Chris Rock – Message for White Voters

A sketch by comedian Chris Rock. By the way, it still gets me every time that a man whose mother is white and whose father is black is automatically considered black. How racist is that? Identity is a choice.

2nd Presidential Debate: Answering questions in the town hall setting

In this debate, Obama was very good at answering questions. He listened very attentively, and then focussed coolly on individual aspects of the question, answering each in turn to showcase his position. He uses a relatively simple tactic in answering, namely to give highly structured and “signposted” answers – signposting meaning adding words and phrases […]

Democratic Conventions

I found Michelle Obama’s speech very interesting to watch. She’s an icon to professional women, and a fine speaker, obviously, and so beautiful. Her messages are reassuring, reasserting values and good, decent, community-building citizenship, telling stories to remind everyone how what Obama has achieved is based on his “down-home-and-real” deep-seated beliefs. All good. But seeing […]

Alice Walker: An open letter to Barack Obama

from The Root, Nov. 5, 2008 Dear Brother Obama, You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others […]

Stevie Wonder: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Michelle’s favorite, the 2008 election song by Stevie Wonder, here with Beyonce. The important words? “Unterschrieben, zugeklebt, abgeliefert, ich gehöre dir!” Mike Pilewski’s election analysis, Eamonn Fitzgerald’s ultimate Obama quiz, and the Obama Soundtrack: Spotlight today.