I'm sick of these polls asking us to pick Barack Obama's running mate, most of all because they set us up for collective let-down. Face it: The chances he's going to listen to us are nil.

    I'm an optimist by nature; I believe in community empowerment. Rethinking the question, it occurs to me that while we cannot bend Senator Obama to our will in selecting the best running mate (and thank the Lord for that!), our chances of getting him to avoid making the WORST pick are at least 50-50. (I've asked Poblano to refine that projection.)

    When Barack sends out those text messages with his choice, instead of wretching, we can then sigh in narcissistic contentment that WE were responsible for getting the worst possible VP choice not picked. Can we exert our communal influence to blackball one truly terrible VP nominee?

That is the title of this featured essay in tomorrow's NY Times Magazine.   Written by Matt Bai (yeah, him). it is an examination of the generational divide among black politicians.  Let me offer one early quote:

"Here we are, all of a sudden, in the 60th year after Strom Thurmond bolting the Democratic Party over a simple thing, something almost unheard of — because he did not want the armed forces to be integrated," Clyburn said slowly. "Here we are 45 years after the ‘I have a dream’ speech. Forty years after the assassinations of Kennedy and King. And this party that I have been a part of for so long, this party that has been accused of taking black people for granted, is about to deliver the nomination for the nation’s highest office to an African-American. How do you describe that? All those days in jail cells, wondering if anything you were doing was even going to have an impact." He shook his head silently.

I will explore below the fold why I think you should read the article.

It's 2:30 in the morning and I have to get this off my chest.

What could have occurred in Shelby Steele's upbringing to make him such a self hating tool for the right wing?

Steele, the black conservative (oh boy!) author of "A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win" as well as several negative Obama articles, seems obsessed and irrational in his incessant attacks on Obama.

A thread making it way through the news cycle lately has been the lack of meaningful comedy about Barack Obama on the late night comedy shows and other comedy venues in our usual laugh a minute culture. It seems comedians, at least those that are considered main stream media, are having trepidations about navigating potential Obama comedy through the mine fields of racism and political correctness. I think this gives John McCain an unfair advantage over Obama as he gets the most name exposure in these all important comedian monologues that open these world wide broadly viewed media comedy-talk American television network franchises.

Comedy is a way to acknowledge foibles, potential weaknesses or otherwise perceived human flaws in not just political leaders but also in our own friends, relatives and perhaps most important, ourselves. Comedy gives a release and can bring problems out in the open and can often lead the butt of the joke to a path of self improvement in some area of their life. So what is funny about Barack Obama?

UPDATED: Since I was accused of "justifying" Jackson's comments in the thread, I'll make my point explicitly:  I am "choosing" to remember an aspect of one person's mixed legacy that I happen to find inspiring.

There has been an inordinate amount of cluck-clucking in the MSM during the past week in an attempt to caricature Jesse Jackson.  

Although I have often disagreed with and been critical of Jesse Jackson, both politically and in the manner he has sometimes conducted himself, I certainly never bought into the ridiculous Republican Party stereotype of Jesse Jackson as a "race-hustling poverty pimp".

However, as the Jackson-bashing continues I think it's important to remember other aspects of who Jackson is and the issues and causes that he has repeatedly championed throughout his career.

I live in the Chicago area and work downtown in the loop which is the heart of the downtown business area for those not familiar.  Until recently I was working in a building that has security in the form of doormen and women.  These folks sit and watch the doors, assist people with directions, help keep order at the elevators and such, just like most doormen.  The entrance that I always used was on the backside which sees a lot less traffic and has fewer elevators which often means you stand around waiting for an elevator.

The morning doorman for this entrance is an older African-American gentleman who has worked at the building for many years.  In over two years of working at the building he and I had usually never had more of a conversation other than how the local sports teams were doing, the weather, or just a polite "Hello" when I came through the lobby on my way to the elevators.

It's an early morning here at my desk, as I've just finished editing several of my team's articles. They are a team of student journalists, rising high school juniors and seniors, responsible, bright students of color. The children are the future, and many of these students will eventually make their impressions and contributions, with their pens in hand, and their ears tuned in to Hip-Hop music.

Tuesday, the rap legend NaS released his "Nigger" album, I haven't bought it yet, but my (blue, pink, green, red) friends who got it say it rocks, and I will buy it because NaS is my favorite rapper. I ask high schoolers what they think about the title and it doesn't really offend anybody. They don't want a white person calling them by that name, but most of these students call each other that. This is so passe.

It almost seems picture perfect that Reverend Jackson, who has so denounced the use of the so-called "nN" word, would be shown using it himself. And this latest shoe to drop reveals what we young ones have known all along - that objections to the word are more about politics than pain.

I don't know about you, but I am here to say, "ENOUGH, JUST ENOUGH".

Here is a man who had a courageous and well weathered time in the media.  We all know that Jackson is and never will be one to shy away from the spotlight.

Why?

It has always been his best friend, advocate until now.

loose lips, will always sink your ship

Problems in America — Solutions for America!

(For the rest of this article, which uses that N-word, please see http://genelalor.com/...

Jesse Jackson is not without his problems, but he's been a Lion of the Civil Rights movement, a pain in the Right's Rear End, and a far more tasteful dresser than Al Sharpton, so I've always liked him.  When O'Reilly broke the tape, that didn't change.  Instead, what caught my attention was the way Fox News was presenting the material.  It was out of context and obviously edited to remove a section tape.  Why?

O'Reilly's explanation was that the edited section was immaterial to the discussion of intergenerational conflict within the African-American community.  A topic on which he has reported with so much passion in the past.  He said:

"We're not out to get Jesse Jackson.  We're not out to embarrass him...if we were, we would have used what we have"
[emphasis mine]

It was at that moment that I knew he was out to get Jesse Jackson.  

At he beginning of the show Studio B with Shepard Smith today, with the chyron of "WHAT ELSE JESSE JACKSON SAID ON THAT FNC TAPE" Smith began with "Jesse Jacksons other remark's about Barack Obama, what you have heard so far is just the beginning."

    There is a saying in the black community that blacks cannot improve as a people because like crabs in a barrel whenever one tries to climb out of the barrel the other ones will pull him back down. The reaction of some of the so-called black leaders to the success of Senator Barack Obama seems to bear out this analogy. It seems like the closer he gets to making history the more the "haters" try to sabotage him. The sad part about this whole episode is that the same leaders who are critical of the Senator today, should he get elected will be at the White House the day after the inauguration looking for handouts.

(cross posted at docudharma)

The real issue is not the New Yorker and what its editors and artists consider satire. I wish it were. But look at the News Headlines for the last weeks. Which Candidate has been in the news? Which Candidate has made a "flub" more often? Which candidate has had a member of his "team" or a famous supporter make a flub. Which candidate has been labeled as having an erosion in his support?

Do you see where I am going?

Senator Obama's Father's Day speech has been catching a lot of heat because some African Americans feel that he was "talking down" to them, or "airing family business" or "trying to impress the white people." It goes beyond that. Who would have more credibility than a Barack Obama on an issue like absentee fathers? He wrote a book about him trying to find his identity and talks about how he didn't know his father outside of what his mother told him, and what he could remember himself wasn't placing him in the most flattering light to the point where his mother would have him change what he wrote. Senator Obama didn't know his father, and had he not had the mother that he had and the opportunities that she and his grandparents fought for he would not be where he is today.

Jesse Jackson called Obama a

"Ni**er and a half breed" & F*ckin half breed Ni**er

(amongst other terrible things) on Fox TV last week, according to James Mtume, co-host (along with fellow co-host Bob Slade, Judge Bob Pickett, and guest Felipe Luciano) of the Open Line Show on WRKS, KISS FM in NYC, at 10:20am Sunday morning.

Yes! That's what he reported!

Now for those who don't know. OPEN LINE, is a highly rated Sun morning Community/black affairs show. All the big politicians (including our Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, but not Hillary Clinton, go figure), media personalities, progressive blacks/Latinos and activist appear on this dynamic show.

As you can imagine, this top rated shows host are totally in tune with the black community, its activist, entertainers, politicians and various personalities, in the nations largest media market. They've interviewed all of them, and they in return, seek to be on the show, when anyone of them wamts to speak directly to the black community in NY. If anybody has that contact, they would!

I feel Jesse Jackson’s pain.

He finds himself in hot water for recent comments he made, thinking they were off the record, stating he wanted to castrate Barack Obama for "talking down to black people" in addressing his plans for expanding the Bush faith-based social services initiative.

Jackson’s words were, of course, disgusting and unacceptable, and he has – rightly – apologized. I think, though, I understand from where his fury is derived, and it goes way beyond anything Obama may have said regarding faith-based initiatives.

The first thing I heard was the CNN teaser “Jesse Will Neuter Obama.”
I was really scared.  I knew Barack was in pretty darn good shape, but against Jesse?
To drop that guy he’d need a pretty big sling shot.

When I asked a friend, “What’s all this fuss about Jesse threatening to make Barack sing Soprano? Isn’t that unfair – an underweight Senator against a professional wrestler?” My friend screamed back,  “WHAT? No stupid – not THAT Jesse -  JACKSON Jesse.”
“Oh… then never mind - Barack can take THAT guy – the man must be as old as McCain.” My friend walked away, apparently late for some appointment.

So anyway, I decided to look more deeply into the story.  First of all, it turned out that my friend was correct. The story was about Rainbow Jesse – not Black and Blue Jesse (who’s also back in the news lately – something about Minnesota)

As Dan Balz points out in his blog, Jesse Jackson did Barack Obama a big favor this week. The timing was great, as it moves the discussion away from FISA. Not only did it help Obama counter a dangerous stereotype, but it helped him emphasize one of the strong points in his standard speech: personal responsibility.