The Portrait

Is this really what the next United States President is going to look like?  He doesn’t look like the other 42 guys.

“…because of me.”

I’m a little late on this, but current Lame Duck President Bush thinks that maybe, possibly, he might have had a little bit of something to do with people voting for Barack Obama. Genius, this man is.

Yes, I think that a handful of people may have voted for Obama because of how they felt about the job that the current president has done. Theoretically, that is possible.

How Long Has He Been President? Oh, He Isn’t Yet?

The Secret Service says that the threats are not necessarily linked to racism. Yeah, okay.

Obama Has More Threats Than Any President-Elect

1000 Words

The President-Elect

It’s the end of campaign commercials and flyers being stuck in your door.
It’s the beginning of a barrage of negativity spewing forth from the minds of Americans via the internet, which has already started.
It’s only 0940 and I’ve already read a couple of dozen posts on news sites insulting the President-Elect, based on the color or his skin, perceptions of his ideology, etc.
What people don’t seem to understand is that, like all opinions, each American has an opinion and a perception of what this country is and should be. Some believe that America is different and should not be like the rest of the world while others see benefits in globalization.
An examination of elections during the last couple of decades shows a 50/50 split in the votes. Does that mean that as individuals, we don’t agree with half of this country?
Get online. Read posts and comments. Decide for yourself what leads us to see the country and the world so differently. If each of us could come to understand our differences, we could communicate on an entirely different level and truly become a united nation.

Compare And Contrast

From Time.com’s article “The Temperament Factor: Who’s Best Suited to the Job?“

When Barack Obama was 6 years old, he was the only foreign child in his neighborhood in Jakarta, Indonesia. He didn’t know the kids, didn’t speak the language. At first the locals were a little freaked out, says Zulfin Adi, 47, who as a kid lived a block from Obama. “He was so much bigger than the rest of us.” So they decided to haze him. One day a group of children ambushed him, carried him to the local watering hole and threw him in. They had no idea if he could swim. But when Obama came to the surface, he was laughing. He could have broken free and crushed them anytime he wanted, but it was much better to play it cool, ride it out and make friends with his adversaries.

John McCain was not quite 2 years old when his parents despaired of managing his tantrums; he would go into a “mad frenzy,” he says, holding his breath until he passed out and fell to the floor. A Navy doctor offered a prescription: whenever McCain erupted, his mother would shout to his father, “Get the water!” Then his parents would fill a bathtub with cold water and drop their fully clothed son in. “Eventually,” McCain recalls in his memoirs, “I achieved a satisfactory (if only temporary) control over my emotions.”

Just The Facts, Ma’am

I’ve heard of CNN being referred to as the Communist News Network, mainly only by people who prefer the Fox News Channel.  So, I’m sure that people will question their use of direct quotes and Senate documents here, but I really like their Fact Check page.

Whenever you hear the Presidential or VP candidates make a statement about an opponent’s record, you can usually go this page or FactCheck.org.

To summarize, if you don’t feel like checking, most of what McCain and Palin say is either false or misleading. Obama and Biden’s statements are mostly either true or misleading.  That seems to be the consensus.  Really.

The Second Debate

I don’t know why I’m so entertained by the debates.  I feel like breaking out some wings and chips and dip and kicking back to be entertained.

Only one thing stood out in the second debate between Senators McCain and Obama – their wives.

Michelle Obama worked the crowd, talked to people, and shook hands, while Barack talked to people in a separate section.

Cindy McCain followed her husband around, staying just a few feet from him, mostly staying behind him, and didn’t shake a single person’s hand.

I realize that the wives are not running for office, but this is 2008.  We should recognize the strength of women and the importance that they can play in supporting these men through difficult times, not to mention the possibility that one could be Commander in Chief.  The first lady should be an example of what American women can be.  The first lady shouldn’t be a woman who only speaks when her husband allows her and obediently stays a few feet behind him at all time.  Michelle Obama gave her own speech at the convention – all Cindy did was introduce her husband.

What century are they living in?

True To My Word

For a couple of months now, I’ve been playing music inspired by Senator Barack Obama.  Cocoa Tea and Mavado released reggae songs.  Ludacris put out a short song called Politics (Obama is Here) which garnered a little controversy due to a less-than-polite mention of Hillary Clinton.  I’ve either been closing or opening my set with one of those songs for quite a while and in the process, I’ve gotten a bit of negative feedback.  One young lady in the bar booed me.  Another approached me and told me that I needed to change the song because she doesn’t like Obama.  I asked why not and she said, “I don’t know.  He just scares me.”  I asked for further explanation and realized that she’s one of the people that has fallen for the false stories about his religion, patriotism, etc. – all the things that can be refuted with a simple online search.  So, I told her that I would be fair and I would play a John McCain song anytime I play an Obama song.

I told people the same thing for weeks and they typically would laugh because they didn’t think there were any McCain songs out there.  I personally didn’t think that anyone would be inspired enough by the man to put pen to paper.  It seems like the Republican party has party faithful and followers, but Obama seemed to be inspiring people to take action and to voice their opinions in the hope that a positive change would take effect.  The small groups of people that McCain spoke to never seemed to get too fired up about him or his words.

I watched McCain’s RNC acceptance speech tonight, and heard a country song playing afterwards.  As I listened closer, I realized that the singer’s lyrics were “We’re raising McCain” as in “raising cain.”  I looked up the video to listen to the full song.  It’s a simple song, titled “Raisin’ McCain” by John Rich.  It’s a country song, which is no surprise after looking at the congregation at the Republican Convention.  The song only has one real verse, with a chorus that’s repeated five times.  It seems to only celebrate McCain as a POW, rather than expound on his cultural effect, as you find in Cocoa Tea’s song.  Again, this is no surprise after listening to basically every speaker at the convention mention McCain’s captivity.  Something that would lead to PTSD somehow also qualifies him to be President, apparently.

But, true to my word, I plugged into the mixer and started the night off with the McCain song, fed straight from the video website.  It garnered some odd looks, which may have been because of its repetitious nature, or possibly because I was playing a country song on hip-hop night.  It’s not a very good song in general.  Cocoa Tea’s song has a catchy chorus and interesting, humorous lyrics, but the McCain song falls short of that.

I’m still waiting for a good McCain song.