I am starting a weekly post called the "The Reverend Jeremiah Wright You Are Not Helping!" Award.

This week's award goes to The Idiot Brother Heckling Obama in Florida.

Brother!  YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!!!

I love how Barack  handled it, he got all gangsta on the fool's ass!

Well it's finally happened...The John McCain campaign has gone dirty. John Mccain's all for it!  So much for the maverick, and the different kind of campaign.  After Obama did so well in Europe, McCain said " Well, ok, the only way I can beat him is by destroying his character. I don't have anything myself."  I wonder if he was smoking a cigarette lit by Satan when he decided to sell his soul.

Let's see he's called Obama, unpatriotic and a  traitor even. 

He's compared him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

Seriously.  I'm not making this up. I'm not embellishing. I don't need to, he's actually doing things this horrible. Honestly I didn't think he'd go so negative this early. I mean where can he go from here?  I guess he could come out with an ad claiming Obama will rape and impregnate all white daughters in America.  That could be lower.

Now McCain is accusing Obama of playing the race card.  Apparently Obama mentioning that he's different and that people might use it against him is off limits.  Preparing people against false attacks using the race card? 
I'm incredulous. But hey, negative attacks work right?

Well, ok, since McCain is going there. I say, let's go there too. I want Obama to feature ads highlighting McCain's age, his confusion, his lack of intellectual vigor .( Like creating an Iraq and Pakistan border when none exists) His unpatriotic votes against the troops.  ( He voted against the new GI Bill, because hey? who wants soldiers getting educated. We need them to run Iraq for the next 100 years.

Attack! Attack! Attack!

Also since Obama is such a celebrity in McCain's eyes, he should keep it up by meeting more people, having events in major cities across the country leading all the way to the convention in Denver. What about a surprise trip to support US Olympians? I say go with it. Americans love celebrities.

Speaking of that, how about a picture of Obama with Brad and Angelina's twins???

In case you've been under a rock for the past week, let me inform you Obama has been on a World Tour. All the cool kids went with him!!!
Can we be honest? Have you seen the pictures? Well, do you want that America? To be loved and adored.
Can you even imagine John McCain causing that kind of excitement and hope around the world? Gramps wouldn't even have the energy to  keep up.
This was my first and best reason for supporting Barack Obama's for President. He is the most likely to restore our image around the world.   If we are going to solve our really large problems, energy, fighting terrorism, creating more favorable trade agreements; we need the world's help or at least not open hostility.

Enough said.

Tonight I dreamed that I was in Iraq.  I wasn't a soldier, I was just a normal person visiting the first McDonald's in Iraq, run by a hardworking Iraqi woman who was frustrated but hopeful. I wished her the best as I left the building to meet my parents. My father opened the car and put the key in the ignition, then all of us suspecting a car bomb ran away from the car as quickly as possible. The car did indeed explode but we survived and tried to draw a few others to safety with us.

Psychologically, I know what this dream represents for me.  There are times when I feel like my life is chaos and I'm just doing my best to survive.  Hopefully I'll help a few people a long the way and be kind to others.  Perhaps that's really all we can ask.

Politically, this dream served as a reminder to me of how lucky I am.  I woke up from my dream but that is reality for millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, natives and soldiers, men and women and children.   When was the last time you saw something on the news about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

No, I'll wait.


Exactly. I am just as guilty of "war fatigue" as the rest of America. I've chosen to focus almost exclusively on the "horse race" element of the 2008 campaign. That's a mistake.
We must be vigilant that we don't forget the reasons this election is "historic" and a "change election" (whatever that means, every election is by definition a change election). If we stay focused on the reasons we need change in this country as opposed to the game of politics, I have no doubt we will be triumphant in November.

If you have HBO, and you enjoy history, I recommend the current miniseries John Adams. It's available On Demand as well. It's based on the book by David McCullough which I enjoyed immensely.  It's a little known fact but I am a history nerd. I am particularly in love with the American revolution. Maybe it's the Jefferson in me. Many of my ancestors were in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York during the time) Yeah, that's how far my Philly roots go back.  So far the miniseries has been amazingly objective and realistic. Which is why it's 8 hours long, but totally worth it.

In this time of "kitchen sink" politics, the drudge report, and Bill O'Reilly it's a welcome respite to watch a time when political discourse was truly valued and remember the battle for rights we take for granted.

Enjoy.

I must say it's encouraging that he is winning all these states. I've decided that I am refocusing my Ph.D program preference to schools in  states that went for Obama.  Which means Hello! Washington and Colorado, See Ya New York and California!  
I really think the fact that he is doing well in red and purple states continues to prove my point that he is a more viable candidate in the general election.

I'm going to pound this message home, because if I can change just one person's mind in a race this close it will be worth it.  Today's message of why Obama is a better candidate comes from conservative Peggy Noonan writing for the Wall Street Journal.

I actually laughed out loud at a David brooks column:
"Obama offers to defeat cynicism with hope. Apparently he’s going to turn politics into a form of sharing. Have you noticed that he’s actually carried into his rallies by a flock of cherubs while the heavens open up with the Hallelujah Chorus? I wonder how he does that."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/opinion/08brooks.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Ok, I'm hungover, so I'll make my analysis quick and easy

Clinton: White women, working class people, latinos, Coasts
Obama: White men, educated people, young people, black people, Middle of the country

McCain will win the Republican nomination.  I said it before, I'll say it again. If it's McCain/ Clinton McCain wins a landslide victory.  I hope Obama gets the nomination, but the old school establishment politics combined with Latinos nonsensical hatred of Black people will give Clinton just enough in the end. ( I think she will win Texas, which will decide it) And we shall see another Republican president, against all common sense.