Obama Fires Back

Barack Obama's renunciation of his former pastor and spiritual adviser Rev. Jeremiah Wright was inevitable in light of Wright's media blitz where he unhesitatingly impugned his former congregant's integrity as a politician. Will this be enough to satisfy the senator's detractors and opponents? Perhaps not. But it should lay to rest the notion that this practitioner of a post-partisan politics more concerned with bridging divisions and uniting people lacks the necessary toughness or the proverbial fire in the belly to be president.

Wizards on the Brink

Somebody forgot to tell the Washington Wizards that trash talking matters little unless you actually back it up with play on the court. DeShawn Stevenson, Gilbert Arenas, and now Brendan Hayward - who openly mocked James for complaining about the Wizards' physical play - have clearly won the verbal series, such as it is, but find themselves trailing 3 games to 1 and on the brink of being ousted from the playoffs by Cleveland for the third consecutive year. And all their efforts have succeeded in doing is motivating James to elevate his level of play, as if he needed another reason.

Wright Talk

From the perspective of Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Rev. Jeremiah Wright's decision to speak publicly about the controversial soundbites and snippets culled from sermons could not have come at a worse time. Obama has seen his meteoric rise derailed, at least temporarily, by Wright's statements and Obama's ill-conceived remarks about the bitterness of white blue collar workers in Pennsylvania. What resulted was a re-energized Hillary Clinton eagerly pouncing on Obama's remark as "elitist" and"out-of-touch" with those voters. And despite outspending Clinton by at least a 3 to 1 margin, Obama lost by a margin slightly less than 10 percent. Now comes an unapologetic Rev. Wright to set the record straight; first on PBS with Bill Moyers last Friday, Sunday in Detroit at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner, and today at the Washington Press Club. At each venue, Rev. Wright has demonstrated that he is far more substantive and complex than his detractors are willing to give him credit for and hardly the ranting racist portrayed in the seemingly never-ending loops featured on cable television and youtube. That being said, while it is understandable that Wright would seek to set the record straight by speaking for himself, his media blitz seems to be more about the pastor's bruised ego and an inflated sense of self-importance as opposed to racial injustice or, as he puts it, an attack on the black church tradition.

Obama's Refusal

A published letter to the editor of the D.C. Examiner in response to Barack Obama's refusal to participate in more debates with Hillary Clinton:

Re: Agree? Disagree? “Barack
Obama is right to refuse to partic-
ipate in any more debates with Hill-
ary Clinton,” April 25
With already more than 20 so-
called debates between these can-
didates, Barack Obama is right in
refusing to participate in more de-
bates with Hillary Clinton. At this
point, more debates do not serve
any useful purpose and are like-
ly to devolve into the silliness that
was the Pennsylvania debate.
Craig Taylor
Alexandria

Ornette Coleman at Town Hall

There is a wonderful piece by jazz critic Gary Giddins in New Yorker magazine on saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman's much anticipated return to New York City's Town Hall a few weeks after his seventy-eighth birthday. Giddins notes that the years have not diminished Coleman's distinctive voice:

Although Coleman performs to packed stadiums at European festivals, he remains unknown to most Americans. Perhaps the chief impediment to greater popularity is the very quality that centers his achievement: the raw, rugged, vocalized, weirdly pitched sound of his alto saxophone. Considered uniquely, radiantly beautiful by fans, it is like no other sound in or out of jazz. Within the space of a few notes—a crying glissando, say, or a chortling squeak—Coleman’s sound is as unmistakable as the voice of a loved one. Even now, in a far noisier and more dissonant world than 1959, listening to Coleman can be a bracing experience for the uninitiated. Coleman’s attitude toward intonation is unconventional. The classical composer Hale Smith once spoke to me of Coleman’s “quarter-tone pitch,” by which he meant that Coleman plays between the semitones of an ordinary chromatic scale. The core of Coleman’s genius, Smith felt, is that, however sharp or flat he is from accepted pitch, he is consistent from note to note. Coleman hears so acutely that even when he is out of tune with the rest of the musical world he is always in tune with himself.

Bush: Checks in the Mail

Still doing his level best in not mentioning the dreaded word "recession", President Bush repeated his mantra the U.S. economy is in a slowdown but not to worry for help is on way in the form of tax rebates designed to stimulate the economy. "The money's going to help Americans offset the high prices we're seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store and it will also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown." Does anybody honestly believe that a $300 check will not only negate rising gasoline and food prices but provide a boost to the economy?

Starburst

The news that Star Jones has filed for divorce from the love of her life Al Reynolds after 3 1/2 years of marriage comes as a no great surprise. This union was doomed from the gitgo. In a statement released to the media, Jones said, "made an error in judgment by inviting the media into the most intimate area of my life." What an understatement.

Blade Sentenced

Dumbass actor Wesley Snipes sentenced to three years in prison for willfully failing to file tax returns to the tune of $17 million in back taxes. This ignorant ass followed the advice of American Rights Litigators, an organization deeply involved in illegal tax-evasion schemes. Negro, please.

Elitism, Punks, and Name-calling

Republican strategist Rich Galen resorted to name-calling in expressing his displeasure over Barack Obama's "bitter" remark. This is a letter to the editor of the Alexandria Times in response to Galen's piece that the paper chose not to publish.

Rich Galen (Virtue, Liberty, and Independence, Apr. 17th) writes, "Barack Obama is an elitist punk." Having seen the milquetoast Galen appear on CNN in his capacity as political commentator of no particular distinction, the harsh language seems somewhat out of character. It is difficult to determine whether it's a function of Galen identifying with the common folk by adopting their language or simply the byproduct of a limited vocabulary and challenged imagination. In any regard, neither reflects well on Galen.

It is difficult to discern why the paper chose not to run the letter. Perhaps name-calling is permissible in the context of an opinion piece but inappropriate for letter writers.

Low Rider

The New York Times, in its lead editorial The Low Road to Victory, states, "It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election." It is demonstrably clear that the Clintons - and Bill must be in the equation - will resort to anything including negativity to win the Democratic presidential nomination, and if that, in the long run, harms her opponent Barack Obama and the Democratic party then so be it. The Clintons' unbridled ambition does not take a backseat to anything.

Bush: Slowdown, not Recession

In a New Orleans news conference that concluded a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President George W. Bush reassured the American people on the state of the U.S. economy: "We're not in a recession, we're in a slowdown." The Decider pointed out that the economy grew in the fourth quarter of 2007 and that there were no statistics for the first quarter. "But there's no question we're in a slowdown and people are concerned about it, obviously." Bush's sanguineness on the economy is eerily similar to his pronouncements over the last five years about imminent victory in Iraq, and, as such, have little credibility. January 2009 cannot get here soon enough.

Being All You Can Be

The Washington Post reports that "the Army admitted about one-fourth more recruits last year with a record of legal problems ranging from felony convictions and serious misdemeanors to drug crimes and traffic offenses, as pressure to increase the size of U.S. ground forces led the military to grant waivers for criminal conduct, according to new data released yesterday." Specifically, the Army has accepted applicants with convictions for burglary, grand larceny, aggravated assault, sexual assault, terrorist threats, and involuntary manslaughter. Apparently the war in Iraq does not allow for discrimination in selecting defenders of the homeland.

Talking Loud and Saying Nothing

There was nothing surprising when the members of ABC News "This Week" roundtable - host George Stephanopoulos, Cokie Roberts, George Will, and Sam Donaldson - convened that the first subject would be the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia from the previous Thursday. Nor that, with the exception of Will who seemingly could not talk about anything beyond capital gains taxes, most of the chatter would be a defense of Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson who moderated the event. The consensus was that the criticism of the moderators was terribly unfair and tantamount to killing the messengers, whatever in the hell that means. But the most risible comment was, as usual, reserved for the bombastic Donaldson who even at this late date fails to comprehend that there is no correlation between the volume of one's voice and the ability to express clear, cogent ideas. Donaldson was mortified at the Obama supporters whom he found to possess "a sense of entitlement" about the party nomination. What is curious about Donaldson's observation is that he could not bring himself to say the same of Hillary Clinton supporters. Using a term like "entitlement" to characterize one candidate's supporters as distinguished from his opponent's supporters strikes me as an attempt to diminish the candidate.

Finding Ways to Lose

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, in Road Map to Defeat, makes the painfully obvious point: Democrats have the unerring knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And the Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama seemingly interminable contest for the Democratic presidential nomination is firmly in line with past blown opportunities. "The Democrats," Herbert writes, "are doing everything they can to blow this presidential election. This is a skill that comes naturally to the party. There's no such thing as a can't-miss year for the Democrats. They are truly gifted at finding ways to lose."

Dirt Off the Shoulders

Washington Post staff writer Teresa Wiltz, in Obama Has Jay-Z on his IPod and the Moves To Prove It, writes of Obama's hip-hop acumen with his adept shoulder brush in fending off the nonsense perpetrated last Thursday in Philadelphia by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. Wiltz also points out the cultural ignorance of numbnuts MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. The clueless Scarborough said: "We looked at each other and said, 'What's he doing?" Cohen termed the gesture "contemptuous and aloof." Both are sorely in need of late passes.

Torture and Guantánamo Bay

The Guardian reports that top aides in the Bush Administration pushed for the use of torture in interrogation of suspected terrorists in Guantánamo Bay, without the knowledge of then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, who mistakenly believed that those prisoners were protected the Geneva Conventions. Of particular interest, these interrogation techniques were inspired by none other the fictional figure Jack Bauer of the television series 24.

Hatchet Job

Last night's Pennsylvania debate moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News could not have delivered a more effective hatchet job on Sen. Barack Obama - and thereby giving Sen. Hillary Clinton a free pass - short of being employed directly by the Clinton campaign. For much of the first hour they focused unrelentingly on every tangential issue - Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's "bitter" comment, Obama's patriotism - calculated to drive voters away from Obama, so much so that at times it was three on one. The Field Negro, a Philadelphia based blogger, put it best:

These two clowns were a joke. I like a tough moderator, but come on George, I know you used to work for the Clintons, but could you have at least tried to put a journalist hat on? What a fucking disgrace! I bet the little motherfucker really felt like Napoleon tonight. Affirmative action, guns, all the wedge issues to fire up certain white folks and turn them off from a certain black candidate even more. If the former first lady was a baseball player she would be the league MVP after tonight's debate with all the soft balls she had thrown her way.

Minstrelsy, 21st Century Style

The irrepressible Flavor Flav, formerly of the rap group Public Enemy and more recently of the reality TV hit Flavor of Love, has ascended to the big leagues of situation comedy, or so the buffoonish Flav believes, with his sights dead set on Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman for acting excellence. Meanwhile, the egomaniacal, shamelessly self-promoting Deion Sanders has ventured into the reality TV ranks with his own show that reveals his assorted domestic deficiencies as both husband and father.

The Bobcat

Bob Johnson, founder of BET and loyal Clinton surrogate, confirms the wisdom of two observations. First, it is better to be silent and be thought a fool rather than open one's mouth and remove all doubt. And second, there is no correlation between the amount of money in one's bank account and the depth of one's intelligence and strength of one's integrity. With his latest foray into the Democratic presidential campaign as Hillary Clinton's dutiful surrogate, Johnson, not surprisingly, has demonstrated a gross deficiency in intelligence and integrity. But like his candidate, the man has no shame.

Poor Choice of Words

"I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button."

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Kentucky), on Sen. Barack Obama before a GOP Dinner in Kentucky. Of course, the aptly named congressman is now moonwalking away from those remarks. Here's his lame apology to Obama:

Dear Senator Obama:
On Saturday night I gave a speech in which I used a poor choice of words when discussing the national security policy positions of the Presidential candidates. I was quoted as saying "That boy's finger does not need to be on the button."

My poor choice of words is regrettable and was in no way meant to impugn you or your integrity. I offer my sincere apology to you and ask for your forgiveness.

Though we may disagree on many issues, I know that we share the goal of a prosperous, secure future for our nation. My comment has detracted from the dialogue that we should all be having on legitimate policy differences and in no way reflects the personal and professional respect I have for you.

Sincerely

Geoff Davis

Vitter Escapes

Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter, the erstwhile crusader for traditional family values and prostitute procuring hypocrite, will not be called to the stand to testify in the celebrated trial of D.C. Madame, Deborah Jean Palfrey. The defense decided to rest its case without calling Vitter. Thus Vitter's avoidance of testifying was considerably smoother than his attempt to get away from inquiring journalists a few days ago, when he backed his Honda into a parking lot sign.

Quote of the Day

"Politicians and diapers need to be changed - often for the same reason."
- Anonymous

The Inattentive Alphonso Jackson

The Sunday Washington Post has a front page story, HUD Chief Inattentive To Crisis, Critics Say, on outgoing Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson's tenure, in which this negro is depicted as being asleep at the switch amid the housing crisis. ( I shall withhold comment about the photograph because anything I say would be superfluous.)

Obama Says He Erred in "Bitter" Remark

Barack Obama apologizes for the statement that Pennsylvania white working class voters are "bitter" for falling on hard times during the Clinton and Bush administrations, and as a consequence "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Predictably, the Clinton and McCain campaigns wasted little time in weighing in on the remark, accusing Obama of elitism, condescension, and of being out of touch with those voters. In my opinion, what he said is true.

Smiley Quits

Tavis Smiley reportedly has quit doing commentaries for The Tom Joyner Morning Show after twelve years on the job. Smiley's decision was apparently prompted by the barrage of criticism he has faced resulting from what many view as his unfair treatment of Sen. Barack Obama. Given his penchant for taking others to task, I find it terribly ironic that when he found himself on the other end of criticism, he could not handle it. And quitting rather than dealing with the criticism speaks volumes about his character and the depth of his commitment.

The Wrong Example

The Georgia NAACP would be well-advised to be more dscriminating in selecting examples of black criminal defendants being treated more harshly than their white counterparts. The latest case in point involves the sentencing of two white women dubbed the "Barbie bandits." According to reports, a superior court judge sentenced Heather Johnston, 20, to 10 years probation following her guilty plea to theft by taking. Ashley Miller, 19, Ms. Johnston's partner, did not fare as well, being sentenced to two years behind bars and eight years probation. However, Michael Chastang, 28, got 10 years in prison for masterminding the robbery, and bank teller Bennie Allen III, 22, who copped a plea, got five years in jail and five years probation. Of course, these are two black men.

Edward Dubose, head of the Georgia NAACP, is outraged at the disparate sentencing and into petition Georgia Attorney General to look into the matter. "This is a case that clearly reflects unequal justice, " he said. "These two women referred to as the Barbie Bandits should have received sentences equal to the African Americans." What Dubose glosses over are a few inconvenient facts. Chastang and Allen are not choirboys. Chastang, who is serving 15 years on drug trafficking charges, has a criminal record on drug, firearms and weapons charges. And one cannot lose sight of the fact he masterminded the crime. Allen was on probation for a drug offense and refused to cooperate with the prosecution. In contrast, the two women had no prior criminal records and generally were cooperative with the prosecution.

The Irrelevancy of West and Smiley

Cornel West, in a blog entry on Huffington Post, chided Barack Obama for his failure to show up in Memphis, Tennessee last week for the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

I want to say that I'm deeply disappointed that my dear brother Barack Obama decided not to go pay tribute and lay his wreath for the great Martin Luther King, Jr. That brother Martin's profound love and deep sacrifice for black people, America and humanity is in no way reducible to political calculations, even for the campaign for presidency. That Martin Luther King Jr.'s deep commitment to unarmed truth and unconditional love can in no way be subject to strategies for access to political power. Hence, I have a very deep disagreement with my dear brother, Barack Obama -- in this case, commitment to truth is in tension with the quest for power.

This morning the annoyingly self-important Tavis Smiley, appearing on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, picked up on West's theme and, as is his wont, uttered some nonsense about the challenge of finding a "love language" and "lovingly" ways to critique Obama and others when they stray from what is apparently the new orthodoxy in the black community as manifested by West and Smiley. I would have thought that Smiley had learned a lesson when he was severely criticized for attacking Obama in February for not being present at the State of the Black Union conference in New Orleans. But in any regard, Obama's commitment to the principles and ideals of Dr. Knig should not be called into question simply because he wasn't in Memphis. At this stage of the game, Obama does not need to establish his bona fides. The support that he has gained in the Democratic presidential primary has put the matter to rest.

Quote of the Day

"I voted for Clinton twice, but that's over with. These old black politicians say, 'Ooh, Massuh Clinton was good to us, massuh hired a lot of us, massuh was good!' Hoo! Charlie Rangel, David Dinkins-- they have to understand this is a new day."

-- Filmmaker Spike Lee , in New York magazine, on why he's supporting Barack Obama ("I think he's a visionary") rather than Hillary Clinton.

Nina Simone: Why [The King of Love is Dead]

Simone sang this song as a tribute to King who had been killed a few days earlier. She pretty much says it all; the words, as poignant and meaningful today as they were 40 years ago.

The Clintons Rake It In

Bill and Hillary Clinton earned an astounding $109 million in the last eight years since leaving the White House. Of that amount, Bill Clinton raked in upwards of $250,000 per speech, totally almost $52 million. The question is, what in the hell did he say that merited that kind of money? An ancillary but no less important question is, when you're in the Clintons' earnings and tax bracket, how much empathy can you reasonably have for those white working class Democrats who don't think Barack Obama speaks to their concerns?

Martin Luther King, Jr. 40 Years Later

Washington Post Staff Writer Kevin Merida's piece The Other Side of the Mountain on the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee is a fine piece of writing that focuses primarily on two themes: King's complexity as a human being amid his iconization and where we are as a people four decades after his untimely death.

Chelsea's Role

Recently, Chelsea Clinton, in the role of campaign surrogate, has garnered a lot of attention for having to field questions about her father's dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. Ms. Clinton brushes off such queries as inappropriate because it is purely a personal matter. Nobody can deny the awkwardness she finds herself in for having to be confronted with her father's behavior but that goes with the role she has chosen to play in her mother's campaign. A more useful question is, does she also recall encountering sniper fire on the tarmac in Bosnia back in 1996?

Ceremonial Pitches

Much has been made of the chorus of boos that greeted President Bush's ceremonial first pitch to Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta as the Nationals opened the baseball season and their new ballpark against the Atlanta Braves last Sunday night. The argument is that those fans were unpatriotic and disrespectful to the office of the presidency and, at the very least, should have refrained from such behavior, regardless of their feelings about Bush. I disagree. With Bush presiding over the most catastrophic foreign policy misadventure in Iraq and the sheer ineptitude in handling the devastation wreaked by Katrina on New Orleans, just to name two colossal failures, the question is, what other reaction could one reasonably expect?

Wilt Chamberlain

Philadelphia sportswriter Donald Hunt is leading a grass roots effort to have the late Wilt Chamberlain's image emblazoned on a commemorative U.S. postage stamp. Hunt argues that Chamberlain, who is in the basketball Hall of Fame and the only player in NBA history to score 100 points in a game, deserves to join Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, and Jesse Owens as sports figures who have their own stamps. Granted, Chamberlain was a tremendous basketball player and perhaps one of the greatest ever to play the game; however, he is not an iconic figure like Robinson, Ruth, Louis, and Owens, whose achievements transcended the games they played and impacted the larger society.

Hillary and Rocky Balboa

Hillary Clinton asserts that, like boxer Rocky Balboa, she wasn't a quitter. She points out that if ''Rocky Balboa had gotten halfway up those [Philadelphia] art museum steps and said, 'Well, I guess that's about far enough.' Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people." But Barack Obama's counter could not be more effective: Rocky was a movie character.

I know there’s been some talk about Rocky Balboa over the last couple of days. And you know, we all love Rocky. We all love Rocky. And last time I checked, I was the underdog in this state. So, so, the uh, so, so you know, I like the Rocky story. But we got to remember that Rocky was a movie. And so is the idea that somebody can fight for working people and at the same time embrace the broken system in Washington, where corporate lobbyists use their clout to shape laws to their liking.