The Missouri Compromise

Well, I don't want to pat myself on the back, but I think St. Louis County and City helped push Barack Obama across that Missouri finish line, edging out Hillary Clinton by almost 10,000 votes. That was all St. Louis, baby. Because down state and the rural counties all flipped Clinton (unsurprisingly).

This is because St. Louis is the east coast of Missouri, your downgrade New York and Kansas City is our barbecue loving western cousin. Both places are stuffed full with black people and educated, upper class Liberals, two groups Obama is racking up.

The rest of the state is as Red as they come out in the rural areas. You might as well be in Arkansas when you get out in the Ozarks or hanging out in the boot heel.

Despite St. Louis' valiant effort to ram Obama through, Clinton gathered enough votes county and city-wide to split the state almost evenly with Obama. Because of this the win is more for bragging rights. Missouri's delegates will be split evenly between Obama and Clinton. Hence the Missouri Compromise reference.

So the fight goes on with Obama and Clinton in a tough race for the nomination. I have to admit, this is rather exciting. I've been a political observer since I was around 12 and this is the first hotly contested, dog-fight for delegates race I've ever seen. It was thrilling to stay up until 1 a.m. to see how the states flipped. Gosh, I wish every presidential election were like this. Of course, I could still do without the pundits, but what can you do.

Side note: Michelle Obama is the snazziest potential first lady in the pack. No matter what event she's is killing it in the clothes department. She's got Nancy Reagan's touch of glam and Jackie Kennedy's loads o' class. I have never seen her in an outfit that wasn't innovative, yet feminine. Her clothes hearken back to old school pillbox n' pearls chic mixed with the avant-garde. Her hair is always on point. I think I'm going to have put together a Michelle Obama photo fashion show, because someone needs to dole out bona fides for her ability to put it together with amazing efficiency.

It's like the Civil War, but not

Found this video on ABC.com this morning about the Democratic race today and how it's splitting families. I don't know if it's split our family as no one is saying who they're voting for. Maybe we just don't feel like having any Pro-Obama/Pro-Hillary fights. Or maybe, as a family of pragmatists, we're all having mini-crises because our choices stem from groups who have historically been unelectable, hence forcing us to find our inner optimist. Hope or the familiar? Are we going to be cynics about our votes or hopefully that the best will come of it? Is it a bad omen that its all dark and stormy in the STL today?

What are you trying to say, God??? Is it because Mike Huckabee keeps dragging Chuck Norris around like he's the future First Lady? I mean, seriously, Chuck Norris? The shit was funny at first, but now ... weird.

It's hard to dust the dread off. For more 20 years of my 30 years on this earth the US has had a Republican president and black people have struggled under any administration that doesn't think black issues are worth caring about. I'm not saying Republicans don't care about black people, but they've never held any "get out the vote" rallies in North St. Louis. Or East St. Louis. Or proposed any programs that would make it easy for people to vote or suggested that they would actually staff the FBI's Civil Rights division with people who actually believe the US still has Civil Rights issues.

That's all I'm saying. Black voters care about politicians who care about black people. Not Republicans who care about Condi Rice and no one else.

This is worse than the crises of conscious I had when I was 9 when I figured out that the same Ronald Reagan that I was raised to despise was backing all these defense contracts for McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis where Papa Snob was in management. Never mind the fact that I was totally against war and nuclear proliferation. Every new My Little Pony I was given was actually a gift from the military industrial complex that was still preparing then for World War III, a nuclear holocaust with the USSR.

And then the freakin' Challenger blew up. It was so distressing.

Roland Martin @ CNN agrees with me ...

After Super Tuesday the chances of a Clinton-Obama/Obama-Clinton tag team in the general is highly unlikely.

You can't go back to coach when you've been riding in first class. And when you've hurt feelings and pissed people off it's hard to just kiss and make up. By the time it's all said and done it will be more kiss and say goodbye.

Obama-mania, international style!

I found this cartoon on Slate.com. It's from The Straits Times in Singapore. I recently read this article about international interest in the US presidential election. It looked out how the world views the candidates and our outgoing Commander-in-Chief.

After eight years of President Bush, the latest mantra in U.S. politics - "transformational change" - is resonating across the rest of a planet desperate for a fresh start.

"They feel there's a real chance to work with the U.S.," said Julianne Smith, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "America's image in the world is really on the line."

Non-Americans, she said, are looking for someone who can "restore faith in the United States."

.... In the post-Bush era, the bottom line is blunt and simple, said (political scientist at the London School of Economics Patrick Dunleavy).

"People all around the world are pretty worried," he said. "They want a president who will restore a kind of U.S. legitimacy in the world."

It says Obama is the guy to watch for most people, and is a favorite in Germany, Japan and Africa. The Europeans largely favor Hillary out of fond memories of Bill Clinton's presidency. She also gets a lot of pro-Israel support. The Russians and Iraqis are betting on the Republicans, although the Russians don't like McCain because of his anti-Putin remarks.

Mexico's president is poo-pooing the whole lot as a bunch of Mexican immigrant hating jerks (even the Dems?). I get his annoyance, but dude, fix your damn country. Maybe we wouldn't be having this crisis over immigration. I'm not saying everything is Mexico's fault, because it isn't. But President Calderon should give a crap that his people on the northern border are so poor that they're willing to walk miles through a barren desert and die to wash our dishes, slaughter our cows and fix our rooftops. Something is very messed up about that.

But of course Calderon has no incentive to fix the inequities. Just as American corporations want cheap labor so Americans can buy cheap goods, Mexico needs those same immigrants to send home billions in American cash to their families in Mexico to prop up the Mexican economy. J'accuse!

That said, I find it fascinating how close the race is being watched internationally, but considering America's amazing ability to do things that have unbelievable and often, horrible consequences for the rest of planet earth, I can see why our election for "Leader of the Free World" would interest them ...

... If only for the reason that American might become competent again. Don't you miss half-ass competent America? How he would call you back after dates and not start pointless wars?

Yeah. Good Times.

St. Louis is flattered by all the attention she's getting

Barack Obama killed it at the Edwards Jones Dome in St. Louis Saturday. Despite the snow thousands packed the arena to get a gander at Obama. He worked the crowd. I, alas, did not attend, but watched the event unfold live on the ol' C-SPAN.

Weirdest moment was when the show was over was one of the phone calls the C-SPAN host got during the call-in segment. While the majority calls were happy, pro-Obama people, or polite bi-curious Hillary people, one guy with a thick accent when on a rant of how a vote for Obama was a vote for socialism.

I don't understand people like this. Socialism? Really? Will we speak nationalize all our corporations and turn Congress into giant rubber stamp? Wait. We had that rubber stamp part for a while and it was under a Republican administration. So, does that mean Georgie is a Socialist. I think not.

As for Obama, thank goodness St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay wasn't at the Dome. We didn't need this evening of wondrous good feelings marred by the instinctive boos Slay receives whenever he's within a few feet of black people.

I think he's backing the opposition anyway.

Speaking of the opposition, Hillary Clinton is also wooing the Show Me State, albeit on a smaller scale. St. Louis is enjoying the flattery, not wanting either candidate to get in on the secret that us city folks don't run the state. The Red State country folk do. But the cities are where the Democrats are. So happy hunting!

Stakes Are High

Republicans are openly dreaming of a Hillary Clinton run for the White House to keep their faltering coalition from fracturing. Depending on who you ask, it's being undone by either the weight of "Mr. 29 Approval Rating" or the alleged liberalism of Senator John McCain. It's against this backdrop where we're almost ready to step upon that terra firma known as "Democrats: Please don't fuck this up, yours truly, America."

Anyone who thinks the Republicans are just going to lie down and take one in the ass for either Barack or Hillary is crazy. They're going to fight until the last man standing. So will Democrats fight to get their nominee in? Will they defend and protect his or her reputation? If the goal is to get a Democrat in the White House, if only to stem the tide of corruption and unconstitutionality born in the era of the Imperial Presidency, will people suck things up and suck it up quick?

It's time to get realistic.

Obama recently made some comments about how if he's the nominee he's sure he'll get Hillary's supporters but isn't sure if she'll get his if she's the nominee. I cringed at this, not because he was lying. I'm pretty positive there would be plenty of Obama supporters, me included, who would be devastated if he lost. But I felt what Obama said was wrong because if the goal is to get a Democrat in the White House you don't want to make it sound like you wouldn't encourage your supporters to make it happen.

For all the things that are wrong with Hillary she is not the same as John McCain or Mitt Romney. And at the end of the day, Barack and Hillary are going to have to work with one another. Be pissed at the Clintons, but love America enough to ensure that our next overlord isn't the real Bush Lite, John McCain.

I get what Obama's doing. He's arguing for his electability, trying to counter the Clintons' claims that he's too risky. He wanted to demonstrate that his bipartisan support was real and united. Obama has built an awesome coalition. I just want everyone to realize that the ritualistic blood-letting the Democratic party does every election cycle often leads to us losing in November.

So for fuck's sake, work that out.

We don't need thousands of dejected Obama supporters sitting on their hands come November. We don't need a repeat of 2000 where Dem weakness and Clinton jealousy underminded what should have been a sure thing. A lot of TV pundits keep acting like the Dem presidency is a done deal in light of all the bad calls they've made at the polls. Don't listen to these agitators. The stakes are too high. I know we're all feeling good for ourselves. I know were all ready to move past the Bush-Cheney Era, God knows I am, but I don't want people to lose perspective.

Just like I need Obama to keep his supporters positive even if he doesn't end up on the ticket, Hillary needs to swallow the bile and turn that permanent bitch face onto the Republican opponent if she's not the nominee.

I don't need her and Bill doing to Obama what they did to Gore, undermining him every chance they get. If she's that deft of a street fighter, get in the streets and get Barack elected. Break some thumbs. Gouge a few eyes. Throw some blocks. Find creative ways to bring up McCain's 71 years on this earth over and over while complimenting Obama's health and virility. Bust some skulls. I don't care. But don't malinger. Don't make snide remarks. And dear God, don't do nothing lest we have the press obsessing about why the Clintons aren't stumping for Obama. No more manufactured controversies. No more triangulation. Nothing but you doing everything in your power to make a Democratic White House possible, even if that White House isn't yours.

Do what your husband didn't do -- bring transformative change and success to the Democratic party. It's not all about you ... and Bill.

At the end of the day we have to be united, if only so because we normally aren't.

I don't want to lose the White House yet again. The way Supreme Court Justices are flying off the shelves one more Republican administration and they're going to roll back Brown vs. the Board of Education. I don't want to doom my future children because the court is going to be packed with ultra-conservative morality cops who only care about womens' reproductive systems, keeping gay people from marrying, denying racism under the guise of "progress," protecting corporate interests and thinking the president should be able to do whatever he or she wants, even if it involves subverting the will of the people.

So I know that the Democratic Party is a weak and imperfect vessel for such a difficult and magnanimous task, I just want them to get it together, win and then, sweet Jesus, refuse all those powers Dick Cheney created for the heir apparent. Darth Cheney has cooked up kooky, powers that would make Barack or Hillary the most powerful Democrat president since FDR. I don't want to trade one overlord for another. I want a president. Not an Emperor. As tempting as having the power to do things Richard Nixon only dreamed of doing, I hope that President Obama can resist the temptation.

If it's President Hillary, well. I can't lie. She's not going to give up all of those powers. She'll roll them back a little, but she's has political scores to settle. But I think the Republicans, under a second Clinton Administration, will gladly take up the roll as Hillary BS checker ensuring that some checks and balances will be restored.

But that's still a big if.

Post-Dispatch: Black St. Louisans on the Dem race say, "Can't we have both?"

Read a pretty good article in the Post-Dispatch on the conflicting loyalties in the Democratic race. Black people in St. Louis, like black people everywhere, are debating whether to vote with their pro-Obama hearts or their skeptical, hardened pro-Clinton heads. Most pro-Obama people admit that if Obama weren't in the race they'd be backing Clinton. Others talk about feeling truly conflicted between the two. And there are those who flat out just wish they could be on the same ticket. Which, mind you, I don't see happening. I envision that both of them would likely pick a white man as their VP. (I vote Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia!)

That said, I thought this was a good story even though writers Doug Moore and Jake Wagman just HAD to put that "First Black President" line in about Bill Clinton.

Seriously. We Negroes did not have a meeting and vote on this. And Toni Morrison never meant for her statement on the Republicans' obsession with Bubba interpreted as an endorsement. So take down this message:

Dear American Press,

There was no vote taken on former President William Jefferson Clinton's application for a ghetto pass and his request for an African-American Express card was denied. We appreciated his work in the 90s, but we investigated his background and he is not a black man. Please stop referring to him as such.

Sincerely,

The Secret Council of American Negroes

My mother, the Clinton apologist

Hello, I'm the Black Snob and my mother is a Clinton apologist.

The Clintons with all their good points and flaws are in a battle royal for the Democratic nomination with one charming senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. They get a lot of criticism, a lot of attention. After Obama's South Carolina win, Bill Clinton said this.

This lead to one of the most irritating conversations I've ever had with my mother. Last night she was befuddled as to why everyone is so upset about Bill Clinton's Jesse/Barack comparison. I told her that in '84 and '88 Jackson did not have a chance of winning the nomination and was running on a Civil Rights platform backed heavily by African Americans. South Carolina was the only state Jackson won, and (I think) in both cases the race was largely moot by the time it got to South Carolina.

Bill Clinton was minimizing the significance of Obama's SC win by equating it with Jacksons' two wins. This was a too cute, jerk move considering Jesse never won any other states and did not win SC by a huge margin, unlike Obama who's snagged two wins in a hotly contested race.

But could my mother grasp that? No. Because she's a Clinton apologist. She felt it was a fair assesment and didn't see what the big deal was. She said if Obama couldn't handle something as benign as this he shouldn't be running.

Now, mind you, I felt like the Obama camp wasted a lot of energy getting all prickly over Bill Clinton running his mouth, but this "Jesse won SC, therefore Obama is Jesse" argument is patently false. Yet my mother is incapable of acknowledging that Clinton was being a dick. Somehow she thought this was a compliment arguing that the critics were diminishing Jesse's win by drawing that inference.

I know she doesn't want to agree with the pundits who relish over ever fart and gurgle coming out of the Clinton campaign, but truths are truths - Bill Clinton's statement was code for, "A black man can't get elected." You can argue that Obama needs to avoid the traps Clinton has set for him. But don't act like you don't know what Bill Clinton is doing!

My GOD, it was maddening. Comparing Barack to Jesse is like comparing Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael. The only reason why you'd compare to very different things with only general similarities is because you're trying to label one of the two things as irrelevant and akin to the lesser of the two things.

But she really didn't see that.

It was just maddening. In the end she concluded that Obama's folks were just whining. I pointed out that whether or not Obama's folks were whining was irrelevant. We were merely judging the intent of Clinton's statement, not Obama's response. But she concluded there was no malevolent intent at all.

So I gave up.

I know she doesn't want to bash Bill Clinton, but do you have to pretend he's being innocent in all of this? You don't have to hate Slick Willy to acknowledge that he's being an ass. I don't hate Bill Clinton and I can say BILL CLINTON IS BEING AN ASS! Is it that hard? Don't throw dirt on Obama's accomplishments just because he had the gall to run the same year as Hillary.

I know it's hard for her to fall in love with the new guy who's not a civil rights activist who's dedicated his career to fulfilling Martin Luther King's body of work. But considering she raised me not to be a warrior in the movement, but just a regular person with a degree, you'd think she could cut Obama some slack. Last I heard, no black folks on the south side of Chicago were bitching about him. He has worked extensively in the black community. He's is visibly a black man. Give him a break. You can't honestly believe Hillary's more "qualified."

Sigh. This is worse than our conversations about religion. I'm a Jesus sympathizer and she raised me to be a secularist.

Fun times.

The Lastest Election Night Casualties

Edwards is dropping out. Yeah, yeah ... but will that help or hurt Obama? Who are those 15 percent Edwards folks going to break for and was Obama's statement on Johnny Handsome's exit a "hint, hint, wink, wink" for yet another high profile endorsement for Team Obama? So many questions.

Oh, and Guiliani called it quits. Will probably endorse McCain. Another one bites the dust. Good Hair Mitt is going to stick with it even though it seems everyone in the race hates him. He'll hit up the ATM and yank out a few more millions and try to buy himself a presidency. I do love watching Mitt's various transformations. From Steve Forbes to Guy Smiley (see photo) to the "what can I say to get you to vote for me today?" guy. "Does it help if I take my jacket off and roll up my sleeves? How about if I let my hair get a little tousled? What if I hijack Obama's 'change' message? What if I wear a traditional Cuban shirt? What if I just give you $100? Would you like $100?"