Last night’s Anderson Cooper 360 featured a lively, if baffling, panel discussion about what Michelle Obama’s racial identity is going to mean to her husband’s supposedly post-partisan, post-racial politics presidential run. At one point, Cooper asked his guest whether discussion is needed of the fact that while Barack’s multi-racial identity has been one of the campaign’s most important cultural signifiers, “her racial identity is less mutable”? Translation: He may be the Tiger Woods of politics but she’s a black woman from Chicago, straight up. Since DoubleSecretThesis-gate didn’t exactly catch fire, do we need to instead debate the cultural implications of a sista in the White House and make it all about who she’ll have over for dinner and who’ll she’ll bring in to decorate the place? I don’t think so. Because for one thing, Dave did the whole Racial Draft thing years ago. And also? Because if she’s been nothing else — beautiful, glamorous, accomplished — Miz O has been utterly authentic about who she is, where she comes from and how she looks at the world. Nobody should be running away from that important piece of this American story…DEVELOPING…
And while we’re talking about muckraking potential First Ladies, can we stop with the Cindy McCain Valley of the
Dolls crap? Here’s a news flash, boyo: Drug addicts do some shady shit. There are plenty of reasons not to vote for McCain, but how his wife copped her Oxys back in the day isn’t one of them … DEVELOPING…
Just when I thought New Jersey was about to go from The Vest to The Flag Pin, CNN white dude Lou Dobbs says he’s not running for governor. And thank God — I was starting to think we were going to need to build a border fence around Drumthwacket to keep him out. (Lou’s hair continues to darken, though, like he’s been hanging with Keith and Clyde.)…DEVELOPING…
Make of this what you will, but Ed Rendell is hanging tough in the latest round of VP Madness over on CQPolitics.com. This round ends on Thursday. We should vote with him just to mess with people…DEVELOPING…
The city’s rec centers are in need of an Extreme Home Makeover, with boxes of new fire extinguishers sitting unopened and doors bolted shut, even as city pools opened early and the campers are showing up at Hillside. (Pssst, dude. You do know they put that chemical in the pool that turns the water red if you pee, right? What, you didn’t know that? Pass it on!)