Hold on just one damn minute...

[Analogman]

A breakthrough in journalism. I weep for the fact that Edward R. Murrow was not able to interview H.L. Mencken via hologram.

 

The dude on CNN who was in charge of it said he had been working on it for over a decade.

[Elixir Sue]

The dude on CNN who was in charge of it said he had been working on it for over a decade.

Seriously? Wasn't there an Elvis concert years ago using a hologram, or did I dream that?

[Analogman]

Seriously? Wasn't there an Elvis concert years ago using a hologram, or did I dream that?

 

That, I have never heard of - but then, I don't know much Elvis trivia.

[Guest Jules]

Wow you really are a douche. And here I thought it was just an act.

Oh, please. I'm a lot of things, but I don't think douche is one of them. Don't take everything so seriously.

[Sir Stewart]

Bulworth:

Eliminate.

 

Connie:

Who?

Rich people?

 

Bulworth:

White people.

 

Bulworth:

Black People, too.

Brown people,

Yellow people.

Get rid of 'em all.

 

Connie:

Get rid of them all?

 

Bulworth:

We need a voluntary, free Spirited,

compatible, open ended program of

procreative racial deconstruction.

 

Connie:

Uh...

 

Bulworth:

Everybody just got to keep fucking everybody

till we're all the same color.

[Guest Jules]

douche.i.am

[Party @ the Moontower]

Yup, I agree. It is historically significant, of course, but it is far more significant, in my opinion, that he wasn't elected because of his race, despite his race, but more with complete disregard for it.

 

Great post .

 

I am so pleased to see him win by running such an honest and healthy campaign. McCain/Palin made me sick to my stomach with all their negative jive. I see Obama as a wonderful and intelligent man, not a fast talking typical politician that runs on lies and empty promises. He has given us a great example to follow in our day to day lives. I may put up an American flag for the 1st time ever in my life. I always associated it with racist country folks that run on empty pride and false patriotic bull. Now, I believe in this country and it's people.

[Edie]

Things I meant to say today:

 

I didn't mind Michelle Obama's dress. Probably not my first choice, but she has a great bod and pulled it off.

 

I enjoyed the brief posting stylings of Reni and hope she isn't a stranger

 

Great post .

 

Agreed --

 

So what has been going on on that white supremacist board you are on from time to time? I am so nervous about him in large crowds

[Party @ the Moontower]

I think Michelle's dress was interesting and hope she continues to surprise us. Beats all the damn suits we saw Palin and Cindy wearing..yuck! I'm sure we will see great work from her unlike Bush's wife. Haven't seen much of her at all. I heard she is dumping Bush when his time is up in the WH.

[Party @ the Moontower]

Things I meant to say today:

 

I didn't mind Michelle Obama's dress. Probably not my first choice, but she has a great bod and pulled it off.

 

I enjoyed the brief posting stylings of Reni and hope she isn't a stranger

 

 

 

Agreed --

 

So what has been going on on that white supremacist board you are on from time to time? I am so nervous about him in large crowds

 

 

See it here You can no longer view the message board unless you sign in. I was afraid to do this. I guess they have a connection to the skin heads that were plotting to kill Obama??? I'm sure they also know their jive could get them in big trouble now that O is prez!See news story on the connection

[EL the Famous]

Calm down. I just think we would be remiss not to acknowledge the historical significance of this election, along with the impressive (IMO) character and qualifications that Obama the candidate has shown.

 

perfectly calm. I just think we would be remiss not to acknowledge the impressive (IMO) character and qualifications that Obama the candidate has shown, along with acknowledgement (versus more focus on) the historical significance of this election. and (still calm) i know i don't and i'm pretty sure no one on VC needed a slide show to remind me of our country's struggles w/ segregation and racism. still calm, but i do have to say, whether directed at my post or not, the lynching pic was completely unneccesary. to say it or any of the other pictures was overstating the obvious was an understatement.

 

look, i'm perfectly open to the prospect my perception of the media's focus on race is just that, my perception. how important the black vote, the hispanic vote, the youth vote was to his victory...the camera crews stationed at black churches/colleges/jesse jackson's tear ducts...the earlier punditry that white people could change their mind about voting for a black man once they get into the booth...whatever. again, i know you can't ignore it and i'd sure as hell never suggest anyone forget it...i just thought that (IMO) there was too much focus on it and that is at least slightly counterproductive to the fact we've moved that far beyond it.

 

and...

 

Yup, I agree. It is historically significant, of course, but it is far more significant, in my opinion, that he wasn't elected because of his race, despite his race, but more with complete disregard for it.

 

and what MattZ said was exactly what i meant. and, quite frankly, obama's message itself was/is a perfect example of acknowledgement of the historical aspect of his election w/out too much focus on it. again, my desire to truly try and move past it is completely different that claiming it doesn't exist or asking anyone to forget it existed. as far as what makes it truly historical, for me, it was the first time in my life i really saw a poltician transcend politics and (at leaset seemingly) mobilize and energize folks to take ownership of something...equally as historic relative to just how divided of a country we've become.

 

i'm truly blown away by how his message and the way he presented all but made any shread of worry of his race being a deterrent from his electibility dissapear the most impressive thing of all. i just didn't think the media placed the proper priority on that versus 'black president'. that's all.

[Edie]

So much for playing with your kids and reading a comic, EL

[EL the Famous]

So much for playing with your kids and reading a comic, EL

 

a black person hanging from a tree will do that to me.

[renic]

for those interested here are the pics my friend took while we walked through the rally. i got some really incredible audio that i will be putting together in the next few weeks.

 

fwiw the man that i'm hugging near the end was a man whose son had been killed in may of last year on a cta bus. he was 17 yrs old & had died saving a friends life. the father spoke about how it would've been his sons first election & how barack had called him to offer his condolences & spoke to him about the violence amongst school aged kids that had been gripping the city at the time. it was powerful stuff.

[Edie]

Yeah, that was pretty shocking -- I was at work. While seeing images like that are very shocking, it's important to realize that lynching isn't just a word.

 

Very eloquent post btw.

[renic]

in one of the things i recorded, during mccain's speech where he talks about african american's not feeling they had a voice or something to that effect, the kid next to me screamed, "hey that was me!"

[bobbob1313]

Yup, I agree. It is historically significant, of course, but it is far more significant, in my opinion, that he wasn't elected because of his race, despite his race, but more with complete disregard for it.

 

I would say judging by the large group of young black kids partying in the housing quad of school last night that there is at least a segment of the population that did in fact vote for him because he is black.

 

Maybe race is an issue for my generation, then.

[Party @ the Moontower]

here are the pics

 

 

Great pics renic. Glad you got to experience such an amazing scene.

[Good Old Neon]

From Andrew Sullivan's blog:

 

From that part of America McCain and Palin do not consider real:

 

[Party @ the Moontower]

I would say judging by the large group of young black kids partying in the housing quad of school last night that there is at least a segment of the population that did in fact vote for him because he is black.

 

Maybe race is an issue for my generation, then.

 

Really? I was partying last night as well???? Can they have more than 1 reason to vote for him? Had it been Jesse Jackass running or some other dumb black dude you would not see the same turnout by black people.

[bobbob1313]

Really? I was partying last night as well???? Can they have more than 1 reason to vote for him? Had it been Jesse Jackass running or some other dumb black dude you would not see the same turnout by black people.

 

Oh, I know, I know. I hate Barack Obama and will do anything to tear him down.

 

In my opinion, there are still segments of the population that did vote for or against him because of his race. One of those segments appears to be a little more vocal about it.

 

I mean, one of the black kids I work with came in today and said "We won". All I could think of was that old Chris Rock joke about the OJ Trial:

 

"'WE WON! WE WON!'

 

'What the fuck did we win? I'm still waiting on my OJ prize!'"

[EL the Famous]

I would say judging by the large group of young black kids partying in the housing quad of school last night that there is at least a segment of the population that did in fact vote for him because he is black.

 

Maybe race is an issue for my generation, then.

 

i don't doubt that some people did vote for or against him based on that fact, but it isn't the only...nor the most significant reason to why he was elected. he could not win solely on the 'black vote'. also, i'll see your quad house party and raise you a grant park of every race, sex, sexual orientation under the sun. catch my drift?

 

race will always be an issue, i will say i have your back on the extent to which it's an issue for your generation. i really do agree it's as significant as you say it is. i see it too. some folks, quite blunty, don't really want to see it become insignificant to you...and if one wants equality, i find that boggling.

[bobbob1313]

i don't doubt that some people did vote for or against him based on that fact, but it isn't the only...nor the most significant reason to why he was elected. he could not win solely on the 'black vote'. also, i'll see your quad house party and raise you a grant park of every race, sex, sexual orientation under the sun. catch my drift?

 

race will always be an issue, i will say i have your back on the extent to which it's an issue for your generation. i really do agree it's as significant as you say it is. i see it too. some folks, quite blunty, don't really want to see it become insignificant to you...and if one wants equality, i find that boggling.

 

I hope it didn't come off like I was saying he won because of his race, because that's obviously not true. I'd say his race was a wash. And I know that I contradicted myself there by saying that people of my generation did vote for him because of his race, but I still maintain that on the whole, just as those only represent a tiny fragment of the voting block, they only represent a tiny fragment of my generation as well.

 

The thing I'm most impressed with is the youth turnout. We really cared this time around. My biggest fear with an Obama presidency is that it'll crash and burn and all of the excitement that my generation has for him and for politics right now will be replaced by apathy if things don't get better. That would be a tragedy.

 

Let's get right down to it:

 

He won because the last 8 years have been pretty crappy and because when you have a two term president, the other party almost always takes back control of the White House (Bush 41 notwithstanding because the country was riding so high off Reagan).

 

The economy also stinks, and the republicans have gotten most of the blame for it. That probably helped more than anything.

 

He ran a nice campaign and he did manage to mostly stay above the shit that McCain was throwing, but that's because he was running so high that he didn't need to go down there. He could afford to stay above it because he didn't have anything to gain from it.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Oh, I know, I know. I hate Barack Obama and will do anything to tear him down.

 

In my opinion, there are still segments of the population that did vote for or against him because of his race. One of those segments appears to be a little more vocal about it.

 

I mean, one of the black kids I work with came in today and said "We won". All I could think of was that old Chris Rock joke about the OJ Trial:

 

"'WE WON! WE WON!'

 

'What the fuck did we win? I'm still waiting on my OJ prize!'"

 

Chris, I remember riding to work listening to news radio (WBBM 780, back in the Felicia Middlebrooks era) about the senate race between Jack Ryan and this other dude with a funny name, in the late spring of 2004. Before his DNC speech, people were saying this man will be our first black president. And I thought they were full of shit. News radio pundits are no strangers to hyperbole, and the race between he and Jack Ryan was going to be close as hell. But even then, before he was even NEAR the Senate, people were saying that. Yeah, you have to be black to be the first black president, but we've had tons of people that fit the bill who haven't been presidential - people were saying this because of who he was.

 

Well, Jack Ryan has funny tastes in sexual practices, Barack gave this speech at a convention and now we have a black president. He owes his rise to a tremendous amount of luck, but also a tremendously well-run trajectory.

 

And you're bored.

 

And THAT is what is so awesome about all of this. I don't care if he's a lousy president, I don't care if he lies as much as the next guy (he can't lie as much as the current guy), he's here. And you're bored now. And THAT'S how far we've come - it wasn't just the people who cried last night, and it wasn't the people who have donated their money and their time since 2006 to make this happen: one of the biggest reasons why he's on his way to the White House is because people like you see him as politics as usual. Twenty years ago he was too unusual; forty years ago he would have been labeled a radical or an enemy of the state before he could make his 30th sign.

 

It will be YEARS before we have an openly GLBT presidential candidate, or any number of other minorities still, but I assure you that when we do, the people who cry and the people who party way past their bedtime will be just as great in number as the people who thought that candidate was just as bad as the other guy. Until that happens, we probably can't make history.

[Party @ the Moontower]

Will someone bump my star status up a bit? How's that work anyway. I've been good haven't I? How does one achieve a 5 star status on VC?