He is off one plantation and on to the next.

*

"I left that Democratic plantation a long time ago---and I ain't going back."

That's my man Herman Cain, letting the faithful know that he is one of them. Question for Herman: Why do you have to be on any plantation? Why did you leave the Democratic plantation for a republican one? Can't a black man just be free of plantation politics?

I mean I know you need the machine to get elected to any significant office in this country, (see Obama)but do you really believe that you have a legitimate shot at republican money? Can't you just give us solutions to what you think are our problems (by our I mean A-merry-ca) instead of putting down other black people? (BTW, please stick no national issues when you give us those solutions. You are coming up a little short in the foreign policy area.)

Yes, I know that you won the debate in South Carolina. But, with all due respect, I had a pet parrot once that would have won that debate.

Herman, did you really say that "Black Democrats equal slavery and I am a runaway"? Now see Herman, that ain't cool. That is exactly the type of rhetoric that pisses off black folks who would consider voting for your jigging ass. Let's say, for instance, that I happen to be a black democrat, but I like some of your policies and I don't like Obama. You just turned me off from voting for you because you called me a slave. This is the problem I find with black conservatives; in an effort to fit in with their wingnut brothers and sisters, they go over the top. They lose all sense of decorum and decency. It's as if they have to outdo their wingnut cohorts to show them that they are serious. Let me go catch dat slave massa, I ain't like de rest of em.

"I'm not like other blacks...." Herman, on that we can agree.

*Pic courtesy of theRoot.com

"Black Like Me."

I have to confess (and lord forgive me for this one) but I can't watch Cornel West for one minute. Every time I see fam on television I change the channel. I have heard that he is a smart guy, and that he sometimes says some deep things, but I will never know, because......well....I just can't watch or listen to him. I know that many of you have a predilection for all things West so you will have to help me out with this one. Please tell me why I should force myself to start listening to him. "Otay"? (Stop it field)

Anyway, I notice that my man has been in the news of late because, much to the delight of wingnuts, he has had some not too flattering things to say about O, and it has started an interesting debate among us black folks about what it means to be truly black.

For the record, O's upbringing and the way he chooses to carry himself should not define his blackness or lack of it. We have to judge him by his actions as president for all the people of these divided states who comes to the office from the unique position of being able to feel our pain.

This is a good discussion to have on Malcolm's birthday; is O in the house? Personally, I don't think so. I think he visits it quite often and is comfortable when he is in there, but that is not where his heart is. I think his heart is outside in the fields. ( I think)

But I want to ask Mr. West to put his Ivy League mind to work and tell me exactly what he would want his O ness to do to help black A-merry-ca. I want to know what policies he would implement and how he would go about getting it done. I want to know how he would better use the "bully pulpit" to (if I may get a little colloquial) hook us up.

I know what I would like O to do: Get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, use the "bully pulpit" to talk more about urban issues such as education, and turn Eric Holder loose on some of those Wall Street crooks. Yes, I am pissed that he extended the Bush tax cuts. Yes, I am pissed that he kept Gitmo open. And, yes, I am pissed that ddn't go far enough on health care reform and with the stimulus package.

Still, having said that, I have to acknowledge that he at least tried with health care, there was some Wall Street reform, and a little stimulus package is better than none at all.

I am not sure what you Negroes who were waiting on the Magic Negro expected. O can't work miracles and make your lives better. I hate to sound like a conservative, but government can only do so much. If you thought O was going to get into office and your lives were going to change overnight, you have another thing coming. Urban terrorist are still going to rob and steal, greedy polititicksters on the local and national level are still going to line their pockets, first. And the corporate machine of greed that drives A-merry-ca isn't going anywhere. In short, it's business as usual in A-merry-ca. If there is going to be any change it's going to have to come from within each and every individual who really wants it.

I thought that a - supposedly- smart man like Cornel West would know that.

Trying to figure out our young people and Obama with one post.

Remind me not to go partying in "The Atl" anytime soon. What's wrong with you young bucks? I know it's hard to respect another human's life when you do not value your own, but this cycle of depraved violence has got to stop. In fact, all of the ignorant and inexplicable s&^t that we do from time to time has got to stop. Crack in a toddler's shoe? WTF?

Still, I won't lay all of the blame at the feet of these young bucks. They live in a very f^%$#d up society where black is white and white is black, and where there is all kinds of gray in between. It's easy to rationalize away morality when you see politicians on the take and everything around you is driven by shallow consumerism and a live for the moment ethos. We glorify the very rich regardless of how they accumulated their wealth and we wonder why these kids have no morals. Joseph Kennedy was an alleged bootlegger and his son went on to become the president. Many wealthy A-merry-can families built their fortune on the backs of enslaved human beings. ,and we think nothing of it. The depravity we are seeing from some of those in our society should not be so surprising. I know that I am not. I talk and interact with enough of these kids to see just how messed up their heads are and why the think the way they do. Many of the tings I outlined mirror what they spit back at me when I try to lecture them about getting their lives on the straight and narrow. Live for the moment, that's all they do. In their minds the future is now. There is no wife, kids, and a picket fence anywhere in their dreams. Just joining their home boys upstate or hoping that their mother's don't cry too much at their funerals.

Anyway, sorry for the brief reality check. Now back to politics:

Lately I have been more pro O than usual. I am not a huge fan, but I am not a hater like some people. I think the guy has done a decent job, and, more importantly, he did pretty much what he said he was going to do. I expected what I am getting now, so I am not like some of those Obamaholics who are feeling this great disappointment because their boy didn't walk on water and feed every A-merry-can with one happy meal.

He is what he is. And, he is better than the last guy. I actually read an article recently that kind of crystallized my position. The author was speaking for me:

"Nowadays, the political stage has become America’s communal fun house, and nobody looks stranger than Barack Obama.

The president’s critics on the right deride him as a radical socialist seething with anti-American rage. To them, he’s a frightening success who has transformed the federal government, ruined the economy, and undermined national security. To the left, Obama is a tragic failure who squandered his chance for dramatic change: no single-payer health-care plan, no heated battle against Wall Street, and endless war in Afghanistan. If the president is struggling these days, the critics say, it’s perhaps because he’s out of touch with Americans, and even at odds with his own principles.

Yet Obama is doing exactly what he said he would do. Perhaps the critics should read—or reread—the president’s own books. Dreams From My Father (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2006) are the most substantial works written by anyone elected president since Woodrow Wilson (who wrote several books before he won election in 1912). In laying out his philosophy, Obama contrasts the GOP’s excessive individualism with the ideal of “ordered liberty” and the rich traditions of civic engagement typical of America in the 18th and 19th centuries. He also criticizes orthodox...

...Almost everything you need to know about Obama is there on the printed page. In contrast to the charges coming now from right and left, Obama is neither a rigid ideologue nor a spineless wimp. The Obama who wrote Dreams and Audacity stands in a long tradition of American reform, wary of absolutes....

...Throughout his career, Obama has refused to demonize his opponents. Instead, he has sought them out and listened to them. He has tried to understand how they think and why they see the world as they do. His mother encouraged this sense of empathy, and it’s a lesson Obama learned well. Since January 2009, Obama has watched his efforts at reconciliation, experimentation, and -consensus--building bounce off the hard surfaces of political self-interest and entrenched partisanship, but there is no reason to think he will abandon that strategy now. He knows that disagreement is a vital part of the American fabric, and that our differences are neither shallow nor trivial......

....Although Obama’s reform agenda echoes aspects of those advanced by many Democrats over the last century, he has admitted—and this is the decisive point in understanding his outlook—that his opponents hold principles rooted as deeply in American history as his own. “I am obligated to try to see the world through George Bush’s eyes, no matter how much I may disagree with him,” he wrote in Audacity. “That’s what empathy does—it calls us all to task, the conservative and the liberal … We are all shaken out of our complacency.” Obama rejects dogma, embraces uncertainty, and dismisses the fables that often pass for history among partisans on both sides who need heroes and villains, and who resist more-nuanced understandings of the past and the present." [Article]

My sentiments, exactly.

Is this Daily News columnist racist or just trying to help the President?

After O and company took their "shellacking" this midterm, I started thinking about articles like this ,(h/t to Felecia) and why, in spite of all of that, there was still such a national angst for all things O. I mean I understand the partisanship, and the fact that there is always going to be pretty much an even split when it comes to political affiliations among the voting public. But, given what Obama has done so far in his presidency, this beat down didn't make sense.

Anyway, I saw an opinion piece in my hometown paper which might have left some hints. The author apparently is trying to help his O ness and he proceeds to give him tips on how to win over A-merry-ca. I am not going to go in the order the author gave them for a reason. I want to save the best for last.

"IT WAS BASEBALL pioneer Satchel Paige who warned: "Don't look back. Something may be gaining on you."

In the wake of the midterm elections, that's one bit of advice that President Obama would do well to follow. If his presidency is to survive, he must look forward and must begin to make changes now.

But exactly what should Obama do, and how and why? Five simple suggestions:

1. Dump what's left of the Chicago Gang. Rahm Emanuel's departure was a good first step.

But too many others in the Chicago clique are still around. All pols like to be surrounded by trusted confidantes. In the rough-and-tumble world of politics, loyalty is an understandably treasured commodity.

But the president is different. He's the only public official directly elected by all the American people. Those around him must be attentive to the wide variety of views of a large, diverse society. The president's advisers must present a broad range options in open, vigorous debate.... "

No problem with that one. I kind of agree.

3. "Get rid of the TelePrompTer....... "

OK, I will give you that one as well. But all presidents use the TelePrompTer.

4. "Bring the Grand Tour to a close. After the India trip, the president should stay home and tend to the problems at hand. That means bringing down the curtain on touring, and maybe even vacationing. It also means ending those frequent TV appearances. The president has been overexposed. It took us nearly eight years to develop Clinton fatigue. But Obama fatigue began to set in after only 18 months....."

OK, whatever, reasonable people could argue both sides of this one.

5. "And speaking of Clinton, Obama should have a nice, long sit-down with the former president and elder statesman of the Democrats. Sixteen years ago, Clinton was in the same spot Obama finds himself in today.

Clinton faced a GOP House and Senate after the '94 Republican sweep that was one of the largest turnovers in history till now.

But with surprising speed, Clinton shook up his staff and moved toward the center. He listened to new people and embraced new ways. And he became a relatively popular two-term president. So call in Clinton. And sit down and listen."

More Clinton nostalgia, I get it.

2. "Lose the strut and the condescension. The president has a way of pushing himself up on the balls of his feet as he walks. I call it "the strut," and I suspect I'm not alone in finding it oft-putting. Along with this strut comes an air of condescension.

Mr. President, those who don't agree with you aren't your enemies. And they aren't misguided or distracted or paralyzed by fear or blinded by anger. (And they aren't necessarily clinging to guns and religion, either.)

When you dismiss or trivialize "we the people," you mock the very foundation of our democracy." [Article]

This one was actually number two, but I saved it for last for a reason.

LOSE THE STRUT!!!??? WTF? Alright folks, you can put on your Air R's for this one. Honestly, do these clowns writing in major newspapers even realize how utterly stupid, unenlightened, and ignorant they sound?

Look, I have mad love for the Daily News,--- they link the field for crying out loud, but some of their opinion writers must have been asleep since 1949 and just woke up. "STRUT"?
Wow, stereotypes really die hard. One of the few things I liked about Bush was his walk. It exuded confidence. (Even if he was one of the dumbest people on the planet.) Watch him when you get a chance, he had quite the bounce in his step, just like Obama.

For the record, Obama's walk (if I might get in touch with my feminine side a little) has a certain (sex) appeal to it. I know because the females tell me so. They say the same thing about Denzel Washington and Idris Elba, who both have distinctive walking styles. (They both also have something else in common with the president; but I will leave the obvious alone.) There is nothing unusual about a man who walks with confidence. Unless, of course, he happens to be the first black president.

If you are of a certain persuasion and you secretly resent this Negro having power over your life, that walk says f*&^ you! I am in charge and you are not! You resent it because the Negro president should be more appreciative of his position and who put him there.

"The president has a way of pushing himself up on the balls of his feet as he walks. I call it "the strut," and I suspect I'm not alone in finding it oft-putting. Along with this strut comes an air of condescension."

No Daniel, you are not alone. I am sure that many of your fellow A-merry-cans feel the same way.