The Black Liberal Boomer Blog

Maybe I should just trust the polls. In my gut it doesn't make sense what I'm hearing, but if the polls are the true barometer of what's going on out there, then maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe I'm missing a lot.

Because here's what I don't quite get; more than a few pundits, news commentators, and news stories have all been pedaling the story that  the general election race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is going to be a real nail-biter that will take us down to the wire. In earlier months, when the Republicans were doing their best to self-destruct, Obama was given a fairly comfortable lead over Romney and everyone else, but now that Romney is the clear leader the latest storyline is that the Republican troops have resigned themselves to the fact that Romney is The Guy and they are rallying behind him. And now that they are all united behind their guy, whatever reservations they may have - and there are plenty - the numbers indicate that this rallying of the conservative base around the Mittster is creating enough of a bump that Obama may have one hell of a fight on his hands come the general election campaign.

And I agree that in politics few things are certain except that they're not. The sure front-runner can be dog catcher within a matter of weeks - or days. But I must admit I'm having a  hard time understanding how this race is supposed to be so damned close. Sure, I'm an avowed Obama supporter and want the man to win a second term. But you don't have to be an Obama fan to see how much Mitt Romney has distanced himself from practically every voting constituency except for rich white folks like himself and angry not-quite-so-rich folks who just cannot stand Obama and want him out of there even if they're not that enthused about Romney. That does not equal the majority of voting age Americans.

Consider:

• Women voters now prefer Obama to Romney by a double-digit margin of at least 14 points according to one poll. More than a few say that it is virtually impossible to win an election with that many women committed to the other candidate.
• Hispanic voters favor Obama by a nearly 6 to 1 margin according to a poll conducted by FOX News Latino. Hispanics are becoming a critical constituency in states like Colorado and Arizona, let alone Texas.
• African American voters are once again expected to come out in large numbers (close to 90 percent) in favor of Obama.
• Although the rock star image has been tarnished somewhat due to the realities of politics and governing, which can be hard for the more idealistic young to stomach, it does appear that they will once again be more solidly in Obama's corner this time just like last election, although not as fervently as before. But even if they come out in lower numbers, the likelihood of them gambling on Mitt Romney this time around seems, well, remote to say the least.
• Not only are the Teamsters throwing their support behind Obama, which wasn't necessarily a shock, but they are committing thousands of door-to-door volunteers who now have the ability to knock not just on the doors of other union members but the general population. This could go a long way toward attracting the white working class that so many say are weary of Obama, especially in states like my home state Of Michigan and also Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

Once again, I'm not going to go so far out on a limb as to suggest that Obama is going to win this running away. He may not even win by the same comfortable margin as he did in 2008, due largely to the soon-to-be-seen impact of the massive voter suppression efforts that have been underway ever since Obama became President, and the disproportionate amount of funds being shoveled into the SuperPACs which Democrats simply cannot compete against. These are formidable barriers to be sure.

But even against those negatives, and factoring in disenchantment amongst the progressive block represented by those such as Prof. Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, Ralph Nader, and others, the embarrassingly tepid support of Romney amongst his base - and his pathetic campaign - make it hard to imagine how he's going to present such a massive threat to a campaigner such as Obama with a more than impressive record of achievement that is only now receiving the exposure that it should have gotten long ago. It's hard to imagine an army of enthusiastic Romney supporters swarming the nation, especially when it is Romney himself whose perpetual gaffes are providing the Obama campaign with the best negative political ads they could ever ask for. Even conservative commentator Joe Scarborough on his MSNBC show 'Morning Joe' blurted out publicly during prime time that none of the Republican political leaders and heavy hitters with whom he is in regular contact believed Romney was going to win in 2012.

As for those who want to trot out the losses of incumbent President Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan in 1980, and the loss of Democratic challenger Michael Dukakis to George H.W. Bush in 1988 to show how a Democrat can lose this, I say you can't seriously be comparing Barack Obama to either one of those gentlemen. And especially in the case of Jimmy Carter, where not only can you not compare Carter to Obama, you damned sure can't compare Mitt Romney to Ronald Reagan, whose actor's charisma and base of enthusiastic support were off the charts.

Sometimes I think you have to question the polls...

Because that's pretty close to what happened to Mitt Romney here in Detroit today when he appeared at his campaign event at Ford Field. First of all, whoever had the bright idea to host this event at Ford Field ought to have their status as valuable campaign staffer seriously re-evaluated - before tossing him out of the bus. Or under it.

There were 1,200 seats attending this event, not all of which were occupied by live voters. The stage was located at the 30-yard line inside a massive stadium named for the auto industry titan Henry Ford. The same industry, by the way, that Mitt told to drop dead not that long ago. Did I mention that this is a massive stadium? As in one that can hold 65,000 people? So can you picture what a campaign event being held on the 30-yard-line might look like..?

Did I also mention that there were more UAW protesters out front than there were campaign attendees snuggled together on the inside?

Moving on, Mitt attempted to reach out and connect to the average Detroit Joe by saying his wife "drives a couple of Cadillacs actually." Because here in Detroit, known as one of the poorest big cities in America, we all drive a couple Cadillacs. That's just how we roll out here in the 'D'. Ain't never too broke not to buy you a coupla Caddys.

Welcome home, Mitt. Now go home.

This is being cross-posted at Black Liberal Boomer.

A few days ago Brother Mitt was back here in Michigan- or 'back home' as he likes to say when trolling for votes - and he said the cutest thing; he said that in Michigan the "trees are the right height". He also said that he loves lakes. And cars. And dogs, especially when strapped to the roof of..

OK no. He didn't say the part about the dogs. That was just mean.

But the rest? Yeah, well...he kinda did...

This is your brain. This is desperation. This is your brain on desperation.

Actually, we probably do.

No, I'm not talking about the corporate raider part. And Romney, although he is likely to be his party's 2012 Republican nominee to challenge President Barack Obama, will never be the Thrilla in Vanilla. Romney has about as much charisma as a piece of wet cardboard.

But Romney is rich, pal. Maybe not as rich as Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, but once you pass the $100 million mark, does it really even matter? The man's personal life - at least the part of it we get to see on TV - is the embodiment of the American Dream. A good-looking guy with a good-looking wife and good-looking kids who is successful in business (whether you like his business or not) and who is filthy rich. So say what you want about Mittens - and there is plenty to say - but one of those things is that he definitely has what a lot of us want. Because I know a whole lot more people who would much prefer to have rich white folk problems than the problems endured by the rest of us.

So yeah, Mitt. As politically incorrect as your statement was that we criticize you because we envy you- and as incredibly stupid and poorly timed - there is, nevertheless, some truth in there. We might as well admit it. Here most of us are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, and that's if we're even lucky enough to have a damned paycheck, and then we look up and see someone like you who even in the imagination of your imagination couldn't begin to conceive of what it's like down here on the ground. Hell most of us wish we didn't know, right?

But here's where Mitt made a bit of a miscalculation, OK? Because even though it's true that most of us would greatly prefer to experience the trials and tribulations of being fabulously wealthy to what we're dealing with instead, the fact is that there are a hell of  a lot more of us in that condition than there are those with a quarter billion dollars trying to figure out how to make their mansions even bigger just for the hell of it. And although we do envy those like Mitt whose lives float in celestial bliss out of hearing distance from normal folk, it's not just envy that's got us pissed off. Because if we actually believed the lie so often told that if we just worked hard and put our noses to the grindstone that we could be Just Like Mitt then it wouldn't be so bad. But, see, we're not stupid. Because being broke and poor and being stupid are not synonymous.

Just as an example? We see things like the Countrywide scandal where a huge corporation ripped off thousands of African American and Hispanic homeowners (my guess is none of them were multi-millionaires), charging them more for mortgages than similarly qualified white folks, just because they could. Sure they got dinged $335 million as a penalty, and congrats to US Attorney Eric Holder for at least getting something out of the bastards, even it wasn't near enough. But what about all those families whose lives are now ruined because of Countrywide? Who is going to put them back together and make them whole?

These are the kind of things that happen when the deck is stacked, which are the kind of things that gave rise to the Occupy movement and many more similar movements around the world that explode when people get fed up with inequity and injustice. But God knows if we could all just live the Life of Mitt?

All would be right with the world, wouldn't it kids?

This is being cross-posted at Black Liberal Boomer

I, for one of tens of millions, am very glad that Mr. Herman Cain has "suspended" his presidential campaign.

(By suspending, not ending, his campaign, he is still free to raise and spend money. We, the American taxpayers--including the 99%, are paying for his Secret Service protection for at least another 9.99 weeks. Why is it that government is only supposed to work for YOU, Mr. Cain?)

There are a lot of Republicans and very right-wing people who continue to support Herman Cain and actually think he would've made a good President. Not.

The reasons I am glad Mr. Cain's gone are not totally because I am a proud liberal and progressive Democrat. It is deeper than that. 

5) He may have been a successful businessman and motivational speaker and all that, but how can you truly "motivate" people by denigrating them and calling them lazy and worthless? ("If you aren't rich or don't have a job, it's YOUR fault!" said Mr. Cain.) I, for one of tens of millions of fellow liberals and progressives, believe in "Sankofa": reaching back and helping others up, not pulling up the ladder once you've personally reached the top.

4) I resent being called "brainwashed" and "living on a plantation" just because I don't think like Herman Cain does. Again, it seems like Mr. Cain and his campaign just ran on "applause lines". It is precisely BECAUSE I can think and analyze for myself that I made an INFORMED choice to be a liberal progressive and not a conservative.

3) I prefer my President to be readers AND leaders. Maybe if Mr. Cain "read" a little more, he'd know the name of the President of U-becky-becky-stan-stan and the successful Libya policy of President Obama, AND he would know and understand that it is NOT politically prudent to denigrate and make fun of another sovereign state.

2) I also prefer for my President NOT to play the "victim" at every turn. Every time Mr. Cain had a problem, it was always someone or something else's fault: the Democrats, the "liberal media", "unsubstantiated accusations", the middle class, the Black people who were "scared" of a "real Black Man"...yada, yada, yada. Mr. Cain may not have noticed, but there is already a "real Black Man" in the White House. I almost laughed when Mr. Cain said in his farewell speech that the "lies about him" were "hurting his family". More lies have been told about President Obama and his wife and family than Mr. Cain can shake a stick at--many of those lies told by Mr. Cain himself. But do you hear the President whining and complaining at every turn? No--Barack Hussein Obama is the role model that Mr. Cain should follow. Our current president just "brushes the dirt off his shoulder" and keeps on working for the good of ALL Americans.

1) I am equally incensed that Mr. Cain has set himself up as judge and jury of other Americans by stating that he would not "have any Muslims in his administration". On the one hand, Mr. Cain boldly states that there is no longer a "race problem" in America (of course, he then plays the "race card" when it is convenient for him), but he perpectuates other racial/religious/cultural stereotypes such as all Muslims are terrorists and Muslims cannot be "real Americans" nor can they be trusted. Well, it seems as if it is Mr. Cain who cannot be trusted. 

Good riddance, Mr. Cain. You are now reduced to a trivia question on "Final Jeopardy". Don't forget to ask Ann Coulter if she still feels that "her blacks" are better than "our blacks". "Our Black" is the scandal-free President of the United States of America, and you, Mr. Cain, are a joke and an embarrassment to all Americans.

• Herman Cain Goes Down Swinging The Stupid Stick As He Quits The GOP Race (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Garrett Quinn: Good riddance to Herman Cain (boston.com)
• The Black Conservative Candidate Hits The Immovable Liberal Object (fullback23.wordpress.com)
• Goodbye Herman Cain! (murraymsilveresq.wordpress.com)
• Poll: Herman Cain Can't Even Quit straight. (culturalhealth.blogspot.com)

5.5.5.

I mean...damn, Herman.

Really?

First of all just let me say that I really feel bad for this man's wife and family because they did nothing to deserve a clown like this, and especially not the kids. For all I know maybe his wife knew he was nuts before the wedding day, but I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt. But that being said, nobody deserves to be saddled with an idiot like this, and an arrogant idiot to boot.

So now, after Ginger White has stepped out of the shadows to reveal that she, too, has been a focus of Herman's overheated little engine, the tally of alleged extramarital Cain Train sexual entanglements has risen to five. At this point, you don't say 'where there's smoke there's fire'. No. Because when there are this many women saying the man layed paws on them, what needs to be said is that 'where there's fire, there's fire.'

IMPORTANT POINT OF CLARIFICATION:  Ginger White was just a fling on the side for 13 years, meaning she was never pawed or groped without giving the green light. By her own admission she knew Cain was married the entire time and she knew what they were doing was "improper". But it was fun and he set her free from her "humdrum life" so I guess she figured what the hell. And no, I have absolutely no compassion for this woman at all. She was screwing someone else's husband for the perks, and there's a word for that type of behavior. But the other four women making allegations all claim the advances were uninvited, and that places them in an entirely different category - and it also sheds a hot spotlight on the character vacuum that is Herman Cain.

OK, moving right along. Cain was never going to be the nominee and he knew it. So did everyone else. He was the dancing bear, the hired entertainment brought along to keep everyone from paying attention to anything remotely serious. But the one thing Cain was definitely serious about was raising his profile so that he could sell more books and get stupid PAID making speeches and even possibly hosting his own Cain Train Power Hour on Fox News. But now, alas, those dreams appear to be melting like the cheese on a pizza in the oven way too long.

Oh, and this just in even as I write these words; Cain apparently is now reassessing whether or not to remain in the campaign.  From today's Washington Post:

“It’s a reassessment of where we stand and the road ahead, similar to other times in the campaign’s history,” wrote Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon in an email to the Fix. Gordon said that Cain will deliver his planned national security speech later this week in Michigan.

“He is not thinking of dropping out of the race,” Gordon added. “He is simply reassessing the state of the campaign. We intend to be full speed ahead.”

...riiiight...

What Herman Cain was gambling on (praying for on both knees with kneepads on) was that the women making these accusations of sexual harassment against him would at the very least remain anonymous and somehow bound by this agreement they apparently all signed at the behest of the National Restaurant Association years ago preventing them from saying mean and nasty things about the guy whom they claim did mean and nasty things to them.

Herman gambled. Herman lost.

Now that Sharon Bialek has come out publicly with her lawyer Gloria Allred and given a face to these accusations that Cain swears up and down simply aren't true, Cain is confronted with a variety of problems, such as how many accusations of this sort can he dismiss? The ramifications of this short-sighted approach are dealt with in more detail by my colleague Cheryl Contee in her post on the issue today. But one of the largest - and so far little-discussed - stumbling block issues that could very well cause Cain to stumble and fall is, well, the complexion of this face that Sharon Bialek has presented to the media.

Sharon Bialek is a white woman. Sharon Bialek is a blonde white woman who, from what I can see, also appears to have blue eyes. She is a single mother.

You know, Ann Coulter says that "our blacks are so much better than their blacks," and Herman Cain is the poster Negro Exhibit A for "their blacks." But brother? Let's you and me be clear on this one thing; the more credible this white woman becomes (and it doesn't have to be by much), the more I suspect you're gonna feel your neck start to itch and burn. Because if Clarence Thomas (your hero, I know) had been accused of sexually harassing a white woman? Yeah, well. Let's just say his now-famous accusation that he had become the victim of a high-tech lynching during his ultimately successful confirmation circus would have become a reality and the only bench he would be sitting on would be the one in his garage.

Sure, for now Rush Limbaugh is attacking Bialek's credibility and standing firm for House Negro Numero Uno. Others on the far right appear to be rallying to their boy's defense as well, claiming that this is just a well-orchestrated ploy. A hastily-constructed ad defending Cain makes the case that Herman must not be treated the same way they did Saint Clarence. But let's see what happens when accuser #2 steps forward and she turns out to be white as well...

I wonder what wonderful song Herman Cain plans to sing at this evening's press conference? He might want to steer clear of "Strange Fruit."

I mean, you just have to wonder how Mitt Romney must feel right about now. Once the stage lights are off and the last interview for the day is through, the last campaign stop completed, what must it feel like?

And you know where I'm going with this. Here's a man whose father,George Romney, was a governor (Michigan's 43rd governor, 1963-1969), Republican Party powerhouse (U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1969-1973, candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1968), and a bigtime businessman  (CEO of General Motors 1954-1962). Then along comes Junior, who goes on to essentially follow in his father's career footsteps; in addition to being 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003-2007), Romney Junior also  became successful in the business world when he eventually rose through the ranks to become CEO of Bain & Company, a company which he is said to have rescued from fiscal crisis. He later co-founded Bain Capital.

So Romney comes from lots of money. He himself has lots and lots (and still lots more) money. His dad had government experience. Junior has government experience. Junior is good-looking. Junior is clean-cut. Junior's wife is an attractive blonde, and together they have five great-looking kids. Junior has a strong campaign organization. Junior has a fat campaign chest. Junior has a Colgate smile. I don't know if the family has a dog, but if they do I'm sure the little feller can perform countless amusing tricks on queue and is faithful, obedient, and can recite the pledge of allegiance in six languages.

How can this guy not be running away with the Republican nomination? Even worse, how in the hell can he be losing to a black former pizza chain owner with no government experience and a three-digit laughable excuse for a campaign platform? I think it's pretty safe to say that the Republican Party as it stands right now is essentially the rich white man's party. This party is tailor-made for fat white cats with fat bank accounts. Even many of the hundreds of thousands of Republicans who don't match that description at all still seem to be okay with that. Let's just call it guilt by association.

So then why is the black guy still at the top of the polls? The black guy with hardly any money in his campaign war chest, with no real campaign organization to speak of, and who most definitely is not a rich white man? How did this happen?

At the end of the day, sure, everybody pretty much knows Herman Cain will not be allowed to pass 'Go' on the campaign game board. The rug will eventually be pulled out from underneath his feet and the Republican troops, such as they are, will grumblingly accept the pathetic inevitability that is Mitt. That's why Cain is spending so much time selling his book and being entertaining is because he knows those entertainment fees are what is going to butter his bread once this charade is over. But even given that eventuality, how must it feel to be Mitt and to be running neck and neck with Engine Number 999 -after the almost-but-not-quite savior Texas Governor Rick Perry fell on his face and after the almost-but-not-quite-savior-who-never-was Gov. Chris Christie refused to be begged into the race. And both of these men were targeted by the Republican multitudes who wanted anybody but Mitt.

This may not last much longer, but it has already lasted more than long enough to make Mitt wonder this one simple question; when was being a wealthy white man in America with connections and family pedigree not enough to stave off a challenge from somebody like Herman Cain?

And then? Once Romney does get the nomination (assuming Ranger Rick doesn't mount a 4th quarter game changer),  he's got to go up against another brother. And this one got skillz kid!

Just what kind of an America is this, anyway?