Monday, January 28th, 2008

2G2K Circus :: Holding On To Things That Are Bad For Us

The convo continues with Ferentz’s latest post here.

So we were in ATL Saturday night after finishing a video shoot for this movie at a great record store called Wax-N-Facts, including an epic digging session there, and having stuffed ourselves afterwards with some really big chili-bison burgers.

We’re sprawled out on the couches about to fall into a long coma when Hillary comes on for about 10 seconds. From Nashville. With nothing to say. And a bunch of bored, sad looking people sitting behind her, as if they were attending a mandatory school assembly.

Thankfully CNN cut it short, and we popped in the Trapped In The Closet, chapters 13-248, the one that ends where (spoiler alert) everyone ends up with the package, the paa-aa–aaa–ckage.

Give us credit, when we do things, we go BIG. I wasn’t just wrong, I was spectacularly wrong. Truth is, I am a wholly a child of the mid-80s to mid-90s. When Billary went into attack-dog mode, I panicked and got culture war flashbacks. Lost my religion, probably.

Look. Some of us who went through Reagan-Bush I and Clinton I have a tendency to get apocalyptic. We don’t do even qualified happy endings, like “Juno”. Feel me? In our movies, things start going bad then everyone dies and the kids get orphaned. We’re only happy when it rains and shit. Like Alicia Keys would be better for us. But we love us our Kells.

Anyway, the fact that Hillary only registered a little blip between bison burger coma and Sylvester’s draaa-ma was kinda telling. Everyone, from SC’s Dem electorate to CNN’s producing team, seems ready to move on. (Suzanne Malveaux even did like a 15-minute interview with Obama that ran all yesterday.)

So…onward to 2/5 and to hope! As my man Danny Hoch might say, thank you blue America or whatever.

The other thing I learned Saturday night is that even Southerners think Edwards is great on paper, but that he is actually, as a person, very full of shit. (But maybe not so full that he’d emerge as a cult fave among older hip-hop gens now that Kucinich is going home.)

Last thing is this: I loved your point about closing the debate on race. The one thing I was personally mad at Obama about this past week is that he had a huge opportunity to lay out a racial justice agenda, and he got sidelined into Clintolitics.

I don’t think SC has to be the last entry point for people of color in this election, but the whole race-gender frame was, as Lisa Duggan might say, just a ruse to hide the real debate–about education, criminal justice, the wealth gap, the true impact of the housing crisis, etc.

So Ferentz, we’ll have lots of time to talk Cali and Barackary later this week. Let’s talk Republicans. Goodbye Rudy!

posted by @ 9:17 am | 4 Comments

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Whoops!

Boy, was I wrong. Sorry. Well, at least I got it out of my system.

OK! You may now pile on.

posted by @ 5:18 pm | 7 Comments

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

2G2K Circus :: Bill The Mosquito + Is Obama Shook?

The question Monday night to Hillary was whether she felt Bill overshadowed her. Pssh. She’s got him under her thumb. Bill’s main role these past few weeks has been to be Hillary’s mosquito, all up in people’s ears–spreading half-truths and full lies, and generally keeping annoying fools.

It’s worked. Billary has gotten under Obama’s skin, and because of it, he’s lost composure and grace these past couple of days.

Today, the campaign announced “truth squads”, no doubt in part modeled after McCain’s strong grassroots attempts this year to tamp down the BS emanating from rival camps and general haters. Of course, he won last weekend.

But Obama’s “truth squads” look like McCain in South Carolina circa 2000. Indeed, Bill’s relentless hum is straight outta that dirty playbook. The problem for Obama is that they make him look desperate. His appeal has come from his ability to be above the scrum.

Reuters reports late today that Obama leads Clinton by double-digits. But…a huge caveat: it was a “rolling poll”, meaning most of the polling was done before the debate. Edwards picked up some points after the debate. Pollsters couldn’t confirm if the debate had hurt Clinton or Obama more.

Is Obama’s camp underplaying their candidate’s frontrunner status in South Carolina the way they overplayed his frontrunner status in New Hampshire? Or does Obama’s campaign know something about Monday night’s effects that they won’t let on? Are they shook?

I’m standing by my prediction: that Obama will lose SC. But knowing how I feel about Billary, I will be very happy to be wrong.

posted by @ 5:05 pm | 1 Comment

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

Two Guys, Two Keyboards, And A Circus :: The Democratic Debate

My homie Ferentz Lafargue, author of Songs in the Key of My Life: A Memoir, and I have been having these intense discussion about the elections so we thought we’d start sharing the stuff online. Welcome to Two Guys, Two Keyboards, And A Circus.

Here’s my first response to his first post on the MLK Day Democratic Debate:

You’re so on point.

Obama is an inexperienced, inconsistent, sometimes straight lousy campaigner. But more to the point: he has had his lousiest debate appearances before African American crowds. Remember Hillary’s call to arms around AIDS and black women last year?

I actually think he had a plan going in–to neutralize all the criticisms he’s been getting from Billary. Makes sense on paper and it would have been fine if he had stopped–but he wasted so much energy on the side battle (and give Hillary credit for stuff like the Rezko bomb) that he ceded big picture stuff to Edwards. And Edwards absolutely killed it in there.

Then, during the sitdown session, Hillary was able to slide some lofty sounding rhetoric in there during the sitdown session as well. So all of Obama’s thunder was stolen.

It might be time for the Obama camp to concede that, as great as their candidate performs in Reaganesque set pieces (like that didn’t-you-see-it Ebenezer speech earlier that day), he’s as useless a debater as George W. Bush.

Guess we all blew it with the b-ball and jazz and freestyle metaphors.

Check Ferentz’s reply here. Here’s my reply to his reply:

Re: Kucinich, I too subscribe to the polar theory of politics, which essentially holds that as long as there is a radical in the race, the whole field shifts left. But the relevant pole after February 5th is, sad to say, not we progressive anti-racist pointyhead types, but the fairly undifferentiated mass of voters “out there” that the punditocracy/pollstocracy says is concerned about Obama’s alleged “lack of experience”, Frank Rich notwithstanding.

In other words, assuming Obama is there in Denver, and let me clear my throat here and make a shocking prediction:

OBAMA. WILL. LOSE. SOUTH CAROLINA.

If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But I doubt it.

Back to the point I was gonna make, if Obama’s there in Denver, he’s not sliding left on his VP pick. Not Edwards. Not Kucinich. He’s selecting a hoary old white male party mainliner. All you fam who are floating away on his beautiful prose like I often do, I’m sorry to have popped your balloon. Mine popped Monday night.

So I think you’d agree that the worst thing right now would be for Edwards to drop out. (Which he won’t, I’m sure because if he plays close he might play broker in Denver.) I think Obama needs Edwards to keep him honest on health care and poverty, the same way Hillary needs the other two to make her gender pitch sound good to progressive feminists.

BTW when will Obama’s campaign hire you as speechwriter? They need some brilliance up in there to match their candidate…and hell, a little color wouldn’t hurt either!

posted by @ 7:42 am | 0 Comments

Friday, January 18th, 2008

LBTV :: The SoleSides Story

Your Machoness thought he broke his foot this past week. In fact, it was just a sprain. So while he recoverates by elevating his foot and taking his anti-inflammatorianizors, here’s some throwback stuff to keep you happy because you love to hear the story again and again. Yes, The SoleSides Story, as told by Your Stubborn Assedness.

BTW keep an eye out for LB’s new album this spring. It’s frickin’ amazing.

Enjoy…and if you live in Nevada, go caucus tomorrow!

posted by @ 12:11 pm | 1 Comment

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Hip-Hop Word Count

This is very funny.

posted by @ 8:22 am | 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Yellows Against Obama :: 80-20’s "Defeat Obama" Campaign

Whoooeeee. Don’t you love that musty smell of bourgeois Asian American nationalism in the morning?

The knees are jerking over at the 80-20 Initiative, a group of crusty old Asian Am politicos trying to forge a Yellow Power voting bloc, over Obama’s apparent refusal to answer a simple six-question. (For the history, go here.)

Now don’t get me wrong. Heck, I’m certifiably pro-Yellow Power! I even wear Mao t-shirts sometimes (though mostly so people will think I’m Jeff Mao). And I think Obama’s–overwhelmingly white, it must be said–top professional staff has been particularly dumb when dealing with Asian Americans.

Here’s a particularly egregious screwup–one that btw didn’t happen to affect Americans of East Asian descent, and so apparently passed completely unnoticed by the 80-20ers.

Folks, this incident was so bad that it led to the flight of notable amounts of money and support from Americans of South Asian descent to Hillary, and Obama himself had to apologize publicly and distance himself from his staff.

But 80-20…well, let’s just reprint let Bob Wing’s letter to 80-20. It says it all:

I applaud your efforts to press Mr. Obama and the other presidential candidates on issues related to Asian Americans. But I think your Defeat Obama campaign is divisive and not related to your stated mission of uniting Asian Americans. Worse, I think it plays to the racism that is unfortunately so prevalent in our society, including among some Asian Americans.

As Asian Americans we ought to know that one of the principal forms of racism is the often unfair claim, usually by some whites, that we and other people of color are not qualified to hold important positions. To say that Mr. Obama is not qualified to be president is not only incorrect, it also plays to that racism.

Moreover, it inflames the racial fires currently impacting upon the Democratic campaign in response to Mr. Obama’s success in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

I have no problem with criticizing Mr. Obama or any other candidate if they refuse to support legitimate Asian American rights. I also would have no problem with your deciding to throw your support behind a particular candidate and saying why. Those are positive actions.

But to mount a campaign claiming that Mr. Obama is unqualified to be president is harshly negative and divisive.

Whatever critique you may have of Mr. Obama, he is surely as qualified as many if not most of the people who have ever run for or even held the presidency. To decide that one candidate is more qualified than the others is what every voter must decide. To claim that a candidate with impressive credentials and massive backing such as Mr. Obama is not qualified at all is a harsh claim that smacks of partisan hype.

I hope you reconsider this ill conceived campaign and refocus on proactive efforts for Asian American equality and political unity.

posted by @ 2:29 pm | 10 Comments

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

1520 Sedgwick :: The Battle Continues

This morning, DJ Kool Herc, Senator Charles Schumer, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, and tenants from 1520 Sedgwick had a press conference to announce the Save 1520 Coalition’s demand the right of tenants to purchase the building that is the birthplace of hip-hop. This right is granted to residents of city-subsidized protected housing.

As the Times is reporting, this all comes about as a real estate developer known for flipping the famous Bank of America pyramid building in San Francisco has been revealed to be among the buyers.

Why is Mark Karasick interested in buying a 100-unit apartment building for working-class residents in the Bronx where rents average $1000?

One of the organizers, Dina Levy, says she believes he may be flipping the building to foreign buyers–whether for the building’s historical value or its strategic location for gentrification of the West Bronx is unclear. More than 40,000 units of similar city-subsidized affordable housing have been lost in New York City in recent years.

The tenants are now in negotiation with Karasick and others, but Karasick is asking for a price almost 3 times the expected value of the building.

To support the tenants’ fight with a donation, please visit to Save1520.org.

posted by @ 10:10 am | 2 Comments

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

I’m Teaching A Writers Workshop

Hey CSWS/TC fam, I just wanted to call your attention to the fact that I’m part of this amazing 5th Annual Intergenerational Writers Lab being offered by Intersection For The Arts and the Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco. I’ll be teaching a couple/few weekends in May.

It’s 3 months of intensive Saturday literarianizing with a team of kick-ass literarianizers: playwright Ricardo Bracho, poet Truong Tran, SF poet laureate devorah major, journalist/author Annalee Newitz and essayist/poet Bushra Rehman. There are readings and much fun. Program begins in March and ends in May.

If you want to get down, your application needs to be in by February 1st. I’m told that the demand for the 12 slots has gotten nuts in recent years, so come correct or don’t come at all! The info and app is here, and we’ll announce the public reading series soon. Hope to see you in May…

posted by @ 8:31 am | 1 Comment

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Rebecca Walker :: The Last Word On Clinton, Obama, and Steinem

Rebecca Walker cuts to the heart of this past week’s “It’s gender, no it’s race, no it’s class” repeat of the 80s and 90s culture war debates. It’s about all of the above, but it’s really about generation.

Here’s an excerpt, and check the original for the knockout punchline:

Hillary, no matter how symbolically potent, runs the risk of being seen as a Second Wave candidate. She’s one of the first women to gain power and access, and may be one of the first with power and access to ignore the criticisms of women of color, progressive men, and many young women, all of whom have been sending clear messages to Second Wave feminist leadership for well over a decade.

Messages like:

Women are not only victims, but active participants in the shaping of their lives. It’s not Hillary’s gender that may keep her from winning this election, it’s her lack of preparation. If she had an inter-generational, multi-racial, digitally savvy, globally inclined machine behind her, crafting electrifying rhetoric like The Audacity of Hope and The Power of Now, she’d be swept into the White House by a landslide. Hillary wasn’t forced into the number two position in Iowa, she made decisions that put her there. New Hampshire is a case in point; she made different decisions and got different results.

Racism and classism are as definitive as sexism. Did Steinem insinuate that Barack’s gender, and not his talent, put him in the top spot? I thought black men were capable of performing at his level without an irrationally granted advantage. And the idea that black men always reach the Promised Land before white women? Forty per cent of black men don’t finish high school in America, and one in four are incarcerated. Hillary, and her feminist supporters, are not going to win this election by glossing over the realities of African-American men…

The rest is here.

BTW, I’m told that HuffPo’s post-NH primary coverage brought record numbers to the site. That’s a helluva lot of interest in the elections.

And all this discussion about identity issues this past week supports the idea that these elections will be about the ways that emerging post-Boomers want to redefine the national discourse.

posted by @ 12:43 pm | 1 Comment



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