Jammin’ for Obama, old style

I know, the election’s over.  But I’m still happy to celebrate how we won it:  the energy of the campaign, the innovation of the volunteers, the employment of the ‘net as a powerful tool for change.  Check out this video of some hyped up volunteers making old school music in Charlottesville, VA for Obama:

Letters from Harlem

Over at HuffPo, Lauren Rubinfeld has graciously shared some of the letters her fourth graders in Harlem have written to President-elect Obama.  Here’s one.  I hope you’ll go read the rest.

Dear President Obama,

I want to say you are the bomb. I love all your speeches. Even my grandma does. I feel sorry for your grandmother but she’s there up in heaven watching over you. When you get to the white house you will have our help.

I’m so happy that you are becoming president. Can you make a change about the cops? They need to pay more attention at the Lincoln Tunnel.

Write back.

Your friend,
Asia

The Republicans have lost their minds

The GOP apparently didn’t get the message from the American people on Tuesday that we’re tired of divisive politics.  The latest evidence?  They’re attacking Obama’s choice of Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff less than 48 hours after “Change” and “Hope” won and just as North Carolina has officially gone blue.  The GOP has lost its collective mind.  If this is the way they’re going to try and work with the Obama administration, they should steel themselves for yet more losses in 2010.

Update:  For his part, Emanuel struck a very conciliatory tone is his statement:

I want to say a special word about my Republican colleagues, who serve with dignity, decency and a deep sense of patriotism. We often disagree, but I respect their motives.  Now is a time for unity.  I will do everything in my power to help you stitch together the frayed fabric of our politics, and help summon Americans of both parties to unite in common purpose.

John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader, however, wasn’t so conciliatory:

This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.

Power concedes nothing

Bob Franken has a great piece on The Hill’s Pundit’s Blog this morning.  Because I’m running, I don’t have time to comment or excerpt, so I’m posting here in it’s entirety.  Enjoy:

‘Power Concedes Nothing’
by Bob Franken
It is hard to know which was more moving: Was it the crowds erupting after the results were known — people of all colors, hugging in mutual congratulation? Perhaps it was the close-ups of the older black faces, with tears of disbelief streaming, as they witnessed a young African-American family realize a possibility that most didn’t even bother to dream.
Equally memorable were the long, long lines at the polling places, as citizens patiently insisted, with their votes, that we couldn’t go on the way we have been.
It was a celebration of our country’s best instincts, a release of its worst frustrations, a demand to do better.
But now the cautionary note, quoting none other than Barack Obama: Two days before the election, warning against overconfidence, Obama said, “Power concedes nothing – we are going to have to struggle.”
The context is different, but post-election, the words are even truer: “Power concedes nothing.”
We cannot believe for one instant that those entrenched in privilege will be willing to give up their advantages without a ferocious fight.
Their control is derived from their riches. The laws have been crafted to favor them. The political system is still greased by their wealth. They have the wherewithal to manipulate public opinion through advertising and obfuscation, spending millions to keep their billions.
John McCain was right. The changes we demanded will require, to some degree, that we “spread the wealth.” How else can we close the gap between those with too little and those hoarding too much?
Get ready for the screams of “socialism.” That touches a nerve in the U.S. of A, but it’s a distortion. What we’re really talking about here is the American Dream.
Remember that one, the idea that corruption will be prevented by regulating commerce so hard work and fair play could be rewarded?
What we’ve just witnessed is a belief in our potential. But let’s not get carried away. It would be wonderful to discover that the “haves” would voluntarily share with the “have-nots.” But it ain’t gonna happen. To return to Barack Obama’s quote, “We are going to have to struggle.”

Rahm Emanuel

According to NBC News, Rahm Emanuel has accepted the job of Chief of Staff in the Obama White House.  Everyone I’ve talked to or heard from, save Joe Scarborough, thinks this is a fantastic pick.  Emanuel is smart, hard nosed, and knows how to get things done.  While I have some disappointment in Emanuel’s abandonment of his quest to become Speaker of the House, it should be a fantastic partnership.

I heard Colin Powell’s name floated …. *not* by the campaign … as a possibility for Secretary of Education this morning.  Thoughts?

Update:  10 minutes later, NBC News reports that Emanuel’s spokesperson denies that he has accepted the job.  Interesting ….

Update:  11.6 12:54  NBC News “confirmed” that Emanuel has accepted the job.  He apparently has been thinking this over since June.  With the chaos over the last 24 hours surrounding his on-the-fence position over this appointment, he almost couldn’t have turned it down.  I sympathize with his family’s position and wish them well on the transition.

After Friedman, TWiB

So after we acknowledge Thomas Friedman’s assertion (correct, I think) that Obama’s election puts one final nail in the coffin of the Civil War, we should engage in a discussion of whether or not the election means that this country has become “post-racial.”  I have one word for my opinion:  bullshit.  This Week in Blackness has lots of words:

Friedman: Obama victory final end to Civil War

Where I live, the Civil War is sometimes frequently referred to as the “late great unpleasantness.” In the New York Times this morning, Thomas Friedman argues that the Civil War could not have truly ended until the election of Barack Obama, or someone like him:

And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.

A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America’s Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.

This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King’s I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America’s white majority actually elected an African-American as president.

Yes we did.

And the only picture that really matters to me this morning

The next first family:

AP/Getty

More Victory Cartoons

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

I especially like this one, because it’s from overseas:

Stephane Peray, The Nation, Bangkok, Thailand, 11.04.08

And from our neighbor to the North: 

Tab (Thomas Boldt), The Calgary Sun, Alberta, Canada, 11.04.08

 

Ed Stein, The Rocky Mountain News, 11.04.08

 

Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11.04.08

And from South Africa:

Jonathan Shapiro,

Proving Obama’s long coattails

Some other things I’m excited about from last night’s results:

Alabama:  Parker Griffith (D) is my new Congressman.  District 2 (think Montgomery), has a new Democrat as it’s Representative in Bobby Bright.

Louisiana:  Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) held on to her seat.

Montana:  Brian Schweitzer (D) holds on to the Governor’s House.  (He didn’t really need Obama’s coattails for this one.  Did you see his speech at the Convention?  This dude is awesome.)

New Hampshire:  Jeanne Shaheen (D) defeated incumbent Sen. John Sununu.

North Carolina:  Bev Perdue (D) took the Governor’s House while Kay Hagan (D) kicked Elizabeth Dole out of Senate. 

Virginia:  Mark Warner (D) took the seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner’s (no relation) retirement.  It also appears that Democrat Tom Perriello has defeated Republican Virgil Goode in VA-05.  There’s really no way I can explain to you how exciting it would be if Perriello really is the victor in this race.  Perriello has declared victory, but, to be fair, no major news agency has called the race for him. 

Those are some of the things I’m really excited about:  places where, especially in the South, Democrats won and, I think, proved Obama’s coattails.