YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the tide has finally turned! The USA has chosen a new path much to the bewilderment of the Right. Come on you guys had to see this coming. You spent years on divisive practically meaningless issues while ignoring the bread and butter stuff that elections always come down to. I realized with this election, which I was honestly sweating till the economic crisis threw it decisively in Obama's favor, that this country is not made up of rigidly blue and red states. At any particular moment when asked about any particular topic the different sections of the country are more blue or red depending on the circumstances. We are more purple than we think people. So much has changed in the last few weeks. Hillary as Sec. of State? Who would of thunk it? But I have to say it was an extremely shrewd decision on so many levels. He finally brings her die-hards into the fold as much as they can be anyway. He staves off a possible rival in 2012. He shows his bigness of spirit and widens the Democratic tent doors. He has done what he said and reachedout to the moderate and conservatives in these early days. Lets hope it doesn't come back to bite him in the ass. I thknk this picture of Jesse says it all. Black people in America felt this election on a much deeper level than most whites. For blacks this was the culmination of years of struggle and soul searching and prayer and suffering and tears. For some whites this was a patch to cover up the ugly past of this country regarding slavery and segregation and continuing racism .
Here in the South it sent shockwaves and fear throughout the white community. They thought the rest of the country had gone crazy to elect this guy. I heard people at work the next day talking in hushed tones about taking down their Mccain signs for fear of angry reprisal by blacks on the rampage since they now had a black president. Old white men at the entrance of BI-LO whispering to each other at how the country had gone nuts. Notice the high turnout for the Saxby Chambliss runoff. I surmise more than a few Republicans were scared to death after Obama's election and wanted to raise the wall at Georgia's borders.

Sarah Palin takes the stage

Well The Political season has just gotten more interesting. After a tempestuous battle by Hillary for the Presidency. Republicans make a play for the votes of Women by offering them a more conservative option. Clearly Mrs. Palin has the rhetorical skills to handle the job but as Charles Krauthammer a Fox news regular and Republican pundit points out, her nomination simply undercuts the Republican's whole argument that Obama isn't qualified enough. Peggy Noonan's ringing endorsement before her speech can be heard here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrG8w4bb3kg .

Problem #1: The majority of women who voted for Hillary are Pro-Choice and there is no way in hell they will vote for rabid right woman like Sarah Palin.

Problem # 2: Nobody votes for President based on the VP

On the other hand maybe Mccain just needs to eat away at Obama's women voters just a little bit just as George W. Bush did with Hispanics in 2000. If Palin is a net positive for Mccain even if only a few point its could turn the election.

As usual Obama's nimble campaign is right on top of the situation and targeting women who think that Mccain is pro-choice ( I have to admit I thought this was true early on in the campaign) . By agggressively putting out the message that Mccain is not Pro-choice in the key battleground states this may be enough to counter any bounce that Mccain might have enjoyed among women because of the Palin pick.

The other issue that remains an undercurrent is the public perception of the media as ganging up on this hockey mom. If the media goes too far it could backfire and get her more supporters. Biden also has to walkthis tightrope in the debate coming up. Again the Obama campaign is lowering expectations for Biden in the debate by telling him to say that she was an impressive speaker and that he will have to study up for the debate.

Personally I believe that Sarah Palin is a good representative of her party and its beliefs but I just see the same old right wing attacks on liberals as unpatriotic and stupid. After 8 years of Karl Rove style politics I'm sure I'm not the only person who's tired of this. I hear the same self-righteous crap about defending the country and brainwashed thinking that we must never question our nations policies and that somehow reassessing our goals periodically and changing course is weakness on our part. But I'll get of my soapbox for now.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN !!!!!!!!

Russia invades Georgia!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the unthinkable has happened. Territorial sovereignty has been breached by a member of the G8. Russia seems to be unapologetic about its ivasion into Georgian territory. As of this morning CNN was reporting that the russians were retreating from Gori. Yesterday afternoon on CSPAN they broadcast the joint news conference helb by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Russian President Dimitry Medvedyev. Sarkozy seemed pleased with himself for at least trying to stop the war from escalating while Medvedyev was unapologetic in tone and seemed to bristle at the idea that Russia's position should be scrutinized in any way.
Today I watched forum called Resolving the Russia-Georgia Conflict held by the Brookings Institution. Strobe Talbott who served as a deputy Secretary of State under the Clinton administration gave some insight into the situation saying that this might have been prevented had Georgia been granted NATO membership. Other members of the forum were waiting to see how this would play out with regards to the Russian support of the Iran situation which they deem so vital at the moment. Other members were inteested to see how all this was playing CHina who are busy with their own Olympics at this time. They believed that China would be watching especially to see if there was some kind of punishment in the way of economic sanctions which would be levied against Russia for this transgression.

The Wisdom of David Gergen

On "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos David Gergen laid out some sober advice for the Obama Camp. According to him at this point in the campaign Obama should be much further ahead than he is. At this point polls show Mccain about even with him though Obama is a few point ahead in some polls. Gergen's advice? Don't forget about Hillary supporters. He cautioned that Obama does a disseervice to his cause by writing her off. Gergen argued that the need to bring the Democratic party together at this time is necessary and could mean the election. Of course there would be Clinton baggage from both Hillary and Bill but can Democrats really afford to lose again after the last two nail biters. If Dems can't pull a win out of the hat this year they might as well hang it up. In the game of politics principles don't mean much if you can't win. With ninety days left Why is Obama running dead even with the guy who represents Bush III term?

I don't know but he better start making his case to the American people and fast and not just hold up $1000 checks to get votes.

Obama's trip to the Middle East

Right on the heels of the rejection of Mccain's amateurish editorial submission to the NY Times read it for yourself http://drudgereport.com/flashnym.htm Obama is in the Middle East meeting with leaders and learning more about what challenges he will face upon becoming president. Last night turned on the tube to see Bret Hume trying to insinuate some sorrt of Muslim connection between Obama and Hamas by saying that they were part of the security force guarding him while he was in Palestine. Oh Bret, what will you do when you run out of straws to grasp?
The most important news story so far is that Maliki and Obama agree that the U.S. withdrawal should be sooner rather than later. This peeved the hell out of the whitehouse as well as Foxnews http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/21/white-house-unhappy-over-iraq-support-for-obama-timetable/ I think this sort of endorsement is huge and puts the US and Iraq on the same page when it comes to withdrawal and provides an out for us to leave this quagmire. It also gives us the troops to go after the real terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The real question now is the Public Relations war that the Obama camp has to wage in convincing the American People to shift resources and focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. It seems as if this should be easy to do considering the long standing sckepticism of the American People fromn the outset of this war. However, the Bush bullypulpit should and cannot be underestimated in it's influence over the coming months in insisting that the real fight is in Iraq where in reality Bush's legacy is the only thing at stake.
Obama must also walk a fine line in the coming months. He has to remove the troops without seeming to do it too soon. The Maliki announcement is a Godsend in this regard giving him the political cover he needs for a more rapid withdrawal. By removing the troops quickly he pacifies the left. By arguing that the Iraqis have their own timetable and that we are only heeding their wishes he begins to reach out to the moderates as well as the Europeans who want to see a truly independent Iraq not a puppet American proxy in the Middle East. Maliki is also able to show his muscle to the surrounding Middle Eastern governments and colleagues that he actually holds some real power.
As we continue to get grainy feed from the Middle East this week and hear the spin on why or why not Obama's trip is significant the other glaring truth is that Mccain simply can't drum up this type of publicity. Mccain had months to plan some large events to highlight his foreign policy experience which he did but it hardly got a notice but Obama is beating the press off of him. Thr right would have you believe that it is the vast left wing conspiracy called the Media that prevents McCain from getting more airtime. May I submit that it might be his awkward laugh, pasty white TV image, and lack of charisma on the platform. The man comes off as old, let's face it. In comparison you have a vibrant young man who seems sure of himself and is extremely personable with regular people. It probably doesn't help that Cindy Mccain looks like a 1950's Barbie Doll just recently released from her box. Michelle Obama hasn't been a plus or minus yet but The Mccain camp has definitely underutilized Cindy Mccain's business background probably to pacify their more Dobsonesque conservative members who think a wife should be seen and not heard.
I personally like Michelle Obama but as a black woman she is an easy target for Foxnews and the right. So she said something that made people question her patriotism, that this may have been the first time in her adult life that she was proud of her country. The black experience in America is the chasm that the Obama family has to traverse publicly and quickly in order to be deemed acceptable by more conservative white voters. The Rev. Wright issue was about more than the words he used in the pulpit. It was about the huge disconnect between the black and white experiences in America. This disconnect left white viewers baffled as to why this black man is so angry at the United States. He can vote, can't he? He can't be discriminated against, it's against the law? Segregation no longer exists as a government policy. So why is he so angry? I would go even further to say that It frightened some whites who might not be familiar with the African-American preaching tradition and Black Theology in America today. I would go even further to say that Foxnews and Sean Hannity in particular knew it would have this effect and so we have prime time race-baiting in the year 2008 plastered all over television in the United States.

Notice how the discussion never turned to the idea that the United States may have once held evil policies such as slavery that have repercussions 200 some years later. No, like Elisabeth Hasselbecks crocodile tears on TV mourning a black woman's reclaiming a word once used to terrorize blacks now being used by empowered blacks, we too should just forget the past, cover it up , bury it, it is too ugly. Looking in that mirror is too hard for most of white America and this is something else Obama has to keep in mind as he campaigns in this still majority white nation as a minority.