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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Obama's 7 percent solution

John Edwards endorses Obama, probably to annoy the heck out of the 7 percent of West Virginia Democrats who voted for him yesterday. I can't help but suspect that Edwards won't be attorney general in the new administration, or at least chief judge at the war crimes tribunal.

Speaking of the election in West Virginia, the topic of race and the way these issues have been covered in the media, here's a great piece from Columbia Journalism Review on the what has become "para-racist" issues in the campaign:

The Washington Post article excerpts a letter to the editor by a local, Clinton-backing, Pennsylvania pol that pointed out Wright, Obama’s supposed failure to salute the flag, his time in Muslim Indonesia, before suggesting he’d shun the bible when taking the oath of office. And it mentions an incident that’s gotten little press attention: the vandalization of his Vincennes, Indiana campaign office. A window was broken, and Obama’s full initials (remember what the “H” stands for?) was spray painted along with mentions of Hamas and the Reverend Wright.

Again, none of that’s literally about Obama’s race. But tack enough of that together, and all the sudden there’s a language that allows people to talk about deep-seated hesitancies without using the taboo language of race. Call it para-racist language.

Posted by Will Bunch @ 7:28 PM  Permalink | 25 comments
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Comments
Posted by Xi Jah 07:43 PM, 05/14/2008
I'll tell you what I suspect.....The Dem's...Edwards, Clinton, Richardson....all plan to run against McCain in 2012. The real topic of racism in the race is the support Obama gets from African Americans....The last guy to get that many votes was named Saddam Hussein...oh, sorry Will....Nice of you to mention Hamas....we didn't get your view of the Robert Malley resignation story....probably didn't catch that on Olbermann....Lastly, I'm worried about you Will...you've always been on the left but youre venturing into cuckoo territory...Some unsolicited advise....turn off MSNBC.....delete the Kos Kook site from your bookmarks..take a couple of weeeks off. Respectfully and sincerely.
Posted by SteveMG 08:04 PM, 05/14/2008
OK..... Xi Jah.... take some deep breaths.... only black people are racist.... what an idiot.
Posted by SteveMG 08:26 PM, 05/14/2008
Hey XJ.... Keith is going to have a special comment tonight.... he seems to have taken offense to the President's personal sacrifice....Did you give up golf, too?????
Posted by Hutch 08:26 PM, 05/14/2008
Saddam Hussein? Seriously? You're playing the exact same para-racist card that Will brought up in his entry. Suggesting that blacks supporting Obama is somehow linked to Saddam is not just racist, it's stupid. People like you present a wonderful argument for requiring an IQ test before someone is allowed to vote.
Posted by RG 09:05 PM, 05/14/2008
Xi Jah's figured it out. None of these African Americans have ever voted for a white candidate before. They are all first time, racist voters. Congratulations Xi Jah, here's your Reynolds Wrap. Fold at the corners or you'll cut your forehead. As for Malley, let me know when you comment on the 2 lobbiests who resigned from McCains campaign because they worked for a firm that lobbied FOR the military junta in Myanmar. Almost like having your defense secratary shake hands with Saddam-nevermind.
Posted by RG 09:10 PM, 05/14/2008
Oh, this is priceless. The GOPs new campaign for the House is "The Change You Deserve". Perfect. Where's all the sycophants talking about rainbows and gumdrops now? "This agenda is a reflection of House Republicans' commitment to providing American families with the change they deserve: common-sense solutions to the challenges they face in their daily lives," according to the agenda provided to CNN.
Posted by RG 09:11 PM, 05/14/2008
Holy S--t!!!! Look at their socialist agenda! The agenda goes on to argue that laws need to be changed to provide American families with "more freedom in their jobs; greater health care and retirement security; safer communities; access to quality, affordable education; and the ability for future generations to compete in the global economy."
Posted by RG 09:12 PM, 05/14/2008
One more quote for you dedicated GOPers: Former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis, a congressman from Virginia, says Tuesday's loss could lead to a devastating finish come November. "The Republican reputation is just in the trash can, and if this were a brand of dog food, you would just take it off the shelf, because nobody is buying it," he said.
Posted by Mr. Smith 09:15 PM, 05/14/2008
"Change you can believe in". Barack Obama's campaign is inherently about race. He is appealing because he's a black guy, and having a black candidate might help heal some festering wounds in this country. I'm a raving libertarian/conservative, and I still consider voting for Obama, if he can overcome his horrid socialist tendencies, and promise to govern responsibly, and with some common sense. If I do vote for him, it will be mainly because he is black.
Posted by RG 09:18 PM, 05/14/2008
Half black, but don't let the facts get in your way.
Posted by Talking point sleuth 09:29 PM, 05/14/2008
I'm a raving libertarian/conservative, and I still consider voting for Obama, if he can overcome his horrid socialist tendencies, and promise to govern responsibly, and with some common sense.

Great to read that you might come on board, Mr. Smith.

For what it's worth, I might vote for McCain if he agrees that the war was a complete boondoggle, repudiates the lunatic preachers he's been pandering to, admits that he doesn't know squat about the Middle East, and suddenly finds out that he was actually born 20 years later than he previously thought.

Posted by Wolfgang 09:50 PM, 05/14/2008
Edwards should have come out in support of Obama last week. If Obama picks Edwards as his running mate I would be surprised. Hopefully he is smarter than that. Obama needs an oldhead Dem who can reflect a lot of the inexperience talk that is going to come O's way once Hillary is out of the picture. And a note for the racists reading this: The only race is the human race.
Posted by RG 10:00 PM, 05/14/2008
As you may know, The NY Times did tjhat article on retired military analysts and their connections to the Pentagon. They used the FIA to request most of the info, and now there is some audio from a luncheon between Rummy and the analysts, here's a link: jfxgillis.newsvine.com/_news/2008/05/12/1482373-correctly-political-liquid-lunch-with-donald-rumsfeld
Posted by mike l 10:16 PM, 05/14/2008
Can someone tell me what Obama's socialist tendencies are? I mean, are giving every American a good education and quality healthcare socialist tendencies? When he tells parents to turn off the TVs and read to their kids and get interested in their school work, is that a socialist tendency? When he believes that Americans should have a government that actually works for them, is he being a socialist? Funny, sounds to me like he is being a true democratic American. And I didn't realize that so many millions of Americans have voted for him based solely on his skin color. I guess the fact that he is an educated, well-spoken candidate with a multi-cultural background, who worked to get where he is, and with a willingness to work with people means nothing to all those voters and contributors. Hell, if that's all it takes, let's just put up a cut-out of Denzel Washington and vote for it.
Posted by Rheinhard 10:20 PM, 05/14/2008
One thing's for sure, this Edwards endorsement now demonstrates that Obama is running the smartest, saaviest, strategic campaign run by a Dem in decades. First off, the Edwards news will completely knock off the news cycle all the hoary punditry about "ZOMG Hillary won by 30 points in WV! Is she unstoppable!", so the Hillary campaign gets a lot less traction in the public mind from the win. Plus, Obama's brilliant introduction, saying he wanted to reserve something special for Michigan, helps immunize him from the MI Democratic party's stupidity in trying to subvert the national party rules and eliminating their state's primary from the nomination process. Tonight was a stroke of tactical genius.
About Will Bunch
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

E-mail Will by clicking here.

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