The Moment

This one's going to be brief. Just got back from Invesco, and Obama's taking of the podium in front of more than 75,000 people almost made me cry. The love from that audience is a once in a lifetime thing in politics. The speech itself almost didn't matter.

And I was there.

Another Home Run

Those crafty Clintons! All this time they kept people worried about what they were going to say in their speeches here at the Democratic National Convention. And all the while, the two of them must have been plotting to give Barack Obama the biggest convention boost people have seen in a long time. Bill Clinton seemed like his old self Wednesday night. Gone was the red faced anger so often seen on the campaign trail.

For a little while last night, it was 1992, or '96, or 2000 all over again. Bill Clinton was once again the man from Hope. He gave a ringing endorsement of Obama, and ticked off reason after reason he must be elected president (he rattles off statistics better than anyone I've ever watched). For the first time, he tied his own successes as president to the potential he sees in the man nominated by acclamation just hours before. That too came as a bit of a surprise. Hillary Clinton released her delegates Wednesday, and the roll call vote got as far as her state of New York when the nomination was affirmed.

It was a bit of theater on a day and night of theater. One didn't envy Joe Biden's position in having to follow Clinton's powerful speech. In fact, as people poured down the escalators and out of the Pepsi Center before the nominee's turn to speak, you began to wonder how many people would actually be left to hear him. No worries. Biden's speech was quite adequate, and at it's conclusion came the surprise appearance of Barack Obama himself. That brought the house down, and certainly made some of those who left wish they'd stayed.

So now the stage changes from the indoor arena to the outdoor stadium. Al Gore and Barack Obama now put the exclamation point on a Democratic Convention that seems to have achieved its goal of unity.

America awaits its nominee.

Pulling It Off

The talk of Tuesday's session of the Democratic National Convention was of course, Hillary Clinton. Would she do right by Barack Obama, or would her most ardent supporters still have reason to either sit out the election or vote for John McCain? We got our answer last night. Her speech was some of her best work, and she made a powerful case for backing the party's nominee. Those skeptics (myself included) who though she might not give it her all were turned into believers.

Hillary Clinton was fire and grace at the same time. she thanked her supporters, and invoked the images of several from the campaign trail. It was, in a word, masterful. Quite frankly, I worried she might slide right up to the edge of self indulgence. After all, she had 18 million people backing her. She didn't even come close. She talked about a veteran, a single mom, and yes, Harriet Tubman in making the case for unity. I don't think there were five people in the Pepsi Center last night who didn't think she made it work.

Barack Obama, who was in Montana with a family who had a number of unexpected guests for dinner, must have been both heartened and relieved. The stage has now been set for his acceptance speech Thursday.

If anyone ought to be nervous about having to follow Hillary Clinton's speech, it's her husband. He goes on tonight.

Let's hope he's as good.

Inside, Outside @ the DNC

Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention was about the warm fuzzies. Ted Kennedy made folks feel good just by being there. People who know Barack Obama well, from his wife, to his political mentor, to his sister, to Cong. Jesse Jackson Jr. sketched out a portrait of the candidate. That was all well and good. Yet did the Democrats miss an opportunity, on a night that was supposed to be dedicated to the economy, to slam the opposition?

James Carville thinks so, and he may be right. Will the GOP spend the first night of their convention singing the praises of John McCain, or will they go after Obama, like they have from the day he clinched the nomination? For sure, the Democats have Tuesday through Thursday to take off the gloves, but take them off they must. However, a couple of incidents outside the Pepsi Center here got people's attention as well.

One was the arrest of three men who allegedly were plotting to kill Barack Obama during his speech Thursday at Invesco Field. Although authorities say the candidate wasn't in any danger, weapons were confiscated, and the feds were involved. That makes two alleged threats on Barack Obama's life, both involving weapons.

The other incident was a protest that apparently turned violent on the streets of downtown Denver. How it got that way depends on who's story you believe. Protestors (as is their habit) say the cops overreacted (which often they do). Officials say the protest itself got out of hand. the number of people arrested seems unclear, and some are being processed early this morning. Ironically, both sides agree on one thing. The numbers of protestors was much smaller tha either anticipated. Let's see if things stay that way the rest of the week. It could be that invoking the Chicago protests of 1968 didn't resonate with many folks who weren't even thought of back then.

Or maybe people aren't all that unhappy with Barack Obama.

Yeah, It's Denver

I've always had the yips about flying. For the past couple of days, I stressed coming to Denver for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. I told myself the nerves were about wanting to do an excellent job on the radio show. Or maybe leaving my wife and daughter (she's out of town anyway). Nope. It was about getting on a plane. Mind you, I've flown all over the world at one time or another, but there it was again. It's that feeling in your gut that this time will be different, this time the thing is going to crash.

It didn't. I got to Denver without incident, and began thinking about Barack Obama's choice of running mate. I must admit to just a little disappointment Saturday morning when the news came that it was Joe Biden. Biden was, in my mind, the safe choice. Because I've always been drawn to the edges in life, I was hoping for an edgy choice, a Kathleen Sibelius (take that, Hillary!), or even Hillary herself. Suffice to say I've gotten over it. Joe Biden is an expert on foreign policy, shoring up an area where people see Obama as lacking. On balance, he's a smart choice.

Yeah, he can be verbose, and McCain may use some of his words attacking Obama from the primaries against him. I guess that means McCain won't be calling on Mitt Romney to be his pick. After all, the Mittster had some pretty strong criticisms of him. Anyway, it's Denver, and the anticipation of the first day is think in the air. I've already been asked to attend a screening of a film about stem cell research, and I haven't even left the hotel yet! People are finagling to get that all important invite to that all important party. Pardon me if I sound a little cynical about that part of the convention. I've been doing this since 1976, so needless to say I've been to dozens of all important parties.

The perception of the Democratic Party, it's nominees, platform, and vision for the future is what this convention is really all about. It's a golden opportunity to right the wrongs of eight long years.

Don't blow it.

Been Waiting

Sorry this is so late. Been waiting for you know who to name his you know what. Don't even want to speculate about why it's taking so long. Anyway, I'll be blogging from Denver. Have a great weekend.

An Extraordinary Life

Stephanie Tubbs Jones wasn't as well known as Isaac Hayes or Bernie Mac. In its own way, that's sad. She was a congresswoman representing a district that includes a big part of Cleveland. She passed away after suffering a brain aneurysm while driving in her district, Ohio's 11th. I'm writing about her because I had the privilege of interviewing her on more than one occasion. She was certainly one of a kind.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones was an American success story in the same way Barack Obama is. She was the daughter of working class parents who went to college, studied hard, graduated, and got her law degree three years later. She was a judge, and a prosecutor, in fact, Cleveland's chief prosecutor. In 1998 she ran for Congress, and she had some big shoes to fill. She was seeking to replace the retiring Louis Stokes. She ran against four opponents, and to the surprise of the political establishment, won handily. Two years ago she won re-election with 83% of the vote.

In Congress, she was a tireless advocate for poor and working poor people. She voted against emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan just this past June. She even challenged President Bush's 2004 re-election, objecting to voting irregularities in her home state.

Yet more than  her accomplishments, Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a warm, funny, outgoing straight shooter who once refused to answer with anything but a laugh when my radio partner and I asked if she was taking a bath during our interview. I was trying to reach her office the other day, to see if we could talk next week during the Democratic National Convention. How sad she won't be there.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones was only 58 years old. America will miss her.

 

Gloves Off!

As everyone waits for Barack Obama's VP choice (and I just got a hot tip about who it might be), the candidate has begun to address concerns about whether he's become too laid back in the campaign against John McCain. He's dropped a series of hard hitting commercials describing his opponent as out of touch with the day to day struggles of most Americans.

What's interesting is, unlike McCain's "celebrity" spots, Obama chose not to unveil his ads to the media first. As we told you in previous posts, that has the potential to give a controversial ad a good deal of free publicity. These new ones are unlike Obama's earlier commercials, which tended to focus on his vision. rather than his opponent.

Already the McCain camp is whining, calling Obama's new spots a"sucker punch strategy". Oh really? Until now, it's been McCain who has kept up a drumbeat of negativity against Obama, and if polls are to be believed, it appears to be working. McCain's people are seasoned enough to know crying foul is just a little hypocritical. Notice they have yet to respond to Barack Obama's call for their guy to acknowledge his patriotism.

They're also not commenting about Jerome Corsi's slur filled new book about Obama. And why would they? 

Every little bit helps, true or not. 

  

Waiting With Baited Breath

We're now told Barack Obama will name his running mate tomorrow. Or is it Thursday? Anyway, it will be this week, won't it? Chances are it will, since next week is the Democratic National Convention. Names that were prominent just a month ago have seemingly faded from contention. Some media are calling it a three horse race, and some say (and hope) Obama's rival for the nomination isn't out of it yet.

All this is a tribute to how closely held the vetting and selection process has been for this candidate. The New York Times says no more than half a dozen people were in it during the home stretch, and obviously none are talking. The decision to let supporters in on the choice by text message is a smart one. It reinforces Obama's bond with young people, since they comprise the bedrock of the "text nation". Yet there's a lingering question remaining as we all wait with baited breath.

What difference will this all make? Do Americans actually vote for or against a candidate based on who the vice presidential candidate is? Certainly Dick Cheney, if he's done nothing else these past eight years, has redefined the power of the office. However, there's no guarantee either candidate will let his second in command harangue the intelligence community or set energy policy the way Cheney did.

So we wait, and hope Barack Obama's choice will stun and amaze us. 

Maybe.

Is America Ready for Real Change?

Barack Obama came off vacation this past weekend. He met with a leading evangelical pastor along with John McCain, then came out swinging against his Republican opponent. This comes as some Democrats in swing states are getting nervous about whether Obama's message resonates with their constituents. In fact, these jitters have been manifesting themselves in questions like "Why isn't he further ahead?", and the like.

Barack Obama has positioned himself as an agent of change. If he's serious, and I believe he is, he needs to take a look at Bill Moyers' recent conversation with military man, scholar and author Andrew Bacevich. His new book "The Limits of Power" takes the nation to task for, among other things, morphing from an empire of production to an empire of consumption. His book, as evidenced by the Moyers interview, poses some fundamental questions about the extent to which Americans really want to change.

Remember Jimmy Carter? He talked about needing to change the nation's energy consumption habits almost 30 years ago. He was booted out of office by a candidate, Ronald Reagan, who promised we didn't have to change a thing. Now, hopefully, the message has gotten through. That hope is the bedrock on which the Obama candidacy must be built. He must succeed where Carter failed.

Many of his policies are nibbling around the edges of a truly changed America. He must sharpen them, and convince the country that, for example, even if gas prices continue to drop the country needs to consume less. He must convince a nation of consumers that in order for America to be better off in the long run, there must be short term sacrifice. This is the grave mistake George W. Bush made in launching the global war on terror, according to Andrew Bacevich.

The tough economic times America is going through has convinced many of the need for change. Barack Obama has tapped into that need.

Now he must put some meat on the bones.   

Obama's Convention, or Clinton's?

The question has to be asked because taken together, Barack Obama's decision to give both Bill and Hillary Clinton prime speaking roles at the DNC, plus allowing her name to be placed in nomination seems like one massive capitulation. Capitulation, rather than an actual effort at party unity. Unity would mean Hillary would be obligated to call off that small but very vocal group of her supporters that promise to make pests of themselves in Denver.

Maybe that's actually happened. If so, the Clintons' efforts have been private, not public. And what of the former president? Does he define unity by saying Obama is qualified to be president by way of being 35 and an American citizen? These are not the words of a unifier. Barack Obama knows this, and yet he seems to have given away the store.

He must also know that some Clintonistas won't be satisfied no matter what he does. So why go so far? Could it be he's thinking about asking a woman (not Hillary) to be his running mate, and all this convention stuff is her pacifier? There are a trio of very competent women whose names have been mentioned. Any one of them would be an excellent choice, and without the narcissistic baggage the senator from New York brings to the table.

There are a good number of Obama supporters who are willing to trust him on this one. They say (rightly), that Obama is a very smart man, and that the Clintons may have seriously underestimated him, particularly on the question of whether he can win this thing in November.

Let's hope they're right.  

Chutzpah

The above word, is derived from the Yiddish word khutspe, meaning, nerve, gall, temerity. New Yorkers know its meaning well, and what follows is a quintessential New York story. For those that don't know, land is both money and power in the city. Very, very little of it sits vacant and unspoken for. Well, one New Yorker saw a vacant parcel of land, threw a fence around it, and claimed it as his own. 

Meet Darren Miller of Queens, NY. He allegedly grabbed 10 acres of land in south Brooklyn and ran a rather lucrative business within its boundaries. He ran it as a parking lot for trucks, charging hundreds of them a few hundred dollars a month for the privilege of parking. Now you might think Darren Miller only got away with this for a few months, or a year at most. You'd be wrong.

Miller thinks he's got a legitimate claim to the land. The reason? He took it over back in 1995! He's alleging it's his based on the legal claim of "adverse possession". That allows someone to claim title to property they've used for a specific number of years. That claim is still working its way through the courts, but in the meantime, Miller's been busted on charges of trespassing, illegally dumping toxic waste, and dismantling cars without a license. 

All this, prosecutors say, on land that partly belongs to the City and State of New York, and partly to a private developer. When Darren Miller's operation was busted, there were an incredible 560 vehicles on the land, and a thousand tires. He charged truckers $300 dollars a month to park there, half what other, legitimate lots in the city charge. Let's see now, doing some quick math, Darren Miller grossed $168,000 a month using land that wasn't really his.

Now that's chutzpah!

    

And the Keynote Is.....

So now we know former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, now less than two weeks away. It's canny political calculation for the campaign of Barack Obama. He wants very badly to win Warner's home state, and recent polling says he can actually do it. Warner, running for the Senate, has proven appeal in areas where Obama is weak. That would be rural, working class, socially conservative areas of the state.

Warner will be paired with Senator Hillary Clinton on the second night of the convention. Again, it seems a smart political move. It's the established star with the rising one. Warner has a post partisan message that's similar to Obama's. The central question is, will voters buy into it?

Already, questions are being asked about whether Obama will suffer from what some call the Bradley syndrome. That is, white voters who tell pollsters they'll vote for a black candidate, and do something different when they're behind the curtain. Certainly giving prime time exposure to people like Mark Warner can potentially move some fence straddling voters into Obama's camp.

But will that be enough? The Obama campaign isn't betting the store on it. Reports from Florida say Obama folks are trying to hit every black beauty salon and barber shop in the state. The purpose? Register every voter they can as soon as possible. So what appears to be going on, quietly, is a two pronged approach.

It could work.

The End of an Era?

Back in April, I spent some time in Barbados. When you're out of the country, you get a chance to tap into news broadcasts (as opposed to Internet Websites) that you don't normally hear and see. It was then that I first heard about a looming worldwide shortage of food. I wrote about it on this blog upon my return. Of course, little was said about it at the time, but by mid-May, food prices here in the States had begun to rise rapidly.

Quiet as it's kept, the cost of food continues to go up. In fact, recently a Wall St. Journal investment writer advised people to start stocking up on food. The reason? Global food prices are about to take off again. We here in the US often think we're insulated from what goes on in the rest of the world. Insulated, that is, until reality slaps us in the face.

Reality, in this case, comes in the form of China, India, and other rapidly industrialized nations like Brazil. As their standard of living rises, so does the demand for food, and just as importantly, oil. That's why some experts are warning Americans not to get too complacent about the recent drop in gas prices at the pump. Unless these developing societies collapse, their demand for food and oil won't go away.

That means higher prices worldwide, including right here in the good old USA. Should you start loading up on basic necessities, like many of us did just before Y2K? Probably not.

At least, not yet.

** Note.....I detest misspellings, and try my best not to include them in my writing. That's why I must apologize for not spelling the name of the late Isaac Hayes correctly in yesterday's blog entry. Sorry.

Two Icons Gone

It's hard to remember a time when two giants in the fields passed away so close together. Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes were bound together by a film both worked on recently. They also broke the bounds of their respective art forms, and will be missed by lovers of music and comedy everywhere.

There were rumors about Bernie Mac going back at least a week. His publicist angrily denied reports of his death. By the end of last week, however, the severity of his illness became public, and on Saturday he was taken from us. His accomplishments are many, but most of all, when it was all said and done, he was a family man. Perhaps more than the "Original Kings of Comedy", more than "The Bernie Mac Show'", more than "Ocean's Eleven", he'd want to be remembered as that.
Barack Obama may have criticized him for his expletive laden act at a fundraiser recently, but wasn't he talking about the Bernie Macs of the world when he talked about black men and responsibility?

Isaac Hayes may be remembered by older folks for "Shaft", and by young people for Chef on "South Park", but my remembrance of him goes back further. I was one of those who read and memorized the label of just about every record I owned as a kid. It was there I first saw the names Issac Hayes and David Porter, on the writing credit for "Hold on, I'm Coming". Later, I remember sitting in my brother's living room and listening to his epic rendition of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" from the "Hot Buttered Soul" album.

Issac Hayes voice created a particular atmosphere, as did his instrumental music. Anyone who lived through the so-called 'Blaxploitation" era knows the first few guitar phrases of "Shaft". In addition, Issac Hayes worked in radio, my chose field. I met him once, at an industry gathering, and he came across as warm as his voice.

America will miss both Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes. May we never lose two so gifted so close again.

No Joke

Ever since Barack Obama decided to run for president, people have been afraid someone would try to assassinate him. In fact, he received Secret Service protection earlier than any presidential candidate in American history. Now a man stands accused of threatening Obama's life, and that of President Bush. If true, it seems he was quite serious.

Raymond Hunter Geisel was trying to become a bail bondsman. You know, sort of like Dog the Bounty Hunter. As if he we another one like him. One of Geisel's classmates allegedly heard him use a racial slur against Obama, and ay he'd "put a bullet in his head". That's no joke under virtually any circumstance. 

I say joke because that's what Geisel said he was doing, joking. However, a search of his SUV and hotel room turned up a loaded gun, ammunition, a machete, and more. Geisel reportedly told authorities the weapons cache was to be used in his new profession. Right. His SUV also had emergency lights. That would make it easy for him to blend in with law enforcement vehicles.

Aside from the obvious questions about Barack Obama's safety, one must wonder how this guy managed to procure a gun, and what might have happened had Raymond Hunter Geisel actually passed that bail bond course. Of course, he's innocent until proven guilty, but if he did have it in his mind to kill Barack Obama, he needs to go away, and for a long time.

May God keep Obama and his family safe. 

A Generational Divide

Barack Obama's relationship with politicians and activists from the so-called "civil rights generation" will receive a thorough airing in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine. In discussing the question of whether Obama has put too much distance between himself and those who have come before him, a troubling perception came up on my radio show, "Politics Plus".

A surprising number of people brought up their feeling that one good reason for Obama to avoid civil rights leaders was because that era is seen as violent. At first, when one person brought it up, I didn't take notice. Yet time and again people, in particular young people, talked about the movement for civil rights as being cloaked in violence. More than once the riots of the late '60s were mentioned. 

This took me by surprise. After all, the icons of the movement, the Kings, the Evers, etc. were committed to non violence. So many black people died, were beaten and hosed for simply attempting to assert basic American rights. It's mind boggling to think that's been translated a generation later to imply black folks were largely the perpetrators, rather than the victims of violence. 

Whether Barack Obama is paying sufficient respect to John Lewis and Jesse Jackson seems irrelevant when compared to this extraordinary distortion of history. Ironically, it's not the fault of the current generation that they see things this way. 

Sad to say, it's the fault of those who came up during the civil rights era, and didn't pass the history along.

It's our fault.     

More Changes

This time, we're talking about a different set of changes from yesterday. Today, we talk food. A pair of media reports indicates the slowing American economy is having an effect on two areas of culinary endeavor. They would be soul food and fast food. 

Quiet as it's kept, restaurants in Harlem, once the soul food capital of the universe, are closing down one after the other. They're the victims not only of rising prices for basic ingredients like cooking oil and collard greens, but of changing tastes and demographics as well. The list of shuttered soul food palaces in Harlem alone is startling. Some are surviving, but only by either keeping prices low or changing the menu to reflect the new diversity of the neighborhood.

As for fast food, McDonald's also seems to be feeling the pinch of rising prices and lower profitability. They're making changes to their Dollar Menu, which launched just five years ago and helped the chain draw more customers. The anchor of the menu is the double cheeseburger, but higher dairy and beef costs make it tough to keep the price at a buck. So what do you do? Sell the double cheeseburger for more than a dollar? Use one slice of cheese instead of two? 

Unlike the soul food places in Harlem, fast food eateries like McDonald's won't be closing their doors anytime soon.  But for right now, they do have rising prices in common.     

Them Changes

There are changes going on in the American electorate, and by and large they don't spell good news for the Republican Party. It boils down to this. In several key states this election season, the number of registered Democrats is growing, while the number of registered Republicans is declining. The number of voters registering with no party at all is also growing rapidly.

The numbers have implications well beyond this year's presidential balloting. Races for the House, Senate, and state legislatures will also be affected. The state races are important because they're the ones who draw congressional districts each decade after the census is taken. Demographers and political pundits have varying reasons for this shift. Some say the economy and the war have dealt the GOP a body blow.

It could be the rise in the number of younger voters settling in traditionally Republican states that explains, for example, why there were 28 Republican governors and 22 Democrats after the 2004 election, and now those numbers have been reversed. Whatever the reason, it's being seen as a blessing for Democrats and a challenge for Republicans. 

Yet these new numbers don't by any means make the election of Barack Obama a slam dunk. Just because someone registers with a particular party doesn't necessarily mean the person will vote for that party's standard bearer. One figures the Obama camp knows this, and is working to woo these new Democrats and independents with vigor.

Otherwise, the Democrats could blow this.  

Media Chasing Dollars

As the presidential election cycle winds its way toward the national conventions, it's not just the candidates, or the political parties, that are looking for money. The media too, is looking to cash in on one of the most closely watched presidential races in recent memory. The trouble for traditional media is strikingly similar to the crisis the music business faces. 

People's consumption habits have changed, and turning interest into revenue isn't as easy as it used to be. For example, the broadcast television networks' evening newscasts are having trouble stopping a long term decline in viewers. The slide has continued even as this year's primaries were hotly contested. Don't even talk about newspapers. They're in worse shape. A continuing cycle of readership decline, cutbacks and buyouts, and in some cases ownership changes has created anxiety in a good number of print newsrooms.

And all this during a time when people seem to be clamoring for more information. In terms of print media, the Internet could well be the cause of the havoc. People are consuming more news, and from many more sources. Take the case of our friends from Politico.com. They're averaging 2.5 million unique visitors a month to their Website. Say what you will about his site, but the Drudge Report also has become a favored place for people to pick up round the clock news. 

Add to all this the growing power of cable news, YouTube's popularity as a site to see controversial campaign commercials, and you get the picture. 2008 may not be the best year for traditional media to chase those advertising dollars that come during an election cycle. Estimates of the potential amounts to be spent are incredible when compared to just a few years ago.

The question is, where will those dollars go?