Tea Bird

The Wages of Blackness

The AP tries to quantify the depth of the racist hole that Barack Obama’s campaign will need to scale:

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them [...]

The Race Vote in Pennsylvania

Yesterday I was interviewed by Pete Dominick, host of Pete’s Big Mouth, on Sirius Radio.  He led off his series of questions about Pennsylvania and the PA primary with a question about whether some Democrats voted for Clinton because of Obama’s race. I know some of them did, because quite a few of them [...]

Time To Drop Out

I didn’t think I would come to this decision.  It is obvious that the race between Hillary and Barack is exciting and has inspired all avenues of people across ethnic, economic, and political lines. It has been suggested, however, that this is dividing the party and will make a mess out of the Democratic Convention. So, [...]

What’s It Like at an Obama Speech?

I was at two of Obama’s rallies yesterday, and I’ve been asked what it’s like. An Obama event is a unique political event in my experience. It’s like a cross between an African-American church service, an intimate rock concert, and your favorite professor’s lectures. There’s the call and response of African-American churches, [...]

Caution - Harsh Opinion Zone

The race to the PA Primary is heating up, and so am I. Unless I am living in a black hole, I am not finding the same opinions among my friends and acquaintances that I hear from the “polls and pundits”. For those of us who are still deciding, the perspectives of the TV know-it-alls [...]

Obama & Wright Not a Big Deal in Pittsburgh Bar

Inspired by Carrie Budoff-Brown’s Politico anecdotes from a Philadelphia neighborhood bar, I went to a bar in Monroeville, an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh, to gauge the fallout of the Wright controversy and Obama’s speech on race.  
I went to the River Towne Pour House, an extremely popular middle-class bar in a middle-class suburb. Out of a bar population of [...]

Philadelphia Ethnic Woes for Obama

Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico.com has an insightful article out today on the reactions of several blue-collar white voters in an ethnic neighborhood in Philadelphia.  While many, myself included, thought that Obama’s speech on race was the best oratory on the topic in our adult lives, it did not go over so well in this Philadelphia neighborhood.
 the debate inside [...]

Obama’s Speech on Race in Philadelphia Today

Pundits have declared that this speech is make or break for Obama after a week of Wright’s comments and Ferraro’s assertions owning the political airwaves. It is deeply autobiographical and addresses Wright head on. It was personally written by Obama who finished it at 2am this morning.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my [...]

Obama Headquarters in Pittsburgh

I visited the Obama campaign’s Pittsburgh headquarters this afternoon to get a sense of their activity level in the city. I walked in and immediately was directed to the campaign’s Press Guy. I had two big cameras strapped around my neck, and I guess that tipped them off. So, I asked this [...]