Barack Obama News: Afrobella, black voters, butter statue

Michelle Obama was chose "Afrobella of the Week" on this website which extols the candidate's wife:

Michelle Obama: Afrobella of the Week
While I certainly have my own political leanings, my goal with this post isn’t to sway anyone ... , so Barack Obama piqued my interest early on. I think the senator is a charming and fascinating enough ... she wears her hair. 1. Because she keeps it real.

Is Barack the candidate that black voters have been waiting for? This essay says no:

Why Obama Is not the Black Dream Candidate?
Signal, CA - Aug 18, 2007
As opposed to Spike Lee hosting a high-moneyed fundraiser for the senator, it was David Geffen. Such "breaches" have bred skepticism...

Obama's like butter:

Obama butter sculpure
Former Iowa State Fair butter sculptor Duffy Lyon has endorsed Barack Obama through a butter sculpture of his campaign logo ...

Obama butter statue

Barack is preparing a veteran's speech for this week.

Obama previews veterans speech
by John McCormick Previewing a speech he is expected to give Tuesday, presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama told military veterans on a conference call Sunday evening ... . During the conference call, Obama said he would continue to call for a refocusing of the nation's

Posted in The Swamp

The Obama family was spotted riding bumper cars in Iowa:

Photo: Reuters

More on Barack Obama and the Bumper Cars
Barack Obama, wisely arriving after the sun went down one night last week, actually did. He brought the whole family — wife Michelle, 9-year-old Malia and 5-year-old Sasha.

Obama supporter Sharon Mahlerio, a Des Moines attorney, speaks for the candidate during Iowa debate.

"O" Factor, debates, hip-hop and Obama

Latest news headlines:

Oprah's influence on Obama campaign:

"In America, it is known simply as the "O" Factor. As the reigning talk-show queen, trusted arbiter of taste and general adviser on everyday life, Oprah Winfrey has persuaded millions of devoted viewers to buy everything from bras to books.

"Now the world's richest black person is aiming to transfer her Midas touch to the world of politics, as she tries to market Barack Obama as the first black American president."

* Barack opts out of debates:

Enough's Enough: Obama Will Limit Forum/Debate...
Enough's Enough: Obama Will Limit Forum/Debate Participation Enough's Enough: Obama Will Limit Forum/Debate Participation 18 Aug 2007 10: ... . Barack Obama's campaign manager has put his foot down: Obama won't attend any more debates that aren't ... Plouffe writes that Obama has already spoken at 19 different candidate forums and has participated

Hip-hoppers are plugging Barack Obama in their songs:

Barack Obama gets name-dropped in hip-hop
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Vibe magazine has dubbed him "B-Rock." He's getting shout-outs in some of the most popular hip-hop singles of the summer. He's even had a high-profile meeting with Ludacris.

More Pakistani reaction to Obama's American "exceptionalism"

"Any transgression of the accepted parameters would be unacceptable and would damage the interests between the two countries,'' Tasnim Aslam, the Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, was quoted as saying at a briefing in Islamabad.

On Monday, Pakistani protesters shouted slogans against Obama outside a Chicago fundraiser organized by South Asian backers.

I still stand bewildered. But maybe the clues were there all along. I was willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt for some statements made to the press in the past. After all, politicians have many comments on the record that they make on the fly. Sometimes they say things that don't really reflect their stands on issues or that can be interpreted in such a way.

Now the article in Foreign Affairs was another matter but it was vaguely worded. It mentions intervention to stop some forms of nuclear proliferation involving North Korea and Iran but without specifics. Would it be a UN sanctioned action? Would these countries be transferring nuclear weapons to organizations internationally recognized as terrorist?

The Pakistan statements were crystal clear though and reiterated afterward by the campaign.

Sorry to say, but Obama's foreign policy doesn't look much different than the Bush Doctrine now. There's the idea there that America is exceptional in that it doesn't have to abide by the same rules that it expects other nation's to follow. That won't work in today's world.

Chaudhuri on Obama's move to the right

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri of the Hindustan Times has some interesting comments on what I'm calling the Kerry moment of the Democratic presidential campaign.

Chaudhuri believes Obama's speech advocating unilateral action in Pakistan is the beginning of a new phase among Democratic frontrunners when they go beyond simply suggesting withdrawing from Iraq, the"wrong war," but start suggesting instead new battlefields for the "right war."

It is important for Obama to lead this shift because the other candidates do not want him to take the spotlight as the viable candidate who opposed the Iraq War from the start. Now that he is fighting for the strongest position on the right, the other Democratic frontrunners have shown no hesitation in joining a game they truly believe in anyway.

Obama made this move, according to Chaudhuri, because of polls which have consistently shown Hillary Clinton ahead. His campaign apparently believes this is primarily because Obama is seen as weaker and/or less experienced than Clinton.

The Democrats look likely to be drawn into another "cowboy" contest with the Republicans as happened in the Kerry campaign, with the Iraq War now a secondary consideration.

Unlike the Republicans who play to their base, Democrats look like they will again desert their own base to take a center right position.

Note that by the time the next president takes office, only one other Democrat has been elected chief executive in the last 28 years -- Bill Clinton who "pioneered" the idea that the Democratic base was too far to the "left."

Interestingly also, the Bush administration and at least one Republican frontrunner have come out openly slamming Obama's warnings, and attempting to appear more moderate.

“We consider him (President Musharraf) as a major partner. We have good relations with him and we respect the sovereignty of Pakistan,” Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicolas Burns said today. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has also spoken out against Obama's statements calling for greater cooperation between Pakistan and the United States.

Bush assures Musharraf over Obama warnings

In a rather curious turn of events, George W. Bush has seemingly taken the role of moderate by reassuring Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf over Barack Obama's warnings of a unilateral attack.

According to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Bush called Musharraf today for the nation's independence celebrations and reassured him that the U.S. would respect Pakistan's sovereignty. There was some disagreement between Islamabad and Washington though over the exact words conveyed by Bush.

Reacting to Obama's comments, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said: "Such statements are unacceptable to Pakistan and we will not tolerate any interference of the sort from any quarter."

During the day, hundreds of people demonstrated in Pakistan burning the American flag and chanting slogans against Obama and Tom Tancredo, who repeated threats to bomb the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

The Obama campaign though sent out a memo by foreign policy adviser Samantha Power basically repeating the vague threat without specifically addressing the question of Pakistan's sovereignty. There has been no response to the reaction of Pakistan's government.