¿Si, Se Puede? ¿Verdad?

Interestingly, as BHO begins the roll out of his national campaign, there is one constituency group that apparently is still not feeling the love: Hispanics. This is unacceptable. BHO's campaign staff have moved too slowly on reaching out to this community. I think that it was unwise to let the broader media cede the Hispanic community's support to HRC, but to still continue not addressing this issue is just dumb. And this is not a dumb campaign. BHO is going to need all of the Hispanic support he can get, and if the Hispanic media is not feeling as though they have access and some love, then he will have larger problems as we approach the November election. ¿Si, se puede? Es verdad!

For the Love of Forster

I've decided to make this an E.M. Forster summer for my reading pleasure. I recently started reading (again) A Room With A View, one of my favorite novels of all time. I will also roll through Maurice, Where Angels Fear to Tread and Howard's End. I think I will tackle finally A Passage to India, the only Forster novel I haven't directly engaged in some way. Finally, I am going to read Zadie Smith's On Beauty, which apparently was inspired by Howard's End. I don't think I've ever made a reading list for the summer; things change. If I commit myself to this roster of novels, then I will finish long before summer's end. And that's okay. This will be the year of the self indulgent Edwardian summer.

Y'all About to Get Told

An interesting phenomenon is happening as a result of BHO's ascension to the Democratic nomination: conservatives don't quite know what to say about him to help arrest his momentum in the electorate.

Some of the things that are emerging from Fox News are absolutely hilarious. First, there was the confusion about Michelle Obama giving her man dap before millions. That E.D. Hill of Fox actually pondered whether or not that hip hop/sports gesture of affection was "terrorist fist jab" had me howling out loud. Yet, I don't think she needed to lose her show. I'd much rather that she'd stayed on air for the receipt of proper ridicule from all corners of the media for a nice long time.

To add to the unnecessary drama that Fox News has brought upon itself, the organization decided to try its hand at a true ghetto-ism: referring to a potential First Lady as "Obama's baby mama." Does anyone think that it would have crossed the minds of any news producer to refer to Mrs. McCain in the same way? Now I am sure that some will point out that Michelle Obama has referred to her man as her "baby daddy" in public in the past, but my guess is that the audience would have been in on the joke, and the reference was in fact just that: a joke. I doubt that the Fox producer was going for the humor jugular when he/she put that moniker up.

So, I think we are in for a very interesting media ride as conservatives try to figure out ways to render the Obamas as alien from traditional American culture and values as they possibly can. Essentially, isn't the argument that they are black; therefore, they aren't really American. If conservatives keep up this potential line of argument, they will discover a new (to them) line right out of the handbook of most southern African American grandmothers: y'all about to get told.

Done

I am not quite sure what to say. I am in a state of disbelief, and what a good state it is. BHO knocked off HRC. I quietly hoped that he would pull it off, but I was not quite sure if it could be done. I'll be blunt: I feel so blessed to be an American living right now. BHO may lose in the general election, but the important fact is that he is in the dance. The ghosts of Jefferson, Jackson, FDR and Johnson (Lyndon) must be bemused by the spectre of BHO. I hope that they understand just how far the country they once led has come, particularly Jefferson. I am a happy man tonight. BHO, job well done!