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NPR News and Notes With Farai Chideya

Archive for the 'Barack Obama' Category

29 Jun

Bill Clinton to Obama: “kiss my ass”

So this is the lion in winter? Is this what a denied and now all red and inflamed sense of entitlement looks like? During the primary campaign, former President Bill Clinton has already heaped a mountain of tarnish on his own legacy. And now, he’s about to insure that his prolonged toddler tantrum will eclipse [...]

24 Jun

Dear ‘Angry Hillary Ladies’: Welcome to my world

A wonderful friend of mine keeps trying to convince me to go to Denver with him to attend the Democratic National Convention. You see, he is an intimate of some of Hillary Clinton’s most major donors and passionate supporters. He promises that if I go, he’ll bring the “lawn chairs” and we will have front [...]

22 Jun

Admitted racial bias - How much will it matter for Barack Obama?

According to an ABC News-Washington Post poll reported in the Washington Post today, 3 out of 10 Americans acknowledge racial bias in assessing Barack Obama.
Lingering racial bias affects the public’s assessments of the Democrat from Illinois, but offsetting advantages and Sen. John McCain’s age could be bigger factors in determining the next occupant of [...]

17 Jun

Looking for Barack Obama…

Does this look like Barack Obama to you? A German manufacturer thinks so.

Does this look like Barack Obama? A Utah Couple thinks so. Or thought so. And they think “he’s so cute and cuddly.” TheSockObama doll, not Barack. Well, maybe Barack; they don’t say. But as of today they have stopped selling their odd lil’ [...]

11 Jun

A “sense of black grievance”

Sorry for the slow down in original posting just now. I am setting up a move and it’s got me all topsy turvy. In depth posting will resume tomorrow.
But in the meantime, I wanted to make sure you saw this thought provoking New York Times editorial: Color Test - Where Whites Draw the Line by [...]

07 Jun

What do you think about Hillary Clinton’s Concession Speech?

Brava, Hillary!

I thought Clinton’s speech was powerful, well-tempered and sincere. In comment threads, much is being made of the fact that the former first family and Terry McAuliffe are wearing black. Well, why not? This is a very hard, sad day for a little less or a little more than half of the Democratic [...]

04 Jun

Already? Obama painted as physically intimidating…well, slightly

*UPDATE: Jack and Jill Politics has a very different take on this.*
*UPDATE: More from DailyKos*
As a black man Barack Obama has to walk a very thin line. As discussed on NPR News and Notes, it will be hard for Obama to maintain a Presidential posture while still being the “magical black friend” that some voters [...]

03 Jun

History is here. Post coming…

Spent all day doing democracy as a poll inspector (aka supervisor.) Given all that is happening it was a little surreal to be working in a place so out of the way that there was NO cellphone reception.
And I tell you, I had to check a couple of disgruntled or shall I say freaked [...]

27 May

To the DNCC: Where are the bloggers of color?

*UPDATE* May 30, 2008 - Wider variety credentialed in General Blogger Pool. See Complete List.
Although I have no party affiliation right now, eight years ago I walked away from the Democratic Party and registered as a Republican. In part it was because I believed and still believe that the Democrats take the black vote for [...]

23 May

Vile: Hillary brings up ASSASSINATION to justify her continued campaign

From the New York Post:
Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama.
“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was [...]

22 May

Images of Murder and Torture emerge against Obama and his wife

These images are viscerally offensive. But they were not created by those you would expect. The second photo appeared on the cover of a Georgia newspaper. The first illustration was created by a liberal, white blogger at Daily Kos named ONECITIZEN - trying to make a point. This is unsettling because I expect violent, [...]

20 May

Finally someone says it! It’s his color.

I had to laugh this morning when Harold Ford, former US Senate candidate and MSNBC talking head, agreed with Pat Buchanan that Obama should have campaigned in Kentucky. My inner dialogue responded, “Gentlemen, you guys must not have been to the Kentucky I’ve been to.” It all sounded like second guessing bluster in contrast to [...]

15 May

To Michael Steele: An open thank-you note

Dear Mr. Steele,
This note is long overdue. I write to thank you for single handedly disproving the myth that black people, in herd like fashion, will always vote for the black guy because he’s black. The fact that you lost your bid for an open Maryland Senate seat in November 2006 does more to refute [...]

08 May

Hillary Clinton: But White people like me…

Yesterday, I hesitated to write about the discomforting current I heard running through every appearance made by those Clinton representatives defending why Clinton stays in this race when there is no honorable way she can win it. I hesitated because Clinton’s racial blunders have been so big and so frequent I felt I would be [...]

07 May

Call him Nominee

With a decisive win in North Carolina and losing by a squeaker in Indiana, a white Mid-Western state, Barack Obama has solidified his position as the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic party. As has been repeated on every cable show I watched, there is simply no honorable way for Hillary Clinton to wrest the [...]