DISQUS

@Craig Hickman -


Barack Obama has already given a major speech on faith. In fact, he was roundly criticized by liberals and other Democrats when he did.



Call to Renewal Keynote Address – June 28, 2006

A brief post I wrote early today about the double-standards in covering Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.


John McCain: "I didn't really love America until I was deprived of her company."

Well, as a Lt. Uhura namesake, I just want to say that the Truck Turner/Star Trek mix is DEAD WRONG! And Hilarious!!


Also, totally random and/or useless fun fact: I belong to a Facebook Group called It's Nichelle NOT Michelle Bitch! and most of us were named after Nichelle Nichols - (although I am probably the oldest:)

I know that I'm a big Michelle Obama fan, but I don't see anything wrong or "crazy" about her Shortbread Cookie recipe.


At least she gives proper credit (it's from the girls' godmother Mama Kaye) and didn't, er uh Re-heat another Whopper

Thanks for your response, Webb.


I agree that the Obama's story is very rich and "more complicated than reducing them down to skin tones." I'm not trying to reduce them to that single aspect, I am only saying that the aspect exists - even outside of the "bourgeoisie-colorstruck framework". The colorstruck syndrome is hardly exclusive to the Black bourgeoisie or outside of the Black race for that matter (with respect to Leila's comment above).



Being "a daughter of Chicago's rough-and-tumble southside" would not shield Michelle Obama from colorstruck nonsense anymore than it would if she were the daughter of a doctor or an executive. Unfortunately, that sickness can be found everywhere.



As for the preacher's wife analogy, I think you are right in that it would be limited to how Michelle is received by the AA women. Right or wrong, many of us see her as a representation of us. After all, we've been judged by our worst (Omarosa's antics, Flava Flav's women, video dancers), and many of us can see being judged by Michelle Obama's actions since Black people are almost always judged as a group and not as individuals.



Also, you said:

Every black woman should not be dying to be "powerful," but every SOUL should strive for INDEPENDENCE regardless of its gender or race.



WE can all be vulnerable at moments. Does it really come down to Sistahs wanting to be as "vulnerable" as other ethnicities? Maybe i'm missing something here.



When we celebrate the Obamas, we celebrate INDEPENDENCE, strength and individual accomplishment.



YOu can be regarded as a "Superwoman" and people still know that you have a wide range of feelings.



The point I was making is that we are often regarded as "Superwomen" but it is not always apparent that people are aware that we have a wide range of feelings as well.



You ask, "Does it really come down to Sistahs wanting to be as "vulnerable" as other ethnicities?"



Sometimes. But usually we want to be judged fairly and given the same benefit of the doubt given to women of other ethnicities. I get your points about independence and strength regarding the Obamas, but I think it can also have a different connotation with black women and be twisted into a negative. That is the only thing I was trying to avoid but outside of that, we agree.

Webb said...


Deep article, but I'm not sure yet if "it's our Camelot," or more importantly, if we want it to be "Camelot."



Webb, my friend was referring to the good part, the images of the Kennedy and Obama families when she referred to Camelot. Naturally, we want the Obama White House to go far behind Camelot in length and accomplishments.



The article is long, but I am certainly not suggesting that all we see is Camelot.



Analogies to the past will not suffice. The complexion complexes of skin color will not suffice.



Will not suffice? My M.O. at Anovelista is tying the historical into the contemporary, so I absolutely disagree that "analogies to the past will not suffice." I think a big problem with American culture today, black and everyone else, is that most people have limited historical perspectives. If they don't know enough history, idiot talking heads on cable TV or talk radio tend to have more impact.



The complexion analysis fits because Michelle Obama, as a brown-skinned black wife of a prominent black man, is a departure. Studies have been done over decades and it has been discussed ad nauseum in the black community because it is true - prominent black men, when they are married to black women, tend to marry lighter-skinned black women or biracial women who consider themselves black. This is part of the appeal for many black women (not all) of a Michelle Obama.



And I am certainly not negating light-skinned women. All of the historical women that I pointed out were light-skinned and some even passed for white, so it is not about that at all.



The best analogy to the present is the "Preacher's Wife." In the beginning, she'll be held more to the standard of what she wears more than what she thinks. Her presence: Is she pious? Is she upstanding?



Therein lies the true power of Michelle *O*...She masters style as easily as she has mastered the law. She will be not be anybody's Barbie doll. She will speak her mind. She will redefine the phrase "First Lady." If she chose, she could be the "Hillary who gets healthcare passed," but that's for her to decide.



I don't agree that the "preacher's wife" is the best analogy, but it is a good one. You stated, "In the beginning, she'll be held more to the standard of what she wears more than what she thinks. Her presence: Is she pious? Is she upstanding?"



Well, that already does NOT apply to Michelle Obama. Yes, there has been much chatter about her fashion sense, but it has paled in comparison to what she THINKS and SAYS. Hence, the right-wing attacks and smears that have inspired "Fight the Smears" from the Obama Campaign and WAOD's "Michelle Obama Watch."



When I see her, I know that she's married to Barack, she is the mother of his children...but she will always be her own woman. That's a powerful sista.



Very nice, but every black woman is not dying to be "powerful". We have been "powerful" and independent over generations out of necessity. That is not to say that there is no beauty in power, but the burden of necessity in displaying our power has contributed to the false notion that we are all "superwomen" who can take anything and don't have a wide range of feelings like women of other races.

Hey Rikyrah, here is the link to my post on Black First Ladies I mentioned the other day. It is long, but I had a lot to say:)


On First Ladies Named Michelle…and Diane



Also, did you know that Gina of What About Our Daughters has started a website called Michelle Obama Watch?



It's going to work similar to the JJP Clinton wiki - Users will add links to any attacks they come across on Michelle.

This is why black folks need to take issue with the media's maltreatment of Hillary and her campaign. Because they will be coming for Michelle next. And then you, and then me.


Coming for Michelle next?



They have been going after Michelle all along! Bill O'Reilly got the ball rolling a while back ("I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels.""



http://tinyurl.com/5cu6he



As far as conservatives and garden-variety Obama haters harping on and exaggerating Michelle's "proud" comments - just know that any conversation on Black Americans and patriotism ought to include the Double V Campaign and many other aspects of the Black contributions to American history that are routinely ignored and/or marginalized by Whites and Blacks who don't know or care about their own history.

When have 63 Negroes agreed on anything?


Bwwaaaahahahaha!!!



Thank you and good night!

...no-talent chicks who would be nowhere without marketing and a weave.


FYI Nita, I'm gonna steal that line:)

Great post, Rikyrah. It made me recall that Barack Obama's organizing skills once benefited Bill Clinton too - in 1992 in Illinois. Since you are from Chicago, I'm sure you know all about it, but for everyone else:
A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape-and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama.



In the final, climactic buildup to November's general election, with George Bush gaining ground on Bill Clinton in Illinois and the once-unstoppable campaign of senatorial candidate Carol Moseley Braun embroiled in allegations about her mother's Medicare liability, one of the most important local stories managed to go virtually unreported: The number of new voter registrations before the election hit an all-time high. And the majority of those new voters were black. More than 150,000 new African-American voters were added to the city's rolls. In fact, for the first time in Chicago's history-including the heyday of Harold Washington-voter registrations in the 19 predominantly black wards outnumbered those in the city's 19 predominantly white ethnic wards, 676,000 to 526,000.



The election, to some degree, turned on these totals: Braun and Clinton had almost unanimous support among blacks. But just as important, if less obvious, are the implications black votership could have for future city and state elections: For the first time in ten years, more than half a million blacks went to the polls in Chicago. And with gubernatorial and mayoral elections coming up in the next two years, it served notice to every¬one from Jim Edgar to Richard M. Daley that an African-American voting bloc would be a force to be reckoned with in those races.



None of this, of course, was accidental. The most effective minority voter registration drive in memory was the result of careful handiwork by Project Vote!, the local chapter of a not-for-profit national organization. "It was the most efficient campaign I have seen in my 20 years in politics," says Sam Burrell, alderman of the West Side's 29th Ward and a veteran of many registration drives.



At the head of this effort was a little-known 31-year-old African-American lawyer, community organizer, and writer: Barack Obama.

"I was going to ask how it could be that Barack is not running for pres of Black America, but that it is somehow a shame that Harlem didn't vote for him"


...and she's calling other people ignorant?



Exactly! What a joke...



I guess she knows even more than her mayor Michael Bloomberg who actually stated that he believed that fraud was involved:



Mike Claims Vote ‘Fraud’



"If you want to call it significant undercounting, I guess that's a euphemism for fraud," said the mayor

I live in New York, and was dreadfully disturbed by his comments after the Sean Bell verdict. I hope that, with as much fervor as you all seem to support Sen. Obama's candidacy, that you call him to task when he is elected.


Danielle,



I'm in New York too. We're you equally upset at New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who didn't say a word about the Sean Bell case?



How about the Feb. 5 election where several mostly black districts came up with 0 votes for Obama (141 to 0 in Harlem!) We're you upset then?



I think it is presumptuous and quite condescending of you (You guys are a very entertaining yet ignorant group of people.) to just waltz in here and assume that no one here will "call Obama to task when he is elected" as if we wouldn't understand how to do that when the time comes or already know Obama needs most of Hillary's voters to win.

Re: The "Whitey" video.


Why Does the Michelle Obama Rumor Tape Sound Like a 2006 Novel?



Re: The Clintons? What Rikyrah said...

Ahem...


Why Does the Michelle Obama Rumor Tape Sound Like a 2006 Novel?



I think we can rest easy folks:)

Rikyrah,


I'll definitely post a link for my Black First Ladies Post. And yes, Yes, YES the SILENCE of the right on Condi's remarks speaks volumes...

Despite our sacrifices – fighting in wars and paying taxes – we are constantly reminded we're not full members of the club. Yet, Barack Obama made me feel American. He has, and this is really quite annoying, made me care enough to get more involved.


That's the Money Quote...



That is my MAIN beef with the Patriotism Police that hypocritically hound Michelle Obama and conveniently forget the "elephant in the room" - that ever since we arrived in America despite our sacrifices – despite our elders being violently banished out of towns that we built - despite "sundown towns" - despite fighting and dying in wars - despite paying taxes from day one! - despite achieving against the odds educationally, professionally and financially over generations – we are constantly reminded we're not full members of the club. No matter what - to some people, black people will never be "real Americans" - hence the BS terms I've always hated like "All-American" which implies "white" first and foremost.



I know I'm going off a bit here (it's 5am!) but I will just close with a salient point Andrew Sullivan made that struck me because I was in the middle of expressing the same thing in a post I am writing on Black First Ladies for next week.



He highlights this quote (I think mentioned here the other day) from Condi Rice:



"The United States of America is an extraordinary country. It is a country that has overcome many, many, now years, decades, actually a couple of centuries, of trying to make good on its principles. And I think what we are seeing is an extraordinary expression of the fact that 'We the People' is beginning to mean to all of us," - Condi Rice.



Sullivan's response: "Beginning to mean? Where's Hannity?



http://tinyurl.com/6a3kk9

And I think that what we're seeing is, an extraordinary expression of the fact that 'we the people,' is beginning to mean all of us," she added, referring to the opening line of the U.S. Constitution.


Interesting. Sec'y Rice states 'we the people,' is beginning to mean all of us' which is of course, TRUE.



Which makes me think of the Patriotism Police that keeps hounding Michelle Obama for remarking that "for the first time in her adult life" she was really proud of her country.



An American Black person being proud for the first time in their adult lives of a country where 'we the people' is beginning to mean ALL of us. And not just 3/5th of us.



Imagine that...:)

The 2004 DNC speech didn't do it for me because I felt that it was not unusual to see an extremely intelligent, well-spoken black man. I felt that people were over-hyping him and I avoided all of the breathless articles on him.


Until Hurricane Katrina.



When Obama went to the Superdome, that caught my attention and that's when I decided to investigate him by reading his book, Dreams From My Father. I blogged about it at the time (I wanted to hear more about his mother)



http://anovelista.blogspot.com/2005/12/baracking-world.html



As far as his presidential run, After reading Dreams From My Father and reading every article (pro and con) I could find, my attitude was as long as he is in it, I am for him



He is also the first (and probably the last) politician that I have ever volunteered for and donated money to.

Did they ever clear up that thing about BO getting NO votes in some of the NY districts?


I've been waiting to hear about that and so far - nothing.



Obama ‘Robbed’ In New York



By GINGER ADAMS OTIS - February 16, 2008



Barack Obama’s primary-night results were strikingly underrecorded in several districts around the city - in some cases leaving him with zero votes when, in fact, he had pulled in hundreds, the Board of Elections said yesterday.



Unofficial primary results gave Obama no votes in nearly 80 districts, including Harlem's 94th and other historically black areas - but many of those initial tallies proved to be wildly off the mark, the board said.



In some districts getting a recount, the senator from Illinois is even closer to defeating Hillary Clinton. Initial results in the 94th, for example, showed a 141-0 sweep for Hillary Clinton, but the recount changed the tally to 261-136.



As yet, none of the results have been certified, but a ballot-by-ballot canvassing of all voting machines has begun, a board spokesperson said. Many of the mistakes were chalked up to human error -- and some Clinton tallies were wrong as well. In several congressional districts she was shown as having received zero votes when in fact she got hundreds, Boe said.



Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron called the understated figures "outrageous."





Unofficial Tallies in City Understated Obama Vote.



Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.

That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district.



City election officials this week said that their formal review of the results, which will not be completed for weeks, had confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city.

In the Harlem district, for instance, where the primary night returns suggested a 141 to 0 sweep by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the vote now stands at 261 to 136. In an even more heavily black district in Brooklyn — where the vote on primary night was recorded as 118 to 0 for Mrs. Clinton — she now barely leads, 118 to 116.

There is no room for 'daintiness' in the black woman. No one entertains our vulnerability and here, Michelle doesn't disappoint. We are not the shrinking violets of society. Nobody wants to hear about our aches, our tiredness.


This bears repeating.



And while I agree with The Christian Progressive Liberal on beautiful mahogany colored sisters, I have to disagree with Halle and Vanessa being "still good-looking" but "beginning to show their age and it's not pretty". I think they both look great - aging and all.



But the colorism issue is quite real and I have no patience for people that pretend otherwise.

The 69-year-old mobster is one Charles "Buddy Musk" Muccigrosso, a reputed member of the Gambino crime family.

WSJ: Detroit Politician Gets Lessons In Civility From a 13-Year Old


Ms. Conyers is the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary. She declined to comment for this story, but her chief of staff, Linda Bernard, says Ms. Conyers believes she is "being targeted by the press" because "her husband was recently in New York City and is considering having hearings about police brutality."



Police brutality. Ri-ight....



Also:



A technology systems manager for a Hoboken insurance firm was asleep in his Newark home earlier this month when a SWAT team of FBI agents battered through the front door, held him and his 16-year-old son at gunpoint, tied their hands with plastic restraints and then started asking them questions.





FBI agents eventually realized they didn't have the 69-year-old reputed mobster: Taylor is a 39-year-old black man.



The innocent man describes his ordeal on video in the link.

For the record:
Hillary accepted & signed the DNC rules barring MI & FL!



Watch Tim Russert read exact quotes from the Clinton campaign on the rules in 2007 and then in 2008.



If the shoe were on the other foot, we would not even be having this discussion because Obama would have been long gone by now...

Totally agree with Anon 8:25.


Also - Hillary's email tonight to supporters:



Dear Friend,



Once again tonight, you and I stood together and showed America what we're made of.



Every time we win another state, we prove something about ourselves and about our country. And did we ever prove something tonight in Kentucky.



We showed America that the voters know what the "experts" will never understand -- that in our great democracy, elections are about more than candidates running, pundits commenting, or ads blaring.



They're about every one of us having his or her say about the path we choose as a nation. The people of Kentucky have declared that this race isn't over yet, and I'm listening to them -- and to you.



Your unshakeable commitment to that principle and your willingness to keep forging ahead inspire me every day. Let's keep supporting one another in these crucial days ahead.



All the best,



Hillary

Hillary Rodham Clinton