There's some talk online about Jay-Z's endorsement being more powerful than Obama's. I don't really think that's terribly useful. These are two of the most culturally important black men in the world. I guess I'd like to think of their endorsements as a one-two punch, rather than quibble about who will make the most individual impact.
That said, I'm struck by the simplicity and the almost nonchalance of Jigga here. Even though I know that's pretty much Shawn Carter's demeanor whenever he talks.
So many people I work with in D.C. weren't as upset by Barack Obama's release of his long-form birth certificate and the press conference about it as I was. My twitter timeline was filled with "oooh, Barry delivers another smackdown." Liberal writers and bloggers all talked about the "political calculation" of it all.
That just wasn't what I was feeling. I was feeling this:
"I find America to be such a childish nation when it comes to its
puritanical sexual views. Let me tell you something. John Edwards and
Eliot Spitzer are two guys that the Democratic party and the country
could really use right now. Edwards' big issue was poverty in America.
And Eliot Spitzer was the Sheriff of Wall Street. And why did they get
drummed out? Because they got their winkie dinks caught in the cookie
jar. So what! When so many people in this country face the same issues,
it's so hypocritical to say these guys can't be in public life."
Roger Cohen's op-ed in today's issue of The New York Times, which dissects the fundamental different way that the U.S. and Europe view health care, is a beautiful, subtly persuasive bit of writing.
To wit:
One fundamental reason a public option — yes, “option,” not
single-payer monopoly — is needed in the United States is to jump-start
the idea that basic health care is a moral obligation rather than a
financial opportunity.
And:
A public commitment to universal coverage is not character-sapping but
character-affirming. Medicare did not make America less American.
Individualism is more “rugged” when housed in a healthy body.
I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what to say about politics of late.
Part of it is that life gets in the way and a brotha ain’t always got time to sit down and take stock of everything that is happening. And part of it is that I’m losing faith that we liberals always taking to the innanets is even effective.
But this was a big week, folks. Big education speech. Big health care speech. White folks still freakin’ out about the fact that the president got some melanin. And one of the tried and true liberal visionaries lost his job, leaving Obama with pretty much no one on the Left with which to work.
