| Basu: Cerebral Obama, superficial me
Listening to Barack Obama speak from inside a packed Polk County Convention Center, I discovered an unnerving truth about myself: I care about superficial things.
I want a candidate to bellow and exhort, to decry failed policies and bring a crowd to tears with dreams of the impossible. I want someone who can wow an entire room while connecting directly with just one person in it.
Obama was not that person Wednesday. Maybe he never can be; maybe he's too studied, too cerebral, too lacking in theatrics. Or maybe he will be down the line, after the fatigue of a grueling campaign schedule becomes second nature, and he sees what people respond to.
Before Wednesday, Obama was everything I admired on paper - brilliant, well read, committed to social justice.
Is Barack black enough? Now that's a silly question
Sen. Barack Obama's presidential quest has launched some revealing conversations, particularly about what makes a black person "black." Even for those who think as I do that the answer is breathtakingly obvious, the question is not frivolous. For Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, the emerging media narrative invites a re-examination of widely held assumptions. Is race a matter of color? Ancestry? Or experiences? "There are African-Americans who don't think that you're black enough, who don't think that you have had the required experience," reporter Steve Kroft asked Obama as they cruised Chicago's South Side during a recent 60 Minutes profile. "The truth of the matter is," Obama mused, gazing at the neighborhoods outside their vehicle's windows, "when I'm walking down the south side of Chicago and visiting my barbershop and playing basketball in some of these neighborhoods, those aren't questions I get asked." No, those are the kind of questions some people ask about you when you're the first black presidential candidate to have a viable chance of winning.
Clinton and Obama minis
Last week, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) were at each other's throats in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
But as plastic action figures, they're the "2008 dream team," a two-doll set offered by Herobuilders.com.
Which miniature candidate leads the ticket? Herobuilders won't say, but it's hard not to notice a disparity between Obama's "Beetlejuice"-esque shrunken head and Clinton's bulbous blond noggin.
"Obama's tux is too big, but his head is properly scaled," insisted Herobuilders President Emil Vicale. The Clinton doll is another story. "It has a big head, and that was intentional," Vicale said.
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Barack Obama Disses the Press
Big Hollywood fundraiser for Senator Barack Obama last night [Tuesday, Feb. 20]. Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy, Natalie Maines, hundreds of others forked over $2,300 to support Obama's presidential run. As I mentioned last night, I tried to buy a ticket! I had my money out! But Obama's people said no. No way, no how is O'Reilly getting in. So I sent my guys, led by producer Ron Mitchell, to check things out. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, hi, I work for the Bill O'Reilly. And we tried to buy a ticket to the event. And they wouldn't sell us one. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a press event. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, I understand. We tried to buy the ticket. They wouldn't sell us one.
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