They Did It Again Last Night

So far, this convention has been a smashing success. Last night, we had three incredible speeches coming first from Bill Clinton, who says he will campaign hard for Barack Obama to win this next election. He went after the issues, he talked about why Obama is the right candidate and he talked about why McCain is the wrong candidate. His best line however, was when he dispelled the myth that Obama is too inexperienced, by drawing back to memories of when he ran for president and was called too "young and inexperienced", yet brought the nation into its best sustained economic period in U.S. history. John Kerry came next and delivered a strong, heart-felt, endorsement of Obama. But, finally, Joe Biden, not to be upstaged made an incredibly touching and real speech about why he and Obama are the right choice. He drew upon example after example about McCain's misjudgment and undeniable support of Bush, he discussed the 95% agreement in which McCain votes for a Bush policy, further dispelling the notion which paints McCain as a maverick. It was a great night for the Obama campaign, but tonight, at Mile High stadium, this could be the defining moment in the last 10 years of politics. Obama hits the stage and if you're not watching, then I don't know what your deal is, but you are going to miss out. I can promise you that.

Thank You Hillary

That was perfect. Great, great speech tonight, if people call you out for being overzealous or too boisterously enthusiastic F them. If they say that was robotic or fake F them. You covered all of the bases, you urged that we elect Obama, you stressed the importance of uniting as democrats, and most importantly you murdered McCain and his striking political resemblance to Bush. You went on an absolute tear down the stretch of that speech, it was perfect. Now, if only you would have your top advisers stick it out and stay for Obama's acceptance speech. Even so, you were conscious of urging your bitter supporters of the importance of electing Obama and you mentioned voting him, by name, time after time. That was a homerun. Plus, Chelsea was looking good out there...

Hillary Should Guide Her Supporters

On the heels of a recent McCain ad quoting Clinton during the primary race, as she called Obama inexperienced incapable of guiding a nation, a CNN poll shows that 27% of former Hillary backers are now committed to voting for McCain. Clinton has released a statement showing her displeasure over the advertisement, but that is simply not enough. If she was truly as devoted to the democratic party as she claims she is, we need a grandiose speech endorsing Obama 100%. Enough with the bitterness, you lost, you weren't picked as vice president, now be an adult and get over it. One can only blame Hillary so much though, how is it that over a quarter of those who were ready and willing to vote for Clinton would flip flop and vote for McCain, when Clinton and Obama, legislatively speaking, were mirror images? In other words, rather than vote for the candidate who has a seemingly identical political agenda to Clinton, you vote for someone with a radically different agenda. Call it what you want, but I'll call it racism. Part of me hopes McCain wins and the country continues to torpedo, so all of these so-called democrats (Clinton included), will realize what a disservice they did this nation.

Democratic National Convention - Day One

Starting today, everything counts. The DNC is in Denver, Colorado this year, Colorado by the way, a state Obama hopes will swing his way come election time. Looking at polls anytime before now would have been like making assumptions based on an NFL pre-season game, but this is week one of a grueling stretch that all comes down to the election in November. The odds on favorite differs depending which poll you look at, but for my money Obama appears to be in the lead. That can all change in a matter of hours, though, and predicting a winner at this point would be without ponit.

News from the McCain camp of a VP nominee should come soon, but from all indications it appears to be Mitt Romney. Romeney would be a fine choice for McCain because he fills in all the voids that McCain may leave and addresses the issues that many republican voters have with McCain. Romney is a hard right conservative, who leans especially right on most social issues, including gay marriage, immigration reform, and abortion. He is generally considered strong when it comes to conservative economic policy and is stride for stride with McCain on Iraq.

It's Biden Afterall

According to CNN.com, Barack Obama has selected the Delawarean Senator, Joe Biden, as his running mate for this coming election.

Link Here

The longtime Democratic senator was long considered a likely choice for vice president, but the buzz surrounding him intensified after he returned earlier this week from a two-day trip to the Republic of Georgia after Russian troops invaded.

Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, brings years of experience that could help counter GOP arguments that an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy.

Biden abandoned his own White House run after a poor showing in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. He also ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out after charges of plagiarism in a stump speech.

My general reactions to this are well known, I've blogged on Biden as a potential candidate from day one I thought he would be a great choice. With the way things have fallen into place recently, though, I think Clinton might have been a better choice. If Biden can attack McCain on foreign policy and do so tastefully, with carefully chosen words, he will be a great asset to Obama in this election.

Faith Based Politics

There is a delicate balance that must be struck between religion and the voting booth in the American political system. While the seperation of church and state has been made clear for years, there is little use in denying that faith based politics play a major role in voting tendencies. Look at Rudy Giuliani for instance, he is reveered for his 9/11 heroics, he is economically to the right as they come, and is generally well-liked by the public. Yet, he only received one delegate in the primary elections and a main reason for this is his pro-choice viewpoint. The conservative right simply refuses to vote for those who stray from their own moral/religious code. For decades it has been up to the democratic left to have the chops to stand up against the moral crusaiding bible thumpers and take hard-fast stands, by seperating your political career from your religious personal life. For decades they have failed, by refusing to make stands when it matters the most. "Just another politician" is becoming something heard more and more often about presidential candidate Barack Obama. Is it true? As much as it pains me to admit, it might be, I'm not quite ready to bury him just yet, but he is dancing too much around the issues. While he has retained integrity in campaigning, he still hasn't set down firm stances on things and still dodges tough questions. He got absolutely slaughtered by McCain at the Saddle Back forum on Saturday because he didn't have the balls to make firm pro-gay, pro-choice remarks. If he stands for what he says he stands for, then stand for it, not just in front of your greatest admirers, but also your greatest adverseries.

Bens Chili Bowl: Renegade Survivor or Beneficiary of Gentrification?

Today's Washington Post celebrates 50 years of Ben's Chili Bowl, a Washington D.C. landmark restaurant. It is a great feature article, but I feel that the author, Keith Alexander, may have missed what actually happened at Ben's and how it is emblematic of what is going on all throughout Washington D.C. and in other major cities across America. The well-known story of Ben's begins as the restaurant opens in the late 1950's when U Street was oft referred to as the "Black Broadway", where many of the most prominent black performers, including names such as Duke Ellington staged many live shows. As many well know, the late 90's and early 2000's saw a change of demographic in the inner-cities. In D.C., this started close to 1998 just after the Verizon Center (then the MCI Center) was built in NW D.C. More and more wealth poured into the city looking for a taste of urban living, property taxes sky rocketed and black owned business after black own business shuttered its windows. All along U Street businesses were forced to shut down or relocate, making way for brand name chain retailers, such as T.G.I. Fridays, Starbucks, and others of the like. Ben's Chili Bowl was one of the lone exceptions of a black owned business remaining open and succeeding on U Street despite the raised property taxes. Why is this? Well in my estimation, which differes from that of the Post's staff writer Keith Alexander (who credits its success to a community rallying together and uniting all races, religions, and ethnicities to keep a family owned business in tact), is that all wealthy people cling to certain establishments in inner-cities to make themselves feel more authentic. That is half the reason for gentrification, to get out the suburban monotiny, and while the creature comforts were constructed, many feel it necessary to get the "real" city-life experience. Whites, Asians, and yes, even Black people, for whatever reason chose Ben's Chili Bowl above all the other black owned businesses (which the Washington Post never addressed or even asked why the community wouldn't unite to save), perhaps because it is the best product or maybe by pure happenstance, but the point is Ben's is no renegade survivor of the evils of gentrification. Get real.

Clinton Emerging From The Dust

With news of Ralph Nader predicting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as Obama's VP choice and some polls having McCain ahead by as much as 5% now (after being down 7% in June), internet rumblings have raged through the morning saying Clinton will be the pick. I'm not so fast to assume she will be, but for the sake of a blog, let's assume this is true. Three months ago, this to me would have seemed like a disasterous decision. Today? Not so much. Not only will the bitter Clinton voters jump on the Obama Express, those blue collar votes that were so heavy for Clinton in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania should be out in full effect once more. Also, with the tactics McCain has been using, bringing Obama down to earth, the Obama administration needs something to counter and the obvious answer is the Clinton campaign. They have a track record of fighting fire with fire better than anybody in politics, so if McCain wants to continue play dirty (Funny how the "straight talk express" continues to spread misleading messages in campaign ads) I'm sure the Clinton's will have a bombastic response. I'm on board with the Hillary choice, if Obama thinks shes the best for the job, then I'm on board 100%.

McCain Continues To Steal From Clinton's Playbook

Yes these negative ads against Obama are working right now for McCain. The Obama lead is narrowing as Obama pounds home off-shore drilling and his foreign policy experience, while anointing Obama the kind of rhetoric but little else. At the same time, I'm starting to think that McCain is peaking way too early... he is only going to go down from here. He can continue to sling mud, but as the weeks go on he is running the risk of becoming way too negative and alienating independent voters. If this is the Obama campaigns nadir and they are still winning, I fear for McCain's chances one Obama picks up steam again.

Maybe Obama Reads The Blog Afterall...

Per CNN.com: "Speculation is building Biden will be named Obama's running mate."

With the war between Georgia and Russia, foriegn policy was put back in the forefront, and who better to provide in depth insight into the situation than Biden. Let's not forget who the first person endorsing Biden as the VP was, how about it was this guy right here. I haven't lost my fastball just yet. An announcement of the vice president is supposed to come by the end of the week and at this point Biden appears to be the favorite, we'll see how this all unfolds...

Is This Race Even Close?

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal Karl Rove, a well-respected (deservedly so) right winged strategist turned politician turned pundit turned analyst, highlighted 4 "battle ground states" where McCain could come out on top and conceivably win the election. It's a good read, especially if you are a staunch McCain backer because it will give you a lot of hope. I'm here to tell you, though, don't buy into this rubbish.

Rove's article

The problem I have with that article is that in a lot of his scenarios he was working off the assumption that McCain is going to carry Florida. I think a lot of people are making this election out to be closer than it really is, last time I looked at the electoral map Obama seemed to be on cruise control. Not only that, but there are foreseeable and almost likely scenarios where Obama could lose Ohio and Florida and still win the election. You have to realize a lot of these Western states are leaning Obama states right now, including Colorado which has seen Obama consistently hold a 3-8 point advantage. Couple that with almost the entire Northwest and Obama is picking up a lot of key states. Also, don't forget about our neighbors in Virginia who could potentially offer some key points in Obama's favor, if those in Northern Virginia (especially Fairfax) turn out in high numbers, and if the strong base of black voters in Richmond and other southwest tip cities in Virginia turn out in record numbers. Virginia is a battle ground state in the truest essence of the word. Then, you have Indiana, another usual right leaning state that is literally a toss-up at this point. A potential dagger for Obama is Michigan. The Dems have really dropped the ball there lately, from the affairs to the money laundering to the botched primary, that state is on the verge of going red, but if Obama can get voter turn out high in Detroit he can still carry that state. So, if Obama has the election so far in control why does CNN, MSNBC, etc. continue to act like this is a race for the ages? In a simple answer, ratings. May we all pray these outlets are unable to canonize McCain right into the white house, giving conservative voters the image that they have a chance in this thing will send the uninspired out in droves, if not because of an unrealistic faith that the party will overcome the Bush administrations ineptitude, then to at least keep a half black man out of the White House. What, Obama supporters can hope for though, is that the frantic "push" McCain is making will send the Dems out to the booths in record numbers to stave off the attack. There is a LONG way to go in this and these polls really aren't as significant until after the convention, but if you look at the raw data right now, this race isn't that close and doesn't deserve that much attention.

Obama To Select VP Soon

According to CNN.com Barack Obama is set to announce his VP, running-mate very soon. Among the lead candidates include Indiana senator Evan Bayh, Virginia governor Tim Kaine, and Joe Biden senator from Deleware. Hilary Clinton remains a wildcard candidate, but seems unlikely at this point. The safe choice would likely be Evan Bayh, who would help Obama pull a possible upset in Bayh's home state of Indiana, which could serve as a critical swing state. Bayh brings with him a moderate-left voting recrod and little or no baggage. He is a very "safe" choice. Some argue the lackluster wow factor is fine, because Obama is already a wow candidate and Bayh will simply help in Iowa and provide Obama with a trustworthy VP candidate. Biden, who to me seemed like an ideal candidate is a much riskier choice. Where Joe Biden has huge experience in foreign policy, the kind of experience that easily rivals McCain's, he can also cover ground in Obama's weakest liberal demographic: blue collar, working [wo]man America. Two potential downfalls exist with Biden though, first is his age. In a campaign where change was a key slogan, it may seem perculiar to pick an older candidate who is part of the "old regime" politically. Second, and more importantly, he is a loose cannon. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth next, Obama can not afford for Biden to make a verbal blunder. That's the last thing he needs is to worry about Old Man Biden mucking up his campaign with a bafoonish, thoughtless remark. I would hope, though, that Biden has the good sense to make smart, calculated comments and challenge McCain on issues of foreign policy. Kaine and Clinton seem to be on the outside looking in, but you never know what Obama has up his sleeve, so I wouldn't count them, or anybody else, out at this point. All we can do is wait for the text message, which you can sign up for by the way, by texting: VP to 62262. I wouldn't do it, unless you don't mind someone calling you asking for a donation, that is. If you want to find out who he chooses, [shameless self plug in 3...2...1..] simply log on to http://imjustlikemusiq.blogspot.com

It Seems Barack Obama Doesn't Read My Blog...

Though, perhaps Paris Hilton does?


Barack Obama has yet to really fire back at McCain, especially in the manner I proposed, but Paris Hilton for one chose not to sit on the sidelines and let Old Man River blast her. Her response, as witnessed above, was incredibly intriguing, articulate and quite funny. As many of you know, I am a huge Paris Hilton fan, in fact I'm a fan of just about anyone with no discernible talents is able to parlay media hype into careers. Hilton has enjoyed wealth as an actor, singer, and high end fashion model after years of putting on a dumb-blond routine to attract viewers to her reality television show and tabloid news features. I am not going to say she is Albert Einstein, but she is by no means even close to as simpleminded and slow-witted as she chooses to come off. Hilton is not a Britney Spears type personality who enjoyed fame for singing and made her way into the tabloids, she took the road less traveled and skillfully made her way into the tabloids which eventually turned into the career paths of her liking. Aside from her many careers, Paris also has stake in clothing and fragrance companies, and let us not forget the hefty monetary gains she receives simply for making appearances at various clubs in LA each week. Though, she had a striking advantage being bankrolled by one of the richest families in the United States, you can't knock the hustle when someone has millions of dollars in assets acquired from her own successful ventures. She's also hot...

Obama Should Hit Back

Amid Obama's slide and McCain's rise in recent polls, all but leaving the candidates nearly even in the latest percentages, McCain has published an advertisement portraying Obama as a superstar fad. The ad, in doing such, flashed images of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, asking its audience if someone who is only enjoying a brief and explosive fame is truly meant to lead the country? He has time and time again painted an elitist image of Obama, in attempts to lure the "working man vote" (where Obama has struggled, especially against Clinton) into the McCain camp. The Obama campaign responded with another brilliant portrayal of McCain's smear campaign, saying he will not resort to "old politics", the mud-slinging, dirty smearing campagin tactics that politicians, until Obama, have used to win election after election. Pointing out the ideoligical differences worked against Clinton, but in my estimation, it's going to take more than that to beat McCain. It's time to fire back: on the issues. To do so, it is time to draw a comparison of their own, not to a Paris Hilton, not to a Britney Spears, but to an even more polarizing figure that could do more to hurt the McCain campaign more than any mega-celebrity ever couuld. The person in question - President George W. Bush.

Ask the working people of America if they are really ready for another 4 years of a deflated economy, ask thim if they are prepared to lose more jobs (as unemployment has finally surpassed the 5% threshold). Point to the fact that McCain has an IDENTICAL stance on trade as Bush, explain briefly and poignantly, how this means less jobs for Americans and more jobs for foreign workers, as the McCain administration would economically reward businesses who outsource, as opposed to an Obama administration which would reward businesses who remain in America and offer jobs (with competitive pay rates) to Americans. It's time to fire back, use McCain's party against him without stooping to "old politics", by talking about issues.