InkogNegro 1.5

Pardon me while I sway wistfully about the complete absence of such sentiment in modern HipHop.

OK, I am back now.

So, after tonight’s woodshedding in Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia, Hillary will be emboldened and her supporters will ramp up their talking points.  At the very least, there will be calls for a unity ticket.  For many though, there will be calls that the presumptive Nominee is deeply Flawed and that something must be done to preserve victory.

Bottom line: He cannot win without her, He can only win WITH her (preferably with him and that loud-talking wife of his in the background keeping the black folk happy)

Flawed Numbers will be floated and Polls will be quoted and all this foolishness will drag on.

But now we have this unity ticket stuff to deal with.

She has half the party, HE has half the party…so put both halves together and we got the WHOLE party…right?

Um…no.  If ONLY it was that simple.

It ain’t.

It COULD have been…but THAT ship has long since sailed. (and mind you, they stopped adding on to this in FEBRUARY)

Unity…TRUE unity implies that you all have to be on the same page.  Its not enough to have the same goal.

Agreeing on going to Vegas from Dallas means nothing if one of you wants to hire a limo and one of you wants to take the bus.

Lawrence Lessig de-constructed this very well in his video

So um….yeah…Iono about all this unity talk.

So, now that the Rev. Wright foolishness has reached a (hopefully permanent) ending, they have turned to Michelle Obama.

This isn’t going to warrant a whole lot of energy in rebutting, but Folk just need to see this.

Thank you, God Bless, and Good night.

Ironically enough, as passionate as I am about Politics, I spend a lot of time walking away from conversations about politics at work.  It certainly isn’t due to some perceived inferiority about the subject matter.  It is because I have made the conscious decision to keep it light.  As you might suspect in Texas, you can run into pockets of folk who have only a passing grasp of the reality in which I live.  Most of them live in a world where history played out precisely as the history books allege and reality can be found on Fox News.  I don’t have the kind of time to deconstruct those kinds of arguments and still do my job, so I usually just sniff dismissively and walk away.

Occasionally,I feel kind of wishy-washy and even a little Tommish (!) because I spend so much time playing King of the Peons and keeping to my job, but I just chalk that up to a maturation of my work ethic.

That and also a recognition that if I really let loose on these children, Kicking the truth to the young white youth and all, feelings WILL get hurt.

So, I’m left to read the paper and watch Cable news with no one to talk to except the guests.

Even with the guests, I usually do more talking than listening.

Clearly, if this election has taught us NOTHING, it has taught us that Black men have to be careful about talking revolution in public.  Big ups to Rev. Wright for taking the hit for all of us.  Preciate that, sir.

Today, though, One of my regulars from the bar actually broached the subject of Barack Obama with me, and I, realizing that this was a chance to have a genuine conversation, gave her the raw, uncut truth. ( For those of you scoring at home….what follows is the absolute GOSPEL of Inkognegro):

As a political skeptic, I am naturally suspicious and generally dismissive of politicians in general but, if i take Obama at his word, he is my ideological  twin, one more committed to progress than process.  One who is larger than mere party or ideology.  I believe that Obama has the gift to transcend all this foolishness and actually bring government closer to the people.

And THEN…The Cappotini sipping regular (who is a lovely post 40, maybe even post 50 white woman, cause you never know with those folk)  says with a COMPLETELY straight face.

You know David…You know what REALLY scares me?  His NAME.  It’s NOT that he’s Black…It’s just that his name makes me wonder if now they think that he is in office to be friendly to them.

ok…let me stop here.  Cause after 2 months of casual conversation, up to this point, I had the basic conclusion that Mrs. Cappotini was a lovable matronly sort who enjoyed a stiff drink and pretty much got her fair-weather Texas Republican* on otherwise.

She had to run immediately after dropping this little gem so I haven’t had a chance to respond to this.  And I really DON’T know how to do so.

I almost want to go back to being quiet, but someone has to say something.

*(When asked what a Fair-Weather Texas Republican was, I once said: the difference between a Fair-Weather Texas Republican and an Real Texas Republican was that a Fair-Weather Texas Republican is too embarrassed to be a Real Texas Republican and too proud to be a Former Texas Republican)

IF Obama is the nominee.

Check it out

In Texas, John McCain leads Hillary Clinton by six percentage points and Barack Obama by five.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found McCain leading Clinton 49% to 43%. Against Obama, McCain attracts 48% of the vote while the Democrat earns 43%.

While the topline results are the same, the dynamics of the race is different depending upon the Democratic candidate. Clinton attracts 82% of the vote from Democrats in the state while Obama gets just 69%. However, Obama and McCain are essentially even among unaffiliated voters while Clinton trails by seventeen among those voters.

Just 67% of those who vote for Clinton against McCain would also vote for Obama. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Obama voters would also vote for Clinton.

McCain is viewed favorably by 58% of Texas voters, Obama by 51%, and Clinton by 45%. Sixty-five percent (65%) of Obama voters have a favorable opinion of Clinton. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Clinton voters have a favorable opinion of Obama.

Rasmussen Markets data shows that Republicans are overwhelmingly favored to win the 32 Electoral College Votes from Texas this November—current prices give the GOP a 92.0contract_type = “rasmussen”;contract_id = 68410;node_id = 8383 + “_” + 8746;new Ajax(”/extension/ajax/intrade_lastprice.php”, {data: ‘contractID=’ + contract_id + ‘&contract_type=’ + contract_type,method: ‘get’,update: $(’intrade_’ + node_id)}).request(); % chance of winning. These figures are updated on a 24/7 basis by market participants (it costs nothing to join). Texas has voted for the Republican candidate in every election for the past twenty-eight years. At the time this poll was released, Texas was rated as a “Safely Republican” in the Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator

Clinton?  Notsomuch.

You think Clinton can close on McCain?  Riiiiiiight.

Last week, it was Bruce Springsteen…this week it’s Tom Hanks…anyone got dibs on NEXT week?

Yes, I am still angry.

This was NOT how it was supposed to go.  Part of what initially endeared me to Barack Obama was his affiliation of Rev. Wright.  I would be lying through my fingers if I didn’t say that I was sorely disappointed by how this turned out.

But…

Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

And so, do I.

Now If you’ll excuse me, I am going to go sit next to my mailbox with the new Roots CD and wait for my Barack Obama car magnet.

Being mad is one thing…losing focus is quite another.

This ain’t no threat so take it personal -Keith Elam, 1992

This whole Jeremiah Wright thing has opened my eyes to my personal political leanings.

As I said Yesterday, Jeremiah Wright is somewhat of a spiritual giant in my eyes.

Conversely, Barack Obama is about as close to my personal Ideology as any single political figure in history, living or dead.

I can see exactly what it was that led Obama to TUCC.

I have no doubt that the relationship between Obama and Wright is EXACTLY how my relationship to my childhood pastor would be if I were still a member of my childhood church.

Let me be ABSOLUTELY clear.

IF Barack Obama has to Sista Souljah Jeremiah Wright to gain the presidency…then the presidency is not worth having.

And I WILL take that Personal.

Like a recovering crack addict, I cannot seem to shake the draw of cable news.  But every time I go there, I realize they aren’t really telling me anything I do not know, and what they are telling me isn’t adding up.

I should know better than to listen to what THEY say, since their priorities are not my priorities.

The reality is…she cannot catch him.

Mathematically, the numbers just do not work for her.

But, alas, the horserace continues.

Scoreboard.

Hillary says the tide is turning and the media parrots it because they wish to drag this story out as long as possible.

Scoreboard.

As a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I can personally attest to the wisdom of trusting such a town with your future.

Yet and still….scoreboard.

Barack Obama is STILL winning…and it’s not all that close.  Not nearly close enough to warrant this blinding and myopic coverage.

So….we press snooze on the doomsday clock and wait for May 6.

Indiana, it is all on you.

Well, since I AM a native, It would only be right that I weigh in on tonight’s shenanigans.

Final Score

Clinton 51

Obama 49

A squeaker that proves basically that Pennsylvania is tired of BOTH of them…but most of the undecideds really bailed on Hillary hoping the whole thing would just end.

Ill be back tonight to talk about how wrong I was.