Did any of you catch the so called, "Republican Response," last night on Larry King live? The Hypocrisy of these people are absolutely astounding....

Check out this exchange...

KING: Obama took aim at John McCain on a number of issues, including the economy.

Here's an example, Tucker, and you can comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: While Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq, just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats that we face.

When John McCain said we could just muddle through in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11 and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.

(CHEERS)

OBAMA: You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of hell. But he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I said that was about the economy. Obviously, it was not.

What do you make of that moment, Tucker?

BOUNDS: Well, Larry, I'm really glad that you played that clip, because I think it was a perfect demonstration of some of the frustrations that we're having.

You know, this speech was billed as a very historic speech and indeed it was a historic evening, but the speech didn't come through that way across the board. There were a lot of very negative parts to that speech and I think that that was one perfect demonstration.

For Barack Obama to suggest that John McCain doesn't have the commitment to track down Osama bin Laden, that we have had him in our sights, and decided that it wasn't important to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, is absurd.

KING: Well...

BOUNDS: It's ridiculous and it doesn't do any justice to the serious discourse that the American people deserve.

KING: But...

BOUNDS: It...

KING: Did we not center away from Afghanistan and go to Iraq?

BOUNDS: I think he suggested a little bit more than that, Larry. I think what he said, and in his own words, said that when I have him in our sights, I will take it to Osama bin Laden, suggesting that John McCain wouldn't do the same thing, which is to ignore all the things and all the policies that John McCain has pursued to bring terrorists to justice.

I think that that is boiling down. I think it's an insult to voters. I think that that's where we stand on higher ground going toward election day, because the truth is that this is going to come down to experience.

It's going to come down to a choice between -- do you believe everything Barack Obama is telling you? Do you believe this laundry list of promises about...

KING: OK.

OMG! And did you see the guys face? It was like, "I dont believe this crap myself, but after that speech I sure as hell better come up with something...

Then they roll out Larry Elder, whose only claim to fame is a Rush Limbaugh in Blackface radio show, and whos greatest aspiration in life is to be accepted by people like Limbaugh... and Ben Stein, who I am not sure if he is a comedian, Conservative Goliath, Economist, Speechwriter... or a game show host? Here's a guy who who thinks it's okay to proposition people for sex in the mensroom....

In 2007, Stein chastised the police and the GOP leadership for their response to the Larry Craig scandal. Stein said that Craig's sexuality should be a non-issue: "A party that believes in individual rights should be rallying to his defense, not making him walk the plank."'

It is just amazing to me that Conservatives can sit back and with a straight face... Make an issue on how well Obama speaks or the crowds he draws or who designed the stage on which he gave his nomination acceptance speech, while our country heads straight for the crapper? WOW! It blows the mind!

I am way too damned choked up to write much.... Obama showed tonight why he should win the White House in November, Republicans ignore speech, and continue the WEAK ASSED. and frankly STUPID, Celebrity meme....

I got mad love for this music.... Nice!

And this one too....

It can all end tonight...

I just saw that clown who founded BET, you know, the Network that used to show big booty rap videos 24/7, talking again about how Barack is not electable... Funny... I guess no one told the 35,000 people who showed up to hear him speak the other night...

I guess Hillary being $10,000,000 in the hole, while Barack has what $40,000,000 in the bank is an indication too, right? Please...

PUSH THE BUTTON, give a couple bucks, sit back tomorrow and lets see how Barack does.

But I am sooooo down for it....

Now is the time, today is the day. We leave it all on the field of battle or we leave period... It does not get much worse. The attacks, the March Surprise, the vulgarity. We are in control of our future, go and vote.

people say Obama's words are just words...
but...
when was the last time "words" weren't important...???...

I'm proud to be an American...

will.i.am</a>

Obama is going to whip Hillary like a rented mule!

It's more than an election... It is a movement, and it makes me very, very proud to be an American!

The Black Eyed Peas frontman on Friday released another star-studded music video in tribute to the presidential campaign of the Democratic senator — this one is titled "We Are The Ones."

Backed by a simple vocal refrain of "O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!," stars such as Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, Kerry Washington, George Lopez and others explain why they support Obama while others such as Macy Gray croon the candidates' last name to the will.i.am-penned melody.

The song is a follow-up to his inspirational video "Yes We Can," a viral sensation that has garnered more than 5 million hits on YouTube.com alone. That song features Obama's voice from a New Hampshire concession speech set to will.i.am's music and melody, plus vocalizations of the speech from the likes of Scarlet Johansson, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Herbie Hancock and other celebrity supporters. The chorus is one of Obama's campaign slogans: "Yes We Can."

The "We Are The Ones" video comes before Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio. Obama is leading his rival, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the delegate count for the nomination.

Obama is going to win on Tuesday...

More thoughts on my Business Blog

Dont they make a handsome (First) couple... Hehe...

Hillary is being more aggressive they say...

It aint about being aggressive. Its about being desperate.

(CNN) - Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign Wednesday pounced on a recent television interview with a surrogate of Barack Obama who was unable to identify a single accomplishment in the Illinois Democrat's Senate record.

"My good friend Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones from Ohio represented me on one of the TV programs in the last day or two - some of you may have seen her," Clinton said during a speech at Hunter College in New York City Wednesday. "And she was on against someone representing my opponent and for the first time, actually, the host, asked the representative of my opponent to name one accomplishment."

The interview in question was with Tubbs Jones and Texas State Sen. Kirk Watson on MSNBC Tuesday night. Host Chris Matthews asked Watson, a supporter Obama, to name the Illinois senator's chief legislative accomplishments.

"Well, I am not going to be able to name you specific items of legislative accomplishment," Watson said.

Asked if it was a problem he was unable to name any of Obama's accomplishments, Watson said, "Well no I don't think it is. Because I think one of the things that Sen. Obama does is he inspires. He's able to lay out a vision, he's able to lay out solutions."

The Clinton campaign called the interview "Must See TV," and e-mailed a clip of it to reporters Wednesday morning - shortly before the New York Democrat mentioned it in her speech.

"That is all we’re asking," Clinton also said of the interview in her speech. "We’re asking to compare our records. We’re asking to compare our years of service. We’re asking to compare our ideas, our solutions."

Good thing you arent asking to compare your attitude, your class, your capacity to show some basic dignity. Do you ever think to thank the hard working people who went out to canvass for you or vote for you, in those states where you had your a$$ handed to you?

Do you every consider that your nasty politics risks tearning the Democratic party apart. Is it so important to you to win NOW, that you don't care if you lose in November.

Keep it coming Hillary. Your negative spin did not work before, and it is not working now. What it is doing is just showing what a SHREW you are, what a hateful insignificant, spoiled little soccer mom you are. What a LOSER you are.

I had hoped that Obama would just ignore her, but I understand why they didnt.

Yo Hillary, NO YOU CAN'T!

And I bet she has thought about it! (wink)

Man, you talk about desperation...

Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that he doesn't think it's a big deal that he borrowed lines from his friend Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, although he probably should have given him credit.

Patrick said during his gubernatorial campaign a year and a half ago that words matter, like "I have a dream" and "all men are created equal."

Obama used the same lines Saturday night in Wisconsin. Obama said that Patrick suggested he use the lines to respond to Hillary Rodham Clinton's suggestion that Obama is more of a talker than a doer.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson accused Obama of plagiarizing Patrick, and that's particularly troubling since Obama's appeal is based in large part on his rhetorical skills.

"It raises questions about the premise of his candidacy," Wolfson told reporters in a conference call.

Obama, D-Ill., says that's going too far.

"Now hold on a second. Let's see — I've written two books, wrote most of my speeches," Obama told reporters at a news conference after touring a titanium plant.

"I'm happy to give Deval credit, as I give credit to a lot people for spurring all kinds of ideas," he said. "But I think that it is fair to say that everything that we've been doing in generating excitement and the interest that people have in the election is based on the core belief in me that we need change in America."

Asked whether he wished he would have given him credit given the criticism he's facing, Obama responded: "I was on the stump, and he had suggested that we use these lines. I thought they were good lines. I'm sure I should have — didn't this time."

"I really don't think this is too big of a deal," he said. He said he's noticed Clinton using his phrases sometimes, like "it's time to turn the page" and "fired up, ready to go."

Man when you cant win on ideas...

This is about as MANUFACTURED a scandal as there is... CHEAP POLITICAL Points....

Be careful Hillary.... If you do manage to win, you will need a whole lot of Black people to vote for you in November.

Michelle is simply spectacular! Contrast her with the "Stepford Wife," that is Cindy McCain...

I got this bit of absolute nonesense last night from a Good friend. He had fallen victim to another idiotic URBAN LEGEND. With a difference.... Like this one, this email is designed specifically to HURT Senator Obama..

KENTUCKY - USA - Imperial Wizard, Ronald Edwards has stated that, "anything is better than Hillary Clinton."

White Christian Supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan has endorsed Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States of America.

Speaking from his Kentucky office in Dawson Springs, the Imperial Wizard exclaimed that anything or anyone is better than having that "crazy ass bitch" as President.

This is the first time in Klan history that any member of the KKK has ever publicly supported an African American candidate for the presidency.

KKK lodges all over America have been gathering and holding rallies supporting the black presidential candidate.

KKK members in Tennessee rally against Hillary Clinton and support Barack Obama

Grand Turk Cletus Monroe has also been very vocal about the election and has donated thousands of dollars to Obama's election fund.

"The boy's gonna do it. My Klan group has donated up to $250,000 to the Obama fund. Anything is better than Hillary Clinton. Hell I'll even adopt a black kid from Africa before I vote for Hillary."

"A few years back we were lynching negroes. Now we're gonna vote for one to be president of the US of motherfu**ing A, damn it! Anyone or anything is better than Hillary Clinton - anything!!"

Placards for Barack Obama have been put up around the Klan's Headquarters and the KKK have announced a television ad campaign to support the African American candidate.

Can you imagine the UPROAR and outrage if it were true? I can not blame my friend for sending out the email. Many of us are constantly looking for news on the Obama candidacy. He inspires and motivates us. But in a time where we are SO CLOSE, we must all be diligent about doing anything that will play into the hands of those who wish to end this candidacy BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

The spanking Obama gave Hillary last night?

Yesterday, I was sitting in a bar in downtown San Jose, talking with a couple of guys from New York State. They were both white guys in their mid to late 30's, on their umpteenth trip to the Party Capital of the Americas. We had already done some serious drinking, eatin' and admirin', and finaly got down to talking politics. We shared our amazement at how the primaries had went the day before, and both of them expressed awe at what Obama had accomplished so far. Awe seems to be the word of the day, as Obama continues to generate excitement all across America. Especially after the epic spanking he gave Hillary on Tuesday. Yeah I know, the numbers were about even, but it was a trouncing none the less, considering that just a week ago, he was down by 20 points.

CHICAGO, Feb. 5 -- The crowds boggle the mind, and the fervor verges on the religious: "We believe!" the 17,000 people jamming Hartford's civic center started chanting Monday. There were 13,000 in Boise, lining up in the cold at daybreak in a state where only 5,000 voted in the Democratic caucuses four years ago. And 20,000 converging on a downtown square in Wilmington, Del., on Super Bowl Sunday, like nothing that small city had seen in years.

There is, without doubt, a nationwide wave building behind Sen. Barack Obama, one given new life by his win in South Carolina 10 days ago, his forceful victory speech and the Kennedy family endorsements that followed, and his campaign's record-shattering fundraising last month. But the Super Tuesday primaries offered a reminder of the distance Obama must yet travel and the time he needs -- but might not have -- to translate the euphoria of packed basketball arenas into hard numbers at the voting booth.

Obama fared better in the 22-state crush than appeared possible a couple weeks ago, when he was coming off two straight losses in Nevada and New Hampshire and facing the prospect of having to compete in a slew of states against a better-known candidate with widespread establishment backing.

The Illinois senator won his home state, as well as Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Minnesota, Connecticut, Kansas, North Dakota, Colorado, Alaska, Missouri, Utah and Idaho.

Yet he fell well short of the clear win that some of his supporters could not help but fantasize about as he shot up in the polls in the past week. He lost in New Jersey and Massachusetts after appearing to threaten upsets in the two states, where Clinton maintained solid leads until recently.

The campaign seems aware of the challenge facing it. No longer does it allow itself to be lulled into complacency by the sight of big crowds, as it might have been in the closing days before the New Hampshire primary.

Trying to limit expectations in recent days, campaign officials and Obama himself said they were encouraged by the enthusiasm they were finding on the trail. But they also acknowledged that millions of other voters either had no interest in Obama or would not be able to see him, given the constraints of the compressed schedule of 22 states to cover in 10 days.

Obama directly acknowledged the need to broaden the campaign's reach in his speech to supporters here tonight, addressing "all those Americans who have yet to join this movement and yet still hunger for change.

"They know in their gut that we can do better than we're doing," he said. But "they are afraid, they've been taught to be cynical. They're doubtful it can be done. I'm here to say tonight to all those who harbor those doubts: We need you. We need you to help us through."

The campaign is betting on closing the gap further in the next week, when there are six primaries or caucuses, in places where Obama is fairly well-positioned: Maine, Louisiana, Washington state, Virginia, Maryland and the District. And the campaign says it will have the time to do the more intense kind of campaigning it prefers in big states that do not vote until next month, such as Ohio and Texas.

As a young black man raised during the 60's, I am very proud to see how Obama is impacting the nation.

Still, for all the campaign's caveats, there is a hard-to-explain disconnect between the muddled results and the near-delirious enthusiasm at Obama's recent rallies, which far exceeds anything at Clinton's smaller, more sedate events.

In Boise, Debbi Taylor, a 50-year-old court clerk, said she drove six hours through bad weather from Ogden, Utah, to see Obama. "When my kids are excited and vote early and e-mail me to tell me about it, that's change in the world. That's something," she said.

In Minneapolis, Kevin Worden, a Habitat for Humanity director, gawked at the sight of the city's basketball arena packed to the rafters. "It's a snowball running down a steep hill and picking up all along," he said.

And in St. Louis, some of the 20,000 who attended a rally at the city's domed football stadium marveled that the event had drawn far more people than the city's popular Mardi Gras celebration the same night.

"Look at these numbers!" Helen Douglas-Taylor, a teacher, exclaimed. "We're just ready as a nation for something fresh, and he's fresh."

Boise, Idaho? Ogden Utah? This is something special. It is a bit sad to see the old school Civil Rights leaders like Andy Young missing thier opportunities to usher in a new age, and instead maintaining loyalties to the old political machines that perhaps they are too indebted to... to sever. They will find that in the end, if Obama wins, and I expect he will... Their relevance in the 21sth Century will be limited, and they will have missed the very opportunity to see to fruition, the very things they fought for.

It is time for a change... And for the first time in my life, I DO BELIEVE that this change is possible.

Contribute to the Obama campaign today.

Vote for Change, Vote for Obama!

"In the language of metaphor, Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility. Clinton would be a valuable and competent executive, but Obama matches her in substance and adds something that the nation has been missing far too long - a sense of aspiration."
The Los Angeles Times

Looks like this is spreading, I got it from CFLF. Thanks Michael! And like Michael, I have not blogged much the last year. A lot of it had to do with a general sense of malaise, I just wasn't into it., I also had the best business year I have ever had, which kept me out of the country a good part of last year. Barack has got me excited, perhaps more excited than I have been in a long time. No matter who gets the final nod as the Democratic Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama has taught us that, "yes we can!"

I am not sure if a MoveOn endorsement will help a Democratic candidate in the General Election, but this has the potential to be HUGE!

(CNN) MoveOn.org, the liberal political action committee that claims over 3 million members, endorsed

Barack Obama's White House bid Friday, the first time the group has made a primary endorsement.

The endorsement came after the group allowed its members to vote over the last two days on either Obama

or rival Hillary Clinton. Obama overwhelmingly beat the New York Democrat, 70 percent to 30 percent.

"Our members' endorsement of Sen. Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in

history," MoveOn.org's Executive Director Eli Pariser said. "Seven years of the disastrous policies of

the Bush Administration have left the country desperate for change. We need a president who will bring

to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every

American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America’s standing in the world."

The group says it has 1.7 million members across the 22 states set to weigh in on Super Tuesday, and it

is now actively recruiting volunteers on Obama's behalf. It also boast an impressive Get out the Vote

campaign, in 2006 its members made 7 million calls on behalf of Democratic candidates.

Results from a Daily KOS poll taken this week show that Obama is really taking it to Clinton in progressive circles.

If you are interested in helping MoveOn to mobilize voters for Obama, click here, or here.

There is a feeling in the air these days... Hillary may win, but it is just incredible the effect Obama has. Even watching the crowds outside the debate the other night, the energy was obviously Obama energy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Standing before a capacity crowd of several thousand students Monday at American University, Sen. Edward Kennedy announced he is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president.

"Like you, we want a president who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American dream," he said to screaming applause.

Kennedy said he has always planned to "support the candidate who inspires me, who inspires all of us, who can lift our vision and summon our hopes and renew our belief that our country's best days are still to come."

And picking up on Obama's central campaign theme, he said, "I feel change in the air. What about you?"

And that change does not bode well for Bill or Hillary. It has been rumored for weeks now that Bill Clinton's thinly veiled race politics were starting to irritate the party power structure. Well Kennedy's endorsement was about as strong a message as could be sent to the Clintons that, "it's not about them."

I got the sense today that I was watching History take place. Not exactly a new experience for a guy who has lived through the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and is now staring into a new century.

These words from Obama's South Carolina victory speech, seem to take on a new significance...

This election is about the past vs. the future. It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.

There are those who will continue to tell us that we can't do this, that we can't have what we're looking for, that we can't have what we want, that we're peddling false hopes. But here is what I know. I know that when people say we can't overcome all the big money and influence in Washington, I think of that elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day, an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside the envelope. So don't tell us change isn't possible. That woman knows change is possible.

When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos can't join together and work together, I'm reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters I organized with and stood with and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So don't tell us change can't happen.

When I hear that we'll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for Strom Thurmond, who is now devoted to educating inner city-children and who went out into the streets of South Carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. Don't tell me we can't change.

Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can.

Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And as we leave this great state with a new wind at our backs and we take this journey across this great country, a country we love, with the message we carry from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire, from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast, the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we will hope.

And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words - yes, we can.

A ringing endorsement from the family who helped to shape and create the new Democratic party, and who as much as anyone, symbolized HOPE in America. Teddy was a lion today. There can be no doubt about the sincerity of his endorsement or the impact it will have. No one can doubt now that Barack Obama is a real candidate, and for anyone who now chooses to vote for Hillary Clinton now with the excuse of, "He cant win."

Yes WHE can!

Obama absolutely DESTROYED Hillary Clinton in tonight's South Carolina Primary. And all those Black Folk who still believe that the "time aint right," for a Black Person in the White House, all those who felt he could not win, all those who flet like he could not attract any white support of significance, have been soundly spanked and should just STFU!

You see Barak aint never been about being a BLACK candidate, and the staggering 50% of the young Whites who voted for him, are a testament to this.

Bill Clinton's race baiting, and Hillary's shrill attacks on Obama's charecter did little to hurt him and it appears may have significantly hurt her. You all know how much of a Bill Clinton fan I was before this election. Without becoming to racially focussed myself, I can truly say that I have lost all respect for BOTH the Clintons.

Tonight Obama made another spectacular speech, the following was the part that hit me the hardest. I am really buying in to his vision.

So understand this, South Carolina. The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich vs. poor, young vs. old. And it is not about black vs. white.

This election is about the past vs. the future. It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.

There are those who will continue to tell us that we can't do this, that we can't have what we're looking for, that we can't have what we want, that we're peddling false hopes. But here is what I know. I know that when people say we can't overcome all the big money and influence in Washington, I think of that elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day, an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside the envelope. So don't tell us change isn't possible. That woman knows change is possible.

When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos can't join together and work together, I'm reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters I organized with and stood with and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So don't tell us change can't happen.

When I hear that we'll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for Strom Thurmond, who is now devoted to educating inner city-children and who went out into the streets of South Carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. Don't tell me we can't change.

Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can.

Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And as we leave this great state with a new wind at our backs and we take this journey across this great country, a country we love, with the message we carry from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire, from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast, the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many, we are one; that while we breath, we will hope.

And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words -- yes, we can.

I started to believe after IOWA, and then I watched the attacks beging, the nasty gutter politics that Clinton himself survived, now turned against a fellow Democrat. Tonight I saw a another little piece of history. With the victory came additional news, perhaps even more powerful in a symbolic way...The endorsement of Caroline Kennedy....

A President Like My Father

By CAROLINE KENNEDY

OVER the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country just as we did in 1960.

Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates' goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics to become engaged in the political process.

I could have left out all of the above after the title, the title says it all, doesn't it.

It is one thing for members of the Obama campaign, or gushing supporters to compare him with JFK, or Bobby. It is entirely another story for the daughter of one of our most beloved Presidents to do so. For black people.... who have iconized the Kennedy's for almost 50 years, this endorsement should be the final statement that says.... "YES WE CAN!"

This woman is a very powerful weapon...

Is the media trying to make this a two way thing. The Clintons started this, and continue in a desperate and destructive pattern of attacks against Obama. The media, including Time Magazine, make this a two way thing, when it is pretty clear that Obama has done little more than defend himself.

Whenever longtime Democrats gather to note how the chemistry and calculus of the 2008 campaign seem to favor their party this year, one or another will always add some version of the following: "Yeah, but we could screw this up before it's over."

After the past few days, the pertinent question to ask is, is the crack-up happening already? Far-fetched as it would have seemed a month ago, the seeds of self-destruction are being planted in the war of coded words about race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The bickering has exploded in the space of a week into Topic A in the Democratic race, supplanting for the moment the war and the economy and health care — and shows no sign of a quick resolution.

So yes, are the Democrats about to screw it up yet again?

Both campaigns are stoking this fire — and worrying at the same time about what this could do to them in the fall. They ought to be concerned: Keep this up and neither candidate may be able to marshal the votes from the various corners of the Democratic coalition that he or she will need in the fall. As pollster Andrew Kohut has noted, a party which found that it had at least two candidates who were seen as widely "acceptable" to its various factions just a few weeks ago could soon find that happy consensus has evaporated.

The mess began —as these things almost always do — in a normal tit for tat between the candidates. After Obama was poised to surge past Clinton after Iowa, Clinton charged that Obama was raising "false hopes" with his soaring rhetoric that emphasized ends over means. Obama skewered Clinton right back in New Hampshire, asking where the nation would be if both JFK — in making a manned mission to the moon a goal — or Martin Luther King Jr. (in his 1963 Lincoln Memorial speech) had instead shut down their visions and told America they were simply too hard to achieve. Delivered with humor and always to soaring applause, Obama's was a devastating rejoinder.

But then Clinton came back and, far less artfully, said that King's visions were great, but it took an experienced politician like Lyndon Johnson to get them enacted. At the very least, Clinton had equated the sometimes crass master of the legislative backroom with one of America's patron saints. (The real problem is that Clinton seemed to put LBJ on a pedestal higher than King's.) That was probably not her intention, but neither was this her best example in the deeds-not-words crusade she was on. In any case, at that point, things began to unravel.

Now we have both campaigns accusing the other of stoking the fire, of deliberately misunderstanding the other (and there is a lot of that going on, here, too) and both sides have had their various lieutenants and seconds trying to "help" explain things, which almost always makes things worse. That much was clear over the weekend, when BET founder Bob Johnson, in trying to defend the Clintons, appeared to all the world to be bringing up Obama's admitted history of drug use (Johnson later claimed he was actually referring to Obama's history as a community organizer, a laughable explanation that only dug the hole deeper.)

I have always like Jack Cafferty, and it is pretty clear that he has been moved by Obama's campaign. He was one of the first journalist I have seen to point out that this has been mostly a Clinton thing, while Wolf Blitzer appears to fall all over himself trying to make this a 50/50 thing.

Jack wrote an excellent piece on the subject on his blog:

For one brief moment after Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses, it looked like we might have actually outgrown our petty racial bickering in this country.

It didn’t matter that Obama had run a dignified, intelligent campaign without so much as the mention of race. The people who have an interest in keeping the country divided along racial lines couldn’t wait to get started. Do you realize how many morons would go through the rest of their lives ignored and irrelevant if we could ever get over the racial garbage?

Now the racial fires are burning brightly once again.

The last two days, we’ve seen the Obama and Clinton camps embroiled in accusations that are steeped in race. Hillary Clinton is defending her recent remarks on civil rights. She’s suggesting that Obama’s campaign distorted what she said in an effort to inject race into the contest.

For his part, Obama has dismissed Clinton’s suggestion, saying “the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous.” Obama is also describing her earlier comments about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. as “unfortunate” and “ill-advised.”

The Clintons find themselves in unusual territory here, when you consider that Bill Clinton was once dubbed “America’s first black president.”

Read the whole thing.

I was one of Bill Clinton's biggest supporters, and while I never went to far as to call him "The first black president," I did believe that Clinton had a special affinity for African Americans. Now as I look back across the years, I realize that that was all a bit of careful imaging. Bill is one of those individuals, and it is proven by his fairy tale comment, who is fine with Black Folk as long as they dont try and rise above their station.

Hillary will likely win the nomination, and she will get STOMPED by whoever survives the Republican wars. You see, Republicans are real good at the same kind of Piolitics that Hillary is playing right now, HELL you might even say they invented it.

I had hoped that this would not happen, and that Obama would not get dragged into this kind of conversation. The big news now is about old school politics and how the Clintons especially will use surrogates, especially BLACK ones, to try and plant the seeds of doubt about Obama.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have become embroiled in racially tinged disputes as large numbers of black voters prepare to get their first say in the Democratic presidential campaign.

The candidates and their surrogates are heating up their rhetoric, and it could prove to be combustible beyond South Carolina's Jan. 26 primary.

Clinton, on defense over comments that she and her husband made regarding Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and Obama's fitness for the White House, tried to turn the tables on her top primary rival. She accused his campaign of looking to score political points by distorting their words.

Hillary Clinton had said King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while Bill Clinton said Illinois Sen. Obama was telling a "fairy tale" about his opposition to the Iraq war. Black leaders have criticized their comments, and Obama said Sunday her comment about King was "ill-advised."

"I think it offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King's role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act," he told reporters on a conference call. "She is free to explain that, but the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous."

As evidence the Obama campaign had pushed the story, Clinton advisers pointed to a memo written by an Obama staffer compiling examples of comments by Clinton and her surrogates that could be construed as racially insensitive. The memo later surfaced on some political Web sites.

"This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully," the former first lady said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I don't think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it's not about race."

Clinton taped the show before appearances in South Carolina, where at least half the primary voters are expected to be black. On Monday, she planned to attend a union event honoring King's legacy in New York City.

But no sooner had Clinton said she hoped the campaign would not be about race than it got even more heated. A prominent black Clinton supporter, Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson, criticized Obama and seemed to refer to his acknowledged teenage drug use while introducing Clinton at her next event.

"To me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues — when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood; I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book — when they have been involved," Johnson said.

I for one have lost all respect for the Clintons.

Jay Tea has some interesting onsite analysis of yesterdays primary results. Read the entire thing.

Well, wasn't that... um... interesting.

I gotta admit I am absolutely gobsmacked over the results of New Hampshire's primary. I did not expect the results we got.

My gut said that we would not go for Hillary Clinton. I thought we'd kick her sorry ass to the curb. But that vapid twit I met Saturday night apparently showed up with all her insipid little friends and voted with their... well, it wasn't their overly-perforated heads, that's all I'll say.

The vibe I got right up through the primary was that Obama would take it running away. But the morning of the primary, I heard one of those babbling idiots call in a local talk show and ask if it was true that Obama was a secret Muslim who took his Senate oath of office on a Koran and all that bullshit. The host immediately went to Snopes and read the entry, but somehow missed the "false" at the top and presented it as all true. I called in and howled in protest, and she did correct it after the commercial break.

But I think that the morons and assholes who are pushing these rumors did their damage here in New Hampshire. Of the four top Democrats, I thought we'd see through the guises of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards and send their asses packing. I figured Obama and Richardson would do better.

I guess there's still some life in the Clinton political machine.

What I think happened is that Hillary won over enough Female voters with "the crying game," and McCain's siphoning of independents, led to Obama's loss.

Obama lost, but you know what.... The real losers are the Clintons. They have shown their ass in the last couple of days, while he has shown nothing but class. Even in defeat, the man has class. And you know what, this speech is unbelievable! The man is awesome...

YES WE CAN!

Or does it appear that it is the Obama Campaign that has the sense of destiny...

If the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s 100 Club dinner is any bell weather – Barack Obama will handily win here. When Obama, the dinner’s last speaker, took the stage the crowd surged forward chanting “O-bam-a” and “Fired Up, Ready to Go!” So many people pressed toward the stage that an announcer asked people to “please take their seats for safety concerns.”

By comparison Hillary was twice booed. The first time was when she said she has always and will continue to work for "change for you. The audience, particularly from Obama supporters (they were waving Obama signs) let out a noise that sounded like a thousand people collectively groaning. The second time came a few minutes later when Clinton said: "The there are two big questions for voters in New Hampshire. One is: who will be ready to lead from day one? The second," and here Clinton was forced to pause as boos from the crowd mixed with cheers from her own supporters. "Is who can we nominate who will go the distance against the Republicans?”

I hear that Bill wants to go Negative in a big way... At this stage of the game, I think that would be a BIG mistake. In fact, I could not have said it better than this commentator to the above article...

I think Hillary did a good job; but the huge bounce Iowa got is in the contrast Obama provided. He talked about creating a new coalition and a new majority: that's heady stuff. And when he laid out his definition of hope; that was powerful.

Clinton is apparently trying to label him a flip-flopper for not proposing universal single-payer health care; despite the fact that its an impossible sell. And she's trying to make him out to be the boogeyman of the democratic party.

And its hard to re-define Obama when he's done a good job defining himself.

I think the Clinton's will lose New Hampshire if the debates don't make news against Obama. And there is a palpable feeling that the Clinton camp has an uphill climb. They need to go nuclear on Obama; and the risk of doing so is huge for both Hillary AND Bill.

Yup... History in the making...

I'm a disgusted with the Big 2 parties type. Been that way since I cast my first vote in a local election when I was 18 years old. But I'm not politically stupid and I love history. And I realize political history when I see it. Barack Obama wins the Democratic Iowa Caucus and the Black Democratic Establishment (BDE) loses.

And this black man (with a healthy dose of France poured in) is so happy.

Usually in Black America, black politicians have to have the blessing of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the NAACP, black liberal radio hosts, black liberal talking heads, and just “black leadership” in general. Not Barack Obama. Iowa, which is 94.3% white, said that Obama is their guy on the Democratic side. Do you see what I am saying? A state that is 94.3% WHITE gave Obama their support. Take that BDE and don't let the door hit you in the behind on the way out.

T Steel at the Moderate Voice

AMEN, and for all those Black Democratic Leaders, especially the one's down south who the Clinton's have been pandering to, get on board...

There is something profoundly surreal about having known someone like Barack Obama, whose political career has seen a meteoric rise that is the stuff of political fairytales. To turn on the television and see a once-familiar face grown slightly more mature, hear the same vocal intonations and note many of same personal characteristics - now all presented as elements of a "rock star" persona - is a strange experience.

Of course, with public acclaim of the kind Obama now enjoys comes a host of hangers-on, many eager to claim some "special relationship" with a famous person. Certainly, Barack and I were hardly best friends; he was a year ahead of me at Harvard Law School (and six years older) when we met the summer that I became a newly-minted editor of the Harvard Law Review. But we did work together for some time, and he reached out to advise me when I became the first female Managing Editor in the Review's history.

Carol Platt Liebau

Read the entire thing, it is a dynamite article, and a good explanation of why Obama is doing so well...

I have been fortunate enough to have lived through a great deal of history.... 50 years of wars, scientific breakthroughs and amazing political events... Tonight, I witnessed another piece of important history, and I was moved to tears by the experience of it. Before tonight, I was not even an Obama fan... It was all too cliche for me... Me, Progressive, African American Blogger, wasnt it expected that I would be part of Obama Nation? Well I wasnt. I felt that Joe Bidden was the best hope for America, and for getting some sanity back into the White House...

I am saddened that Bidden may chose to leave the race, but MY GOD, Obama had a moment tonight... A moment that spoke to MOST OF US.... A moment that reminded us that there have been giants who have strode across the stage of American Politics, and we may have just seen the birth of one tonight.

My wife and son are far to Costa Rican to understand the real significance of what happened tonight. I insisted that they sit down and watch... They did not, "get it..." But it doesnt matter. I have a feeling that a whole lot of people did, and they are starting to "Believe in Change!"

I know I am, and part of me is now HOPING that he can take it all the way...