‘merica

Obama should say: “I hear people saying I don’t deserve being president because I haven’t served in Washington as long as some of my opponents. I reiterate: I view this, and I think the American people are ready to view this, as a competitive advantage at this stage in the game. And if you still want to say that I don’t have the experiencee, then I would only refer you to my opponent’s experience, and say that Affirmative Action is a better reason to vote for somebody than nepotism!

Normally when there’s a good story, I just link to it. But this is so good, I am posting it here. I’ve been to a lot of “spiritual leadership retreats” where the leaders of the progressive or environmental or spiritual activism communities talk about how they wish they, or “the left,” or “the movement” could claim the mantle of God from the Republicans et al. Well, read this little story people, and tell me what you think. I think it portends big things for our country, not to mention Obama’s candidacy.

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) — After speaking to an evangelical church on Sunday in this traditionally conservative South Carolina city, Sen. Barack Obama said that Republicans no longer have a firm grip on religion in political discourse.

“I think its important particularly for those of us in the Democratic party to not cede values and faith to any one party,” Obama told reporters outside the Redemption World Outreach Center where he attended services.

“I think that what you’re seeing is a breaking down of the sharp divisions that existed maybe during the nineties, when at least in politics the perception was that the Democrats were fearful of talking about faith, and on the other hand you had the Republicans who had a particular brand of faith that often times seemed intolerant or pushed people away,” he said.

Obama noted that he was pleased leaders in the evangelical community like T.D. Jakes and Rick Warren were beginning to discuss social justice issues like AIDS and poverty in ways evangelicals were not doing before.

“I think that’s a healthy thing, that we’re not putting people in boxes, that everybody is out there trying to figure out how do we live right and how do we create a stronger America,” Obama said.

During the nearly two hour service that featured a rock band and hip-hop dancers, Obama shared the floor with the church’s pastor, Ron Carpenter. The senator from Illinois asked the multiracial crowd of nearly 4,000 people to keep him and his family in their prayers, and said he hoped to be “an instrument of God.”

“Sometimes this is a difficult road being in politics,” Obama said. “Sometimes you can become fearful, sometimes you can become vain, sometimes you can seek power just for power’s sake instead of because you want to do service to God. I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God in the same way that Pastor Ron and all of you are instruments of God.”

He finished his brief remarks by saying, “We’re going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”

Asked by CNN if he talks about faith more in churchgoing South Carolina than he does in the other early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Obama said: “I don’t talk about it all the time, but when I’m in church I talk about it.”

So who is going to be President? I know it’s not going to be Joe Biden. But I am reasonably confident it’s not going to be Hilary Clinton. There just aren’t enough (any?) good reasons to vote for her. People need to connect with their President. Good or bad, it’s absolutely got to be somebody millions of people are interested in staring at for an hour. Maybe if she kept going in the direction she’s going, gained some weight, became more of a big tough old Mama figure, and worked that characature. You know, started wearing a mumu. But it can’t be Barack Obama. It’s not that he’s black or did coke, it’s that he’s made it with white women. That is not OK. But newly or soon-to-be widowed John Edwards? Insane, vain and grieving don’t go well together. But is it really going to be Rudy Guiliani?

From last 3 graphs of today’s Reuters:

Biden suggested Clinton’s experience as first lady in the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, when she tried unsuccessfully in the 1990s to reform health care, would hamper her effectiveness as a U.S. president.

“I’m not suggesting it’s Hillary’s fault. I think it’s a reality that it’s more difficult, because there’s a lot of very good things that come with all the great things that President Clinton did, but there’s also a lot of the old stuff that comes back,” Biden said.

As Clinton fixed a chilly stare on him, Biden hurriedly added: “When I say old stuff, I’m referring to policy, policy.”

I got an email from Babe the Blue Ox recently, and he said:

I write about the fatal weakness in the hillary candidacy. My thinking is that people really will vote for a woman, and the opponent will be weak, and everybody in America wishes her husband was still president. But, there is one potentially insurmountable obstacle: she has to have a running mate, and the public is going to experience deep mental trauma at the prospect of a man, any man, playing #2 to a woman. The juvenile american mind will see them as a kind of “couple,” and in that context she will be cemented as a ball-busting battle-axe, and the VP will carry a mantle of shame, and people will have a secret revulsion that will result in a last minute inability to pull the lever in the voting booth.

But I think the solution really is Obama. The reason is, his blackness, jackie robinson-ness, his “rock star-ness” (why does everyone say this “rock star” thing about him? Does it just mean he’s hot? He does have a kind of balls, I mean really in a sexual sense, that we haven’t seen since Kennedy. But mainly, I think there is a subtle displacement here, where “rock star” stands for the real referent “sports star.” The concepts of “Tiger Woods” and “Barack Obama” have secretly become confused in the collective psyche.), these category memberships overwhelm and obscure his “maleness,” so that hillary can get away with it.