Barack Obama is a highly qualified, charismatic, visionary leader. I passionately believe he represents the best hope for America's future in this crucial time. As the weeks progress, it is increasingly clear that the Democratic nominee WILL NOT be a white man. Accordingly, I am thrilled that Black voters are rallying behind Obama's historical candidacy. First in New Hampshire and now in Nevada, Obama had tight races with Hillary Clinton. In both of these races, Obama has eked out one delegate "wins" from popular vote "losses." However, the Nevada tallies hold some discomforting news for Obama. The Latino vote broke 2 to 1 for Clinton. If those ratios hold in the Western states (not to mention Florida), it will be tough to take the nomination, even with Black voters going 3 to 1 to Obama. Obama's pick up of another key endorsement from the president of a strongly Latino union is promising, however, the endorsement was not from the union itsel...

One of the biggest challenges facing a Black candidate is earning the enthusiastic support of BLACK people. Barack Obama is mold-shattering in that his viability is not grounded in the Black community, but rather the American community. His Iowa win awakened many Black voters into taking a second (or first) look at a man who could defeat a Clinton in a state with barely a 2% Black population. Endorsement pick-ups of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Senators Ben Nelson and Tim Johnson (not to mention John Kerry and Bill Bradley) were nice consolation prizes after his narrow loss in New Hampshire. Surely the Clintons needed to slow his "roll." Since Bob Johnson fizzled out in his tacky smear attempt, they trotted out some old guard Dem leaders with legitimate bonafides... and look what they got for their money! Charlie Rangel AND John Lewis attempt to twist Obama's casual comment on Clinton's MLK/LBJ gaffe into some over-reaching indictment on his judgment. ...

Here . While I agree that complaining (even by surrogates) accomplishes little, I wonder what Obama gains by confronting a universally reviled attack goon like Bob Johnson. BJ's comments have been roundly critiqued as questionable or even downright slimy by the media. His attempted backtrack viewed as disingenuous. Outside of Bobcat fans and pre-teen white hipsters, I'm not so sure he's really on anyone's radar in terms of political taste-making. On the other hand, Clinton has to shoulder the burden of another double-edged riff from the new Valedictorian of the Andrew Young School of Loony Marginalized Discourse. Hillary LOSES voters with these attacks; Obama reinforces his "above the fray" persona by deftly deflecting the venom. It's one of the things I like most about him. I, however, can make disparagingly peurile comparisons to Johnson and Clinton's pecadilloes. I wonder if Hillary is still as fond of BJ as she was 48 hours ago?

BJ... phi... bruh... Your tirade about Barack Obama is appalling. You earned your billion on the backs of ass-slapping videos, blaxploitation reruns and informercials and you have THE GALL to talk about being "insulted" that "we are so stupid?" Back at you, dawg. Incidentally, NOT ONE PERSON was confused about your thinly veiled reference about Obama's days "in the neighborhood." It was pathetic when the recently dismissed Clintonian flak floated it out there. Coming from you, it's traitorously venomous. We were smart enough to avoid buying tickets to "Who's Your Caddy?" and we're smart enough to understand your half-assed attempt at a smear. By the way, if you're going to "go there," have the balls to own up to it. Your backtrack about referring to his days as an organizer is even worse than the smear. Are we to understand that Obama's grass roots community leadership is somehow less legitimate than the...

Some will defend Paul saying his racist newsletters are "old news"... He didn't write the damnable articles... he was just lazy in allowing the editorial content to slip past his review. This despite the fact that it was often written in the first person, clearly IMPLYING that the views were his own. How does this theory hold up in reality? I read the James Kirchak's excellent New Republic article . Read the quotes in question . It defies all logic that ALL OF THOSE QUOTES "slipped through the cracks." After all, what politician allows THAT MUCH CONTENT to go out in his name without review? DId he have time to read ANY OF THE ISSUES? And, if not, who were the damn staffers who allowed that vile crap to go out? There are so many despicable statements... it's astonishing. No wonder he's a darling of the white supremacy set. And you heard he refused to return the donation from that avowed racist bastard under the pretense that he would "do some go...

Sully makes some good points about Obama's silver lining here . And a kossite points to the "poll confusion" here . For one, I think it's a double-edged sword for Clinton to have eked out a win here. Of course, a win is tasty for her after Iowa, but at the least, it has people questioning the "calculation" of her 24-hour tears... Stephanie Miller fielded a somewhat paranoid call about poll-machine tampering ala Kerry in Ohio... and Bill's peevish "fairy tale" screed (not to mention his tougher than Mandela quote and Hillary's Johnson-trumps-MLK misstep ) is ricocheting throughout the Black community. It has reinvigorated chatter about whether her "machine" is involved in some shenanigans and how negative they are willing to go in this race. Accentuating her negatives is the last thing she can afford right now.

Losing by two points in literally, the whitest state in the country isn't the worst thing in the world. This "loss" is closer to the Edwards/Clinton Iowa toss-up than the ass-kicking Obama handed her. Additionally, looking at the county by county breakdown, there were counties where he matched the pre-primary polling so keep that in mind. Further, it looks like OBAMA walks away with more delegates than Clinton . So it's not a total "win" for Clinton after all. Keep hope alive, people, she's got plenty of time to show her true colors and Michigan could hand her a nasty surprise. In case you don't know, she is the only one "contender" on the ballot in Michigan , so Obama and Edwards voters have been instructed to vote "Uncommited." Since Edwards and Obama's combined vote totals have killed her in the two races so far, she could come in second TO A CHECK BOX. There are plenty of Black folks in Detroit who would be HAPP...

I've been contentedly trolling my favorite blogs for months as the political races have been heating up. Now, on the eve of the eve of the Iowa caucuses, I'm speaking my piece. First, for my favorite candidate, Barack Obama. I'll be brief at the risk of running into effusive paragraphs of support for this outstanding leader. Obama's public service has engaged him with REAL PEOPLE from the start. That's an important distinction IMHO as he has embraced citizens with mortgages, student loans and insurance bills in favor of big money corporate interests. He is a magnetic presence with populist charm. His wife is brilliant, talented, warm and magic on the stage. He represents a return to American values of hard work while still CARING enough to help those in need. After 8 years of the idiot prince "divider/decider," Obama is EXACTLY what we need to make us feel like American isn't a bad word. God bless Kucinich for throwing some 11th hour love in Oba...