AP: Many Insisting That Obama Is Not Black

also see related stories:
Many Insisting That Sky Is Not Blue
Many Insisting That Water Is Not Wet
Many Insisting That Elvis Is Not Dead
Many Insisting That Bush Is Intelligent

November 5th

one full day later
and my brain still buzzes
firing all impulses at once
telling me that
this could not have happened

but it did
yes it did

and if it were a dream
where would i awake?
just after Sarah made her acceptance speech
just before Barack made his race speech
just before Hillary cried in New Hampshire
the night before the Iowa caucuses
or any other of a million points on the impossible timeline
that led to this point
we call now

this remarkable morning
where for the first time in my life
my skin feels like the uniform
of a winning team
and it tingles with the tangible feeling of hope
not hope as a concept
but hope as a physical experience

this beautiful day
when my mother's words and my grandmother's words
"you can be anything you want"
feel finally real
years after they've left this world

this glorious day
November 5th
when through moist eyes
i view the world
not as it was before this day
but as it will be for every day hereafter

McCain Strategy Haiku

August

Lieberman is out
Pawlenty's far too boring
But Palin's pretty

September

We did not know she
Couldn't complete a sentence
At least stocks are up

October

With Georgia in play,
West Virginia a toss up,
Remind them he's black

November

Concession call to
Mr. President Elect
Barack Obama

Wild White House meeting sets back deal

Wild White House meeting sets back deal

he rode into town
"a betting man"
cash and cards in hand
betting that he could look like an expert
on a subject he knows little about
betting that he could move his debate to next week
and move Sister Sarah's into the sunset

he rode into town
seven days
after the frame on the house was built
kicked the studs
spit on the floors
and argued about the paint job
from the back of the room
while his posse tore the whole house down

he rode into town
bailing on Ole Miss
to mess up the bailout
and sidestep the fallout
and then on his way out

he'll take credit for putting the house back together again

Palin takes first impromptu question from national press

Palin takes first impromptu question from national press

like my little brother
lunchbox in one hand
change of dry clothes in the other
bravely striding toward the unknown

using big words and
speaking in incomplete sentences

my how quickly they grow up

September 11

tomorrow
we will return
to pigs and pork
bears and seals
iraq and a hardplace
lipstick and lipservice

but today we stop
we remember
we remember
we will always remember

Perhaps It's Time

Perhaps It's Time

because
this manufactured gender war
is threatening
to become the latter-day swiftboat
and as Rick Davis said
(in a self-fulfiling omen)
This election is not about issues.
This election is about
a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.

so perhaps it's time
(well past time?)
to bring up the McCain we know
the
unstable from years of torture actin'
bomb-bomb-iran singin'
my wife, that [unmentionable] spoutin'
Chelsea sired by Janet jokin'
sunni shia toMAYto tomAHto confusin'
Iran Afghan border thinkin'
let's save some money by not honoring MLK votin'
old wife in car accident desertin'
new rich wife in wet t-shirt contest enterin'
no internet or e-mail usin'
100 years in Iraq stayin'
melanoma barely survin'
McCain
who could be one heart beat away
from turning the US
into Harper Valley PTA.

Obama Talks Lipstick and McCain

Obama Talks Lipstick and McCain

i find myself
hoping
even praying
for a "game changer"

a terrible first interview
an discovered tape
a child protective service order

anything that might bring
Queen Sarah
back to earth

Palin Video: A Life on the Frontier

Palin Video: A Life on the Frontier

"Mother. Moosehunter. Maverick...
Mayor, Governor, Maverick...
The Original Maverick made an astute choice..."

mav-er-ick

Etymology:
Samuel A. Maverick
1803-1870
American politician
land baron
slave owner
who did not brand his calves


John McCain, The Original Maverick

McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate

McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate

for a country
still wrapping its head around the idea of
the dark dynamic son of a hippie and a goat herder
waking up to the beauty queen hunter mom
was a jolt
a shock smacking of desperation
filling women with conflicted feelings
about the blatant pitch to Hillaryland

by November
we will still be trying to find out who she is
and she will still be asking
what a vice president does
while practicing how to spell potato

has she even been to the Georgia in the U.S.?
an inner city?
a fish fry?
a cornfield?
a black church?
a synagogue?
a war zone?

she was good at basketball
but can she handle the nuclear football?

could this be the woman a 72-year-old heartbeat away?

Obama Is Nominated by Acclamation

Obama Is Nominated by Acclamation

i didn't think i would be as emotional
as i was
but then again
there were many days i thought this couldn't happen
and many years where i dared not dream it

years of being young and being told
i could be anything i wanted to be
and yet knowing that there was an
invisible asterisk
on the word
anything
the asterisk of black/afro/negro/colored
the asterisk of
when i said anything i didn't mean that --
surely you must know that will never happen

and now this darker-than-me
child of a hippie and a goat herder
is the representative of the party of
Kennedy and Roosevelt
and even Clinton

and while once i dared not dream
now i dare not stop dreaming

McCain unsure how many houses he owns

McCain unsure how many houses he owns

Haiku response from average American:

as for my count of
forclosure letters -- i'll have
my staff get to you

Obama’s Ads in Key States Go on Attack

Obama’s Ads in Key States Go on Attack

we are the ones that we've been waiting for
but is this what we were waiting for us to do

when your campaign becomes about your opponent
when pro becomes anti
"when one guy is trying to scare you"
and neither offers hope
where do the dreamers and believers go

Sun-Times political columnist Robert Novak retires

Sun-Times political columnist Robert Novak retires

Sometimes even darkness
is not black and white
and we are reminded that
(no matter how we may stoke each other's fires)
we are all here together
and that we will all leave alone

McCain Campaign Says Obama Is Playing the ‘Race Card’

McCain Campaign Says Obama Is Playing the ‘Race Card’

this is not a card
that either man has to play

for one is was played for him
when he came out of his mother's womb
with dark skin
for the other
it was been laid in the patchwork of a shameful
divisive history

and the more recent turns of the card
a fight against MLK in Arizona
Bill Clinton's rantings in South Carolina
Jesse Jackson's (un?)intentional whispers
and millions of people who admit
they will never vote for a black man
have taken the card out of both men's deck

it just that they now agree
that each of them see
the elephant in the room

Evangelicals warn against Romney on ticket

Evangelicals warn against Romney on ticket

it's really not about religion
and those who say it is
have many sins for which to seek forgiveness

his Jesus is different from theirs
but both messiahs would frown upon the demagoguery
the lowest common denominator
approach to twisting half-truths into
Messaging

the only thing that turns a warm smile
into a snake-oil selling grin
is the selling of snake-oil

5.4 earthquake rocks L.A. area

5.4 earthquake rocks L.A. area

twenty million people
sharing a common experience
the initial feeling of panic
thirty seconds of terror
followed by the sigh
the wipe of the brow
the knowledge that this time
we dodged the bullet
we are still living and
our lives have not changed

something big is coming
but not today

McCain Says Obama Plays Politics on Iraq

McCain Says Obama Plays Politics on Iraq

it is sad
to see a great man
take ignoble actions

standing eye to eye
two honorable adversaries
held their fire
until one man felt his future slide
and drew his wretched gun
to challenge his opponent's heart

and blew away his own integrity

McCain Keeps Up Attack on Obama’s War Stance

McCain Keeps Up Attack on Obama’s War Stance

every soldier knows
a promise to keep him home
is empty at best

at worst its a lie
but lies told repeatedly
can win elections

praising victory
in a deadly, crooked game
no one should have played

Obama Speaks to Germany on European Ties

Obama Speaks to Germany on European Ties

it wasn't about a race for president
this day on the Berlin stage
it was about a forgotten mission
a dream packed deep in the back of the closet
that promised we could be both strong and caring
that we could stop malcontents with weapons
while laying down our own

the messenger
who a few years ago
was the skinny guy with the funny name
showed that he was
an American leader
a world leader
without a single vote having been cast
not because of who he was
but what he said
and how it was heard

and for a moment
it seemed like it didn't matter
if he became president
as long as the country and the world
followed his lead

Novak cited after hitting pedestrian

Novak cited after hitting pedestrian

i didn't know I hit him
(the guy is sort of splayed over the windshield)
he's not dead - that's the main thing
(the car is speeding away)

how strange it must feel
to own the world
at least the part of the earth
you happen to be in
at any given time

dark
convertible
running over lives
failing to yield
the right of way

Al-Maliki's Announcement: A Big Deal

Al-Maliki's Announcement: A Big Deal

at some point
the curtain will open on the great Oz
and Dorothy, the Scarecrow, The Tin Man
and the Cowardly Lion
will all see the levers and and buttons
that prop up the scary green visage
the flames and the voice

leave while violence is down
leave while violence is up
but please go away
and let us reclaim and rebuild our country

and while you're at it
could you go find that bin Laden guy
'cause we don't like him either

even in Pottery Barn
they don't just stand around in the broken pieces
they pick them up
ask for a broom
(that's okay we'll get that)
then pay the check and leave

Texas approves major new wind power project

Texas approves major new wind power project

sometimes the best new ideas are the oldest
harnessing the power of wind
like exporers long ago
and farmers of yesterday

in the heart of black gold country
they see the value of the invisible
of the intangible
and stake their future on shifting air

What Else Jesse Jackson Said on That FNC Tape

What Else Jesse Jackson Said on That FNC Tape

yes it is
a double standard
as it always has been

ugliness turned on its side
to be used as code
as one of those words that means
whatever the user intends it to mean

and at some point
perhaps not in my lifetime
it will be buried in the etymological graveyard
a relic of history and hatred

but for now it still breathes
a parasite that eats its hosts
from the inside out