I am going to be liveblogging this debate, so stay with me to see how I score it. Please also tune into my friend Jen’s blog at http://jen-sized.net for complete liveblogging coverage from two Memphis bloggers very interested in the outcome.

8:02 that was a terse handshake

8:03 Obama talks about the economy. “The worst economic situation since the Great Depression”. He seems a bit stiff. God is he ever nervous.

— oversight
— taxpayers should be able to get money back
— none of that money should pad CEO bank accounts
— helping homeowners
Continue Reading »

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents—voters Obama can't win the White House without—agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

"There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey

Poll: Racial misgivings of whites an Obama issue.

People: what year are we living in?

If you’re going to introduce race into the +/- for this Presidential race, please remember: we have, in elections around the country for many years, elected mayors, senators and governors who are of varying races, nationalities and skin tones all across this country.

If what’s keeping you from voting for the candidate that you want is the color of their skin and not the content of their character, regardless of what that skin tone is, your vote in this election is probably not required. If you can’t vote for the candidate you want because you’re that prejudiced, then stay home. No matter who is elected, you will always have no voice, because you can’t hear anyone else’s besides your own.

If you can see past whatever prejudice you have, please remember this: you not voting for your conscience means that someone else who is voting based primarily on their racial prejudice will control the future of your country.

And like it or not, the terrorists will have really won then.

photo credit: Barack Obama

The 2008 Presidential election was never going to be simple. For a time, it seemed that the tide was moving in one specific direction; today, it is turning into a hotly-contested political contest fueled by innuendo and distortions the likes of which the American people have not seen in many years.

On the left, Barack Obama, the presumptive favorite of the American people (based on their feeling about the issues affecting them) has been solid and steady about his promise to bring change and reform to Washington since proclaiming his run for the presidency in February of 2007. There is Senator Joe Biden, one of the lowest-level income earners in both public service and Congress, whose very direct grassroots style and deep connection to the common people of America have earned him immense respect and the Democratic vice-presidential nod.

On the right, the self-proclaimed “mavericks” whose messages represent the policies which we have lived with for the past eight years. The right’s two personalities, John McCain and his running mate Governor Sarah Palin, have proven effective in their quest to transform the campaign messages of the left and make them their own, repackaging the notions of “change” and “progress” by distancing themselves from the current White House and introducing Sarah Palin, a virtual ringer, into the contest for the White House. The process has been effective: the Republicans were able to stop the bleeding using Palin’s limitless charm as a security blanket for a race which seemed lost to them just weeks ago.

Obama has, for his part, handled matters with kid gloves up to this point. It’s not because of his unwillingness to fight but out of a genuine fear of being caught in the “catch-22″ of being mislabeled by undecided voters in the short run to election day. Obama has run a positive campaign and one which has been based on the issues. He has proven himself a remarkable public speaker, a man whose genuine concern for the welfare of our country comes across as honest rather than pious. He is a man of great intelligence and forethought, one who speaks with a no-nonsense ease about what he believes in and never shies away from answering tough questions.

Continue Reading »

Obama plans sharper tone as party frets – International Herald Tribune.

I feel so terrible for Obama. If he says nothing or doesn’t attack back, they think he’s weak. If he speaks up and lashes back, they call him sexist. I just hope he continues to stay focused on the truth.

Only the truth will set us free.

Senator Barack Obama stopped in Dover, New Hampshire today to hold a forum on what his tax plan would be as President of the United States. Responding to a question from an audience member at his “Discussion on Tax Relief for the Middle Class” regarding his tendency not to engage the Republican attack ads, Obama answered by explaining, “My philosophy…is that I’m going to tell the truth.” Expressing his viewpoint, Obama invoked a sentiment that people often use, telling the audience member in no uncertain terms that he would continue to respond to false or misleading attacks by the McCain camp with a simple retort: telling the truth about who they are and what they stand for. “If you don’t stop lying about me,” Obama said, “I’m going to have to start telling the truth about YOU.”