What Stood Out This Week - 3/16-3/22

It's racist, it transcends race, it's post-racial, it's a long race to the finish... Let's see What Stood Out This Week, dear B&E readers.

The Quitters

Particularly in the context of the rest of the week's events (see below), Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama is a pretty big deal. Endorsements from politicos have had little effect on voting in actuality (Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama didn't get him all that close to winning in Massachusetts), but I like this one for a few reasons (and a couple days ago I read a blog posting about this in the Nation, of course):

1) Bill was UN Ambassador and Energy Secretary in the Clinton Administration, and he's got a lot of international experience negotiating with dictators, hostage-holders, and more. Whatever inexperience people think Obama may have doesn't seem to worry this extremely experienced Governor.

2) Bill's Hispanic. Hillary will probably maintain her advantage with Hispanic voters during the primary, but should Obama win the nomination, Bill offers the Hispanic vote some reassurance from the Obama campaign.

3) Hillary and Barack were both gunning for his endorsement in a big, bad way. Obama won that mini-election for the prominent superdelegate.

4) Obama gave his powerful speech on race, and race in this country is generally perceived as a black and white issue (literally). Bill's endorsement adds a Latino element to the discussion that's often ignored in America. It seems that people are afraid to call the ardent anti-immigration people racist, but there's no other way to describe it.

5) Ever since Bill (and John Edwards) dropped out of the presidential race, I've had my eye on an Obama-Richardson ticket. Especially with John McCain as the republican nominee, Richardson puts the desert southwest into play. Man, I hope he's the vice-presidential pick. I like me some Bill Richardson.

The Republicans

John McCain was all over the world this week hosting fundraising dinners. It probably doesn't matter, but I can't imagine anyone being less relevant to the race in America conversation.

The Democrats

This week was really all about Barack Obama.

The issues surrounding his pastor's sermons were getting to be a bigger and bigger deal, so Obama addressed them directly, and then went far beyond those issues to the larger issue of race in America. And seriously, a better speech on the topic couldn't be made. If you haven't yet, I implore you to read or watch the entire thing. And people, one other thing about this speech: Barack Obama wrote that shit himself. I do like a good writer.

And this brings me back to the "just words" argument Hillary was making a few weeks ago: "pretty speeches," "eloquent communication," and the rest, but where's the substance, etc. A good president is about words and communication. If Obama can, as Jon Stewart said, speak to the American people as if we're adults, and actually raise the level of discourse... For Christ's sake, how badly do we need a leader like that in this country?

I've been what I'd consider a lukewarm-to-warm supporter of Barack Obama. In many ways he's not nearly as liberal or progressive or whatever-forward-thinking-adjective-you-prefer as I'd like. But I too am becoming enamored with his speech-making abilities, and I tell you what: it's not just words. To be able to communicate clearly, inspire, and (dare I say) reframe the debate... this is what I want from a president.

Obama's said that he doesn't really know what the political fallout will be from his speech. I'd like to think the American people are ready for such an eloquent, nuanced discussion of a difficult, nuanced issue.

Even Hillary called it an important speech, and she largely laid low this week it seems (although hubby Bubba's back making weird comment like, "Hillary and McCain are the candidates that love this country" - wha-wha-whaaaaa? - resulting in someone from the Obama campaign comparing Bubba to Joe McCarthy).

Oh, and Hillary also finally released her schedules as First Lady. Turns out she was lying to the primary voters about NAFTA. In Ohio she claimed she was working behind the scenes to defeat it. Her schedule shows quite the opposite. So now there are at least two examples of her experience showing that she totally blew it: her Iraq War vote and her support of NAFTA. So maybe she has experience but completely lacks judgment.

And finally, Gallup released two polls this week: the first said Hillary now leads among Democratic voters; the second said no she doesn't. Fuck you, pollsters. You don't know shit.

So that's What Stood Out This Week, dear B&E readers. We're still almost a month from voting in Pennsylvania, which means there's gonna be a lot more of this crap to come. Man, it's a long primary season.