Jackson Free Press

The closing of the polls in California, Oregon and Washington at 11:00 pm Eastern time was enough for the major networks to put Senator Barack Obama over the top in the historic election of the 44th president of the United States. Having won Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire -- all of which were necessary to the McCain strategy -- the closing of polls in the electoral vote rich West was enough to cement the victory for the first African-American president of the United States.

Previous Comments

ID

140270

Comment

What more can I say? MSNBC just showed a shot of Jesse Jackson with tears streaming out of his eyes. Regardless of what you think of him, that's pure emotion and he worked really hard so that a man like Barack Obama can be president.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-11-04T22:22:00-06:00

ID

140272

Comment

I put this on another thread, but I'll stick it here: Obama declared the winner. McCain giving concession speech now. I can't believe I'm typing these words. Happy birthday, golden. :)

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-04T22:25:05-06:00

ID

140274

Comment

Thank GOD. Now grown-ups can finally take over the White House after 8 years.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2008-11-04T22:38:59-06:00

ID

140275

Comment

Oh yeah, forgot to add my scream. [color=#FF0000][size=7]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WOO HOO! YEAH, BABY! HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU, JESUS! GO, 'BAMA, GET BUSY, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY![/size][/color]

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-04T22:48:40-06:00

ID

140279

Comment

Talking about Jessie crying? He ain't the only grown man crying tonight. I loved the scene of all the young white kids in grant park with their fists in the air, jumping up and down shouting Who woulda thunk it?

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-04T22:52:26-06:00

ID

140280

Comment

I'm still waiting for someone to wake me up. I can't believe what I'm seeing. It hasn't fully hit me yet.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-04T22:57:44-06:00

ID

140281

Comment

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/naturalstarlet/OBAMA/r-CELEBRATION-huge-1.jpg[/img]

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-04T23:04:20-06:00

ID

140282

Comment

All I know is I am so glad I was with my hometown buddies at the Kitchens campaign (hopefully another winner tonight!) in the Red Room when this was announced. I shed tears, screamed, clapped, hugged and danced around with an African-American woman that I've never met before. I will never forget where I was tonight!! Truly a historic moment.

Author

andi

Date

2008-11-04T23:09:50-06:00

ID

140283

Comment

What would constitute a landslide? LOL !!! WOOOHOOO!!

Author

WMartin

Date

2008-11-04T23:32:56-06:00

ID

140285

Comment

Here are some demographic breakdowns; Walt, here are your white folks, per Politico: Barack Obama, who’ll be the nation’s first African-American president, won the largest share of white support of any Democrat in a two-man race since 1976 amid a backdrop of economic anxiety unseen in at least a quarter century, according to exit polls by The Associated Press and the major television networks. Obama became the first Democrat to also win a majority since Jimmy Carter with the near unanimous backing of blacks, the overwhelming support of youth as well as significant inroads with white men and strong support among Hispanics and educated voters. The Illinois senator won 43 percent of white voters, 4 percentage points below Carter’s performance in 1976 and equal to what Bill Clinton won in the three-man race of 1996. Republican John McCain won 55 percent of the white vote. Fully 96 percent of black voters supported Obama and constituted 13 percent of the electorate, a 2-percentage point rise in their national turnout. As in past years, black women turned out at a higher rate than black men. A stunning 54 percent of young white voters supported Obama, compared to 44 percent who went for McCain, the senator from Arizona. In the past three decades, no Democratic presidential nominee has won more than 45 percent of young whites. It also appears youth turnout rose 1 point since 2004, to constitute 18 percent of the electorate.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-05T00:13:39-06:00

ID

140287

Comment

I'm so proud to be an American. This was fantastic. Barack Obama. Middle name Hussein. Half-Kenyan. Intellectual. Constitutional law professor. Black. Started his career as a community organizer. Worked for 11 years as a civil rights attorney. Built up a base of youth support organized around progressive ideals. Won a primary he wasn't supposed to win. Elected president. I'm probably not the only one who will need weeks to fully absorb this. Barack Obama, president. President Barack Obama. I can't believe it. This must be a beautiful dream. And Andi, Kitchens did one HELL of a job! What an upset! I was proud to vote for him and I'll be very glad to see him on the Mississippi Supreme Court where he belongs.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-05T01:46:19-06:00

ID

140288

Comment

Tom: That's exactly how I feel. I'm afraid that I'll go to sleep and wake up tomorrow to find out it was all a dream. I'm also too keyed up from the evening at the Jackson Convention Complex with the MS Democratic Party. Even after the first people started cheering, it took awhile for everyone to believe it was really true that Obama had won. In one of the darkest hours in this country, this feels like a realization of everything this country could be. I haven't felt this kind of hope and excitement since Bill Clinton was elected to his first term. That wasn't nearly as thrilling as this election, though. This was truly a momentous event.

Author

Sue

Date

2008-11-05T03:20:51-06:00

ID

140289

Comment

Bestselling author. 47 years old. Former editor of the Harvard Law Review. UCC member. Raised by single mother. Born in Hawaii. Spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. Refers to gay folks often, including in his victory speech. Married a badass intellectual property lawyer and former associate dean of the University of Chicago. Yes, yes, yes. How on Earth did we luck into a president like this? Was George W. Bush some kind of penance? Is this some kind of beautiful karmic reward? No candidate is perfect but one conservative columnist derisively referred to him at one point as a viable candidate for 2050, not 2008, and I can't entirely disagree. And yet he won. By a landslide. That included Virginia, a state no Democrat has won since 1964. I underestimated you, America. Forgive me. Sue, it sounds like you had a wonderful, wonderful night! And the 1992 Clinton parallels definitely come to mind, though Clinton looks like a forerunner now. I'm excited. I'm psyched. And I'm still pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming all this.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-05T04:21:12-06:00

ID

140290

Comment

I woke up this morning, and what I saw last night was not a dream. It's a great day to be alive! [img]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o81/tdrmaquillage/Emoticons/mjdancing.gif[/img]

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T07:15:58-06:00

ID

140291

Comment

Oh, by the way... [img]http://bestsmileys.com/dancing/11.gif[/img]

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T07:36:37-06:00

ID

140292

Comment

I know Tom, I am so proud of Jim Kitchens!! He will do a fantastic job. O Happy Day!

Author

andi

Date

2008-11-05T10:03:10-06:00

ID

140293

Comment

I wanted to cry myself last night when Obama spoke at Grant Park in Chicago last night. Also, to think how the Republicans tried to do everything in their power to keep people from voting and it still blew up in their faces.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-11-05T10:30:47-06:00

ID

140294

Comment

I hope no one gets mad, but it makes me REALLY super hopeful for the future that Obama won every white demographic group except for those over 65! He DOMINATED among whites under 30 by a twenty point margin! YOUTH POWER! It is THE greatest effort of young people in this country since the 1960s!

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-05T11:14:51-06:00

ID

140295

Comment

There's a subtle, thin veil of anger circulating in my office among my white co-workers - folks I'm serious. I honestly did not expect it to be this obvious. How long it will last I don't know. But I'm truly saddened by it. I'm so glad that Obama dominated in those other white demographic groups because that proves to me that more people outside of the Deep South are waking up and realizing that the faces in the crowd don't all look alike.

Author

lanier77

Date

2008-11-05T11:58:45-06:00

ID

140297

Comment

Lanier, that is sad. I saw some very mean looking faces late yesterday evening among the some of those older Republican leaning demographic types (I am trying not to anger people), but it is what it is. I hope they will get over it before they croak. If we survived the last eight years, they will survive the next four. I would just be nice to them like you would to someone who has the flu. Maybe with a lot of fluids and aspirin they will get better.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-05T12:07:11-06:00

ID

140298

Comment

Lanier I've noticed it in my office also. In my division I'm surrounded by white Republicans who boldly brought McCain-Palin stickers, buttons and yard signs TO THE OFFICE during the campaign, and openly had pro-Republican political discussions down the hallway. Now most of them are in their offices barely wanting to talk, and when they do its in whispers. That's okay because me and my black co-workers have been smiling and hi-fiving each other all morning.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2008-11-05T12:10:15-06:00

ID

140299

Comment

Hang in there, Banquan. Obama is going to help get them there. And there are many others who aren't that way: My office today is esctatic. Of course, most of them are in their 20s and 30s and don't have the old race hang-ups: the opposite, in fact. Three of our staffers are in inter-racial relationships. We'll get there. Together. Cheers, all. What a glorious, glorious day. And please don't judge all white people by the threatened ones. They do not represent us all, as yesterday damn well proved.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-05T12:10:40-06:00

ID

140301

Comment

Baquan, just remember that about 61% of those who voted for Obama were W-H-I-T-E.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T12:24:26-06:00

ID

140302

Comment

.....a lot of hard, smart work paid off last night for a man born out of the woumb of a white woman with the darkness (skin covering) of his ancestral past and with the heart and mind that transend color. This is the Barack Obama I know: He will be a drum leader for all.

Author

justjess

Date

2008-11-05T12:28:31-06:00

ID

140303

Comment

There is a God for sure! He sits high, looks low and rewards good over evil. The present and future jumped up and kissed hope last night and told hope I was worried I'd never see you again. Though God like us blacks, has given up on the south as ever getting beyond racism, he has shown us of all races and gender what we can be and accomplish without and despite much of the south. At last I can sang that ole Negro spiritual "America" as Ray Charles sung it. I call it a Negro spiritual because Ray Charles sang a different song than the one whites had sung so many years before him. Yes I know it had the same words but he sung it as he hoped and wished things to be, not yet as he knew them. We can sang it like he did but also as we finally got to know it. It's Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year for us at the same time. The host of TV ONE made me laugh last night. The reporter in Phoenix at John McCain's party said McCain's constituents said they didn't beleive McCain had lost despite all networks telling them so. The host retorted "We gonna need another Junteenth to tell McCain's supporters it's over and they lost." Thank you Lawd. The world rejoices! George Bush did in deed call Barack last night. Bush said to Barack come get this baby, I'm so afraid of how much more I might mess up before Januray 20th, 2009.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T12:29:11-06:00

ID

140304

Comment

Brothers and sisters don't worry about your co-workers being mad if you live down south. Did you ever really beleive them to be real or genune allies? God can't worry about the devil getting mad. Keep on pushing brothers and sisters of all races and sexes. We shall overcome. I thank those white people down south who did look beyond race and voted for the best man, Obama.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T12:40:17-06:00

ID

140305

Comment

Just for you, Walt.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T12:42:47-06:00

ID

140306

Comment

Baquan, it is not an excuse, but it is true that many white people were raised to fear black people. They were told that from the second they were old enough to soak it in. They are now told that blacks are more dangerous, greedy, lazy and so on. (Even by some people with their own skin color). They are not going to change overnight. Some are ahead in the evolution. My advice is to meet them where they are, and challenge them to be their best, rather than playing to their fears and stereotypes (white politicians like Palin play to the former and black politicians like Frank Melton play to the latter). We can be better than this. The majority of America is ready, and we can lead the others. It's not like all racism died last night, but white supremacy in American as a system arguably ended. It's up to the rest of us, er, community organizers to take the message to the rest, person by person. Hating them back won't help a thing. Obama knows that, and if the rest of us can live up to his ideal, he (we) will remake America.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-05T12:42:48-06:00

ID

140307

Comment

Walt, I agree with you often, but I want to say let's not give up on our white southern brothers and sisters --- especially the younger ones and those who are young at heart. O got quite a bit of support in parts of North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri well below the Mason Dixon line. My sister in Harlem keeps encouraging me to apply for jobs in New York so we can be closer (we are good friends). I am still hopeful about the south and we need to stop the brain drain, but if I get a good offer in a bluer state, it might be hard to turn down :-). My 16 year-old daughter's best friend is a sixteen year-old white classmate who asked her for an Obama button yesterday morning (my daughter is a =Young Dem>. I am EXTREMELY hopeful for the future among younger people in this state who are getting to know one another in a different way than in the past. When I was a teenager, I did not even think about spending the night at any white friends houses. I did not have any white friends who were close enough to even qualify for that thought. We ARE making progress all over. My hope has been rejuvenated to the point that I told my daughter that I could envision her being governor (OF MISSISSIPPI) one day whenever she reaches the legal age for that position!

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-05T12:43:32-06:00

ID

140309

Comment

I agree Whitley that the young southerners will one day move on without the shackles that hold them back including the southern strategy as the latest hindrance to transformation, but I don't know if I will be living then. For instance I like Greg Harper but he's a republican from Mississippi. We will see what he does? I agree racism took a blow last night and I can only hope it turns out to be fatal. LW if I were young and unmarried I'd father some little Ray Charles' and Baracks Obamas just to make sure the names never die.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T12:57:58-06:00

ID

140310

Comment

Walt, I already joked with my friends last night that we are going to see a ton of African American babies named Barack and Baracka :-).

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-05T13:03:31-06:00

ID

140311

Comment

Truly a historic moment!!! Emotionally, I have to confess that historic political events don't generally overwhelm my senses unless they are totally unexpected (the 2000 Florida debacle, 9/11, and such that nobody could reasonably predict would happen). Sorry to disappoint, but I am very pleased, but not really surprised that Obama won. This is not to take away from your joy, but rather reaffirm my faith that sometimes we do underestimate the majority of Americans (and yes, that's "hint-hint", admittedly). Major hints before the election that Obama had a real chance. * Changing racial attitudes even among today's middle aged generations, even fairly conservative white Middle Agers - As someone born in 1967, I saw fairly early in life that many white conservatives simply refused to make race the primary refrence point in deciding who got their vote. True, race still was something of a factor, and even the major factor among some people in my age group. Even so, the very fact that the majority of Whites nationwide voted for Obama is proof that racism is not the defining force in mainstream American life, even though bigotry still is not dead (there's always going to be that hard core 5 to 10 %, after all). *The passage of time - After 40 years of having at least a bare minimum of basic citizenship rights, African-Americans in particular can and have exercised more influence in our political and business life. Two generations of Whites spent all their lives under this basic fact of life, and in fact took this fact for granted. This acclimated American society to see African-Americans are "more equal" human beings despite racist rhetoric and actions that are admittedly fairly common. *More awareness of the need for LGBT rights. This may not look too relevant on the surface, but back in the 80s, even conservative White Southerners would genuinely befriend a Black long before they'd befriend a gay White person. Since then, GLBTs gained greater cultural and to a degree political power. If this society is starting, howeverly haltingly to accept that gays and lesbians deserve equal treatment as heterosexuals, then they are not as likely to make a fuss about one's race (or at least not AS BIG a fuss about it). *Eight Years of the Bush Administration Policies and Practices - Do I really have to explain this one? Closely related to this is. *The overreach of the Religious Right. The historic error of people drunk with ideology. 30 years ago, they rose-- over those years, they gained power...they brought attention to our society's concerns about losing the TRULY positive aspects of pre 60s values...then the RR collapsed from their excessive pushes. This robbed the Republicans of a major source of their power. In short, today's today's Republican Party is where the Democratic party was in 1980. Or, for a better analogy, read about late 19th Century France's version of this (the Cleric-Royalist-Military party vs the liberal progressive faction). *The World Wide Web as we know it today. Direct donations to a candidate are MUCH MUCH easier thanks to this literally Gutenburgian development. Today, even relatively neer do wells can afford at least an old computer and a dial-up, giving even these people the same ability to transfer money just as quickly as the upper-middle class and wealthier had back in the 1980s and before. Feel free to add others.

Author

Philip

Date

2008-11-05T13:07:50-06:00

ID

140312

Comment

What a magnificient night!!! Friends, I tried to get in here and type my "Thank you, God," but I kept getting the white page with the blue words that said the Website was not available. Thanks,Todd, for doing whatever you did to help in that regard. Walt, I thought of you a lot last night as I watched us all, black, white, Oriental, Hispanic, old, young, etc. elect Barack Obama as our next President of the United States of America and I realized how very proud you surely must be. But, please know that I was so proud I could have burst. And, I realized that those of us who volunteered and made phone calls and gave money to the campaign and knocked on doors and contacted friends and relatives and kept the dialogue going on line and on phones and in text messages were a part of something historic and country-changing and soul changing. And, like Obama said, we are just beginning. Thank you, God. I cannot say that enough. And, congratulations, Walt!!!!! J.T.

Author

J.T.

Date

2008-11-05T13:08:34-06:00

ID

140314

Comment

ADDENDUM: I recall a profound insight in James Michener's book Texas, written in the mid-80s. One character in his novel, giving a lecture to a panel, said something to the effect of "All needed movements/ideas/etc. have a shelf life of about 30 years. In fact, all great movements of the time carry the seeds of their own destruction. The 60s set a generation free, then collapsed from it's excesses". This I find very much true, even if the proposed shelf life of those ideas is not exactly thirty years. The 1930s New Deal - Reaction against hypercapitalist excesses of the 1920s (even more hypercapitalist than today, in fact). The 50s to early 60s - New Deal paradigm lets things run smoothly, but failed to adequately deal with racism. Also the WW2 generation's mentality of "stick together to survive (the Nazis, Facists, Japanese Imperialists)" created a bland conformity of the 50s...which set the stage for The 1960s social movements - Reaction to the social conservatism of the 1945-65 era. 1970s - social liberalism still strong, but starting its excesses (or at least from a feeling that too much had changed too quickly), plus "New Deal" policies of the past said to cause economic stagnation and inflexibility. 1980s - Economic and social conservatism move to the forefront. Reaction agaisnt "Tax and Spend Liberalism" and "Hippie Values". More and more outlets for conservatives to voice their views, which ultimately set the stage for the mid-90s "Republican Revolution" 1990s - First hints of social liberalism, gradually increasing awareness of the need for GLBT rights. Basically a fairly conservative era though a small lurch to the center left. 2000-2008 - Conservative groundswell, made in reaction to the Clinton years. The Neocons seize their opportunity. Religious conservatives are practically mainstream...until they focus on politics rather than spiritual nourishment and defending basic human values, even of the sinners (i.e. they confuse defending the sinner with endorsing the sin). 2006- Beginning of the Rightist Collapse. Which brings us to today

Author

Philip

Date

2008-11-05T13:25:29-06:00

ID

140315

Comment

Some folks might name their kids Hussein just to annoy people. :P By the way, Hussein means "handsome one" according to this Web site.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T13:26:31-06:00

ID

140316

Comment

Oh, BTW, it's hard to think of a greater victory in the war against racism than people putting one's skin color on about the same level as one's shoestring color (well, I wouldn't go to an interview wearing loud neon green laces on conventional dress shoes - but let's ignore that for now :P). In short, it's clear that, whatever the majority of voters gut told them about race's relavance, it's clear it took a back seat toward the need for a clean start (or "Change").

Author

Philip

Date

2008-11-05T13:33:00-06:00

ID

140317

Comment

Thanks JT. I knew many whites had to be on our side otherwise we couldn't still be in the game for so long a ride. I thank all of you. I thank Barack for encouraging me to try harder than I already try to overcome racism in my job and elsewhere. I admit I tend to look past and give up on whites except for the rare circumstances of trials when there is no other way out or around them. I admired how often Barack kept going into what many of us perceived as the lion's den looking for help, a way out and to succeed. Not many of us could have kept doing it. I saw Jessie Jackson, Oprah and many others, whites and blacks, crying as they watched something universally declared impossible by blacks. No doubt, King, Malcolm, Fannie, Johnson, Kennedy and many others would have cried too. Baquan, we gotta overlook, try to help and pray for cynics and skeptics like the ones you are conversing with. Great works were done to create that kind of hurt and pessimism. You may have to ignore them for a moment too. Yes I know Barack has the job of a liftime, and he has to feel overwhelmed too despite his enormous talent, drive and energy. We will have to pray for and support him as best we can. I'll go with the guy or girl anyday who believes he can and isn't afraid to get up every morning and try as hard as he can. yes he will disappoint us some too. You can't please everyone. One thing I'm hoping for, beyond politic, is that Barack's great example, from a positional aspect, will encourage black boys to stop giving up, to pull up their britches, and start to believe they can be like Barack or some other good examples. As a younster constantly told I couldn't suceed I was glad to see a Charles Evers, black mayors of Cleveland Ohio, Gary Indiana, Detroit, et al. I needed good role models. Maybe now rappers, pimps and husslers will get replaced forever or a long time.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T13:35:12-06:00

ID

140318

Comment

Tried to post last night but had some kind of error with Internet Explorer. I just want to say that I have NEVER EVER been more PROUD to be an American than I was last night with President Obama's victory. I tried to post last night but was unable. Just returned today from a lunch at Peaches' Cafe where I shared my joy and renewed faith in democracy with Miss Peaches and her staff. I had taken the past 2 weeks off but will resume playing Blues every Wednesday at Peaches' Cafe during lunch time. About 11:30am till 1pm. God bless our new President and the United States of America See my Blues music page at www.soundclick.com/LittleCharlie

Author

Little Charlie

Date

2008-11-05T13:36:53-06:00

ID

140320

Comment

I bought a New York Times today with my coffee. My friend & server (who is black) was smiling and singing to the tune on the CD - "Dancing in the Streets" She looked at my paper, which has a huge headline and photo of Obama, and looked at me, and I looked at her and we just smiled these sunbeam out of darkness smiles, light and also REAL DEEP smiles, and she didn't even have to say anything and I got the chillbumps. I took myself home and watched the morning sunlight, feeling the earth around me the entire earth, the entire planet, trying to reach, to look ahead to a new way to be. Gracious God let us give thanks to all who lost lives and were hurt so that we could see this new day.

Author

Izzy

Date

2008-11-05T14:14:22-06:00

ID

140323

Comment

My office is WONDERFUL today. Of course, I work on social services with mostly democrats. :) I walked in to a full breakfast celebration complete with sparkling wine juice in champagne glasses!!! We've hardly worked today just talking about watching the returns last night and how exciting this has been. Our building butts up to the MS Republican Party. I've taken to looking out the back door from time to time to see if I can see any of them standing in their offices crying and wringing their hands. I have to stop myself from snickering and pointing.

Author

Lori G

Date

2008-11-05T14:22:30-06:00

ID

140327

Comment

Here's a cool MSNBC slideshow.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T15:59:05-06:00

ID

140328

Comment

Walt and baquan, your buddy Juan Williams got kinda emotional last night after Obama won. I'm surprised Fox News let him finish talking and didn't cut to a commercial.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T16:11:35-06:00

ID

140329

Comment

I saw a little of Juan last night, LW. For a brief moment he realized he was one of us. I admit I turned to Fox for a minute to see what Satan's lil children would be saying, and I saw uncle Juan who cries out on occasions to be a free Negro and have some greens, ribs and potato salad too just like the rest of us, but master Fox insists he not be acting like those coloreds. Baquan, Whitley, LW where is that Milwuakee coon who sicked McCain and Palin on Obama? I think his name is James Harris. He'd better get on the witness protection list!

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T16:21:14-06:00

ID

140330

Comment

Walt, I want to know what that minister who called Obama's mother "trash" has to say.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T16:29:17-06:00

ID

140331

Comment

On that poor fellow in Wisconsin, I hear that he actually is sneaking around due to fear. That is bad. We should not be angry with him and those like him. Something obviously is wrong with him to be afraid of another educated black man. My daughter told me about a 16 year-old African American at her high school who went around saying outrageous lies about Obama (the usual winger stuff like: socialist, terrorist sympathizer, not born here, etc.) and wore a t-shirt saying . I told my daughter to feel sorry for her and that no, it was extremely unlikely MLK was a Republican because he was against the Vietnam War, for Head Start and the other War on Poverty programs which were spearheaded by LBJ Dems. In one of his last sermons he said this country needed a revolution. I don't think any of those positions would have endeared him to the REPUBLICANS in 1968.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-05T16:33:13-06:00

ID

140332

Comment

The local Barbers of America should come together for the common good of the community and give somebody a free haircut to go do a jackup, ruff-up or throw-down on on Revern Git on Down, but not fatally. I'd hate to see anyone go to jail for this kind of benevolence toward mankind. I'll bet my last dollar revern Git on Down has received some faith based dollars or was big cooning for some.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T16:42:42-06:00

ID

140333

Comment

Just kidding in the previous email!

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T16:47:10-06:00

ID

140334

Comment

I saw Juan Williams getting choked up as well. Here's an article from Jason Linkins about the GOP's civil war.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-11-05T16:52:39-06:00

ID

140336

Comment

Found a great quote: "Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked, so Obama could run. Obama is running so our children can fly." You know what Oprah was about today! Check out this post-election song sung by BeBe and CeCe Winans, Wynonna Judd and Vince Gill.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-05T17:16:57-06:00

ID

140337

Comment

Jesse Jackson Jr. should get Obama's spot in the Senate! H/t to Todd, who said that this morning. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-05T17:19:05-06:00

ID

140338

Comment

OK, OK, it's not a new idea, but it is a good one. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-05T17:21:05-06:00

ID

140339

Comment

Very good LW. Never heard the song before but liked it. Liked the video also but I need time to get over my hatred of Palin who is as bigoted and well-socialized in racism as any Jefferson-Davis-baptized and Robert-E.-Lee-bred southerner. I noticed the hotel in Desoto County revoked its agreement to host David Duke and his group later this week. I know Palin and Todd are now coming to participate in order to seal that brand of support, and frankly I'm scared to stay in Mississippi while either is present.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T17:31:56-06:00

ID

140341

Comment

He may not be qualified but he won anyway, putting that sad refrain to rest. The money he's going to take from Harry and give to me, I will return it to Harry. We'll meet at Pops Around the Corner and have a drink, too.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T17:52:27-06:00

ID

140342

Comment

Walt, beautiful thing is that now Obama is the only person qualified to be president. Everyone else is underqualified because they lack the necessary 270 electoral votes. :o)

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-05T18:07:20-06:00

ID

140344

Comment

An absurd story that keeps getting more weird even AFTER the election: After having told Obama he was planning to buy a business that would make over $250,000 a year, Joe (or Sam) the Plumber was quoted in today's USA Today as saying he is "broke" and is trying to start a non-profit organization to help poor people who have lost their homes. What the...?

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-05T18:21:14-06:00

ID

140346

Comment

Sho you right, Tom. Whitley, I always knew Joe was broke. As any republican will tell you, if you don't work as a healthy individual, as was the case with Joe as he became famous, you don't have any money, unless you take handouts as Joe was seeking from the RNC or GOP while trying to undo Obama's plans to help his dumb butt. That Palin redressing put Joe's windfall on hold. Now that his team has lost, Joe will be casted backed into obscurity or oblivion as if he ever really left it anyway.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-05T18:27:57-06:00

ID

140357

Comment

"Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked, so Obama could run. Obama is running so our children can fly." So, ultimately Rosa sat so our children could fly :D But...just as important to remember: *What was it about Rosa's thought processes, deep worldview, and ability to to endure abuse that gave her the courage and the willingness to sit. *How, toward what, and where would Rosa want our children to fly toward, and in what fashion? Otherwise, Rosa's vision and intentions will eventually get lost in the background.

Author

Philip

Date

2008-11-05T21:13:37-06:00

ID

140358

Comment

http://www.palinaspresident.us/ Do y'all remember this site parodying Palin in the oval office? Click on it now, it gives me chills!

Author

andi

Date

2008-11-05T21:43:03-06:00

ID

140365

Comment

Excellent column by Maureen Dowd today: I had been amazed during the campaign — not by the covert racism about Barack Obama and not by Hillary Clinton’s subtext when she insisted to superdelegates: “He can’t win.” But I had been astonished by the overt willingness of some people who didn’t mind being quoted by name in The New York Times saying vile stuff, that a President Obama would turn the Rose Garden into a watermelon patch, that he’d have barbeques on the front lawn, that he’d make the White House the Black House. Actually, the elegant and disciplined Obama, who is not descended from the central African-American experience but who has nonetheless embraced it and been embraced by it, has the chance to make the White House pristine again. I grew up here, and I love all the monuments filled with the capital’s ghosts. I hate the thought that terrorists might target them again. But the monuments have lost their luminescence in recent years. How could the White House be classy when the Clintons were turning it into Motel 1600 for fund-raising, when Bill Clinton was using it for trysts with an intern and when he plunked a seven-seat hot tub with two Moto-Massager jets on the lawn? How could the White House be inspiring when W. and Cheney were inside making torture and domestic spying legal, fooling Americans by cooking up warped evidence for war and scheming how to further enrich their buddies in the oil and gas industry? How could the Lincoln Memorial — “With malice toward none; with charity for all” — be as moving if the black neighborhoods of a charming American city were left to drown while the president mountain-biked?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-06T10:35:12-06:00

ID

140370

Comment

Hopefully smear tactics have been defeated also! Gail Collins gets it right in her NYT column: <...contemplate the fact that North Carolina tossed Elizabeth Dole out of office despite her ad campaign aimed at convincing the state that her opponent, Kay Hagan, was an atheist. This was accomplished, you may remember, through the creative strategy of showing Hagan’s picture along with another woman’s voice saying: “There is no God!” If Dole had won, by the next election we would have been bombarded with ads that appeared to show candidates saying “I support adultery!” or “Let’s kill the puppies!” Now that won’t happen. Thank you, North Carolina.<

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-06T11:48:47-06:00

ID

140371

Comment

I'm hard, but this one got me choked up a little:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/opinion/06kristof.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-06T11:56:42-06:00

ID

140379

Comment

I'm a 19 year old college student, and this was my first Presidential election. I was proud to cast my ballot for Barack Obama! :) I'm glad that young people could be part of such an historic election. I'm excited for this presidency that I hope will mark a change from intimidation to diplomacy, government lies and fearmongering to transparency, and turn our economy back into the hands of the people instead of to corporate interests. This is a change I beleive in, and as his nascent presidency begins, I hope and pray that it will go well and those among us who are not supportive will start to believe in it as well.

Author

SkylinePigeon

Date

2008-11-06T15:28:46-06:00

ID

140384

Comment

Be careful what you wish for. Enjoy your new king. 1 Samuel 8 "6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.""

Author

LawClerk

Date

2008-11-06T17:52:03-06:00

ID

140386

Comment

Welcome back Lawclerk, I've already told Obama I wanted your part of the money he takes and gives to us. LOL.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-06T17:55:39-06:00

ID

140388

Comment

"Welcome back Lawclerk, I've already told Obama I wanted your part of the money he takes and gives to us. LOL." Oh Walt, I'm one step ahead of ya'. I'm going to quit work and let the .gov take care of me. They won't be able to take my house b/c of the foreclosure moratorium, and I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car anymore too! GOBAMA!

Author

LawClerk

Date

2008-11-06T18:22:35-06:00

ID

140391

Comment

We're getting some of you stuff no matter what you do at this point. You got more than $250,000 worth of money or other assets and we want some of it. We know who you are! We gon get you.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-06T18:46:26-06:00

ID

140392

Comment

Also LawClerk, I'm sorry Obama can't do for you what the corporatist state has done. I'm also sorry Obama can't do for main street and wall street what Bush and Cheney did through their brand of unfettered capitalism. Even Greenspan said it was a mistake to expect free or unregulated capitalism to control itself. At least y'all kicked in a big brand of socialism to save wall street and the corporations. I ain't mad at y'all, a little socialism like social security, medicare and medicaid, welfare and national health care are arguably good for most of us. Yes, I know you wouldn't accept any of this. Consequently, I'm also asking Obama for any welfare, social security, medicare, medicaid or national health care you could receive if you were socialist inclined and in need.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-06T19:04:31-06:00

ID

140393

Comment

"6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. Who is Samuel in this case?

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2008-11-06T19:08:10-06:00

ID

140398

Comment

My own new secret to power of living in the now: Ignore bitter losers who have spent years worshiping a bankrupt philosophy via King George et al. Folks with a little class could take a week off from bitterness --- at least. Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Ha Ha.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-07T09:03:10-06:00

ID

140399

Comment

Whitley, I chuckled when I read your last comment about "ignor[ing] bitter losers . . ." Good point. Being controlled by someone eles's agenda might surely risk cheating us out of living in the now.

Author

J.T.

Date

2008-11-07T09:16:34-06:00

ID

140404

Comment

Lamentations 3:14-16 (English Standard Version) 14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. The worst example of bitter wingnuttery happened yesterday. I am surprised the more media has not picked up on this: I saw on one of the local news channels that a thirteen year-old African American child on his way to the Pearl Junior High was put off the school bus because the driver was upset because he stated that Barack Obama was our new President and laughed. They showed his mother who was very upset and also the white mother of a child who remained on the bus who stated she was also outraged. They also reported that an assistant basketball coach TOLD STUDENT THEY COULD NOT SAY THE NAME OF BARACK OBAMA. The persistence of this stubborn, barely concealed vile racism is what discourages me about this state. This is our President. Why can't the racists accept it? the Pearl district issued a statement saying that in their disapointment over the election the employees overreacted and they received unspecified discipline. They should be fired because they violated the students first amendment rights and showed a lack of patriotism. It is one thing to criticize the President. It is INSANE to even think you can order students NOT TO SAY HIS NAME. A student at UT-Austin was kicked off the football team for posting on his myspace page: "hunters converge, a ni*&^^r is coming to the White House".

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-07T09:51:40-06:00

ID

140407

Comment

I liked this from a Judith Warner Times column today, especially the "intelligence" part: Obama, too, resisted giddy gladness on Tuesday night. But he did proclaim an end to the world as we've known it for far too long. "To those who would tear the world down: we will defeat you," he promised. "This is our moment. This is our time." The glory of Barack Obama is that there are so many different kinds of us who can claim a piece of that "our" African-Americans, Democrats, post-boomers, progressives, people who rose from essentially nowhere and through hard work and determination succeeded beyond their parents' wildest dreams are the most obvious. But there are also people who respect intelligence and good grammar. People who see their spouse as their "best friend," as Barack called Michelle on Tuesday night. People whose children have the same knowing look as Sasha and Malia, who are probably more excited about their puppy than about their father's presidency. Two images will forever stay in my mind to mark this epoch-breaking election day. One is that of Jesse Jackson's face, drenched in tears, in Chicago's Grant Park on Tuesday evening. And the other is a photo that ran in The Times on Wednesday. In it, a black mother and daughter sit on the floor of a church in Harlem. The mother, Latrice Barnes, having heard of Obama's victory, is doubled up in tears; her daughter, Jasmine, is reaching a tentative hand up to soothe her. To me, she looks like the future, reaching out to heal the past. Oh for an America where education and informed intelligence is no longer derided as bad and "elitist," not to mention a country that questions accusations of "liberal media" everytime a journalist simply relays the facts without giving undue weight to the lies. I think we'll get there soon.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-07T10:44:49-06:00

ID

140416

Comment

Stankin'Rankin County is an awful place. That bus driver should be fired. I'm going to enroll my grandsons over there and have them wear Obama shirts daily.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-07T13:50:29-06:00

ID

140419

Comment

My daughter said that the racial tension are at a all time high at school now.

Author

BubbaT

Date

2008-11-07T14:34:33-06:00

ID

140421

Comment

Ebony and Ivory. Live together in perfect harmony. Side by side on my piano keyboard. Oh Lord, why can't we. We all know people are the same wherever you go. There is good and bad in everyone. We learn to live, we learn to give each other what we need to survive. Ebony and Ivory living in perfect harmony. Obama is your president, just like Bush was our. Bush is dumb. Obama is brillant. Knock, knock. Who is it? Eyes. Eyes who? Eyes your new president, Obama. Ebony and Ivory living together in perfect harmony.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-07T14:58:49-06:00

ID

140422

Comment

Knock, Knock. Who Is it? Nose. Nose Who? Nose you not, EARS you? Walt, you are nuts and I just couldn't pass up responding. LOL!

Author

justjess

Date

2008-11-07T15:17:43-06:00

ID

140423

Comment

Walt- You not a Three Dog Night fan? Black and White The ink is black The page is white Together we learn to read and write The child is black The child is white The whole world looks upon the sight The beautiful sight And now a child can understand That this is the law of all the land All the land

Author

BubbaT

Date

2008-11-07T15:19:38-06:00

ID

140426

Comment

Bubba I remember Three Dogs Night but I can't remember ever hearing the song. Funny, Jess.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-07T15:31:24-06:00

ID

140427

Comment

I don't exactly know what tension is really like at my daughter's high school, but there must be some because usually I will ask her how was school and she won't say much. Lately, I don't even have to ask her, she just starts telling me about all the slurs/lies that right wing type students are repeating about Obama. She seemed distressed, but I told her to just feel sorry for them. It is sad that parents foist their wingnuttery on their children. Recently, my daughter showed me a speech that she gave in school that I did not agree with. I told her that I respected her point of view and then calmly stated why I disagreed. It would be helpful to our country and State if people were more civilized with those they disagree with instead of attacking with exaggeration and distortion.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-07T15:32:50-06:00

ID

140428

Comment

Ralph Nader's response: To put it very simply, he is our first African-American president, or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he's going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations. A. Fox. News. anchor. called him out on that remark. Be sure to watch the video.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-11-07T15:46:58-06:00

ID

140429

Comment

Whitley- Like your daughter mine is not saying much but what she has said has been the total opposite of what your daughter is experiencing. She said a black student ran into a white student and knock all of their books out of their hands and the teacher told them they needed to say excuse me and the black student's reply was "I don't have to say excuse me, I have a black president now" Like that's an excuse to be rude. Being civilized works both ways.

Author

BubbaT

Date

2008-11-07T15:53:08-06:00

ID

140433

Comment

You know, Latasha, I still can't figure out for the life of me why Ralph Nader was running this year. The Green Party had a perfectly good nominee in Cynthia McKinney--all-female ticket, I should add--and this clown runs as an independent with an identical platform and prevents her from building up their shared party long-term. To what end? McKinney at least had a viable goal: 5% to put the party on the map. She didn't achieve it, but it was a viable goal and I respect her for that. But what was Nader trying to do, other than promote Nader? Plus he made all these weird commercials about zombies--insulting Obama supporters by treating them like mindless cultists when his own base of support is a glorified personality cult. And this isn't the first time Ralph Nader, presumably the standard by which all black men are to be judged, has essentially called Obama an Uncle Tom. I learned to respect the 2000 and 2004 Nader but I really, really, really don't like the 2008 Nader. I don't think the past eight years of wear and tear have been good for his brain or his psyche and I think it's time for him to take a step back and let other people run for president.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-07T16:01:13-06:00

ID

140434

Comment

Bubba, on "Being civilzed works both ways"...I agree one hundred percent with you. The rude and ignorant will be with us always. That child who used our President-elect as an excuse for her rudeness should be punished. Even when others are rude, we should not be. that is what has endeared our President-elect to so many. He has responded to insults and rudeness not with the same, but with a reassuring calm. People on both sides should learn from his example and calm down.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-07T16:05:27-06:00

ID

140436

Comment

Baquaan, I believe you have hit on an important factor. That is why I am encouraging my daughter to go to college outside of the south or southwest. She is sending ACT scores to UCLA, UT-Austin, NYU and Emery. I am discouraging her from Emery in favor of other schools outside the south.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-07T16:10:42-06:00

ID

140439

Comment

Actually, Baquaan we have a lot in common. I am a nomad also :-). Though born in Mississippi, my parents were involved in the Civil Rights movement and my father was a United Methodist minister, so I lived in Denver and Chicago before they finally settled back down in Mississippi. I often spent summers in Chicago with my aunt. I attended a minority introduction to engineering program at Georgia Tech during one summer in high school which exposed me to students from all over the country. My daughter was born in Austin, TX and has spent summers in Austin and in New York with her aunt. Too many students in MS have very limited experiences.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-11-07T16:38:29-06:00

ID

140453

Comment

I had a beautiful day at work Wednesday. I had one of the most beautiful days of my adult life. Great discussions all day. And, once more, God bless Spelman. So happy they were included in the announcement celebrations on MSNBC. I had a total catharsis from two states away. HATE I missed Oprah Wednesday ;) Hopefully it will be online in a few weeks. I'm praying that the decision makers at all our schools take this piece of time to engage stuents and the community in some racial dialogue. So many misunderstandings among us, but so much, much more common ground.

Author

emilyb

Date

2008-11-07T21:12:54-06:00

ID

140474

Comment

Believe it or not, there are already "Impreach Obama" stickers and t-shirts being sold on the Internet. I even saw one of the same website earlier refering to the 63 million plus who voted for Obama as a-holes (I sanitized that). What sore losers!

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-11-08T19:57:42-06:00

ID

140542

Comment

Hilarious: The new First Family has been issued code names by the Secret Service. Barack Obama's is "Renegade," Michelle Obama's is "Renaissance," Malia Obama's is "Radiance," and Sasha Obama's is "Rosebud." Joe and Jill Biden also received code names, though it's tough to top "Renegade" and "Renaissance." Joe Biden's is "Celtic," and Jill Biden's is "Capri."

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-10T19:23:47-06:00