In Contention

Tag: Barack Obama

  • Praise

    Barack Obama to be next President

  • Madelyn Dunham, grandmother of Barack Obama, passes at 86

    At just hours before the election that will likely see her grandson voted President of the United States.  Story book level tragedy, to say the least.  Condolences all around.  Read the full story here.

  • ‘Milk’ing it further

    Not to spend too much time today on “Milk” stuff, but I absolutely adored WNYC writer Nathan Lee’s closing graph of a piece written largely in response to yesterday’s unfounded media flurry over the studio strategy of publicizing the film:

    Of course no one is feeling very chill at the moment, and “Milk” is no ordinary prestige picture. Here is, after all, a movie about an intensely charismatic, rhetorically gifted community organizer who rose to power with a burden of minority status. Sound familiar? Indeed, it’s impossible to watch “Milk” and not see the Obama narrative reflected in ways that are both stirring and unnerving. Were “Milk” already in theaters and chewed over by the media, it would have been sucked into the election discourse like everything else – and likely raised the subject of political assassination in ways that no one much wants to contemplate.

    Read the rest here.  Also, Focus honcho James Schamus has written a defense against the Zeitchik piece that is certainly worth a look:

    …today has been proclaimed “Focus Features Day” by the Mayor – who clearly didn’t get The Hollywood Reporter in time to understand our underhanded, apolitical approach to marketing the film.

  • Heh

  • What is this babbling bullshit on CNN?

    Someone just interviewed a blubbering idiot Hillary supporter who apparently didn’t understand what the fuck Clinton’s message was, the one she delivered not 10 minutes ago.  You’re going to be faced with something you’ve never been faced with?  You’d rather not vote at all than vote for Barack Obama?  What kind of blind ignorant shit is this and who the fuck had the wisdom to pave the way for her to be a delgate.

    God I hope that is a considerable minority opinion.  Yes, Clinton did exactly what she was supposed to do tonight and it’s time — SO time — for her supporters to understand that they still have a vote that counts and if they throw it away, on McCain or a blank ballot, they’re betraying anything they supposedly stood for in the first place.

    Un-fucking-believeable.

  • Obama/Biden

    I’m Iphone-filing from a dicey signal area in Charlottesville, Virginia, but I wanted to comment on what will obviously be the news item of the weekend.

    I honestly have been expecting Evan Bayh for at least as long as I had formerly expected Sebelius. But the ultimate choice was really the obvious one throughout. The challenge now is Biden’s “he’s not ready” stuff, of course. Hopefully the campaign won’t be afraid to give the obvious response: we’ve got a balanced ticket now.

    I’m pretty excited. The convention promises to be a good time for the hopeful. And Warner’s keynote (they love him out this way) will likely be the starting point for a post-Obama party and a galvanizing moment for it’s future.

    Good things.

  • It is accomplished

    httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=Xxa0ihsoiYI

  • “Clobama”

    I hereby coin thee.

  • Have we finally put this thing to bed?

    From the Associated Press:

    Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, signaled an interest in joining the ticket as running mate but stopped short of conceding to Obama or dropping out of the race.

    Obama arranged a victory celebration at the site of this summer’s Republican National Convention — an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain, who will be his opponent in the race to become the nation’s 44th president.

    The 46-year-old Obama outlasted Clinton in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.

    And CNN:

    Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday told New York lawmakers she is open to being the running mate of Sen. Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, two of the lawmakers told CNN.

    Sen. Hillary Clinton trails Obama by 159 delegates and is 201 delegates shy of capturing the nomination.

    Rep. Charles Rangel, a senior member of the New York Democratic delegation, also told CNN, “I have reason to believe she is open to the [vice president] slot.”

    One of the sources added that former President Clinton has been privately pushing for a couple of weeks for his wife to be No. 2 on the ticket.

  • Springsteen backs the Bamer

    Not that I needed a nudge toward Obama or anything. My days of indecision on which candidate to deem “my own” within the Democratic party are months behind me. But it’s nice on any day to see that The Boss is batting for your team.

    It’s kind of like when you know you’ve got that clutch slugger in the clean-up spot. With Pennsylvania on deck, having Jersey’s son step up to the plate couldn’t have come at a better time. Let’s hope he brings the Crazy Janys and Killer Joes of the Keystone State with him.

  • Can’t stop watching

    Not Oscar related, but what is in March? Win, lose or draw, this will be one of the all time greatest speeches. And I just keep watching it.

    httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo