Because we won..

Watch Sen Obama thank his HQ staffers, then turn the conversation and get em ready for what's next.



What I love about this is that he makes this OUR victory, not his. Obama turns this primary victory from a self congratulatory party celebrating how wonderful and smart we all are, into a moment of reflection. A moment that says now that voters have trusted us, we cannot fail. We MUST win the Presidency. That thing we just did, that was unimportant. But this thing, this general election, this is critical, this is must win.

This is a warm up for his inauguration speech, where he will tell all of us "now that WE have won back the white house, it's time for US to get to work. I am but your humble servant, sent here to help you take your country back, sent here to help YOU make YOUR country great again."

He's right of course. His job as president will not be to have all of the answers or to be able to fix all of the problems. His job will be to motivate US to put our shoulders to the grindstone and work hard to fix things. His job will be to lead the effort to make sure that we all benefit from our shared citizenship and residency. his job will be to lead us.

And we all know that he's extremely well qualified to do that.

Oh No She Di-int!

I have been trying to wrap my head around Hillary's RFK comment since she made it the first time. But since I read that one, and didn't actually hear it, I kinda ignored it. It just didn't seem real.

But then I actually saw it.

I still don't have any words. But fortunately, Keith Olberman does.





What he said.

Voting for a Black President

Now that the math is almost entirely conclusive it is starting to hit me. I am going to have the chance to vote for a Black person to be the President of the United States.

Wow.

And there's a really good chance that he's going to win.

Double wow.

But before I talk about that, a friend asked me why I supported Senator Obama. She's a black woman, (I'm not gonna guess age, but let's just say she looks younger than me), and an Obama supporter. She too has been offended by the way Hillary has used race in this election.

So I told her that as a bi-racial guy born in the 60's raised by a single white mom (after my parents split when I was 10) who valued education and books over most everything else, voting for Obama felt like voting for myself. My friend was surprised, it seemed that she thought I would mention specific policy issues, leadership or any other non-racial things.

But I didn't.

It's not that those things don't matter. Of course they do. Those things are a given. If Alan Keyes shared my specific demographics, I'd wouldn't vote for him. Hell, if he were my identical twin I wouldn't vote for him to be dog catcher. In fact, there are a great deal of black politicians that I don't support or wouldn't vote for. And that's because their positions on issues differ from mine, or their behavior as public officials has caused me to question their judgment, or because the non-black person running against em was a better match for my political views.

But Obama gives voice to most of the political positions that I hold dear. He explains my positions better than I do. He inspires me to action in a way that no other elected official ever has. And his very candidacy is forcing people - black, white, latino, asian and everything else - to evaluate their biases like nothing else can.

So no, I don't just support him because he's black. That would be idiotic. But I do support him with greater fervor than I would an identical (which isn't possible by the way) white politician.

And that's OK. That's to be expected.

Supporting someone who is like you is not the same as being against someone who is not like you. Loving your family members is not the same as hating the people not related to you.


And in November I'm going to get a chance to vote for a black man to be President of the United States of America. I still can't believe it.

Kucinich Support in Iowa Relevant in California

Here in Oakland/Berkeley part of California, where "Barbara Lee Speaks for Me", we have some pretty hard core liberals.

Just around the corner from me, at the Grand Lake Theater (a multiplex in a residental area of Oakland), the marquis is permanently emblazoned with a call to impeach President Bush.

So against that backdrop, it doesn't surprise me to find that some people that I call express a desire to vote for Kucinich. But they also know that in a race that is getting really tight, their vote for a protest candidate will forfeit their right to chose a viable one.

I am happy to point out to these voters that when it counted, and Kucinich had no reason to avoid endorsing another candidate, he picked Obama.

This is from the Kucinich campaign press release:

"... But in those caucus locations where my support doesn't reach the necessary threshold, I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change."

Amongst the most progressive voters, Kucinich's opinion matters.