, she’ll do what’s right and her followers will back the Democratic nominee. If not…we’ll all know precisely why she lost and the immeasurable damage inflicted on the Democratic party.

We often learn more from defeat than victory. Bitter battles lost should never be allowed to outweigh the entire war.

Some times putting others before self becomes the precise difference between victory and defeat.” — Steve Ford

Congratulations, Barack & Michelle Obama!

What made me think that Obama really could win this election was hearing my midwestern Republican father call Obama “inspirational”. I believe it really is possible.

I heard most of Obama’s speech last night, driving home. I thought it was rather good, in both how he handled Clinton and McCan’t and how he talked about the issues.

Though his talk about issues is mostly platitudes rather than policies.

…CNN is busy right now trying to trash him by bringing up his Kenyan heritage, talking about the concerns in Isreal about him and having black Politicians talk about him (Willie Brown in this instance)…

I don’t know really how to handle Senator Clinton. I’d like to see her as VP because I really think she would be good. Also, 50% of the Primary electorate wanted her in the White House (at least when they voted, if not now). But in America the first Decision a Presidential Candidate makes we all get to rag on is his VP choice. And having Clinton forced on Obama would be called a sign of weakness by 75% of the country. So there is no doubt it’s a delicate question.

As for America finally being ready to vote for a Black American, in a way Barack Obama isn’t a Black American. He’s an African American, not a descendent of American Slaves. So we nervous Whites can vote for a half-White African American and not have to vote for a Black American for President.

Michelle is Black of course.

I still fear, if Obama doesn’t start running on specifics of his proposed policies, he’s going to wake up on January 21st, call the Congress and say “It’s time to start changing America!” and the Leaders in Congress will reply “But Mr. President, you are all the change America can handle.”

Looking at all the newspapers from around the world on the front of Huffpo, I had to think, the good people of the world feel good today.

The speech last night was something I had never witnessed before. It was eloquent and natural. Yes, there were platitudes, but really what is political speech without these.

I agree with many of the other comments, I am proud to be an Obama fan, and for the first time in a long time the speech actually made me proud to be an American.

First things first… bet McCain and then let’s see how much of this change is rhetoric and how much is reality,

Roosevelt was the first physically disabled candidate and he did fairly well, if memory serves. I sense that Obama is best compared to Roosevelt in terms of his oratory and the fact that he seeks to replace a discredited Republican.

I agree with the above who called McCain “creepy.” I would call him wooden and mechanical. The man can’t read a speech. Besides that, he needs a new speech writer, one who writes speeches to be spoken, not read. And he needs some acutal content. The “crowd” seemed a little uncomfortable as well – like they knew they were props – not fans – and were waiting for stage direction. What really surprised me, however, was Harold Ford’s praise of the McCain speech later. He called it “powerful.” I’ve heard that word used to describe an odor, but I don’t think Ford meant it that way.

I’ve been a Hillary supporter for a long time now and hoped against hope that she would be the nominee. I contributed money and showed up for events. She ran a great campaign, but she was truly out classed and out campaigned by Obama. He has been brilliant and I am sure he will continue to be brilliant. I have admired him all along, but stayed loyal to Hillary until the end. I think she is going to formally end the campaign tomorrow or today. I hope so. I read that Obama will be in New York and they are to attend an event together. That will be a great show of the unity that we must make happen. We can’t afford a third Bush term with Grandpa Simpson running the country. The strongest way to unify the party will be for Obama to offer the VP slot to Hillary. If he does this, as I am quite sure he will, they will be a truly unstoppable force, especially with all the new voters they have both brought in and energized. Congratulations to all Obama supporters. This is a great day and you have run a great campaign.

The parallels between Obama and Lincoln are striking. Lincoln had one term in the House, and then was in private practice as a lawyer for 12 years prior to running for President in 1860. His success was largely attributed to his ability to move an audience with his oratory, even though he looked a little awkward, and was reputed to have a funny ‘nasally’ voice. His speech at the Cooper Union in New York City in February of 1860 propelled him to national prominence, and enabled him to gain the Republican nomination, and eventually win in November.

Speaking as a lifelong Republican, and given the disaster that the Bush administration has been for our country, nominating this gracious and extraordinarily capable young man for President begins a process of restoring our faith, and that of the entire world, in the things this country is supposed to stand for, but has fallen short on so many occasions. I can say for the first time in many years (since February of 1991), I am proud to be an American.

I would like to report, as a certified Geezer (I’m sixty-nine), that this Obama guy has lit a fire I’ve not seen before. During the Sixties I participated in anti-war marches (I’m also a veteran of the U.S. Army) and in the first strike by public employees in California history. I have suffered through the Dark Ages of Reagan twice, as Governor of California (his name is on my diploma from UCLA, which I keep hidden in a drawer out of embarrassment) and as President, as well as Nixon and both Bushes. On Memorial Day my nephew and his family visited. His dad, my opposite doppelganger brother is a rock-ribbed conservative Republican. We long ago established a concord of civility by agreeing never to talk politics lest we try to kill each other. To my surprise I discovered that his beloved only grandson, my nephew’s seventeen year old, is a big Obama fan and his mother says is working on them to vote for Barack. Of course I couldn’t suppress a big laugh. Then the other day my wife is chatting on the phone with our daughter-in-law in California who teaches High School French. She reported that of her thirty-one students, thirty are enthusiastic Obama supporters. “Never in my twenty-four years of teaching,” she said, “have I seen kids this jazzed over politics. Usually, they are zombies on the issue.” Now these kids can’t vote, granted, but it sure warms this Geezer’s heart that it looks like the future has a progressive ring to it.

Mudge @ 26 touches on a point worth expanding on….

Just as FDR was the first, “physically” handicapped President. I think it’s important to at least touch on the thought that Obama is going to be the first “racially” handicapped President. There will be, unfortunately, a great many white Americans who will either stay home from the polls on Election Day, or will vote for McMaybe—and then bemoan how sad it is that Mcmaybe will be the next occupant of the WH. If you doubt even a shred of this, pay a visit to Clinton’s campaign blog and see for yourselves some of the comments made by her “allegedly-rational citizens of the Republic.”

Fortunately, there will be just as many—and quite likely a great deal more—white Americans who will, indeed, vote for Obama in November. I will be one of them, and I will spend the next five months of my life doing everything within my power to persuade anyone who will listen that an Obama presidency isn’t about putting some black guy into the Oval office; rather, it is about putting a good, common-sense American in office to both prevent the continuation of the Bushylvanian nightmare, and to begin the seemingly-overwhelming task of repairing the damage done to this, our Nation, by the greed-inspired evil that has been the Bush/Cheney regime.

The audacity of McMaybe—the filthy little sock-puppet who dined on birthday cake with Bush while New Orleans drowned under the floods wrought by Katrina—to even approach New Orleans and make a speech is comparable only to the gloatings of Pol Pot as he stood upon the skulls of Cambodia’s killing fields. Anyone with any knowledge of film knows full well what that green screen was for—so he and his snarling wingnut minions can “dub in” a more “pastoral” background to fit the mood they wish to portray. It’s the classic “Big Brother” poster; the ultimate “Animal Farm” propaganda reel.

This is an historic moment, but it is also the opening salvo of a war. It is, indeed, no less than a second American Revolution.

And so—it begins….

Tne of the best posts I’ve seen from steve in a long time. But then I’m a sucker for historical perspective.

Doc Nebula @ 10. :

That’s the paradox and wonder that is this nation. We are the people who did all those horrible things. But we have always been more than that, as well. The Great Experiment is a human experiment, and we fall short in so many tragically human ways. But there really are two Americas: not just that of rich and of poor; not just that of Democrat and of Republican. But of base motives and higher ideals; of repression and of liberation; of evil and of good — an America of fear and an America of hope.

Our desperate mission this election season — our urgent, historic, last-ditch mission — is to make sure that hope wins, that the America of the 21st century is the America we can take pride in. And I honestly don’t think we could have found a better candidate to lead us there. Of all those running, on both sides of the aisle, only Senator Obama seemed to recognize both the failings we have committed and the genuine potential of this nation. To paraphrase Toby Zeigler (thank you, Aaron Sorkin)

In a battle between a nation’s demons and its better angels, for the first time in a long while, I think we just might have ourselves a fair fight

Yeah. Hold on to your balls. Old people suck. Except the cool ones. We’ll see who the racist Democrats are finally. Hillary supporters better get rabbid about Obama. That or you suck.

Karen @ 39:

And now out of the blue Obama wins when earlier in the day yesterday the media was saying that neither candidate would get enough delegates to win.

Neither candidate could get enough pledged delegates to win. That’s been a mathematical impossibility for a while now. But there was a rush of super delegates to Sen. Obama last night, and those plus the pledged ones put him over the top. Since in theory a super can change his/her mind, it isn’t an official victory yet… which is why Senator Clinton can continue to make her case and attempt to wrest the delegates to her side. In a practical sense, though, that would be extraordinarily unlikely, and since the media likes simple narratives, they’ll say Sen. Obama has won.

This isn’t being “fixed”; it’s being played according to the agreed-upon rules. And as much as we Americans like the sound of one man / one vote, we also are big believers in fair play and not changing the rules in mid-game. So I suspect that the proclamation, albeit technically premature, will turn out to be correct.

We have a nominee. We have a goal. Onward and upward. Let’s take back this country! Dean scream!

Go to dnA’s blog now:

http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/

Read down and enjoy!

Not to dampen the Obama victory parade, I am really happy! But…

While reading Steve’s column I couldn’t help but think about the shenanigans that have happened all too often in minority and Democratic areas on voting day. Too few or broken machines, long lines, electronic machines with no paper trail, the Rs disenfranchising Dem voters by trying to disqualify them from voting either by taking them off the rolls – see Florida 2000 – or residency challenges, voter ID laws, etc. It would be the height of irony if minorities were disenfranchised in trying to vote for the first black presidential candidate. Not to mention harmful to Obama’s chances.

I am hopeful, with Obama running and his push to enroll new voters, that this will mean that his supporters and the Dem party will be more active to ensure that the disenfranchisement I mentioned above will be lessened and that any shenanigans will be challenged and corrected. We cannot have Dems waiting in line for 10 hours in November while voters in R areas are in and out of their polling places in 15 minutes as happened in Ohio in 2004.

One answer is mail-in ballots as we have in Oregon. We have two full weeks to fill them out and turned in. No lines, no harrassment, there is a full paper trail. I hope more states will consider it.

Said on another thread and I’ll say it again here: Neither Hillary nor anyone else mentioned as VP is going to be the one chosen. The reason? None of them could believably be the Presidential nominee in 2016. We want a VP who can build on 8 years of the Obama Administration, and carry it forward to 2024. I figure 16 years is enough time to thoroughly smash the Right and to solve the problems we have to solve if the planet is going to survive with human civilzation on it into the 22nd Century.

ROTFetc, @48

What’s a “dap”?

Thanks for covering for me there doubtful.
But I wanted you guys to scroll down too!

Read dnA here: http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/06/theres-never-been-brother-this-good-for.html

And here:
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/06/day-of-days.html

Wonderful stuff.

I was aghast that Obama is depending on Caroline Kennedy to find his running mate. She is an absolute zero. She has never lifted her finger to help anyone. She is the typical rich, spoiled, brat elite.
She was only the daughter of a President. She only appears for the money as in her boring books on Larry King. Why all this Princess worship of her?
This is pitiful that people are so impressed with celebrity.
I’m sure a Princess Caroline fan will retort..If so, you are guilty of celebrity worship. Pitiful!!!

PROMISED LAND!

Do you know it has been 40 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed? (1968-2008). Do you remember his promised land speech? Of course you do. Let me show you the correlation between the Jews and us. The Jews were in the wilderness for 40 years. Read Exodus. Have we been in the wilderness for 40 years since MLK was killed? I’d say so. He said he went to the mountaintop looked over and saw the promised land but said he might not get there with us. God told him he was going to die and to give this speech to us. When he looked over that mountaintop he spoke about, God allowed him to see Barack Obama as president of the USA. If you watch the speech you see him fall back into his chair with a thud as if being supernaturally pushed back. He was told not to mention Obama’s name in the speech because his life would be in danger.

Moses saw the promised land also but God told him he could not go in either. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a modern day prophet. God said His sons and daughters will prophesy. When Barack Obama wins, MLK’s dream will have been fulfilled. The speech sounded as though MLK knew certain “secret” things only God could tell him. Read or listen to the speech again. Listen to the March on Washington speech, also. It talks about all people joining together to make a more perfect world. The two speeches tie in together. The words he spoke were not just the preachings of a preacher. THEY WERE PROPHECY! They are very prophetic. The initials of his name are “MLK…Milk”. The Land of Milk and Honey! It is mentioned in Exodus. Not a coincidence. Prophecy. The I Have a Dream speech was on August 28th. The Democratic National Convention ends on August 28th. Coincidence? No. Prophecy. MLK’s name was Michael before his father changed it to honor Martin Luther. Michelle is the feminine version of Michael. Obama’s wife’s name is Michelle. Martin Luther King, Jr. was said to be bi-sexual, hence the feminine version of the name.

The mountaintop or hill (Hillary) that Moses had to “look over” to see the promised land. Satan is the God of the Air (ary). West Virginia is called the Mountain State. This means that Obama has to “look over” her to get the nomination. Her name is Rodham. A rod is a stick used for punishment. Ham, Noah’s Black son (Obama). Is she punishing Obama? He would say so. But a rod can also be used as a comfort, (Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me). It is up to her.

The “burning bush” is mentioned in Exodus. It says that God called out to Moses out of the “midst” or “middle” of the burning bush. Doesn’t Bush burn you up? It means that after Bush, then Obama. This is why there had to be a person named “Bush” in the White House. God is all about names and numbers…and order.

As for John McCain. Cain. I don’t know. Maybe Obama should beef up his security! Not to worry. God has a hedge around him.

And last but not least, the nomination is in remembrance of Emmett Till. A little black boy from Chicago who was beaten to death also on August 28th for the harmless act of whistling at a Caucasian woman. This is why Obama has beaten a Caucasian woman. Barack Obama now lives in Chicago, Illinois. Coincidence? No prophecy.

Obama’s mother’s maiden name is Dunham. The woman who accused Emmett of whistling at her’s name is now Donham. The name Clinton. DeWitt Clinton was a statesman who lost a bid for president.

Tell every Black person you know and every Caucasian person who is fair-minded to vote for Obama. I believe God is about to bless us. Royally!!!

John McCain: Your retirement is too secure as it is, don’t you think?
John McCain: Can’t poor sick children just get a job already?
John McCain supporting our troops by keeping them uneducated.