Mr. Obama's candidacy illuminates the tension between the 'sit-in' generation and the new cadre of which Mr. Obama is a part. That chasam is even more broad than the systemic devide between black and whit in the republic. Because of his unique background, the Senator was not the recipient of the jokes, habits, recipes and other intangibles passed down in the average African American household. Apparently this has contributed to some of the speculation around his culture.

To some extent, those who have created a cottage industry from the civil rights movement have behaved like a former lover who wants to leave behind under ware or pajamas to be remembered by. Most of the thoughtful, albeit nervously, have found something redeeming with Senator Obama's new, exotic, avant-garde candidacy. In the best of situations, transition and transformation will come with the "skinny kid with a funny sounding name", and the junior senator from Illinois will reach and ring the ameri-politic as he appears capable of doing.

it's odd but also common that wanna be's quote those who's company they'd like to keep..or at least be aligned with. i'm neiter intrigued nor amazed that mr. koppelman predicates his first paragraph with a story from Politico, then wanders further into the abyss with the Washington Post in his second paragraph. why replicate? does the gentleman seek to be a virgil-esque guide through some shared purgatory?

Gosh man, perhaps that dharma retreat is in order, yes?

perhaps labeling your article, "me and...." would be helpful. today is't simon, yesterday it was the post and politico. sir, is it you are convinced we the great unwashed to not read or is the a form of identity crisis. i, for one, really appreciate originality from writers i re-visit.

when falling upon your 'writing' i feel as though i'm reading a piece from the journal of the ama crafted by someone who didn't go to med school. at least be daring for those who opt to read you.

it's not that simple for serious candidates to truthfully address what they would do in various 'crises'. most events don't occur in a vacum. there's generally a 'set' of circumstances,linkages, around which a thoughtful, competent public official can operate. without a track record, the electorate is left with only a 'guesstimate' based upon an expressed set of values, philosophical tenets or even favorite colors go by. in sum, it's important to know, what do these people read, what poets and artist are significant to them. hell, even what's a favorite car. the wild card, of all the parties in this outting is ms. palin...and i'm not convinced she reads, or read, at all.

The history of this republic is drenched with far too much agony. It can hardly afford the pinata style beating much longer.

the last thing this republic can handle now is angry black men. it failed to interpret cleaver, seale, newton and that cadre. america even failed to grasp the simmering eloquence of baldwin's, "notes from the house of bondage".

prior to attempting a psychological/philosophical introspection of the afam/male, via the obama phenomena, let me encourage a read of fanon's, "black skin, white mask", or time permiting, "wretched of the earth." i doubt a warm alcove awaits the bust of the junior senator from illinois in the rugged american cultural pantheon.

there have been campaigns and elections in time of war, even civil war. so the oba has a few points in rolling on. the senator from arizona has rarely completed a full week of compaigning, be it act of wall street (as now), or of god,e.g. his convention.

yet to his merit, it was to a raukus, hostile republican crowd in new york city some four years ago, mccain said, "i don't doubt the sincerity of my democratic friends. and they should not doubt ours...We have nothing to fear from each other...We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom, and promote the general welfare. let us argue our differences."

gosh, sometimes even a blind pig can find a corn field, yes?

let's view this as a "teachable" moment. to begin with, the writer obviously know nothing about the political career of michael stanly dukakis, massachusetts' longest serving governor. although a failed presidential candidate, the "duke", was vote the nation's most effective governor by his then peers. in addition, the gentleman was key in creating "quasi-state" agencies, i.e. private/public partnership authorities, then in the vanguard of the 'laboratories for democracy'.

staggering forward, the author writes john mccain, "built his image on bipartisanship", when in fact it was built on his legacy as a pow...or prisoner of war.

the latter is now under intense scrutiny, as is presented in an oct. 6th edition of the Nation ('mccain and the pow cover-up).

i could hardly bare to wander alone toward the completion of the mclelland piece. it must be fun, albeit reckless and fickle, to play a politico in cyberspace.

What we have here is a case of the awe dancing with the awkward. Few really knew what "President-elect cool" was talking about when he threw around, "change", "hope", and "yes we can." In his vagueness, the gentleman from Illinois pasted together a narrative even an idiot could roll with,

In real life, the somewhat moderate Mr. Obama is pooling together a kind of Kantian fusion. Plugging tenets of rationalism into sockets of empiricism is not for the faint of heart. A lack of social inertia will be somewhat magically preserved in this administration.