Jack & Jill Politics

I really wish Michelle would wear wedges instead of flats....so much more flattering.

I know this thread is old news now, but I've just been going through my feed reader and I have to say - that is one sharp photo of Michelle O!!!!!!

OK...I just gotta throw out his thought which hit me tonight as I watched this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbDkPYd-rQk&eurl...

What struck me was the Temptations steps...notice how they did a toe heel tap to the beat? It is sooooo understated!!! I noted how it was sooo sedate to appeal to white audiences,. Which made me reflect on the marketing genius of Barry Gordy...and how he made the body movements of his groups appeal to whites...and of course that got me to extrapolate to Obama.

Now Gordy did what he did to appeal to the masses in terms of comportment and gyration ..which made me think of Obama and his oration and demeanor...ALLof which is so understated that folks want to say he ain't black

But the truth is the Temptations were black and so is Obama...we simply, i.e. mainstream ain't ready for the Funkadelics...but it don't mean he ain't all that cause he is!!!

rikyrah: PRESIDENT OBAMA graces another cover:

Obama In Vanity Fair: Annie Liebovitz Pictures (PHOTO)

President Obama graces the March cover of Vanity Fair and is featured inside the magazine in a portfolio called "Enter Obama," shot by Annie Leibovitz on Inauguration Day in Washington.

There are also photos inside of his team and a portrait of Caroline and Ted Kennedy, seen below.

Read about Annie Leibovitz's shoot.

See the portfolio of Obama's team:

As America thrilled to the inauguration of its 44th president and a new First Lady, the West Wing was filling with a kaleidoscopic army of policy aces, whiz kids, and veteran advisers, all focused on the long-haul, no-drama work to which Barack has called them.

Just soooo PROUD OF HIM/FAMILY!! :>) :>)

Hail to the Chief - Obama :>) :>)

icebergslim: APOLOGIES. I did NOT see THIS B4 I posted! :>) BIG OOOPS! :>)

rikyrah: He's the VID of Billary - O.K. - Hillary "DISSIN' BILL!! :>)

VIDEO: Hillary thanks Bill

THIS is 2-COLD!! :>) :>)

Bill was MAJOR ROUGE! :>) :>)

Barack Obama sings Jackie Wilson

Ha! This video is sooo clever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnGc3mI7YKw

spirit: LOL! :>) It is VERY CLEVER!! THANKS 4 "bringin' it! :>) :>)

I still have this 45 from my "teen-age years!" :>)

so what

So Judd Gregg will be nominated for Commerce Secretary. Any thoughts?

I don't like him making demands when it comes to who should get his seat.

As a non black, I am very curious of your thought on this article about our President.
Angela

"by Michele Elam, 1/30/09

Contact Information
melam@stanford.edu


Why Obama is Black Again - by Michele Elam
Return to Thinking Twice Forum

Add a Comment

Barack Obama’s inauguration was for so many an awe-inspiring, historic and transnational event: It was full of grand pageantry and a good-humored pomp and circumstance that made D.C. the place to be. People were called together in many ways, and one of the more important ways they were asked to unite was over the contentious matter of race.

But it is worthwhile noting that this unlikely racial consensus was achieved through a strategic kind of absenting: Gone from the inaugural coverage were all the hand-wringing equivocations preceding the Democratic nomination about whether Obama’s person and politics went “beyond race” (and if that was a good thing or not), whether he even met the minimum standards for blackness (it was never clear who got to wield this racial measuring stick), or whether he was capitalizing on what novelist Danzy Senna calls the “mulatto millennium” of mixed-race celebrities.

Remember back when Barack was not yet vetted as black? Journalist Jonathan Weisman commented that Obama “is much more white than black.” Conservative radio show host Glenn Beck called Obama “colorless,” saying that he “might as well be white.” Rush Limbaugh daily replayed “Barack the Magic Negro,” a ditty set to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” written and performed by a white man mimicking the Rev. Al Sharpton complaining that Obama was not “authentically black.” Perhaps most humorously, African American commentator Debra Dickerson, appointing herself the gatekeeper of blackness, told a skeptical Stephen Colbert that Obama was not black at all according to her criteria. (To which Colbert responded that he was terribly disappointed; he had been so looking forward to voting for a black person).

So it is all the more striking that Obama was brought so firmly back into the racial fold—symbolically blessed first with Congressman John Lewis’ placement of Obama within the arc of the civil rights struggle in his Democratic National Convention speech, then anointed by the divine concordance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on the eve of his inauguration, and finally given a benediction by the civil rights icon Pastor Joseph Lowery that opened with lines from “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song often referred to as the “Negro National Anthem.”

When Obama became president, Barack became black again.

How did this happen? What does it mean?

This consensus about just who Obama is serves its purposes—America unites over the idea of “the first black president.” The ritual and spectacle of the music, the mega-screens, the invocations, the prayers and the poems, played and replayed around the world, formed the powerful collective representation of Obama as both president and black. At least for the moment, his political and racial statuses are unimpeachable. The inauguration was the climax of his transformation from a black suspect, to a suspect black, to mixed-race cosmopolitan, to MLK’s heir to, finally, America’s Native Son.

It is a story that both includes and excludes; as Toni Morrison advises in her essay “Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature,” it is always important to consider what is “not there” in a narrative, for “certain absences are so stressed, so ornate, so planned they call attention to themselves … like neighborhoods that are defined by the population held away from them.”

Obama may well be figured as the main character in a shared national vision of unity, but it is important to see when and where that empowering image of communion might sometimes be enabled through the suppression of competing voices, whether they be disagreements over race, gay civil rights or anything else perceived as a challenge to the hope and the dream. Indeed, the tableaux of togetherness on the National Mall threw into greater relief HBO’s drop of the live broadcast of gay Episcopalian Bishop V. Gene Robinson’s pre-inauguration invocation.

These representations of Obama are all, to some degree, revelatory of our contemporary national neuroses, fantasies and investments in race. The welter of conflicting and competing images of him in text, on screen, on stage, online and in his own memoirs reflects the imaginative processes and narratives by which social realities are made and unmade. They both point to and produce changing commitments to particular ideas of race, to the sway of some racial stories over others.
Often when we talk about race, scholars reference—and rightly—the sobering health, economic and incarceration statistics associated with African American life and death. The potent images of Obama’s inauguration also suggest that overcoming racism is not simply a matter of recognizing and righting structural inequities but also, as W.E.B. Du Bois argued repeatedly, of exploring how profoundly representation shapes the national psyche.

My biggest question about this article is why it poses race as an issue? As an AA, I know that race in terms of our society is not about skin but about culture and more importantly how WHITE society perceives you.

Hence, my first question is has the criteria for being black in AMERICA changed? Can a person who is visually black proclaim to be other than black?

If not,what is the point of the article?

Blacks do not proclaim themselves as black, rather society treats them with all the discrimination and shunning that it means to be black in America. Which is the reason that Obama claims blackness. America treated him as black,.\\

Thati is the issue that needs to addressed. Is American ready to treat a person who is not melanin challenged as 'non-black' without all the discrimation and stigma that has traditional come with a darker skin tone?

The very fact that the article poses race as an issue means that skin tone is STILL a factor. Is it?

oh god almighty....as a Native American I would love to have this discusion with you.. I cannot lead the discussion, I might be able to participate.

I have learned that only your people can make it happen.

take care
Angela

I was looking at something else and just happened to catch this little tidbit. Someone f*cking alert Andy Card.

Suppose SHE respects the 'office of the president' or "the judicial system?"

"Tot mom wears suit in court - Casey Anthony, charged with murdering her daughter Caylee, appears in court wearing shackles and a suit."

rikyrah: This is a little on the FIRST LADY's ADDRESS, until a VID appears:

FLOTUS begins listening tour


In a visit to the Department of Education Monday afternoon, Michelle Obama promised her husband’s administration. . .

would be “making investments”in education as a way of rebooting the economy.

“With these investments, we’re going to create good jobs, as we renovate and modernize more than 10,000 schools and improve the learning environment for about 5 million children across this country,” she said.

Obama pledged to visit other cabinet departments and agencies in the coming weeks as part of a listening tour of her husband’s administration.

“I’m going to spend the next several weeks or months…going from agency to agency, just to say hello, to learn, to listen, to take information back where possible,” Obama said. “My task here is to say thank you and roll up your sleeves, because we have a lot of work to do.”

Introducing the First Lady, Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the first couple as constructive role models for children.

Duncan predicted kids would say: "I want to be smart like the President, I want to be smart like the First Lady."

I'll try to get the VID. Ms. Technologically-Challenged, GLH :>)

I dig what The First Lady is doing here. I can't even begin to express my love for her hands on approach to things. She's just practical, smart and committed to making good things happen. I'm proud of her.

SDG: ABSOLUTELY!! :>) :>)

She's SHOWIN' the WORLD that she is CARVIN' out HER PLACE in the sun! :>)

Great on HER! :>)

God Bless her! :>)

Okay,

This is just stupid, and beneath Karen Tumulty @ Time:

Don't Go There, Mr. President

It's so obvious, Obama was not talking about Jessica Simpson's weight. He was just reading off the headline in response to Matt Laur's stupid question. Obama has more important things to do than be bothered with Jessica's Simpson's dumb azz.

ALERT!!

Barack Obama doesn't give a good got damn about Jessica Simpson and her blond beauty! When you see him touching on somebody, he's touching on his BLACK wife!

Are you kidding me? Like President Obama gives a d#mn about a dumb blond that doesn't know the difference between tuna & chicken! GMAB!

Like he gives a rat's a$$ about Jessica Simpson when he has so many challenges ahead of him.

Along with the mainly white MSM perceptions of body image that is "beauty."

Funny for all the standards of beauty black folks have appropriated and projected onto ourselves (hair, skin, nose, etc.) brothas still love a phat ass...that's like the universal diaspora standard.

From the New Republic:

Michael Who?
Team Obama isn't too interested in discussing the new Republican Party chairman, as was evident at today's WH press briefing:

Q Michael Steele, you guys didn't come out with a statement on Michael Steele. Why? What is -- has the President reached out to Michael Steele? He has made several comments about the President, to include: "How do you like me now?" He is the other African American now heading a major party in this country.

MR. GIBBS: I would direct him to somebody over at the DNC.


--Michael Crowley
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archiv...

W00t hilarous comment from tnr

"He actually said "how you like me now?" I noticed because in the links from the last Steele blog post he was quoted as calling Bush his homeboy. I'm not sure if he's intentionally talking like a black teenager from the 80s or if he's just very un-self-conscious but either way I think it'd be really fun seeing how his fellow Republicans react to it."

I love me some Robert Gibbs. He has to call out Major Garrett from Faux News all the time.

I love how Ms. OBama is just taking it all in.

There was much Hoopla about the first picture of Obama sitting in the Oval Office because he did not (gasp) have on a jacket! I guess now we know why :)

She totally has a "This ish right here gots ta go!" look.

Town: Annnnnnd, she's gonna put errything that she's tossing in a box - -"To the Left"

ENJOY! :>)

Littlestar: HEY!!! :>)

Ima bet she's thinkin':

-This carpeting - - - GOT! TA! GO!!

-That DESK! - - - - GOT! TA! GO!!

-That painting - - - GOT! TA! GO!!

Annnnnnd, Ima bring in some AFRICAN ART - - - UP! IN! HERE!! :>)

***shakin' HER head*** :>) :>)

I would LOOOVE to see some Kenyan art up in that piece:)

Littlrstar: Here's one piece: TRAVEL

ENJOY!! :>)

It is so surreal....watching VP Biden swear in Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Who would have thunk it?? 2 former candidates for the presidency...now one is the VP and the other the Secretary of State...and I don't think ANYONE could have pulled this off other than President Barack Obama.

One talking point down for the Repubs...NEXT:

CBO Report: 78 percent of the stimulus would impact within two years.

LOL. Now the CBO won't be mentioned.

Eric Holder confirmed.

Now confirm Hilda Solis!!

History in the making.

1st African American Attorney General of the United States.

I'll bet KKK running scared now. N****rs running the country, N****rs running the legal system. Like that Dave Chapelle skit: their heads are exploding as we speak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGLhx3oiU3M

Chuck D was right

Sure it is!

Did you know D.C. area has a KKK chapter?

I'm not surprised. Some members of Congress were active members of the KKK, they may have started in the South, but they have deciminated(sp ?) everywhere.

Noo - I apologize... I went too far north into Maryland. It was Maryland but the chapter is called 'Four States'...

Here's the map I was looking at; interesting.

LMAO!!!

Miranda: Yaaa! 75 - 21!! :>)

I am beginning to be concerned that President Obama administrative style is turning into a potential nightmare for him. He appears to be appointing to many chefs to the pot and some of them lack good sense. Tom Dashcle doesn't have the sense to pay his taxes after Tim Geithner is busted. Sec of State Clintons are engaged in power grabbing by appointing people in fields traditionally not part of State's purview(economics)
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2009/...
Some I know are because President Obama wants to have close policy control; George Mitchell as special envoy for Israel and Palestine. Some of my concern is I do not trust anybody involved w/ the Clintons.
But what I am seeing is too many people w/ knowledge and not the requisite political skills(Geithner and Daschle) or knowledge and questionable administrative skills(Clintons, Geithner and Daschle). Am I jumping the gun?

I also get the feeling that there are too about too many chefs to the pot but I realize that because the problems we face are so complex, that he want them to be assigned to a particular area. . For example, Gates wants the Secretary of State to take over in the economic realm. In the Bush administration the Defense Dept. was responsible for that.

You are jumping the gun. He has his loyalists in those locations ... At the Sec of State -- there is a need for economists to administer aid to countries etc. My feeling is Hillary needs to succeed at that position for her own legacy, so give her the tools to manage the programs, and on policy Hillary and Barack are quite close -- their styles are different politically. Luckily SOS is not a political position. ;)

Daschle is a monster political in-fighter, you need him, plus he's one of the people who helped Obama in 04 onward.

I wouldn't say Daschle doesn't have political skills...the man was once the Senate Majority leader.

And as far as George Mitchell, the man has a record of helping to forge peace and reconciliation....and his Lebanese descent is an asset in negotiating peace in the Arab/Muslim/Jewish conflicts.

Now I will say this, these "tax episodes" are distracting and give fodder to those who want to discredit Obama....but one thing has always been true....Republicans/conservatives have always known how to create scandals and spread sensationalism when it comes to Democrats....and they are very good sticking to the message and talking points/ creating faux outrage/ and appearing all over television and controlling the media's story for the day.

Yeah tax issues are negatives; however, everyone has their issues.. remember Rezko for Obama.

Clinton had monster issues; however, politically no one was going to go after her -- these other folks don't have the same political muscle as Clinton and to a lessor extent Daschle.

Thanks JJP massivefor all the prayers for my mom . We arent out of the woods yet. But I trust that God will be merciful.

Trumystique: I've put her on the "prayer list" at my church! God Bless!

GOP Sen. Judd Gregg, revealed an apparent deal by which his Senate seat would stay out of Democratic hands. "I have made it clear to the Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle and to the governor that I would not leave the Senate if I felt my departure would cause a change in the makeup of the Senate," Gregg said in a statement.
Isn't this Pay To Play?

Either he takes the job or not, putting conditions on it seems to be trading something for something.

How is this different than what Blogo did?

I just asked the same question. That's why I said from the beginning, the charges against Blago were more theatre than law.

Blago tried to sell the seat not "log-roll", stop being dense folks.

Where's the evidence besides a lot of shit talking on the phone? Check the charges, he was not charged with trying to sell the Senate seat. Why?

Why? b/c there are plenty of other things Blago did that were even worse -- like shake down the Tribune, and demand quid pro quo donations to his re-election fund.

Hey some folks still believe Clinton "did not have sexual relations with that woman.." b/c "sexual relations" in a strict intrepretation means sexual intercourse and not fellatio.

Piepiepie: LOL!!! You put it out there! :>)

***shakin' my head***

BUT, NOT waggin' my fanga! :>)

It's that locker room kind of mentality, I tell ya. Lookit how Michelle is leaning against that chair. She's not respecting the chair, and she's not respecting the Oval Office! She's got that kind of a militant stance and looks kind of angry. A TOTAL disrespect of the Oval Office, the White House and yes, the United States at Large.

Exactly what I thought....no respect for that chair. And look at those FEET! Peer unadulterated lack of respect for the rug!

Although she looks to me like she's laughing or smiling. Another despicable sign of disrespect for Oval Office and the oval rug.

Town: Annnnnnnd THIS IS PRECISELY "WHYCOME" WE don't want THEIR KIND in OUR - - -er, -ummmm - - THESE POSITIONS!!

***shakin' my head*** :>) :>)

Ya think THAT'S bad...just wait until the Prez puts that zodiac calendar from the 70s up on the wall.

And the zodiac calendar will stay on the month of August for his full term in office cause that's the month of the POTUS b-day.

http://www.greatdreams.com/lebanon/lebanon_baal...

Caption: I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!

I hope I don't hafta to pay for my work computer.

Someone forgot their 'Spew ALERT!'

The Onion needs to be on this. This is too good to pass up.

What kind of incense you think the Prez burns up in the Oval Office??

I know what I would've done as soon as the Bushes were out of the house - taken sage thru every damned room. Then just for extra kick, I woulda called up one of my women priest buddies and had an exorcism. Maybe on the front lawn before the barbecue.

I'm also thinking something reminiscent of the 'product' Michael Phelps was recently caught promoting - or not - just to drive folks crazy.

Vanilla, maybe - it has that zen quality.

LOL....you need a true Gullah woman from down in South Carolina...they know the best potions.

LMBAO! Ok, at least the chair's wearing a suit jacket. LOL!

And look at how she has her legs crossed...the horror! Doesn't she know that she has to stand perfectly straight at attention at all times.

Disgraceful, I tell you. Just disgraceful.

Oh no, he's has his jacket off again. And Michelle leaning against the furniture

Teh Horror, TEH HORROR I SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111

And notice how she's scoping out the Oval Office, judging the worthiness of its contents. AS IF she deserves to redecorate! W's hand-me-downs are good enough. Uppity!!

Them damn elitists....I tell ya......LOL

LOL