Joe Lieberman... Change You Can Believe In!

"I was for Barack Obama before I was against him..."

The political conventions are like a four-day Superbowl for me. I can't get enough. I am however concerned about the stagecraft and the political calculus that requires the Obama campaign to distance themselves from the proud traditions of the Democratic Party

President Carter, one of two living Democratic Presidents, was met with thunderous applause as he and Mrs. Carter walked across the convention stage, waved and then fled. That's right a former President and Nobel Prize Winner was used as a prop and then made to disappear. The in-house band should have played Ray Stevens' 70s classic, The Streak during his minute in the spotlight.

What was the Obama campaign afraid of? Were they afraid President Carter would call for peace, not war? Were they concerned that he would call for economic justice, racial equality, disease eradication, civil rights, human rights or an end to torture?

Soon after President Carter was whisked off to an undisclosed secure location, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. took the stage.

He got to speak as a reward for throwing his father, Jesse Jackson, Sr. under the bus. How shameful it was when he publicly chastised his father for personal political gain. Congressman Jackson invoked the bloody battle for voting rights in Selma, Alabama and the heroic leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while expecting the audience to forget that his father worked tirelessly and risked his life for decades in order to help America "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Reverend Jackson was in Selma and with Dr. King on that fateful balcony

Jesse Jackson, Sr. endorsed Barack Obama for President nearly two years ago. The reward for his loyalty is that neither he, Congressman Charles Rangel or Congressman John Lewis were invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention.

In fact, Senator Obama can't seem to be photographed in the same room with the civil rights leaders on whose shoulders he stands. Without the heroism and sacrifice of this greatest generation, Obama's presidential nomination would have been impossible. Without Jesse Jackson's historic presidential campaigns and the millions of new voters he registered, Barack Obama would not be a viable nominee.

While the Obama campaign pretends that racism is a prehistoric memory, they cannot be associated with leading African American leaders who risked life and limb to make racial equality possible.

It's all very sad. This denial of history, elders and expertise is reminiscent of the edublogosphere and so much of our culture where youth and immediacy are over-valued.

I have contributed to the Obama campaign and I will vote for him in November. However, I won't be half as proud as when I puled the lever for Jesse Jackson, Sr. in 1984 - the first time I was old enough to vote in a presidential primary election.

At least Ted Kennedy got the attention and respect he deserves. It was glorious to see the enormous smile on Senator Biden's face as Senator Kennedy spoke and delighted the delegates in the arena.

Watch Senator Barack Obama introduce Senator Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running-mate. Both inspirational speeches are in the video below.

I realize that many of my fellow Americans are racists and that Barack Obama's poll numbers drop anytime "race" is an issue. One pundit joked (half-heartedly) that Senator Obama will be disavowing Nelson Mandela by November.

Here's another fine example of how the presumptive Democratic nominee is bending over backwards to avoid being associated with the previous generations' civil rights leadership. Congressman Charles Rangel, the highest-ranking Democrat in Congress is being kept off the Democratic National Convention program because he supported Senator Clinton's bid for the nomination.

The Obama campaign is denying House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel a speaking role at this month's Democratic National Convention - a move those close to the powerhouse Harlem congressman view as a spiteful snub... But they were told that the 78-year-old congressman's support for Clinton earned him a place at the end of the line behind Barack Obama's loyalists - even if Rangel played a crucial part in prodding Clinton to abandon her presidential bid in June.

This snub supports my concern regarding Obama's tactical ability after he wins the Presidency. Does he have relations with the powerful Congressional leaders required to make "change?" You would think that the guy responsible for tax policy would be a good friend to have.
Read the entire story here.

From this extremely wise column...

The truth is that no one would be paying any attention to me at all if I wasn’t talking about things that really matter to a lot of people. You’re not here tonight–and you’re not watching at home–because you want to be entertained. Lord knows there are plenty of things that you could be doing with your time right now that would be far more entertaining than listening to me. No, you’re here tonight because you love your country and you’re concerned about the direction it’s been heading over the last eight years.

As Bluto (Senator McCain) runs lying ads attacking Senator Obama for dissing "the troops," the left is running a middle-school-quality stoner video for "young people."

Way to go Net Roots. So funny, a voter will be insulted! You guys rock!

Won't it be ironic when the Democrats lose the presidential election? LOL! ROTFL!

Ah gah gah ga gah gah gah gah gahhh! Hey, Olive!

During last night's coverage of the final Democratic primaries in Montana and South Dakota, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert remarked, "I would love to teach an American History class in an inner-city high school tomorrow morning." (paraphrase)

Read the rest of my blog, Is History History in History Class?