Obama Quits Church

Barack Obama has announced that after 20 years as a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he is resigning his membership in the wake of the latest controversial statements by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who mocked Hillary Clinton as a guest speaker at Obama's church. If Obama believes that this will put the matter behind him and that we have heard the last of this, he is sorely mistaken. The Republicans will most assuredly make Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Pfleger a centerpiece of the campaign in the general election.

Another Clinton Defeat

Today the Democratic National Committee's rules panel voted to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida with a half vote each. Although this is yet another blow to Hillary Clinton's candidacy, it will not in all likelihood be sufficient enough inducement for her to bow out of the campaign.

Stone Karma

Actress Sharon Stone's comment that the devastating earthquake in China that killed thousands of people was karma for China's treatment of Tibet was an unbelievably stupid statement, even for an actress not exactly known for political insight or intellectual ability. According to Stone, "I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Getting Late

Damn, I am sick and tired of the Clintons. I mean there isn't a day that goes by without Hillary or Bill saying something stupid and self-serving in justifying why she remains in the race, despite being, for all intents and purposes, mathematically eliminated. Hillary's latest ploy is to invoke the name of the Almighty: "There isn't anything we cannot do together if we seek God's blessing and if we stay committed and are not deterred by the setbacks that often fall in every life." And then there's Bill who claimed that the firestorm of reaction triggered by Hillary's Robert Kennedy assassination gaffe raised his blood pressure, not exactly a good thing for someone having undergone heart surgery: "That really made my blood boil." The sooner Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Superdelegates step in and tell the Clintons to end Hilary's candidacy, the better off the Democratic Party will be and the focus can finally turn to Sen. John McCain and the general election in November.

Hillary Clinton's Gaffe

For Hillary Clinton apparently nothing is out of bounds to justify continuing her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination despite the fact that mathematically it is practically impossible for her to overtake Barack Obama. Her latest gaffe, for which she has subsequently apologized, is in invoking the name of Robert Kennedy, who forty years ago campaigned into June when he was gunned down by an assassin's bullet.

This Woman Candidate in Particular

Hillary Clinton supporters are now whining that her failed candidacy can be attributable to rampant misogyny and sexism in the media and in the Obama campaign. Not surprising the feverishly incoherent Geraldine Ferraro is easily the most prominent spokeswoman of this particular point of view. In a recent FOX News interview, Ferraro's sundry complaints about how her candidate has been grievously wronged was on display for all to see. Hold up a minute. Hillary's failed efforts to secure the Democratic presidential nomination has far less to do with an anti-woman bias than it does a terribly flawed campaign and the baggage generated from the Clinton years in the White House. To be sure, there are some folks out there who will never support a woman but this campaign is not about women candidates in general but specifically about this woman candidate in particular.

Hillary's Peculiar Math

Last night Sen. Hillary Clinton told a crowd of Louisville supporters: "This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in history. We're winning the popular vote, and I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot counted." What she conveniently fails to mention is that she's leading in the popular if the caucuses (which Obama dominated) are excluded and the votes in the outlaw primaries of Michigan and Florida are counted.

Robert Byrd Endorses Obama

West Virginia Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, who once was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, endorses Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. This comes as a surprise because voters in last week's West Virginia primary voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton by a 41% margin. The nonagenarian Byrd, who is the third most powerful Democrat in the Senate and currently its longest serving member, said of Obama:

I believe that Barack Obama is a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq, and to lead our nation at this challenging time in history. Barack Obama is a noble-hearted patriot and humble Christian, and he has my full faith and support.

Adios Ben Wallace

Now that the Boston Celtics have finally closed out the Cleveland Cavaliers in a thrilling game 7 we are spared having to watch the non-shooting Ben Wallace, who, without a doubt, has the worst Afro extant in the NBA and places him in the company of Donald Trump and Don King.

Sir Charles

Charles Barkley, Hall of Fame basketball player and often outrageous commentator on any and all matters unrelated to basketball, owes a Las Vegas Strip casino $400,000 for a gambling debt. The casino filed a civil complaint in a Nevada state court, claiming that Barkley failed to repay four $100,000 casino makers for loans received last October. The Chuckster maintains that he does not have a gambling problem, although he estimates he has lost as much as $10 million over the last twenty years.

Which raises the question: Does Dwyane Wade wish to remain in Barkley's Fave 5?

The Breaks

Hillary Clinton cannot catch a break. The day after her 41-point victory in the West Virginia primary, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards endorses Barack Obama in Michigan during the evening news where the story was picked up by ABC News and other outlets. And as if that was not bad enough, the news is that her campaign is $20 million in debt.

Dubya's Sacrifice

Now I get it. After more than five years into the misadventure that is the war in Iraq, President Bush says he gave up golf in 2003 as an expression of solidarity with the families of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. Apparently without an iota of self-consciousness, Bush told the Politico: "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief. I feel I owe it to families to be as - to be in solidarity as best I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Things to Come

With gas prices approaching the $4 per gallon mark and food prices skyrocketing, Bill McKibben's Los Angeles Times op-ed, Civilization's last chance, is hardly comforting but well worth reading:

It's not just the economy: We've gone through swoons before. It's that gas at $4 a gallon means we're running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It's that when we try to turn corn into gas, it helps send the price of a loaf of bread shooting upward and helps ignite food riots on three continents. It's that everything is so tied together. It's that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the "limits to growth" suddenly seem ... how best to put it, right.

All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth.

In Denial

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, in the oped piece Seeds of Destruction, makes the point that the Clintons are not particularly adept at executing exit strategies. So with Obama effectively the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton could not resist playing the race card, because truth be told, that's all she has at this point: "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." She cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

Misguided Praise

Heard a CNN report that a superdelegate, previously neutral but about to declare for Barack Obama, express admiration for Hillary Clinton's "true grit" in staying in the race despite Barack Obama's insurmountable lead. This admiration is misplaced and misguided. At some point, the Clintons have to decide: Is this race about the future of the Democratic Party or about their unbridled ambition? The tone and tenor of the Clinton campaign, particularly in the last few weeks, suggest that it's more of the latter.

Time for Superdelegates to Step In

"I am not a member of any organized party," humorist Will Rogers observed "- I am a Democrat." Rogers' observation continues to resonate today in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination between the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, where Clinton apparently cannot bring herself to realization that, barring some unforeseen catastrophic event, Obama's lead is insurmountable and she needs to find a way to bow out of the race so the Democrats can finally unite behind a nominee to oppose the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. The Financial Times, in its lead editorial Obama recovers his momentum, makes the essential point that the superdelegates need to step in and end this seemingly interminable campaign:

From the point of view of the Democrats’ prospects in November, this campaign is now getting dangerously dirty, with both sides en trenching themselves within almost tribalised constituencies: white, working-class voters, women and the elderly for Mrs Clinton, black voters , the college-educated and the politically awakened young for Mr Obama. It is not just the animosity that is growing visibly between them and significant groups of their rival coalitions – some of whom are indicating they will not close ranks and turn out to vote for the eventual victor – that should tell the party the contest is over. Nor is it just the strident attack advertising that is building up an arsenal of ammunition for John McCain, their Republican opponent, to use.

Enough with the Sports Metaphors

CNN anchor John Roberts, while interviewing Sen. Barack Obama, raised the question how the senator would fend off Republican attacks in the general election become some observers have said he has displayed "a glass chin" in dealing with attacks in the Democratic presidential race from Hillary Clinton, the self-described tough candidate and fighter for the people. What is needed forthwith is a moratorium on the use by the media of sports metaphors in the discussing the presidential campaign because they invariably demonstrate intellectual laziness, paucity of ideas, and lack of imagination. Roberts' use of "glass chin" is a case in point. If Obama had a glass chin, this race would have been over quite some time ago because to affix the appellation to someone means that they cannot take a punch and that they crumble after receiving the first hard blow. With Obama holding what is essentially an insurmountable lead over Clinton, despite taking a battering over the Rev. Wright controversy and the "bitter" comment, it is safe to say that Obama does not have a glass chin.

Repurposing Malcolm

The Financial Times Edward Luce, in the article Religion drags race to the fore about Barack Obama's problems with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, writes, "Mr Obama, meanwhile, was discovered to have borrowed passages from Spike Lee's film Malcolm X":

"They're trying to bamboozle you. It's the same old okie-doke. Y'all know about okie doke, right? ... They try to bamboozle you. Hoodwink ya. Try to hoodwink ya. Alright, I'm having too much fun here. ... "
- Barack Obama

"You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took. You've been led astray, led amok. You’ve been bamboozled." - Malcolm X

Obama's use of the Malcolm X, whether deliberate or fortuitous, demonstrates a certain hipness and facility with the language noticeably lacking in his opponents. Having said that, once right-wingers and other detractors make the connection, it will likely become fodder for anti-Obama rants.

Happy 5th Anniversary

Today marks the fifth anniversary of President Bush's address to the nation on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln; the banner displayed in the background emblazoned with the phrase MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Bush began his speech with the now equally memorable words: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country."