seems a tad hypocritical... "Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois today urged hundreds of blacks not to vote along racial lines next week in Maryland's Senate race. Obama, the only black U.S. senator, came to the state to rally support for Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, who is white. Cardin's Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, is the first black candidate ever elected statewide and has been courting black Democrats."--Associated Press, Nov. 3 link "The nation's only black senator, Barack Obama, D-Ill., asked voters at two black churches and at a Nashville rally to elect [Harold] Ford, a Democrat who is trying to become the first black senator from the South in more than 100 years. 'I know that all of you are going to work the next couple of days to make sure it happens, because I'm feeling lonely in Washington,' Obama said at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. 'I need my dear friend to join me.' "--Associated Press, Nov. 5 link
Meanwhile... On the last day of campaigning, republican candidates are still running away from being seen with the president. ------------------ White House miffed by Fla. GOP candidate By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer PENSACOLA, Fla. - The closer the election came to the finish line, the more President Bush's aides battled the perception he was doing his party as much harm as good and was unwanted in many districts. On Monday, Bush jetted to a conservative corner of Florida's Panhandle, about as far as he could get from the state's three in-play House districts. To the White House's embarrassment and irritation, Republican Charlie Crist, whom Bush came to help in his bid to succeed the president's brother as governor, decided at the last minute to skip the chance to be by the president's side. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061106/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush Not a good sign...
Balack Osama, resorting to the race card? I'm not surprised at all. It's pretty much all he talked about at the DNC in 2004. He's without question a race baiter, and is a political nobody if he's not part black.
Despite pretending to misunderstand something in order to put a spin on it, this is the exact kind of whining and crying that will turn people away from the GOP.
Well, social identity is a large component of political success. That's probably why every President has has been a Christian white male over 40.
In big diverse cities, yes, in small racially-naive midwestern and southern towns, the opposite of yes. Nixon knew this, played it to hilt during '68, then implemented affirmative action and desegregated southern schools.
Hence the reason the republican party is no longer a national party. More and more they are the party of the south and nothing more.
The fact that there hasn't been a black Senator elected from the south in over 100 years is what basso? Coincidence or racial politics?
At least he doesn't text message underage boys while inside Congress! Or take mega-cash from Jack Abramoff!!
I'm really not cool with anyone going into a church and telling people how they should vote. I'm really not cool with political candidates making brief stops at churches on sunday mornings to win votes. I can't imagine my church allowing a political candidate in to do anything other than worship. I'm really not cool with Obama suggesting that you should vote for someone because of the color of their skin. And that disappoints me, because I was really beginning to learn more about him and like him as a potential presidential candidate. But they all disappoint ultimately.
It doesn't look like that is what is actually asking. I think it would be historic for a black Senate member to be elected from the South, but he mentions other qualities of Ford's, and then makes a joke about him being the only black member of the senate and how he is lonely.
I'm hoping that's what it is. I'm still not cool with the "come to our church and tell us how to vote" thing.
Probably right, but it's an issue that's worth discussing. I know the makeup of the senate is skewed to majorities given the way voting is structured, but the Senate, in the year 2006, is currently composed of 96 (invariably upper class) non-hispanic whites, and about 4 minority members, the 2 Hawaiian Sens, Barack, and Ken Salazar from Colorado. The house of Lords seems like a more representative body (edit: after research, it probably is - Britain is a lot "whiter" than the US, but even the freaking House of Lords manages to match the US Senate with 24 non-white members (~4%). Now, I'm not sure if there is any other way to do it, but it bears noting.
