Race, Class, Gender, Globalization And 2008

The social issues are all rather hard to deal with. The identity issues are hard to deal with. I don't know what exactly Obama said in San Francisco at a private dinner but he got reported as saying that people in small town Pennsylvania are bitter and so they cling to guns and religion.

Like James Carville said, Pennsylvania is Philly and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in between. And there are no blacks in this particular version of Alabama.

The poor everywhere are extra susceptible to identity politics and prejudices. Guns and religion were there before the outsourcing of industrial jobs, guns and religion were there before industrialization, but people do cling extra tight to them when the times go rough. A lot of people don't know Barack's mother was a cutting edge anthropologist. She did microfinance work decades before Yunus got the Nobel for the same.

The reaction was one of defensiveness. You calling me poor? You calling me desperate? You calling me white? The media churn on the issue was so total that Obama 2008's millions in TV ads got drowned out.

It is hard to engage the electorate on social issues. Most people feel their particular worldview is cutting edge and they have no viewpoint they need to change. Roe V Wade was 1973, and the pro-choice agenda is still hot. Progress on social issues tends to be slow.

What to do?

1. Turn the class issue into one on globalization and how to tackle it best.
2. Inject the gender issue full force. That will put Hillary on the defensive. She desires to quietly squeak by, she does not seek to talk gender.
   
3. Address race. That one was a speech about Jeremiah Wright. Now tell the people how you will take race relations in America to the next level. (JFK, Obama Parallels: Catholic, Black)
   

Hillary's momentum from her nine point PA victory is a little unsettling. It will help to get a little paranoid.

Ground Rule: When you get hit, you hit back. The new kind of politics does not change that. What it does change is you don't get nasty when hitting back. When you don't hit back, people think you got hit and you did not even notice.

The Working Class Are Hurt By Special Interests And Lobbyists' Money
Hillary Is Seeking The Green Party Nomination
Taking Race Head On: A Speech
Lessons From PA: Race And Globalization Must Be Addressed
Gender Talk: Coming At It From The Future
Skyward Bound
Philly Debate: Quick Impressions During
Nobel Peace Prize 2008: Making A Case For Nepal (2)
Sexism Bothers Me Directly
Outsourcing Anxieties: The Internet Metaphor

In The News

Bush to address Americans' financial fears CNN
Clinton surges way ahead of McCain in latest poll Hindu
Rev. Wright more than Obama's former pastor CNN

Iranian President’s Visit Tests India New York Times
Wright's Remarks Leave Obama Wounded U.S. News & World Report
Obama’s Wright Response New York Times
Why Wright Doesn't Hurt Obama's Shot at the Nomination Newsweek
What's new: Is the Obama camp right about Wright? USA Today
Pastor's rebuttals fuel troubles for Obama Boston Globe led McCain by nine points in what is perhaps the best news her campaign has seen or heard in the last several weeks .... Both Democrats were roughly even with 71-year-old McCain in the previous poll about three weeks ago. .... 30 per cent of Clinton backers and 21 per cent of Obama's maintaining that they will vote for McCain if their preferred candidate did not get nominated. ....... Governor of North Carolina Mike Easley, a superdelegate, announced his support to her.
Clinton Tip-Toes Around Rev. Wright Issue ABC News
Clinton drives home her Lincoln-Douglas debate idea and Obama ... Los Angeles Times
Clinton Could Ease Racial Tensions Wall Street Journal

Obama Team Remains Unshaken CBS News, USA The Plan, a blueprint devised 15 months ago ....... Her campaign, ensconced in a Washington suburb, has experienced two major staff shakeups fueled by high-level staff rivalries, shifting strategies and an unusual degree of finger-pointing. ..... a candidate intolerant of infighting, a clear line of authority and a healthy distance from the city they want to take over. ....... 2000, who presided over a loyal, linear and leakless operation in Austin ........ “Intense loyalty to and belief in the candidate,” Jordan said, citing the similarities. “Simple, clear lines of authority with real discipline among the staff and consultants. Deep, talented teams. Maybe most importantly, candidates who trust their campaign, who understand what they’re doing, who deliver as well as demand loyalty, who intuitively relate to and handle their campaigns with just the right touch.” ........ the rival Democratic campaigns are a study in contrasts. ........ Obama strategist David Axelrod is the anti-Penn. ....... the low-key and well-liked Axelrod ........ run on change, win Iowa and then embark on a national campaign aimed at maximizing their delegate count. ......... a demeanor like Obama’s, tends to avoid highs or lows. ...... block out the din and the whims of the 24-hour cable news culture. ....... there should be only intentional leaks, and disputes must be dealt with in-house ....... we feel confident in the plan and we are still ahead

Obama on Rev. Wright: "He Does Not Speak for Me" Washington Post "I have said before and I will repeat again that some of the comments that Rev. Wright have made offend me and I understand why they've offended the American people," Obama said ........ Obama seemed determined to wrench his campaign back to the basic messages ...... "Having politicians bickering back and forth doesn't help you," Obama said. "Having them worrying about superdelegates doesn't help you. This election is not about me. It's not about Senator Clinton. It's not about John McCain. It's about you. It's about your struggles, your hopes and dreams."

Taking Race Head On: A Speech

Lessons From PA: Race And Globalization Must Be Addressed
Another Speech On Race Will Bring Victory In PA
Talking About Race, Finally
The Need For A Race Gender Coalition
Tackling Race As An Issue The Average Person Way

Yo, this is Barack Obama. Whassup? I know, I am cool like that.

Today I wanted to talk about race. I feel like I am on my way to becoming the first black president of America. I mean, I am not strictly black. If you do the math, I am half white. My mother who birthed me and who raised me, my grandparents who raised me were all white. My father was black, as in African. But then I am one of those guys, I have blood relatives on all continents, and if you will believe Lynne Cheney, in a few different parties.

Race is for real, but if you have my perspective racial differences and prejudices and divides just come across as so superficial and plain stupid. I would like to believe my face, my diverse background, my open minded perspectives are the future of this country. We are one people. Diversity is a good thing, otherwise they also have skyscrapers in Shanghai, but only our biggest cities can boast of diversity unmatched on earth. Diversity is strength.

Globalization and the internet are here very much to stay. We were once primarily an agricultural nation. Then we became an industrial nation. Overall most people won through that transformation. But while it happened, many people went through a lot of pain. We are now on our way to becoming a full fledged knowledge economy. We have to envision the industries, companies and the jobs of tomorrow. We have been losing the old industrial jobs for decades now. People have been hurting. I am not opposed to the economic transformation that is underway, for it will create more wealth for most people. But I am opposed to not helping people through that transformation.

It does not matter if you are black or white. If you are hurting, you are hurting. I just want you to know help is on its way. In a knowledge economy, human capital is king. You can't imagine a knowledge economy without universal health, without lifelong education. When you move from one job to the next, one career to the next, you should not have to lose your health care. You should be able to take health care for granted, that it will be there as you move about and on on your career paths.

There are many high school graduates who grew up thinking after a certain age your doors to college are permanently shut. That need not be true. It is never too late to take a college course or two. But not everyone will end up a rocket scientist. We are not about to become a nation of Ph.D.s. Many industrial jobs have been unfairly shipped abroad to nations that have gross human rights records, ugly environmental standards, and outright criminal child labor laws. I am a democrat, heart, body, mind and soul. I intend to use trade laws as tools to spread democracy and human rights and environmental renewal across the globe. And we are not just going to create the knowledge jobs of tomorrow, although that we are. We are also going to create the green industrial jobs of tomorrow that people with only high school degrees can hope to hold. Those green collar jobs, by definition, can not be exported.

I am very much for the economic transformation underway that will create more wealth for all of us. But a slice of that future wealth belongs to all of us, equally. We will use that slice to achieve the knowledge economy goals of universal health and lifelong education, and to help people with job retraining so their individual transitions are as smooth as possible.

I do not take the anxieties of the working white Americans or the working black Americans for granted. If I can not address those anxieties as president, I will not be able to tackle chronic poverty in the inner cities, something I very much intend to do.

Our economic anxieties are not white or black, they very much cut across the race lines. To blame the traditionally marginalized groups of people would be cowardice. If we have the guts to face our challenges like they are supposed to be faced, I think we are in a great position to create a win-win situation for most people. This is a new century. We stand at the cusp of a new millenium.

There is not a town in America today where globalization has not already made its presence felt. The thing about globalization is people who work towards achieving natural comfort around diverse people end up making more money. Diversity pays. Diversity fattens your bank account.
We do need to take race relations in America to the next level. Race has to be talked about. Race relations are like a marriage. There is no marriage if there are no conversations.

There is a need to forge a new, positive black identity, one that is not about slavery and segregation, grave historical injustices that can never be forgotten, but then disease can't be identity. The new black identity has to be about digging deeper into our African heritage for its art, music, culture, religion, language, cuisine, and just plain heritage. The new black pride has to be about engineering a total debt relief for Africa. Your African heritage is not about the past centuries, although that it is. Africa is still there, vibrant, alive, very much there. To this day Africa is shortchanged like no other continent on earth. We have to turn things around there. As long as Africa is destitute, in the grip of corrupt dictators, disease, ignorance, black pride in America will always have a sore thumb. We have to make Africa an active part of our black identity in America. The hard work the Africans will do on their own for the most part, but our reaching out can make all the difference.

It is going to be a win win situation, it always has been in the past. Blacks earning the right to vote did not dilute white democracy. China and India doing well economically for the past few decades means we are not in a deep recession today.

We head towards a common future. Our biggest problems and challenges no one country can solve. And so we have to rise up above our old prejudices. That is the only way to create a better future for our children and grandchildren. That is how we will turn this into a more perfect union.

Let's go win this one.

JFK, Obama Parallels: Catholic, Black



In The News

Maoist Ex-Rebels Are Likely Leaders of Nepal Transition New York Times they appear to have won 217 seats, double that of their closest competitor, the centrist Nepali Congress ..... Prachanda, said he sought to advance peace efforts but could not “renounce every kind of violence,” only what he called “reactionary violence.”
For Obama, a Struggle to Win Over Key Blocs his weakness among blue-collar voters, older voters and white voters. ...... racial attitudes in this country are changing at a breakneck pace ....... “Race is intertwined with a broader notion that he is not one of us” ....... “They react negatively to people who are seen as different.” ...... “Our problem has less to do with white working-class voters,” Mr. Obama told reporters Wednesday in Indiana. “In fact the problem is that — to the extent that there is a problem — is that older voters are very loyal to Senator Clinton.”
Actor Snipes Gets 3 Years for Tax Charges New York Times three misdemeanor convictions of failure to file his income taxes. ...... an unlikely public face for the tax denier movement ..... he had a years-long record of defying the tax laws. ...... Mr. Snipes was indicted in October 2006 for filing a false claim for a $7 million refund (of taxes paid in 1997, before he stopped paying taxes) ...... Since 1986, Mr. Snipes has appeared in more than 50 films, earning at least $103 million, court papers showed, including more than $58 million in the years covered by the indictment, 1999 through 2004.
McCain to New Orleans: Never again The Associated Press
Indiana Primary Likely a Crucial Test in Democratic Presidential Race Voice of America Clinton has an uphill climb to the Democratic nomination, even with her convincing win in Pennsylvania. ...... until I see a collapse of Obama in North Carolina and a collapse in Indiana, I remain deeply skeptical that she has a path to this nomination ...... Clinton may be able to reduce his margin in the popular vote. ...... a disturbing trend for Obama, his inability to win over working class white voters. ...... roughly 300 remaining uncommitted superdelegates ..... more delegates, more votes and more states ..... it is toughening up Obama ...... no one has entered presidential politics with less experience than Obama ...... "Democrats are still winning the enthusiasm contest, they are clearly winning the [voter] turnout contest, they are winning the money contest, they are winning the congressional recruitment game, and they are also winning the expectations game. McCain's strength in the face of all of this is quite impressive"
Youth vote growing, supporting Obama Boston Globe 70 percent of Democrats ages 18 to 24 favor Obama, compared to 30 percent for Clinton ..... margins were similar regardless of whether or not the voters attended four-year colleges. ..... the upward trend in youth participation in politics has been building since 2000, he said. "This is a lot bigger'' than Obama
Clinton's Win in Pennsylvania Helps Raise Millions in Campaign Funds Voice of America more than $10 million to her bid for the Democratic nomination in the 24 hours after her victory ...... 100,000 donors, including 80,000 new donors ...... Obama rejected Clinton's new method of measuring voter support ...... opinion polls indicate a very close race in Indiana.
Clinton Claims Popular Vote Lead - Sort Of FOXNews
'Gang of Four' could decide Obama's fate after May primaries Independent John Edwards; the former vice-president Al Gore; the Democratic Party leader Howard Dean; and the House speaker Nancy Pelosi – to intervene after the primaries on 6 May. ...... call on the superdelegates to make a commitment within 10 days .... the submerged racial prejudice of older white voters ....... poorly educated white voters have grave doubts "about a young, inexperienced African-American guy with an Islamic-sounding name and a highfalutin fluency with language". ......... Indiana's population is concentrated in the smaller cities like Gary, where he has a high profile ...... a nine-percentage point victory ..... A big part of Mr Obama's problem is race. The exit polls in Pennsylvania revealed that 20 per cent of voters think race is important and heavily backed Mrs Clinton.
Lingering Doubts About Obama TIME Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida--the Big Four that so often decide a presidential election. ...... on four separate primary days has failed to drive Hillary Clinton from the race, each time exhibiting a touch of entitlement and defensiveness rather than a fighting spirit. ....... Obama's college-town and urban strength
The Incredibly Shrinking Democrats George W. Bush has been a historic screwup as President ..... Her campaign had been an assault on Obama's character flaws, real and imagined, rather than on matters of substance. ....... entered the primary as a fresh breeze and left it stale, battered and embittered — still the mathematical favorite for the nomination but no longer the darling of his party. ....... he was "friendly" with an American terrorist who had bombed buildings during the Vietnam era, and that he seemed to look on the ceremonies of working-class life — bowling, hunting, churchgoing and the fervent consumption of greasy food — as his anthropologist mother might have, with a mixture of cool detachment and utter bemusement. ........ you have to get the social body language right if you want voters to consider the nobler reaches of your message ........ most people make their choice on the basis of "low-information signaling" ....... Bill Clinton was the lone Democratic master of low-information signaling — a love of McDonald's and other assorted big-gulp appetites gave him credibility that even trumped his evasion of military service. ......... the relentless vulgarity of its questions, with the first 40 minutes focused exclusively on so-called character issues rather than policy. Obama was on the defensive from the start, but gradually the defensiveness morphed into bitter frustration. ....... Too often, Obama has seemed unwilling to get down in the muck and fight off the "distractions" that are crippling his campaign. ........ as a black man, he wants to send low-information signals that he is neither angry nor threatening ....... "Why aren't you guys wearing pins? Why isn't Hillary?" ...... He seemed fed up with campaigning — as any reasonably sane human being would be at this point — and embittered by the turn the race had taken. ......... I'm not sure that Bill and Hillary Clinton are reasonably sane human beings, at least not when they are running for office: they become robo-pols, tireless and seemingly indestructible. Senator Clinton was on fire in the days before the Pennsylvania primary, as energized as I've ever seen her. ........ She had embraced the shameless rituals of politics, including some classic low-information signals ..... threatening to "obliterate" Iran ...... It helps to be a warrior, for one thing. ...... the only way to reach the high-minded conversation he wants, and the country badly needs, is to figure out how to maneuver his way through the gutter.
Next Stop for the Dems: Indiana Obama slightly ahead of Clinton, 40% to 35%. ...... in March, Indianans gave some $218,800 to Obama's campaign, and $79,600 to Clinton's ..... hoping to connect with nearby Obamanistas ....... His first neighborhood captains meeting drew just 5 people. Last week's drew 160.
Why Do Women Need To Be Perfect? Kim seemed to have everything — a happy marriage, four well-adjusted kids, a well-to-do lifestyle, good health and a trim figure. ..... It turns out that Kim was distressed by the messiness in her house. She told Domar, "Every time I open a drawer or closet and see the clutter, I feel like a miserable failure." ....... your average, everyday woman who feels uncomfortable going to bed if there are dishes in the sink. ...... men on average worry about three things every day, but women on average worry about 12 things every day ....... I have never in my career seen a woman — and I've seen patients who are models and celebrities and such — who would look in the mirror and like everything they saw. What we do, no matter what we look like, is look in the mirror and zero in on the flaws. ....... I've treated a lot of young women in my practice with anorexia and bulimia. That's a pathological need to control one's body. ........ When she comes home, she looks right past the fact that the kids are fine and she focuses on his unshaven face and the pizza boxes in the garage and the laundry. She knows she's wrong but she can't help herself. She worries her husband is going to leave her for somebody who loves him for who he is and the fact that he doesn't drink and he doesn't beat them and he brings home a good paycheck. So I think it can be toxic in a relationship. ........ jotting down what that day you are grateful for, can have very significant positive impact on your mental and physical health
Somalia Takes a Turn for the Worse foreign reporters and volunteers have been held for ransom by gangs, to the south, where they've been executed to show the low regard their Islamist captors have for the West. ....... the 17 years since it last had a functioning government ...... ecent fighting, and especially the latest in Mogadishu, are signs that Somalia is entering its bleakest chapter yet. ....... fundamentalist fighters will capture a town in a lightning raid and then retreat, more to show off their muscle than anything else ....... the al-Shabab, a band of mostly young men who adhere to Taliban-style Islamic codes. ...... the civilian suffering that has made Somalia one of the world's greatest and most ignored humanitarian disasters.
Clinton Goes After Obama's Strengths CBS News attempting to re-write the presidential campaign narrative using a new two-pronged argument ...... The two talking points - pushed by campaign aides to reporters in conference calls, impromptu gaggles on her campaign plane and by Clinton herself in a round of network interviews, a morning speech in Indianapolis and a call with donors - are intended primarily for the consumption of the superdelegates who will decide the nomination. ......... at the end of March he’d raised $236 million for his campaign compared to $195 million for Clinton and $72 million for McCain ....... After the rally, she told donors on a conference call: “we’ve been just runnin’ on fumes.”
Clinton, Obama each arguing that they are ahead in the popular vote CNN
Clinton Not Too Sleep Deprived for a Debate ABC News
Top House Democrat denounces Clinton campaign tactics Reuters speculation that Clinton is staying in the race only to try to derail Obama and pave the way for her to make another White House run in 2012. ..... the Clintons know that she can’t win this. But they’re hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win” in November
Clinton's Pennsylvania win seen as giving her momentum Xinhua the former first lady "is on a roll." ...... has Democrats wondering, if not worrying, about what role race may be playing

Maoists sweep Nepal polls: final results AFP

For Democrats, Questions Over Race and Electability New York Times
Clinton ratchets up the rhetoric against Obama Globe and Mail
Should Obama Play Rougher? TIME
Clinton wins Pennsylvania Jewish vote with surprising ease Ha'aretz
Fresh Off Pennsylvania Victory, Clinton Raises Millions, Mostly Online New York Times
Seizing on Primary Win, Clinton Says Tide Is Turning New York Times
Party leaders don't seem to care Clinton has taken the big states San Francisco Chronicle
Obama, Clinton add endorsements Boston Globe

Clinton 'Confident' After Pa. Win ABC News
Analysis: Obama still struggling to win key constituencies The Associated Press
Clinton buys time with Pennsylvania primary win Dallas Morning News
Don't Call It a Comeback: Hillary Clinton's PA Primary Victory Village Voice
Obama Shifting Focus From Clinton to McCain New York Times
Clinton Clearly Outduels Obama in Pennsylvania New York Times In his concession speech, he kept the focus on the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, a subject Mrs. Clinton avoided in her address. ...... her strong performance among women, older voters and less affluent and less educated voters; among white union members with no college education, she won almost three-quarters of the vote ........ they were having their best night ever in fund-raising online, bringing in $2.5 million in less than four hours ...... her campaign is essentially out of money, with unpaid bills piling up ...... “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” she said. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”
Obama congratulates Hillary after Pennsylvania primary loss NDTV.com
Victorious Clinton pleads for cash The Australian

Obama Site Visitors Redirected to Clinton Campaign Washington Post According to Symantec, someone embedded computer code into a posting on the Obama blog. The content in this case targeted a cross-site scripting flaw (XSS), an exceedingly common type of vulnerability that can be used to automatically redirect Web browsers viewing the affected page to another site.

Lessons From PA: Race And Globalization Must Be Addressed

• All 50 states will get to vote, Hillary is not dropping out. It is a good thing that all 50 states will have a say in the nomination process. When was the last time that happened? Perhaps this is what Howard Dean meant by his 50 state strategy a few years back.
  
• The superdelegates will decide. I hope they decide not long after the final primary/caucus. I hope they don't wait until the convention.
  
• Barack will be the nominee.
  
• Hillary will be his running mate.
  

These are the obvious observations to be made. And then there are other macro ones.

• That superhit speech on race was not really about race, it was about Jeremiah Wright. The first black president to be has yet to give a speech about how he will take race relations in America to the next level. So far his strategy on race is to not talk about race. I disagree with it. That is like saying marriage does not need conversations.
  
• I guess you could say these two by sheer presence in the White House will take race and gender to the next level. I disagree. I saw Indira Gandhi at the helm in India. India remained as sexist as ever. (Another Speech On Race Will Bring Victory In PA)
  
• The biggest thing the next president and the president after that will do is help turn America into a full fledged knowledge economy. Hostility on trade might give solace to the "bitter" folks, but there is no turning the tide. An agricultural America became industrial, an industrial America will become a knowledge economy. There is more wealth in the future for most people, but you do have to manage the transition well. It has been done before, it can be done again. Major economic transformations are possible.
  
• Who will tie the bell round the cat's neck? Who will tell the small town voters? Barack tried. Hillary pounced on him for trying.
  
• Universal health, lifelong education: those are the buzzwords. But you need something more immediate for those already hurting. Better trade deals will help. I like the idea of using trade deals to spread democracy, human rights and unionization, better child labor laws, and so on in other countries. Better trade tools than W's berserk military.
  
• Globalization has so far favored capital in both the rich and the poor countries. We progressives have to design a globalization that puts human capital on par with financial and physical capital.
  

And then there are basic political gimmicks. That Osama ad was Bill Clinton's idea. He pulled dirty on Barack also in New Hampshire. Obama 2008 made the mistake of crying foul. What it instead should have done is said it was Hillary's misadventure in Iraq that got America's eyes off the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.



Bottom line is Hillary was going to win PA, it was only a matter of narrowing her margin. We did narrow it from 20 points to 10 points in just weeks.



In The News

Clinton Captures Pennsylvania San Francisco Chronicle exit polls show nearly 70 percent of Pensylvanians think Clinton went too far in attacking Obama. .... 55 percent, have not gone to college ...... Clinton won among white men 55-45 percent, less than in Ohio but a strong showing. She won overwhelmingly among white women 64-36 percent. ...... Obama has a huge advantage with more than $40 million in the bank; the Clinton campaign is in debt. A narrow win in Pennsylvania will undermine her ability to raise cash and impose its own hard reality. ...... Gun owners, church goers and rural residents went for Clinton about 60-40. ...... Clinton wins the overall white vote -- 80 percent of the electorate -- by 20 points. ...... The one in five voters deciding in the final week went for Clinton 58 to 42. ...... Seniors, another big voting bloc, went for Clinton overwhelmingly, 61-38. ...... Obama won amost all African American voters, 92-8. He is also winning among upper-income voters and recently minted Democrats. ...... Essentially, the race is where it was six long weeks ago. ...... The idea that superdelegates would hand her the nomination while he has more pledged delegates elected by voters sounds as crazy today as it did two months ago, and as disastrous for Democrats. ...... Neither she nor Obama were included in the country's founding documetns, she said in her first mention of her rival. "This generation will grow up taking for granted that an African American or a woman can be president." .......... She vows to turn "promises to action," "words to solutions" and "hope to reality." ...... Obama: He looks upbeat and confident. He's in Indiana, the next "decisive" state. ....... two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril. ...... With 85 percent of the Pennsylvania vote in , Clinton has the double-digit lead she fought for, ahead 55 to 45 percent.
Clinton wins another primary - Democrats shrug San Francisco Chronicle Al Gore, who is estranged from the Clintons. ....... Obama's argument that he will win California hands down in the fall ....... he can put in play smaller ones like Virginia that she can't touch. ...... Obama's glaring weakness among the working-class whites Democrats ..... Obama's almost insurmountable lead in pledged delegate votes rests to a surprising extent on his victories in small caucuses, involving comparatively few voters, in deeply Republican states like Alaska and Idaho. His bigger primary victories are heavily weighted to Southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi that have large African American populations but are highly unlikely to vote Democratic in the fall. It is a point Clinton, her husband and her campaign have made with rising exasperation. ........ "If anybody thinks that I'll lose New York and California in the general election, there's no chance of that happening," Obama said today. ...... a victory that not only allows us to take over the White House but also will allow us to govern ...... Obama has won six swing states (Virginia, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado and Iowa) to Clinton's four (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico and New Hampshire), leaving Obama with more potential electoral votes. ..... Obama is polling better than Clinton in California against McCain.
Clinton gets make-or-break win in Pennsylvania Boston Globe "Don't write her off," her campaign chairman, Terry McAullife, told CNN from the ballroom. "She's fighting every day." ..... He started the month with more than $41 million on hand to spend on the primary campaign, while Clinton was $1 million in debt. ...... Obama is favored in four states -- North Carolina, Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota, which award a total of 198 pledged delegates. Clinton is expected to do well in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico, whose delegate counts total 134. Guam and Indiana appear to be toss-ups. ...... The battle for Pennsylvania grew especially testy in the last days. Clinton ran a TV ad featuring an image of Osama bin Laden and implying that Obama is not tough enough to be president. Obama countered with an ad accusing Clinton of running a campaign of "fear.'' ....... Despite a frenzied, six-week campaign to shake up each other's base, the electorate largely split as expected. ..... No matter who they voted for, 54 percent of Democratic voters said they believe that Obama will be the eventual nominee, while 43 percent said Clinton will win the nomination, according to the exit polling.
Barack Obama's team stays buoyant Los Angeles Times
Why Clinton Won Pennsylvania CBS News an electorate consistently divided on factors like education, race and income and also newly divided along religious lines. ..... intense media coverage of Obama's recent statements regarding small town voters, and a consistent characterization of him as an elitist both by the media and by the campaigns of Clinton and John McCain, these pre-existing social divides grew larger in this first contest since the story broke. ....... Clinton won 75 percent of the vote from white Democrats with a high school diploma or less - three times Obama's vote among these voters - compared to 56 percent of those with more education. ....... Part of Obama's ability to close the large lead Clinton initially had in Pennsylvania was a concerted voter registration effort - one which paid off for him. Among today's Pennsylvania Democratic voters 14 percent reported that they had newly registered as Democrats. Among these new Democratic voters Obama bested Clinton by 20 points - 59 percent to 39 percent.

Another Speech On Race Will Bring Victory In PA

Another Speech On Race Will Bring Victory In PA



That first speech on race was a super hit: almost four million hits on YouTube so far. But it is race that still haunts us. Race is the reason we are behind in PA. Hillary's margin comes from her lead among white voters, which is in high double digits right now.

But that was not exactly a speech on race, it was a damage control speech on race in response to some real intense stuff from Jeremiah Wright. God damn America? US of KKKA? I mean, I have said United f____g States, but what Wright said is in a whole different league.

What Barack needs to deliver is a speech on race. I was hoping he would do that right after South Carolina. But I kind of liked it that he tried to suggest his way to deal with race is to not talk about it too much. I wish that were so. But it has become obvious Barack might have moved on, but the country has not. His family might have moved on half a century ago, but the rest of the country still struggles with it.

I have just the speech for him: JFK, Obama Parallels: Catholic, Black.



He has to do what his father did as a foreign student in Hawaii at a bar in the 1950s. Some random white guy hurled a racial slur at the senior Barack. Senior Barack patiently walked over to the man and explained to him as to why it was not okay why he did that. The man got so impressed he paid for Barack Senior's lodging for a few months, something like that.

What his father did to that one man, now Barack Junior gets to do to an entire country. He has to face the fact that race is still a major issue in this country's life. Some would say it is The Issue. Then he has to suggest America's diversity is what gives it great strength, otherwise Shanghai also has the skyscrapers.

The wide gap Hillary has over Barack in PA is not because these folks don't know yet where Barack might stand on Iraq or health care. And it is only a small bit about being less familiar with Barack. It is to do with race. And they are asking for help. These are not racist bigots. These are just people used to a certain way of thinking, and noone of any national stature ever told them otherwise. Barack gets to be that person.

There is no skipping this race issue. Race has to be talked of as a diversity issue, and diversity has to be shown to how we will cure the big problems like global warming.

Besides, that is the only way to compete with Lincoln in the greatness department. That guy ended slavery, you cure racism. It can be done. There is concrete data on disparity. And the number one thing to do is engineer a total spread of democracy.

Talking About Race, Finally
The Need For A Race Gender Coalition
Tackling Race As An Issue The Average Person Way
How To Play The Race Card In South Carolina
Barack Tackles Race Head On In A South Carolina Speech
Race, Gender

The Bio Ads Are Working

Already Hillary's lead in PA is down to single digits and we still have weeks. It is hard for the political junkies to imagine, but Barack is not well known at all. Half of PA does not know he gave that speech in 2004.

Where Is Michelle? I Miss Michelle

Michelle was all over the place all the way to the victory in Iowa, and then also through January. Then she kind of disappeared. She is not as high profile no more. Granted the Obamas have two young daughters, and Michelle does have a career of her own. But you show Obama alone on the campaign trail a little too often and voters start to think maybe he is single.

The president is expected to be reassuring on the family question. Voters like to feel the top person is a family man. Otherwise voters get a little disoriented.

Iowa is all white. And Michelle is a big reason we won there. I know it is not about race. It is not a racial calculation on Michelle's part to stay away. It is her two kids on her mind. Well, she should win this one, and then both she and her husband get to see the two kids every day when they come back from school.

Get Michelle back in the game. Send her all over PA. We need a victory, yo! The two Obamas must make at least a few joint appearances each week. That we should be able to take for granted.

I Stand With Michelle: Iowa Must And Can Be Won
Michelle Obama Is Just Fabulous



In The News

Obama considers Gore for cabinet post Sydney Morning Herald, Australia He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I'm already consulting with him in terms of these issues but climate change is real. ...... "All of us are going to have to change our habits. We are a wasteful culture," he said. ..... Using compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy efficient appliances, and unplugging power chargers when they're not in use are relatively simple solutions, he said. ...... "Those kinds of simple steps, if everybody takes them, can drastically reduce our energy consumption."

Social Media Will Change Your Business BusinessWeek Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later ..... they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. ..... The divide between the publishers and the public is collapsing. This turns mass media upside down. It creates media of the masses. ...... "Blogs are what's causing the Web to grow" .... It's wrapped up far more in people's day-to-day lives. It's connected to time. ..... Picture the blog world as the biggest coffeehouse on Earth. ....... the blogs track what's on our minds. ..... "Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this." ...... mainstream media will start to look more and more like—you guessed it—blogs ...... Popular blogs can land sponsorship deals for as much as $25,000 per month, say consultants. O.K. money for an entrepreneur, but a rounding error in the ad industry. ....... $410 million for About Inc., a collection of 500 specialized Web sites that smell strongly of blogs ..... Blog reporters showed their value following the Asian tsunami in December. Thousands of them posted pictures, video footage, and articles about the disaster long before the first accredited journalists showed up. ........ The winners will be those who host the very best conversations.

Mugabe's Zanu-PF loses majority BBC News
Endorsements, Focus Aid Obama in Pennsylvania Yahoo! News
Beer and bowling: Obama plays the regular guy Times of India
Obama to Clinton: 'Rocky' was a movie Baltimore Sun
Unions give Obama a big welcome PennLive.com
Clinton Challenges Obama to Bowling Throwdown NPR Instead of withdrawing, Clinton challenged Barack Obama to a bowling contest. ...... She added: "Happy April Fool's Day, everybody."
Hillary Clinton is ready to meet Barack Obama in the nearest alley Los Angeles Times
Wyoming Governor Endorses Obama The Associated Press
Obama claims victory in Texas The Australian, Australia “The Obama-Clinton match-up in Texas is now complete and there's not the slightest question about who won. .... “It is unequivocal, it is 100 percent clear, that Senator Obama won Texas and won it probably by five (delegates).”

Polls: Obama Gains on Clinton in Pa. The Associated Press by drawing more support from men and younger voters ..... her lead has steadily eroded from 16 points in mid-February and 12 points in mid-March ...... Since mid-February in Pennsylvania, Obama has gone from trailing Clinton among men by 10 percentage points to running even. He now leads among people under age 45 by 9 points, reversing an 11-point deficit. ..... Clinton leads in the state among people without college degrees, but what was a 29-point margin in February is now 19 points. ..... She has a 25-point lead among whites and almost as big a margin with women, which have changed little since February. ..... whites, who make up 86 percent of Pennsylvania's population, about 6 points above the national average ...... Obama was endorsed by the state's popular Democratic senator, Bob Casey

Geraldine Ferraro, Geremiah Wrong: A Dialogue

Geraldine Ferraro, Geremiah Wrong: A Dialogue

Geraldine Ferraro: You racist bigot!

Geremiah Wrong: Lady, you are no clean spigot yourself.

Geraldine Ferraro: You have one filthy mouth.

Geremiah Wrong: Another way to look at it would be that I am oozing with black anger.

Geraldine Ferraro: So you now claim to speak for an entire people? And not just for yourself?

Geremiah Wrong: In case you did not notice, that chicken coming home to roost was not an original line. I borrowed it from Brother Malcolm X. I also intend to borrow his greatness.

Geraldine Ferraro: A God fearing man would not say God damn America. It is America that puts food on your table.

Geremiah Wrong: If God can damn New Orleans, is America a sacred cow?

Geraldine Ferraro: So you stand by your word?

Geremiah Wrong: If white men can stand by their word, why can't this black brother?

Geraldine Ferraro: You support a black man for president. Because he is black? Is that not racist?

Geremiah Wrong: Your slave owner great-grandfather, and your restaurant owner father would know better.

Geraldine Ferraro: Slavery and segregation are dead horses. How long do you intend to beat those dead horses?

Geremiah Wrong: Segregation lives in my personal memory. Slavery is on Discovery Channel. They are not going away. Not on my dime.

Geraldine Ferraro: You are a disgrace to your church.

Geremiah Wrong: Too late to make that point. I am retired.

Geraldine Ferraro: You are a disgrace to Obama 08.

Geremiah Wrong: Too late to make that point. They already kicked me out.

Geraldine Ferraro: You are a disgrace to America.

Geremiah Wrong: America is a disgrace to me.

Geraldine Ferraro: Do you vote?

Geremiah Wrong: If a brother is running.

Geraldine Ferraro: If Barack were a white man, he would not be where he is today. You agree?

Geremiah Wrong: I agree. He would already have been in the White House for 200 plus years.

Geraldine Ferraro: It is so much harder for a woman. Ask me what it was like in 1984.

Geremiah Wrong: 1984, the book?

Geraldine Ferraro: No, stupid. When I ran.

Geremiah Wrong: You ran the marathon?

Geraldine Ferraro: No. When I ran for Vice President Of The United States.

Geremiah Wrong: I thought that was brother Jesse in 1984. Actually I am pretty sure.

Geraldine Ferraro: Do you ever read? Or do you just preach?

Geremiah Wrong: Neither. Not no more. I have served my time on the pulpit.

Geraldine Ferraro: But the woman thing.

Geremiah Wrong: Black liberation also automatically applies to black women. Don't black women look black to you?

Geraldine Ferraro: There's no point talking to you. There is a short circuit in your brain.

Geremiah Wrong: This conversation has felt unreal the entire time to me as well. Why are we even talking?

Geraldine Ferraro: Because you have a big mouth.

Geremiah Wrong: Lady, can we please just not go into the name calling territory? I have a reputation to live up to.

Geraldine Ferraro: It is not like you ever ran for Vice President.

Geremiah Wrong: Like you did.

Geraldine Ferraro: You are not in my league.

Geremiah Wrong: I am not white. I know that. That is the point I have been making my entire life.

Geraldine Ferraro: I was talking about achievement, not skin color.

Geremiah Wrong: You mean the achievement gap? It all goes back to slavery.

Geraldine Ferraro: Out you bring that dead horse.

Geremiah Wrong: If it is on Discovery Channel, how dead can it be?

Geraldine Ferraro: You know, the Hillary 08 people kicked me out as well.

Geremiah Wrong: Really? Just when I thought we had no common ground at all.

Geraldine Ferraro: I guess we do have a little bit to start with after all.

Geremiah Wrong: Welcome aboard.

James Watson, Now, Was He Your Pastor?
Talking About Race, Finally
Geraldine Ferraro, Geremiah Wrong

James Watson, Now, Was He Your Pastor?

Hillary Clinton's campaign uses pastor scandal to undermine Barack ... Telegraph.co.uk to argue that her Democratic rival would be dangerously vulnerable in a general election against John McCain. ..... Obama became the undisputed Democratic front-runner after his string of 11 primary victories in February ...... a 13-point swing towards the former First Lady in under a fortnight. .... Geraldine Ferraro .... she was outraged to have been cited in the same breath as Mr Wright ..... "To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable"

If you took high school biology, old man James Watson was your pastor, face it.

Talking About Race, Finally
Geraldine Ferraro, Geremiah Wrong

Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than ...
Nobel Winner's Theories Raise Uproar in Berkeley Geneticist's ... Nobel laureate James Watson, whose co-discovery of DNA revolutionized the field of genetics ..... suggested there was a biochemical link between exposure to sunlight and sexual urges. ``That's why you have Latin lovers,'' Watson said. ``You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient.'' ...... Watson showed a slide of sad-faced model Kate Moss to support his contention that thin people are unhappy and therefore more ambitious. ..... ``Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them,'' Watson said. ........ `He took a lot of what I consider sexist and racist stereotypes and claimed a biochemical basis without presenting any data.'' ....... Watson once suggested Japan should be bombed for dragging its feet on supporting the Human Genome Project. ...... listening to Watson at the podium was ``more embarrassing than having a creation scientist up there.'' ..... ``I found it really offensive,'' said Sarah Tegen ...... Watson showed slides of women in bikinis and contrasted them to veiled Muslim women, to suggest that controlling exposure to sun may suppress sexual desire and vice versa. ...... people who live in northern climates drink more alcohol to compensate for the unhappiness they suffer because of sunlight deprivation. .... ``To be a woman in science is difficult enough as it is without one of your own demeaning women'' ....... Now-deceased Stanford University professor William Shockley, who shared a Nobel for inventing the transistor, was ostracized during his lifetime for calling certain races genetically inferior, and for suggesting that people with IQs under 100 be paid bonuses if they agreed to be sterilized.
Controversial Nobel winner resigns - CNN.com
Watson Rediscovers 1940s Attitudes Towards Race | Wired Science ... First he said that “all the testing” has proven that people descended from Africa aren’t as smart as white people. Then, because apparently the testing comment wasn’t enough, he used some anecdotal evidence from his friends. He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”.
James Watson Retires After Racial Remarks - New York Times overall, people of African descent are not as intelligent as people of European descent.





In The News

In Tibetan Areas, Parallel Worlds Now Collide New York Times The big factory, said a man sitting next to him, benefits only members of the Han Chinese majority. .... “Tibetans get the low-income and the hard-labor jobs,” the man said. The Han, he said, “are all paid as technicians, even though some of them really don’t know anything.” ...... they occupy separate worlds. Relations between the two groups are typically marked by stark disdain or distrust, by stereotyping and prejudice and, among Tibetans, by deep feelings of subjugation, repression and fear. ...... privilege and power are overwhelmingly the preserve of the Han, while Tibetans live largely confined to segregated urban ghettos and poor villages in their own ancestral lands. ...... Tibetans whom they described as lazy and ungrateful ..... “We believe in working hard and making money to support one’s family, but they might think we’re greedy and have no faith.” ...... Han Chinese said they had no Tibetan friends and confessed that they tended to avoid interaction with Tibetans as much as possible ...... professed near-universal devotion to the Dalai Lama ..... “All Tibetans are the same: 100 percent of us adore the Dalai Lama”
Editorial: Mr. Obama’s Profile in Courage Obama had to address race and religion, the two most toxic subjects in politics ...... Wright Jr., who denounced the United States as endemically racist, murderous and corrupt. ...... an honesty seldom heard in public life. ...... continues today in racial segregation, the school achievement gap and discrimination in everything from banking services to law enforcement. ...... the often-unspoken reality that people on both sides of the color line are angry. ...... both sides must acknowledge that the other’s grievances are not imaginary. ..... “Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan coalition” ..... he raised the discussion to a higher plane.
The Professor as Open Book It is not uncommon for professors’ Web pages to include lists of the books they would take to a deserted island, links to their favorite songs from bygone eras, blog posts about their children, entries “written” by their dogs and vacation photographs. ...... a professor’s job today is not just to impart knowledge, but to be an entertainer. ...... by divulging family history and hobbies, they hope to appear more accessible to students. ...... “It’s better when your professor’s human” .... there are students today who think professors are not doing their jobs unless they convey information in zany, interactive ways. ..... “It bespeaks a certain kind of desire that all of us have for that moment of fame” ....... this increased transparency
Political Memo: Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination Without new votes in Florida and Michigan, it will be that much more difficult for Mrs. Clinton to achieve a majority in the total popular vote in the primary season, narrow Mr. Obama’s lead among pledged delegates or build a new wave of momentum. ..... Obama had turned the furor to his advantage with his speech on race.