Saturday, March 29, 2008

Dunbar Village Justice, Old School Civil Rights vs New School Black Internet Activism, Black Leadership Accountability

On March 11, 2008 Gina at the blog, What About Our Daughters wrote, Black Folks Get Ready to FIGHT! AL Sharpton to Speak Out in Defense of Dunbar Village Gang Rapist. She went on to write, you know how all these months we couldn't get anyone in the Black Elite Establishment or the Civil Rights Industrial Complex to speak out about the Dunbar Village gang rape? How we pointed out the sick mental illness of Black leaders who will speak out on behalf of criminals, but never on behalf of the victims of Black on Black crime? Well it has happened again! Now Al Sharpton couldn't be bothered to speak out about the RAPE, but apparently he has no problem speaking out on behalf of the alleged gang rapists! Read More HERE.


Check out these flyer's passed out from NAACP/Al Sharpton press conference. H/T Dunbar Village blog

--------

Villager, from the blog, Electronic Village recently posted on the situation urging members of his blogging community at Electronic Village and others to Stop NAACP Support of Rapists. He wrote, in the past week, a rapidly-moving viral email campaign was launched, and thousands of concerned Black citizens spread the word about crimes against nature committed in the Dunbar Village complex against a Black woman and her 12 year old son.


“Stop Al Sharpton and the NAACP from endangering Black Women,” described a stunning betrayal in which the NAACP and Al Sharpton held a press conference and demanded bail consideration for three suspects in custody for the crime.

Concerned Black citizens all around the country were outraged by the actions of the NAACP and Al Sharpton, and many vowed to withdraw volunteering and financial support from these agencies “
until they make the safety of Black women and children a priority.”

On March 24, 2008 an NAACP memo that attempted to defend this betrayal was sent to Beverly Neal, who is the Director of the NAACP’s Florida State Conference.
The memo claims that the NAACP was brought into this fray by Rev. Al Sharpton. Moreover, the memo was written by Maude Ford Lee, who is President of the West Palm Beach Branch of the NAACP Read More HERE

Well the battle lines have been drawn, black bloggers are outraged. Check out these blogs who have posted on the issue (H/T Electronic Village for the link).



Dunbar Village Blog

A Different Story

Anonymiss Blog

A Political Season

Aunt Jemima's Revenge

Black Fire, White Fire

Black Sapience

Black Women Vote

Character Corner

Electronic Village

Episcopalienne

Essential Presence

Focused Purpose

H-Essays

Never Say Never to Your Traveling Self

Privy Concepts

Ravenelven Lady

Roslyn Holcomb's Blog

The Sowing Circle

Tribute to Black Women

What About Our Daughters

What Tami Said

Yanmommasaid

Something Within

Now Howard Witt of the Chicago tribune is following the case and calls it, a case that puts civil rights blocs at odds. Howard Witt reports on how Web-based activists and old-guard leadership not Seeing Eye to eye on Florida assaults. Read More below:

Case puts civil rights blocs at odds

By Howard Witt

A 35-year-old Haitian immigrant and her 12-year-old son were forced into their home at gunpoint in the bleak Dunbar Village housing project in West Palm Beach, Fla. The woman was beaten, raped and sodomized for hours, allegedly by a gang of African-American teenagers, then forced to abuse her son. Finally the attackers doused the victims with household chemicals—pouring them directly into the boy's eyes—and attempted to set the two on fire before fleeing.

Yet outside South Florida, the attack last June largely escaped notice, and it scarcely registered on the radar of national civil rights leaders because it involved the awkward topic of black-on-black crime.

Three weeks ago, however, Al Sharpton and local representatives of the NAACPBoca Raton were freed on bail. held a news conference in West Palm Beach where they declared that four black teenagers arrested for the Dunbar Village attack are being treated unfairly because they remain incarcerated without bond, while five white teenagers recently accused of sexually assaulting two white girls in nearby

Triggering dual outrage

"You cannot have one set of rules for acts that are wrong and horrific in Boca and another set in Dunbar Village," Sharpton said, as parents of some of the Dunbar defendants nodded behind him. "You must have equal protection under the law."

It was, for Sharpton and the NAACP, a familiar situation and a routine news conference: Contrasting the treatment of blacks and whites in the criminal justice system and calling for fairness.

But Sharpton's remarks—and his apparent call for the Dunbar Village suspects to be released on bail—triggered outrage on dozens of blogs devoted to civil rights, feminism and the interests of African-American crime victims. Now the Dunbar Village case is deepening a growing schism between traditional civil rights organizations and a new, Internet-driven generation of younger activists who take a more nuanced view of many issues. More HERE

AAPP: Go ahead, please read the rest of the links and articles share your opinions on the blogs and articles. Stop back by here too. Give us you thoughts. Get involved write the NAACP and Al Sharpton let them know what you’re thinking.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Election 08, Blogging For Voter Justice, Concede Now Hillary

Blogging for Voter Justice

On this day I proudly join The
Afrosphere Action Coalition and its Coordinating Committee members (Francis L. Holland, Wayne Hicks, Daz Wilson and Yobachi Boswell) to impress upon the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Senator Hillary Clinton, that the Junior Senator from New York should immediately concede the election. I join the call for like minds to sign the petition and email/call/postal mail a statement of their choosing to the Democratic party bosses let them know that acting like Republicans and stealing the vote will not be excepted. I agree with blogger, brother PeaceMaker, Not Every American Is Ready For President Obama but the question is are we ready for total chaos at the Democratic National Convention and a Republican win in November 2008 ?

On this day of Blogging For Voter Justice
Tuesday (March 25th), I could put up one of those ugly pictures on the internet of Hillary Clinton, but I won't do that. You know how ugly Hillary Clinton and her surrogates have been during this political season. I could easily agree with Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen of Politico.com and point out five reasons why Hillary should be worried, but I won't do that today, I already agreed with them two days ago. The fact is folks, you probably already know dozens of reasons why she should be worried.

Hillary Clinton

I could list the 14 reason Time Magazine's, Mark Halperin list as:
Painful Things Hillary Clinton Knows but I won't I will only post the top 3:

1. She can’t win the nomination without overturning the will of the elected delegates, which will alienate many Democrats.

2. She can’t win the nomination without a bloody convention battle — after which, even if she won, history and many Democrats would cast her as a villain.

3. Catching up in the popular vote is not out of the question — but without re-votes in Florida and Michigan it will be almost as impossible as catching up in elected delegates.

The others you can read HERE.

I could give her (Hillary Clinton) some advice on how to bow out gracefully but she has already received plenty of that. I could talk about Team Clinton's color aroused tactics of "darkening the tone of Barack Obamas skin in TV attack ads, but you know about that too. I could also talk about how Lenora Fulani is running for President as an independent and has charged Hillary with color aroused campaigning, but I won't I could talk about how Team Clinton have swift boated Barack more than any republican thus far, but you know that as well.

So... What can I really talk about. I can't talk about Hillary Clinton's real problems? Pam over at Pam's House Blend has that covered. Should I talk about Hillary Clinton's "Bosnia Sniper fire" Lie, probably not plenty bloggers are talking about her getting caught Up In Her Own Lies:.
So what should I talk about to prove that Hillary should concede? Should I talk about her lies about military contracts? Should I talk about her throw the kitchen at him, The Politics of Fear? Or should I just talk about her Politics as ususal?

Well, folks I'm not going to talk about any of those things. as they have already have been talked about. forget about
Team Clinton's New Math, It's just time for people to grow up and realize the Story behind the story, as Politico writers, & recently noted, Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning. More HERE. It's time for Hillary to Concede Now! it is time to stop this disaster.


AAPP

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Blogger Racial Divide and Blogger Color Arousal

A national conversation about race. When will bloggers as a group address the issue?


Tears flow down the face of supporter Marty Nesbitt as Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks about race during a news conference in Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 18, 2008.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


wow, I just had the same conversation with Francis L. Holland last night. But the conversation we both thought about was more a national conversation about
Color Arousal and bloggers.

As part of that national conversation on race and color arousal, lets include a national conversation on blogger color arousal and the digital blogger divide.

You see what Barack Obama is talking about in the video below, has a lot to do with what is going on in America's blogger community as well. I'm reminded that much of the conversation about race in the presidential election is based on comments made by Hillary and Bill Clinton and their surrogates. I'm also reminded that Bill
Clinton and white bloggers met a year ago in Harlem NY without including black folks in the conversation. How interesting. Is there a "connection." ?

I'm reminded about a post a year or so ago, by Liza at the culture Kitchen when she wrote: "These are the 20 liberal bloggers that met with Bill Clinton in Harlem. As you can see, not one of them is black or latino.


Via Republic of T.

This photo proves that It's official : Hillary to run for President, so she kills the Liberal Blogosphere first.

I am just shocked at the glee with which Peter Daou has shown his disrespect for Pam Spaulding, Steve Gilliard, Louis Pagan, Chris Rabb, Earl Dunovant and me when he decided to not invite neither of us, or for that matter, any other black or latino bloggers.

Yes, Steve Gilliard, Pam Spaulding, and me have been vocal about Hillary's run for the presidency. You'd think though our opinions would be given the weight they deserve within the blogosphere itself --let's not even talk about the Clintonites or Washington.

Which is why I stand by what I said : In order for Hillary Clinton to run for president, she will do anything and everything to squash the voices of dissent raised through the progressive netroots. Stuffing their faces with lunch is one tasty way to go about it.

The more pressing question remains :

What does it mean though that there are 20 bloggers invited to this lunch and not one is black or latino? What does it mean for this group of bloggers to be patting themselves on the backs for being with Clinton when they are all in Harlem and not one of them is a person of color? What does it mean for these people to be there and have not one of them raise this issue in their blogs?" More HERE


Has Anything change? Yes, The Afrospear was created because other bloggers did not want to have a discussion regarding color arousal politics, or a national conversation on blogger color arousal and the continuing blogger divide. I Guess francis Holland is in many ways right.

The New Organizing Institutes' Blogger Summit has begun a real national conversation with bloggers about the blogger divide. Leading in that conversation included black bloggers like Pam Spaulding from Pam's House Blend, Citizen Journalist, Faye Anderson of Anderson at Large. Barantunde from Jack and Jill Politics, Gabriel from the Color of Change , Brandon Q, from The Super Spade, Field Negro, and Kevin Myles, president of the Wichita Branch of the NAACP.

Now the question is whether the Pseudo-Progressive 'A list' bloggers like DailyKos, MYDD, and others will continue the conversation started by Pam Spaulding, Steve Gilliard, Louis Pagan, Chris Rabb, Earl Dunovant, Francis L. Holland and others. Recently continued by The New Organizing Institutes' Blogger Summit. The engagement in a national conversation on Color arousal/Race and the Blogger Divide is a critical conversation. Or will this just be allowed to fester, because we can't handle the truth?

Hat Tip to all the bloggers who held it down, and worked to address the issue of the continuing blogger divide. Folks like, Liza, Francis L. Holland, Louis Pagan, Chris Rabb, and Earl Dunovant.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Geraldine Ferraro Is Trying to Divide Democrats Along Color Lines

AAPP: Well the former closet bigot, now out of the closet bigot, racist Surrogate and Fox News contributor, former 1984 vice presidential candidate who helped Walter Mondale lose 49 states, Geraldine Ferraro stood by her controversial and racist comments about Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy today. to this AAPPundit It appears that Ferraro and Hillary are working to divide the Democratic party along racial lines.

"I am sorry that people think this was a racist comment," Ferraro said in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."

The white female Affirmative Action candidate of the 1980's declined to apologize for the firestorm she created when she told a newspaper last week that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

Get this, She told Sawyer she was "absolutely not" sorry for what she said.


Obama Ferarro
(Getty Images/AP Photo)

Hillary Clinton and her token
negro has ignored Geraldine Ferraro's bigoted and racist statements saying to a reporter in an interview with ABC News affiliate WHTM, "Well, I don't agree with that and I think it's important that we try to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people."



I guess racial hatred and bigotry within her campaign organization is not important to Hillary Clinton. I'm in agreement with Pam Spaulding, when she wrote,
has the Clinton team gone stark raving mad? I also wonder Since When Has It Been Lucky To Be Black In America? get this now Ferraro says: “They’re attacking me because I’m white!” Hey, I'm also beginning to wonder why do (some) feminists hate Barack Obama? But, guess what, one of my favorite bloggers just might be right when he wrote, Oh, She Just Hates Black Men. Ferraro's has a long history of this crap.

Speaking of long history, Look at the long campaign history of Hillary and Company
playing the race card through racial hatred towards Obama specifically and black folks in general:

Shuck and Jive

Clinton Supporter Andrew Cuomo, Referring To Obama, Said "You Can't Shuck
And Jive At A Press Conference. All Those Moves You Can Make With The Press
Don't Work When You're In Someone's Living Room." Clinton-supporting New
York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said the thing that's great about New
Hampshire is that you have to go out and meet people rather than "shuck and
jive" through press conferences there. Cuomo said of New Hampshire on an
Albany radio station: "It's not a TV-crazed race. Frankly, you can't buy
your way into it. You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those
moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living
room." [Newsday, 1/11/08]

Martin Luther King/Lydon Johnson Comparsion

Clinton, Criticizing Obama For Promising "False Hope" Said That While MLK Jr. Spoke On Behalf Of Civil Rights, President Lyndon Johnson Was The One Who Got Legislation Passed: "It Took A President To Get It Done." Clinton rejoined the running argument over hope and "false hope" in an interview in Dover this afternoon, reminding Fox's Major Garrett that while Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on behalf of civil rights, President Lyndon Johnson was the one who got the legislation passed. Hillary was asked about Obama's rejoinder that there's something vaguely un-American about dismissing hopes as false, and that it doesn't jibe with the careers of figures like John F. Kennedy and King. "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President
Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act," Clinton said. "It took a president to get it done." [Politico, 1/7/08; Video]

Clinton Introducer Said JFK Gave Hope, But Was Assassinated. Clinton introducer: "If you look back, some people have been comparing one of the other candidates to JFK and he was a wonderful leader, he gave us a lot of hope but he was assassinated and Lyndon Baines Johnson actually did all his work and got the republicans to pass all those measures." [HRC, Dover, NH,
1/7/08] AUDIO ATTACHED

Nelson Mandela

Bill Clinton Implied Hillary Clinton Is Stronger Than Nelson Mandela. "I have been blessed in my life to know some of the greatest figures of the last hundred years. [...] I go to Nelson Mandela's birthday party every year and we're still very close. [...] But if you said to me, 'You've got one last job for your country but it's hazardous and you may not get out with life and limb intact and you have to do it alone except I'll let you take one other person, and I had to pick one person whom I knew who would never blink, who would never turn back, who would make great decisions [...] I wouldpick Hillary.'" [ABC News, 1/7/08; Audio]

Drug Use

Clinton's NH Campaign Chair Raised The Youthful Drug Use Of Obama And Said It Would "Open The Door To Further Queries On The Matter." Clinton's Campaign Issued A Statement Distancing Themselves From Shaheen's Comments And Shaheen Issued A Statement Saying That He "Deeply Regret[s] The Comments." The Democratic presidential race took on a decidedly nasty and personal turn, with the New Hampshire co-chair for Clinton, raising the
youthful drug use of Obama. Shaheen said Obama's having been so open -- as opposed to then-Gov. George W. Bush, who refused to detail his past drug use during his 2000 presidential campaign -- will "open the door to further queries on the matter. It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?'" Shaheen said. "There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome." By the end of the day, Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer had issued a statement asserting that "these comments were not authorized or condoned by the campaign in any way." And Shaheen himself issued a statement: "I deeply regret the comments I made today and they were not authorized by the
campaign in any way." [ABC News, 12/12/07]

Mark Penn, In Trying To Defend His Campaign Over Bill Shaheen's Obama Drug Use Comments, Used The Word "Cocaine," Drawing A Rebuke From Edwards Adviser Joe Trippi. Mark Penn, defending the Clinton campaign in light of Bill Shaheen's comments about Obama's drug use, repeatedly referenced Obama's cocaine use. Edwards adviser Joe Trippi accused Penn of dropping the word "cocaine" deliberately. Mark Penn said "Well, I think we have made clear
that the -- the issue related to cocaine use is not something that the campaign was in any way raising. And I think that has been made clear. I think this kindergarten thing was a joke after Senator." Joe Trippie responded and said "I think he just did it again. He just did it again. ...
This guy's been filibustering on this. He just said cocaine again." [Politico, 12/13/07; Video]

Fairy Tale

Donna Brazile Lashed Into Bill Clinton For Comparing Obama To A "Fairy Tale" And Said "It's An Insult... As An African-American" And That His Tone And Words Are "Very Depressing." Donna Brazile lit into Bill Clinton over his insulting comments of Obama, where he called him a "fairy tale" and said "I could understand his frustration at this moment. But, look, he shouldn't
take out all his pain on Barack Obama. It's time that they regroup. Figure out what Hillary needs to do to get her campaign back on track. It sounds like sour grapes coming from the former commander in chief. Someone that many Democrats hold in high esteem. For him to go after Obama, using a fairy tale, calling him as he did last week. It's an insult. And I will tell you, as an African-American, I find his tone and his words to be very depressing. ... I think his tone, I think calling Barack Obama a kid, he is a United States senator." [Politico, 1/8/08]

Cross posted on African American Political Pundit

More HERE

Monday, March 10, 2008

Hillary Clinton is a Color Aroused, Ignorant, Arrogant, Illogical and Condescending Race Baiter

AAPP: I get what Hillary Clinton and her surrogates, including, NBC are doing and saying to Obama: Get on the back of the bus! Boy!

Hillary and company are saying, Black folks have not payed their dues. Obama, you may be leading in the number of delegates, the number of votes, and the number of state primaries won, but your only able to be
Vice President Obama, and I Hillary Clinton, make the decision if you will be President of these here United States - Not The American People! I am so glad Obama is not hearing that get to the back of the bus conversation. She is illogical.



Check out the article by Mike Downing on
How Clinton camp justifies Obama as VP

Does Hillary Clinton believe Barack Obama is good enough to be a heartbeat away from the presidency but still a second-rate choice for commander-in-chief?

As Clinton’s campaign simultaneously questions Obama’s readiness to be commander-in-chief and enthusiastically promotes him as a vice-presidential choice should she win the nomination, a Clinton surrogate this morning made the unusual argument that Obama is “qualified” to be a heartbeat away from the presidency but still falls far short of Clinton’s readiness for the job.

Tim Russert, moderator for “Meet the Press,” bored in on the seeming inconsistency in questioning Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, a surrogate who appeared on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

While the Clinton campaign’s recent rhetoric suggests that Obama may not meet the standard of readiness voters would expect in a commander-in-chief, Rendell argued that Obama is in fact “ready” for the job.

Still, according to Rendell, his candidate’s "dream" vice-presidential pick is “not nearly as ready as Hillary Clinton is, there's no question about that.”

Here is the exchange:

RUSSERT: Would--do you think that Barack Obama would be acceptable as vice president?

RENDELL: Acceptable? I think it would be a dream to Democrats all over this country. Personally, for me, it would be a great ticket. I mean, I'm going to fight hard for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, whoever the candidate is. But put them together and I think it would give America a rare opportunity to experience something just incredibly wonderful.

RUSSERT: So, if you believe he's acceptable as vice president, one heartbeat away from the presidency, you believe that Barack Obama is qualified to be commander in chief.

RENDELL: I think he's qualified. I don't think he's as good a potential commander in chief right now as Hillary Clinton is. But I certainly think he's qualified. And I will work my heart out for him if he's our nominee, just as I know Tom will work his heart out for Senator Clinton if she's our nominee.

RUSSERT: It--that seems to be in conflict with some things that you have said and what Hillary Clinton has said. On Wednesday you sent out a statement from the Clinton campaign that says, "We want a president who's ready, not one we hope will one day be ready," suggesting Barack Obama is not ready. Hillary Clinton said this on Monday. Let's listen.

(Videotape)

CLINTON: I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

(End videotape)

RUSSERT: And she went on to offer these observations about a threshold for commander in chief. Let's listen.

(Videotape, Thursday)

CLINTON: I think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander in chief threshold, and I believe that I've done that. Certainly Senator McCain has done that. And, and you'll have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy.

(End videotape)

RUSSERT: So, Governor Rendell, if Barack Obama's qualified to be vice president, he has crossed the commander in chief threshold. Correct?

RENDELL: Well, I, I think he's ready. He's not nearly as ready as Hillary Clinton is, there's no question about that. But, look, make no mistake about it, he's a talented, dynamic politician and, and a, and a good senator, and I think he would make a fine president. Again, is he as experienced and as ready as Hillary Clinton? Nobody is. Tim, I've been talking to Democratic candidates since 1980, and Hillary Clinton is the best-prepared candidate I've ever talked to. Far better prepared than Bill Clinton was in 1992.

RUSSERT: But if, in fact, there's a possibility Obama may be the Democratic nominee, would it be better, in the interest of the Democratic Party, that the Clintons not suggest that he hasn't passed the threshold to be commander in chief?

RENDELL: Well, sure. Look, there, there's rhetoric in a campaign on all, on all sides, and I, I think the, the issue should be framed as ready compared to Hillary Clinton. And, and that's the way I would frame the issue going forward. To me, there's no contest. I don't think--it's not Barack Obama's fault. I think almost any of the other candidates would have fallen into the same category, ready but not as ready as Hillary
Clinton.


AAPP: No matter how many votes a black man has, Hillary would rather have us get to the back of the bus. Thank God Obama is having none of this color aroused nonsense and has told Hillary to dream on.


Link: sevenload.com


Personally I seriously wonder why Hillary and her surrogates seem to want America to go back to this period in American history (pictured below).


Ku Klux Klansmen beat black bystander George Webb in the Birmingham Trailways station, May 14, 1961.Ku Klux Klansmen beat black bystander George Webb in the Birmingham Trailways bus station, May 14, 1961. The man with his back to the camera (center right) is FBI undercover agent Gary Thomas Rowe. Oxford University Press

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Saturday Night LIVE, SNL, Barack on SNL, Hillary on SNL, Racist Saturday Night Live, Color Arousal, and Barack Obams' Blueprint To Win The Nomination

Look out Barack Obama, NBC and MSNBC are "coming at you" with Saturday Night Live (SNL), creating Sambo-Obama skits, Cartoons, and other negative articles.This is the second time in which SNL have run negative skits on Barack obama, and there will be some who will watch the recent weeks of fairly brutal comedy skits towards Barack Obama, and love it. There are others that see SNL as hitting a new low, as a Hillary Media Puppet.

The fact of the matter is SNL saved Clinton's campaign. 'Saturday Night Live' has been stumping for Hillary for a third week in a Row.

It would be great to see how many of the NBC writers contributed to Hillary Clinton.



I'm thankful that Billary's Saturday Night Live (SNL) Strategy didn't work in
Wyoming as Barack Obama kicked team Billary's butt in the Wyoming Democratic presidential caucuses.

As reported in The Washington Post, the Clinton campaign painted the Wyoming results as a better-than-expected showing for the New York senator.



Check out Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post. He has it down on a Obama's Blueprint for Victory. Earlier in the week, he laid out the blueprint Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) could follow to win the nomination. Today he offered a nomination-winning blueprint for Sen. Barack Obama. I Agree with his assessment.

The Obama Blueprint

1. Math Matters: The stark reality of the remaining contests is unless Clinton can win 60 plus percent of the vote in each, she is unlikely to overtake Obama in the battle for pledged delegates. That means that at the end of the nominating season (Montana and South Dakota on June 3 now that Puerto Rico has moved to June 1), it will take a significant majority of the superdelegates for Clinton to wind up as the nominee. Those are the hard numbers and they ain't likely to change. The mistake the Obama campaign made in the runup to the Ohio-Texas Two-Step is mistaking the math for a message. The math can be a compelling argument when it comes to superdelegates ("To choose Clinton is to subvert the will of voters") but average people are not swayed by the fact that the Illinois Senator has a nearly impenetrable lead among pledged delegates.

2. Fight Back (Politely): Although Obama said on Tuesday that he was happy with his campaign's strategy leading into the Ohio-Texas elections, it's clear that Clinton's decision to hit him hard on national security paid dividends. While Obama's message of hope and transformational politics has served him well to date, the endgame in the Ohio-Texas Two-Step suggests that it may be time to fight more of a trench warfare battle from here on out. The issue for Obama, of course, is that he has promised a different sort of campaign and runs the risk, if he is perceived as going negative, of losing some of the support he has built to date. The solution? Fight back in the most polite terms possible -- praising Clinton as an able public servant and the questions being raised as legitimate avenues of inquiry that Obama himself has had to answer. Asked about the campaign's new strategy on a conference call earlier this week, chief Obama strategist David Axelrod said: "This is not a decision to go negative. This is an attempt to see to it that both campaigns are held to the same yardstick."

3. What Are You Hiding?: The first e-mail from the Obama campaign that arrived in The Fix inbox following the Ohio-Texas Two-Step called on Clinton to release her tax returns. But, on a conference call later Wednesday, Axelrod broadened the argument -- and in the process provided a window into the wider Obama strategy in the race. Axelrod called Clinton a "habitual non-discloser" and then later said that she has a "history on non-disclosure." Axelrod never mentioned Whitewater, the controversy over the Clinton White House travel office or the behind-closed-doors health care commission that Clinton chaired in the 1990s. He didn't have to. Expect Obama and his surrogates to trumpet the message of Clinton as secretive over the coming weeks -- using her unwillingness to release her tax returns as a symbol of a broader pattern of non-disclosure during her years in political life. Clinton's campaign has effectively leveraged the good times of her husband's presidency to their benefit; Obama will now seek to convince voters that not everything was rosy during the 1990s.

4. Guilt the Press: Clinton effectively argued with the press over the final week before March 4, repeatedly suggesting that Fourth Estate was going easy on Obama. In politics, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; by Wednesday, the Obama campaign was urging the media to more closely examine the claims of the Clinton campaign. "We are going to ask you guys to do your jobs," said Axelrod. Will this reverse-guilt tripping of the press work for Obama in the coming months?

5. Electability is Essential: With Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as the official Republican nominee, Obama and his campaign will urge voters to think about the remainder of the primary race through the frame of the November election. In his speech on Tuesday night, Obama briefly congratulated Clinton but then devoted a considerable chunk of his speech to the differences between him and McCain -- a subtle signal that Obama is still preparing for a general election race. In the days following Tuesday's votes, his campaign also sought to re-invigorate the storyline that Republicans so hate Clinton that they will be motivated -- regardless of the national political environment -- to turn out and vote against her in the fall. "There's a reason Rush Limbaugh was urging Republicans to cross over and vote for Hillary Clinton in Texas," said Axelrod earlier this week.

As we wrote in the Clinton blueprint, the greatest fear among Democrats is that they will somehow miss a golden opportunity to take back the White House in 2008. Clinton is pushing hard on the idea that Obama's relative dearth of foreign policy experience makes him a risk. Obama will counter with the idea that Clinton is so divisive that nominating her represents the far greater risk.

AAPP: Sounds like a winning blueprint for Barack Obama to me. I had some of the same thoughts in my recent post, An Open Letter To Barack Obama What do you think? Is it a good blueprint?

Thursday, March 6, 2008

From One Black Man to Another, An Open Letter to Brack Obama

Dear Senator Obama, Don't Let Hillary paint you into a box.

Don't act Like Al Gore, and those two other Democrats from my home town of Massachusetts, who showed no balls and just sat back and let the Republicans beat them to pieces. Do you want the Presidency or not? If you do, you will have to fight for it. Nice guys in politics finish last. stop being Mr. Nice guy and go after Hillary and her corn-ball husband, color aroused husband, and her ignorant black supporters.


Her husband (Bill) created that NAFTA mess and she is running from her own voting past. She voted for Bush’s war on Iraq, she voted for Bush’s USA Patriot Act, she voted to reauthorize Bush’s USA Patriot Act, she opposed the international treaty to ban land mines, and she supported Israel’s massive military assault on the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip which took the lives of over 1,000 civilians, half of whom were children. And get this, Hillary Clinton couldn’t be bothered to read the NIE before casting her pro-Iraq war vote. Enough is enough - Don't let the King pins of the democratic party steal this one from you.

As blogger, John K Wilson noted in his post, The Case Against Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee appears to be the primary hope Republicans have left to win in November. Rush Limbaugh declared, "Most of our guys want to run against Hillary....it’s a gold mine."(October 22, 2007) Michael Reagan wrote, "let her cruise her way to the nomination so we Republicans can have the pleasure of dissecting her in the general election campaign." If Hillary is the nominee, millions of conservatives and independents who hate her will donate money and come out to vote, people who otherwise might stay home out of disgust with the Republican Party. A Hillary nomination might cost Democrats the presidency, but even if she wins, these reverse coattails will almost certainly cost Democrats several House and Senate seats. In the current political environment, Democrats should easily win the presidency in a landslide and gain a strong majority in Congress. But if Hillary Clinton is nominated, Democrats will be rolling the dice and hoping that she can overcome the tidal wave of hatred against her."

I agree with John. Senator Obama, Get busy and fight hard. They have slung some mud, and they have only begun. The question is, what will you do?

AAPP


Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Election 08, Daivid Pompeii, Black Folks, Black Voters.Barack Obama

Check out this video (below) by David Pompeii. He is a LA based comic who has many TV and Film credits. He works with a group called Election08. They created a video called "John.he.is" that received over 1,460,000 hits on Youtube as of today. They have been featured on CNN, Nightline, Huffington Post, Newsweek and more. This brother creates Afrocenetric, satirical, politically slanted videos in support of the Black community.

Also check out his website at:

www.davidpompeii.com