Thirteen years after women were granted the right to vote, a nine year old Sammy Davis Jr. promised "pork chops and chicken for everyone" in the 1933 film Rufus Jones for President. Blacks had been freed and granted voting rights when the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 (The Voting Rights Act signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 was established to enforce the laws already on the books and to discourage Jim Crow laws [the 3/5 compromise is another blog at another time]). Mrs. Cinton should have studied her history books a little better to understand the American cycle of; White Male>Black Citizens>White Female>Everyone Else. Almost sixty years would pass from Sammy Davis' minstrel portrayal of the President to Gena Davis' in the short lived television series Commander in Chief.
Whether comparing Barak Obama to James Earl Jones' version of POTUS in the 1970s film The Man, Dennis Haysbert's version in the television series 24, Chris Rock's version in Head of State(Damn...a minstrel show again..?), Morgan Freeman's in Deep Impact or even "Tiny" Lister (Who was not just President of the United States but GALACTIC President) in The Fifth Element - Black Presidents in Hollywood have run the gamut from foot-shuffling coons to articulate and educated men.
Black author Toni Morrison called Bill Clinton "America's first Black President". Although with Bill's liberal use of the race card during Hillary's campaign, his "ghetto-pass" has been revoked.
The first female major party candidate to run for the office of Vice-President (Geraldine Ferraro) has written (in a Boston Globe editorial) that Barak Obama scares white people; "They're upset because they don't expect to be treated fairly because they're white". She asserts a claim of "reverse-racism". WTF? How is this line of thinking any different than Kanye West stating that President Bush doesn't like Black people? I guess that's why neither Kanye nor Geraldine will be in any serious consideration for the White House.
Meanwhile;
The overweight/angry/lesbian (her words-not mine) Rosie O'Donnel is upset with the smokin' hot Angelina Joile because Ms. Joile states that she is not sure for whom she's going to vote. Ms. O'Donnel asserts that because Angellina has a Black child - she should vote for Obama. Angelina waits to decide for whom to vote based on issues and not race and Rosie thinks that this is wrong? Whatever happened to the content of one's character and not the color of their skin?
Now there are reports that John McCain is seeking the help of Colin Powell. Colin Powell as V.P.? Sure, that's a fine choice. The only reason that Mr. Powell is under consideration is because he's Black. Yeah...I know that this statement sounds like Ms. Ferraro's comment about Barak Obama only being in serious contention because he's Black. Both statements just happen to be true.
This is going to be an interesting three months. The best commentary on race and the Presidency is often made by comedians. Dave Chappelle has done some great skits, Eddie Murphy was funny in his observations too. But the most accurate portrayal is probably Richard Pryor's commentary/skit that can be found on youtube. Just type in; Richard Pryor-Black President. (I would have provided a link but I haven't figured out how to do that yet)
So with no more Olympics to distract many of us,
[Olympic observations/parting shots -
The best looking women at the games were (in no particular order);
-Candice Parker - 6'4" 170 lbs. -US Women's Basketball - tall and hot
-Guo Jingjing - 5'4" 108 - China (diving) - looks like a model when made up
-Jennie Finch - 6'1" - US Women's Softball - on the list every year
-Lolo Jones - 5'9" 150 lbs. US Women's Track and Field - Damn...!
-(Honorable mention - Misty May-Treanor (nice ba-dunk-a-dunk), Blanka Vlasik (sometimes hot/sometimes eehhhh?), Amanda Beard (looked great in photo shoots), Natalie Coughlin (I just think that she's cute), Synchronized Swimming Teams (maybe it's the gelatin in their hair), Rhythmic Gymnastics (taller and older that the regular female gymnasts)]
it's time to think about the future of our world. How will the election play out when the man running as Vice President (Joseph Biden) thinks that the man running for President in the other party is more qualified than his running mate?
...an interesting next three months.
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