Michelle Obama Tries to Create an Era of Understanding
August 27, 2008
Michelle Obama gave a phenomenal speech on Monday night. I have no idea how her husband is going to top her.
I found it fitting that both Obama & Clinton, archetypes for women’s rights and advancement, set the stage for the future of this country’s Democratic agenda. Specifically, both women will be re-defining what their next positions as First Lady and Senator/Former Presidential Candidate mean and how they are managed. Both Mrs. Obama and Sen. Clinton were tasked with re-presenting themselves to the people, for different reasons. Obama had to give us a new image because hers is being assaulted by the conservative press.
Creating an Era of Understanding
Michelle Obama’s speech (full text & video) was one of the most tactically written, beautifully executed addresses in this generation, and she isn’t even a politician. Her and her speech writers successfully reframed both her and Sen. Obama as family people, as Americans, as people who have a Black version of white America’s experience. The reason that she even had to give that speech is because there is a fundamental misunderstanding between Black people and other people about the similarities and differences between one another’s life experiences. One would think that in a society where Black and white have been juxtaposed for approaching 400 years, white people’s pre-conceived notions about Black women would bear some semblance of accuracy. This is not the case, and it is up to the future First Lady to do what Black men & women have to do all too often: carry the image of their entire race on their shoulders in everything that they say and do.
This unfortunate reality will persist as long as there is misunderstanding. There can be no “post-racial” society (sidebar: I hate the term post-racial) or “post-anything” society without first building bridges of understanding and empathy between races, sexes, genders, cultures, sexual orientations, etc. The understanding is something that must be both actively pursued and actively distributed, meaning that we can’t just close our eyes and snap our fingers and have everyone magically move beyond racial tensions. Michelle and Barack Obama have the largest megaphone with which they can usher in this Era of Understanding, and I’m looking to them to set an example for others to emulate.
This is the type of change that we need.
One Love. One II.
Live at the DNC - I survived a PUMA
August 26, 2008
I’m finally at a place where I can write a full on post about what I’ve seen thus far at the Convention. It’s been interesting. In order to stay up to the minute on what I’m seeing, follow The SuperSpade on Twitter at http://twitter.com/superspade, where I’ll be sending updates from my phone on various events.
The PUMAs are coming
My shuttle ride in from the airport was 2.5 hours long. I shared that shuttle with an Obama volunteer, 2 Hillary Clinton delegates from Virginia, and a woman from Real Democrats in DC. What I found in them all were women that were ostensibly passionate about democratic and the Democratic Party, but who underneath were actually angry and disappointed in their party’s treatment of Hillary Clinton and how the party selects its nominee.
Some of the arguments made sense, but others had a strange hint of ‘my discrimination is better than yours’, even if it wasn’t intentional. For example, the Hillary folks never liked the caucus process, and I never really understood why. Now I do. They felt like caucuses gave some voters the chance to intimidate other voters in certain districts. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t be confused: that is code for Black voters scared away white voters in Black districts. It’s just like calling Barack Obama arrogant: the “pc” way of saying that he is out of place.
They did have a different take on why her time as First Lady should count as experience: the analogy was a family-owned business. In many cases, the husband’s name is on everything (loans, bills, etc.) and the wife may not even be on the official payroll. Nevertheless, she contributes to the business operations (management of paperwork, employees, travel planning, etc.) and also is effectively a consultant on business strategy and decisions (e.g. Should we open another store across town? Should I hire an intern? etc.). This I think has merit, since I KNOW that I consult significant other when making business decisions. The nuance of this though was probably lost in the election mayhem.
Another thing they said was that a lot of older women in the Northeast were withholding their money from the DNC, which is dangerous considering the amount of money that the Republican Party has been raising ($75 million compared to the Democrats’ $28 million).
What do they want?
Something has to be done to bring these women to the table. When I asked the woman from Real Democrats who she wanted held accountable, her answers were:
- The Democratic National Committee for ignoring their complaints on caucus practices
- The Obama Campaign for doing that and taking these upset voters for granted
The really scary part: Hillary doesn’t control them
The press and the Obama campaign keeps saying that Hillary Clinton needs to “get her supporters in line.” These women were very clear when they said to me that there was nothing that Hillary Clinton could do or say to change their position. Nothing. What that means is that this thing has legs all its own, and their going to keep kicking and screaming.
Hopefully though, it’ll somehow die this week.
One Love. One II.
Integrity, Impeachment, and Movement-based Politics
July 10, 2008
I received an email today from Dennis Kucinich (remember him?) regarding his introduction of an Article of Impeachment on the House floor, which is scheduled to take place today. In the message was a link to a petition that people can sign to show support.
From the email:
The article of Impeachment will deal directly with President Bush fraudulently obtaining support for an attack on Iraq by creating a false case for war. Full details of the Article of Impeachment will be available after they are read on the floor of the House by Congressman Kucinich.
I have written on this site that I support impeachment. Further, I conducted an online survey in which 54% of people said that they too supported impeachment. Sign the petition and show your support too!
Movements are based on principles
Kucinich is taking a principled stance on impeachment, and I believe it is not only an important stance, but it also sets an excellent example of how politics should be conducted.
Election-based politics are not based on principle, they instead are based on convenience, expediency, and the electability myth. On the other hand, movement-based politics are based on agreement on ideology, on goals, on a way of doing things.
Let’s strongly support politicians who do not compromise their integrity and principles in search of a mythical middle ground. If you agree with someone in principle, you can work through differences in implementation. But the foundation of meaningful conversation must be a common goal. By being open, asking the right questions, and talking honestly, we can find the commonality we need to move forward.
One Love. One II.
What Middle Ground?
June 20, 2008
There is a disturbing trend happening in politics & political discussion today. In the name of compromise or searching for the “middle ground,” people doing nothing more than diluting their positions to the point where they are actually not positions at all.
What I’m saying is this: for the larger issues we face, there is no middle ground. That’s right. Most issues in today’s political discourse are simple binary, yes or no, support or no support questions. Read more
Barack Obama: Nominee
June 4, 2008
Yes, The SuperSpade is brand new again. I’ll write about that specifically later, but I am elated that the first post on this new website is about a genuine Black History, American History moment.
[After giving his wife dap,] Barack Obama stepped to the podium and declared himself the undisputed [by everyone except Hillary Clinton] Democratic nominee for the President of the United States. In the same moment, he made broad statements about who he is, what he wants, and what he believes, and coupled those with thanks to Hillary Clinton and harsh words for hs Republican opponent, John McCain. I actually don’t think it was his best speech of the campaign thus far. But nevertheless, on the biggest night of his political life, he did not disappoint.
Barack Obama’s Democratic Nomination Acceptance Speech
5 things you should be talking about
June 1, 2008
What’s up fam,
I wanted to hit a variety of topics today.
1) First off, why is there not more coverage of the relief efforts of people impacted by the earthquakes in China and Myanmar? In case you hadn’t read, nearly 70,000 people died in this earthquake and millions more are now homeless. To help put it in context, imagine instantly losing 7 people in your life without being able to say goodbye and multiply that grief by 100,000. I guess coverage of the earthquake is worth far less than what the DNC RBC planned to do with the Michigan and Florida delegates. Read more
Obama should drop out
March 17, 2008
No I don’t think this should be the case. However, a recent development has occurred whereby a woman that posts regularly posts on dailykos has resigned for what she deemed as unfair bias against her preferred candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton. Here is an excerpt from her open letter to the blogosphere. Read more
Democratic party realignment?
March 13, 2008
So I should definitely should have been packing and sleeping by now but hey, life is life. I think this election has the potential to end up serving as a catalyst for a major political realignment whereby Black people largely disassociate themselves from the Democratic Party. I believe this of course provided that it appears the powers that be Clinton “stole” the nomination from Obama. One simple fact in politics is that you dance with the person who brought you to the ball.
In this respect, Black voters have shown overwhelming support for Obama while Clinton has focused heavily on Latinos. I am sure some of Clinton’s advisers are trying to devise a general election strategy where they can get Latinos to pick up the slack that Black folk used to be reliable for. If enacted, this plan would hopefully generate a sustainable grassroots movement where Black people start to seek solutions from each other and not the Party. What do you think?
Stay up fam,
Brandon Q.
Senator Obama wins!!!
January 3, 2008
I am excited that Obama won although to be honest, I never expected him to lose. Regardless, this is a historic time and I am happy to be a part of the process. (full disclosure: I have donated money to the Obama campaign) I think the real story from Iowa is the coveted No. 2 spot and I think this bodes well for Edwards and my prediction is that Clinton comes out of Iowa but Obama pulls out of South Carolina because hopefully the Black folks in SC will feel safer voting for Obama.
Regardless of who gets the nomination, real change starts with you.
Stay up fam,
Brandon
Kucinich asks Iowa supporters to caucus for Obama
January 1, 2008
From dailykos
Kucinich asks IA supporters to caucus for Obama
by kos
Tue Jan 01, 2008 at 06:57:21 PM PST
in 2004, Kucinich instructed his caucus supporters to cast their lot with Edwards, playing a role in killing Howard Dean’s presidential ambitions. This year, he’s abandoning Edwards for Obama.
“I hope Iowans will caucus for me as their first choice this Thursday, because of my singular positions on the war, on health care, and trade. This is an opportunity for people to stand up for themselves. But in those caucus locations where my support doesn’t reach the necessary threshold, I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change.”
Funny that Kucinich endorsed the war-supporting conservative Edwards in 2004, but has now ditched the far more progressive 2008 edition. I’ll never understand that guy.
Now in 2004, Kucinich clocked in at 4 percent in the entrance poll, while he’s polling around 1 percent this time around. Then again, he polled at around 2 percent last time and doubled that in actual results. So if history repeats itself, that’s two percentage points at stake. Not exactly decisive, but definitely helpful. This thing is so tight, that every percentage point will matter.
More important will be the five percent Biden seems to be getting, and the seven percent Richardson is polling.
I have a feeling that Biden’s supporters are more the Hillary type, so maybe Richardson will get to play kingmaker.
