election 2008 from the eyes of an ebony mom

America is predicated on rules. A red light means stop. A green light means go. To drive a car you need a license. If you drive without a license and a policeman pulls you over you will receive a ticket. You broke a rule and you must suffer the consequences. Today while watching the Democrats discuss how to resolve the Michigan/Florida debacle I am struck by the lengths they are going to reward these rulebreakers. They were told not to move their primaries up and they did. Now they should suffer the consequences. They should not be seated at the convention. If they are rewarded for their actions then in the future the rules have no meaning. Sen. Carl Levin of MI sounded downright defiant regarding this issue. They brought this on themselves and they really have no right to be angry at anyone other than the person they see in the mirror. This is not a civil rights issue. In the 50s and 60s people were denied the right to vote. There is no oppressor here. This is a case of breaking the rules and now looking for a way to still stay in the game, and it is not the American way.

Earlier in the year Mrs. Obama was on the cover of Newsweek Magazine. The magazine was comparing her to Jackie Kennedy who was the epitome of what a first lady should be. At that point the press was enchanted with her. They loved her style and her candor. Her down to earth nature was extolled as a virtue. Fast forward to now and Mrs. Obama can do no right. She has not changed but the circumstances have changed. When the press loved her an Obama candidacy was a beautiful odyssey, and now he is standing on the brink of really being the nominee and claws have come out. She is now being criticized for being to out-spoken, she is chided for not smiling enough and her words have become talking points in Republican ads attacking her husband. In reality Michelle Obama is the epitome of a strong black woman. A strong black woman is a mixture of strength and compassion. Mrs. Obama  is a product of the Southside of Chicago. It takes a certain toughness to survive and another level of toughness to thrive. She successfully did both. Some have said she lacks the grace to be the first lady. That is simply not true. She and her husband have a true partnership predicated on mutual respect. She is not going to be Cindy McCain, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton or Laura Bush. She is going to be Michelle Obama, and if Barack Obama is elected she will bring her own style to the role of first lady. America needs to give her a break and take the time to get to know her.

Hopefully Scott McClellan will make a lot of money from his new book. Over the past few days we have seen Former and current White House staffers tear into McClellan’s credibility like wild wolves on raw meat. He has been called everything from Benedict Arnold to Judas. The bottom line is he will never get another political job. He has alienated his former boss and friends with this book, and he has inflamed the press by accusing them of not effectively doing their jobs. You could hear the anger in NBC White House correspondent David Gregory’s voice when he described the mere accusation. McClellan has managed to offend almost everybody including former Senator Bob Dole. In an email the former senator said,” there are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues. No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.” The controversy is how could he do this? Why would he do it?  We know part of the motivation is financial, but we can not know what is going on his mind. I am not a fan of President Bush but one of his admirable qualities was and is loyalty. To have one in your inner circle publicly betray you has to not only make you angry, but it has to hurt.  McClellan has received his 30 pieces of silver and now the hard job begins he has to live with himself.

Rev. Pfleger recently made some disrepectful remarks regarding Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency. He mocked her while preaching at Trinity United Church  in Chicago. As most of America already knows this is the church where Rev. Jeremiah Wright pastored. Those remarks have recently made their way to YOUTUBE. When Sen. Obama heard the remarks he issued this statement, “As I have traveled this country, I’ve been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us. That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger’s divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn’t reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause,”. Sen. Obama can not be held responsible for the antics of everyone associated with the campaign. This is not like the Rev. Wright situation. Rev. Wright was a man who led the Senator to Christ, married him and christened his children. They had a 20 year relationship and so valid questions needed to be asked about that situation. This is different yes the Sen. knows Rev. Pfleger but he did not know he was going to go off at Trinity, and it was ill-advised because the congregation knows the press was just waiting for more controversy to come out of the Trinity pulpit. Obama has made his statement now it is time to move on. Like McCain said about Hagee, this man was not my pastor, Obama can echo that statement Pfleger was not his.

Dunkin Donuts recently pulled an online ad with Rachel Ray wearing a scarf. Because some conservative critics complained that the scarf appeared to be traditional garb worn by Arab men. The ad’s critics say these scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism. The interesting thing about the ad is the scarf and the styling is usually done by a professional stylist. It is highly unlikely that the stylist would be sending signals via a donut ad. The company reacted by pulling the ad. The interesting thing is a company saw this as a major issue and networks like Fox News lead the charge, but this same network allows Liz Trotta, a Fox news contributor to make jokes about assassinating Sen. Obama, too bad that issue is not attacked with the same fanatical zeal.

President Bush’s former Press Secretary Scott McClellan has written a new book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” in the book he criticizes President Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq.  McClellan writes on Iraq that Bush, “and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war.”  He goes on to say, “in this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security.”  The bottom line from all of this is the war was based on a lie and 6 years later we are still in the war with no real exit strategy. It is hard to say McClellan is a disgruntled ex-employee with an ax to grind. He was a part of the President’s inner circle when he was in Texas, and loyally served him in the White House. So this is a book from an insider who can not be dismissed as Karl Rove said as a “left-wing blogger.” At this point President Bush is history the real concern is John McCain, and he said yesterday America will not surrender if he is elected president. America needs someone whose primary goal is to stop the war. We have set so many goalposts in this war I don’t think anyone knows what could be defined as victory?  The sad thing is over 4,000 lives have been lost in this war, and the truth is only told after the book contract is signed.

Liz Trotta, Fox News contributor told her Obama assasination joke on Sunday. She delivered her non-apology on Monday and by Tuesday no one other than blogland was talking about it. Why is this not being discussed on the mainstream networks? If someone told a joke about assasinating Clinton I think it would have more longevetity in the news cycle. This was a long weekend so Monday was a non-news day, but here we are Tuesday evening and I have not heard one real word of condemnation. In light of the Huckabee humor and then this happens the following weekend I wonder what macabe humor is on the agenda for next weekend?

Today Liz Trotta appeared on Fox News and delivered a lame apology for joking about killing Sen. Obama on yesterday. She said in this political season a lot of people say things they should not say. She said she was attempting to be humourous and it simply fell flat. She delivered the line,”If I offended anyone I  am sorry.” I am so sick of this lame non-apology line. There is no if in this situation. This kind of humor is offensive to all Americans, and it is offensive to the candidate and his family. I can not understand what kind of mind could think killing someone is humorous. She had already done the mix up of Osama and Obama name trick, but she brought the humor meter up to a new level by interjecting the ever popular assasination humor to the mix. This type of reckless talk needs to be stopped. I know Fox News hates Senator Obama but something should be done for them to even have a sliver of journalistic credibility left.

Yesterday Liz Trotta was being interviewed on the Fox News network and she was asked to comment on Sen. Clinton’s remarks regarding the RFK assasination remark. She giddily replied some are suggesting that we knock off Osama and then she said I mean Obama. It is so funny that on Fox News they constantly mix up their names as the old folks used to say “accidently on purpose.” Then she went on to say well both if we could. The newcaster simply replied well please tell me how you really feel. There was no condemnation. It was just a witty exchange. What the heck is going on? On a major news network people can joke around about the possiblility of a presidential candidate’s assasination. Where is the outrage? Would this be funny if this had been said about McCain? Is Fox going to be reprimanded? Go online and see this exchange for yourself. It is chilling and something needs to be done. You can’t joke about having a bomb at an airport, you can’t scream fire in a crowd and you can not use our airwaves to joke about killing our presidential candidate.  Video available on you tube.

If you want to contact Fox News here is info:

Contact FOX:
Teri Everett, Senior Vice President
Corporate Affairs & Communications
Phone: 212-852-7070
E-Mail: teverett@newscorp.com

jhorner@newscorp.com

This is statement can be attributed to former President Bill Clinton. In a recent People magazine article Bill Clinton was asked if he was surprised that Oprah Winfrey has supported Barack Obama.  He responded, “No, Oprah is from Chicago, she was never going to be for anybody but Obama.” What a simplistic response. I hardly think that a shared hometown would be the sole reason that Oprah would lend her considerable clout to Sen. Obama’s campaign. Bill Clinton has complained about how his wife has been dismissed by the press, and that the press are pro-Obama. This is the same dismissive attitude that he has complained about that he shows when discussing Sen. Obama. Oprah could not have been inspired by Sen. Obama’s message or she could not be ready for a real change in the way business is done in Washington, or maybe she was impressed by someone who was against the Iraq War in the beginning. No, she is just supporting Obama because they simply share a hometown. Come on Clinton give Obama credit for something.