Monday’s Grapevine
June 23rd, 2008 | Published in misc
Links to News that Matters to You
- In what some are calling a landmark to rival his speech on racial distrust, and others are calling his “Sister Souljah moment”, Barack Obama dealt with the subject of absent African-American fathers at a Chicago church. The New York Times quotes him as saying that some Black men should stop “acting like boys” “”just sitting in the house watching ‘SportsCenter.’ “
- The Washington Post says that it would be a real shame if this speech was viewed as just electioneering as usual or as meant for an audience of white social conservatives. “It actually matters that a presidential candidate is taking the costs of fatherlessness seriously. Every social problem is made much, much worse by the abandonment of children by their fathers.”
- The Associated Press reported that Obama, having raised enough money on the internet, was opting out of public financing of his campaign.
- This set off a firestorm of criticism, as Obama had previously committed to stay on the system, and had been a very strong supporter of campaign finance reform. Politico.com has a round-up on the change in his position.
- The Washington Post was particularly scathing: “Given Mr. Obama’s earlier pledge to “aggressively pursue” an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public financing, his effort to cloak his broken promise in the smug mantle of selfless dedication to the public good is a little hard to take.”
- David Brooks in the New York Times thinks that this is because people do not realise that Obama is ruthless as well as inspirational. “This guy is the whole Chicago package: an idealistic, lakefront liberal fronting a sharp-elbowed machine operator. He’s the only politician of our lifetime who is underestimated because he’s too intelligent.”
- Meanwhile, Time magazine provides a brief history of Juneteenth.
- And John McWhorter in the Root explains why Juneteenth is not his favorite holiday. ” I just can’t wrap my head around celebrating the fact that someone else freed my ancestors.”
- Middle East Online reports on the foreign policy role being played by African-American Muslims, who by their very existence undermine the “clash of civilisations thesis, that America and Islam are destined to rub up against each other.
- Finally, an update on how Nascar, a sport more associated with white men than almost any other, is doing after years of its “Drive to Diversity” program. According to the New York Times, not very well.