Obama deals the race card

It's a fact: Barack Obama was the first of the two presumptive presidential to inject race into the contest.

Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me, Obama said. You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.

Once Obama is away from the teleprompter--look out. The junior senator from Illinois made those comments at a town-hall style meeting yesterday in Missouri.

John McCain has suggested a series of ten town-hall style debates, the Obama campaign has not been enthusiastic about McCain's idea. After last night's blunder--it's easy to see why.

UPDATE August 1: Barack Obama's chief guru David Axelrod brings up race in regards to the McCain "celebrity ad." Red State reports.

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama Election Democrats Yes we can John McCain McCain Republican African American black

My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Clarksdale, Home of the Delta Blues

The Delta Blues heritage of Clarksdale, Mississippi is immense. As for ascertaining who "invented" the blues, it's like attempting who invented music itself. W.C Handy was not a native of Mississippi, but lived in Clarksdale for a few years, where a parking lot is now located. Although he was known as "Father of the Blues, Handy also composed and performed jazz pieces.

Behind the W.C. Handy historical marker in the picture above is the former Wade Walton's Barbershop.

From Marlo Carter Fitzpatrick's Mississippi Off the Beaten Path:

A personal friend of W.C. Handy, Sonny Boy Williamson, and John Lee Hooker, the late Wade Walton was given to impromptu blues performances and gifted story-telling sessions. Patrons who spent time in Walton's chair left with not only a spiffy new look, but a better understanding of the lifestyle called the blues.

It was closed, except for one restaurant, by the time I arrived in town, but a must-see that I was unable to see was Clarksdale Station, an old Illinois Central depot, and like the bus station I blogged about last week, this was undoubtedly a major exit point for the circa 1917-1970 black diaspora. Inside the old station is the Delta Blues Museum.

What remains of the cabin McKinley Morganfield grew up in can be found inside the museum. Never heard of Morganfield? He's best known by his stage name, Muddy Waters. And yes, The Rolling Stones did choose their moniker from a Waters tune. Waters, who died in 1983, was a pioneer of Chicago Blues, an amplified and more upbeat descendant of Delta Blues--the faster pace of city life transformed the genre. The blues great spent much of his youth in Clarksdale.

When I reach Arkansas, I'll have a post about a house--still lived in--that may end up in a museum one day.

Waters' artistic peak was in the 1950s, but in the 1970s, with the guidance of Johnny Winter, who has family roots in Leland, Mississippi, Waters recorded some of his old songs, and along with some new ones. One of the latter was "The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock And Roll." As Waters certainly knew, in 1951 Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats recorded--in Clarksdale--the first version of what many historians call the first rock and roll song, "Rocket 88."

Brenston, who was born in Clarksdale, sang and played saxophone on the song. however, many believe credit for "Rocket 88" should go to Ike Turner, another Clarksdale-born musician--his band made up most of "The Delta Cats." The edition that was released to the public was cut in Memphis. Sam Phillips, who later founded the seminal Sun Records, produced the song.

Turner, a brilliant musician who is best known as the brutal, philandering and drug abusing ex-husband of Tina Turner, died late last year.

The blues still lives in Clarksdale. Every Friday in April, May and June, there are live concerts at the Blues Alley Stage. I was there on Friday, May 23, and the band was packing up--I wish I had arrived earlier.

Actor Morgan Freeman moved around a lot as a child, but he spend much of his early years in the Mississippi Delta region--he graduated from Greenwood High School, a town southwest of Clarksdale. Freeman still has roots in the Delta, he is co-owner of a blues club, Ground Zero, pictured on the right, which is just a block from Clarksdale Station.

Clarksdale is a great town, one I would have spent more time in, had I not spent a big chunk of that afternoon in Leland. Such is the way of byway adventures.

Next: The Mississippi Blues Trail

Previous My Mississippi Manifest Destiny posts:

• Mound Bayou, a town founded by freed slaves
• What Mike Espy is up to these days
• Churches
• Teddy Bear
• Coca-Cola museums
• Prison laborer in Louisiana
• Corinth
• Carl Perkins
• The Varsity Theatre in Martin, Tennessee
• Lincoln and Kentucky
• Metropolis

Clarksdale posts:

• Robert Johnson's Crossroads
• Clarksdale's Old Greyhound Station

Shiloh posts:

• Shiloh Part One
• Shiloh Part Two
• Shiloh Part Three
• Shiloh Part Four

Tupelo posts:

• $aving$ in Tupelo
• Elvis Presley's birthplace
• Where Elvis bought his first guitar
• The Battle of Tupelo

Natchez Trace posts:

• The Natchez Trace Part One
• The Natchez Trace Part Two, Indian Mounds
• The Natchez Trace Part Three
• The Natchez Trace Part Four, Ghost Town
• Logging

Natchez posts:

• The Father of Waters
• Natchez Part One
• Natchez Part Two, Forks of the Road
• Natchez Part Three

Vicksburg posts:

• Vicksburg Battlefield, Part One
• Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Two, State Memorials
• Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Three, Illinois Memorial
• Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Four, The USS Cairo
• Vicksburg Battlefield Part Five
• Mississippi River at Vicksburg
• Memorial Day tribute to our ally Australia
• Memorial Day--a time to remember

Leland posts:

• Highway 61 Blues Museum
• Leland's Blues Murals
• Birthplace of Kermit the Frog

ABC News on McCain's "celebrity ad"

ABC World News Tonight did a story this evening on the John McCain campaign's latest ad, which likens Barack Obama to Hollywood celebrities. It's a fair comparison. In the last month, Obama and his family appeared on that hard-hitting political television show, Access Hollywood, was interviewed by the cerebral journal Glamour, and he and the other three Obamas are on the cover of the most recent People Magazine, which many literary critics have favorably compared to US News & World Report.

Here's a partial transcript from that ABC News report:

ABC's David Wright: "And today, McCain comparing Obama to empty celebrities, all sizzle, no substance. John McCain has been trying to raise doubts about his opponent. Today in Colorado, he was at it again."

John McCain: "The bottom line is that Senator Obama's words, for all their eloquence and passion, don't mean all that much."

Wright: "McCain has recently said Obama would rather lose a war to win an election. He's called him 'Dr. No' on energy reforms, and run ads blaming Obama for high gas prices."

McCain Ad: "He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead?"

Wright: "Today, McCain unveiled a new ad in eleven states, flashing images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, suggesting Obama is just another vapid celebrity."

McCain Ad: "Higher taxes, more foreign oil. That's the real Obama."

Stuart Rothenberg: "Nobody's going to confuse Paris Hilton with Senator Barack Obama. But over time, the attempt to raise questions about his substance, that could very well work."

Of course, Obama does have substance. In the ABC News story, there is a video clip of the Cult of Change leader saying, "We don't need the same old tired answers."

But that's what Obama offers the American public, the failed liberal dogma of the late 1960s, wrapped up in pretty bow and re-christened "Change." Last year the non-partisan National Journal, after analyzing the votes of all 100 senators, declared Obama the upper chamber's most liberal member.

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama Election Democrats John McCain McCain Republican ABC News entertainment media Cult of Change

Check out "Barackbook"

Barack Obama has a lot of friends. Many of them, such as Bill "Bomber" Ayers, are causing the Cult of Change leader considerable embarrassment.

Well, with a little help from the Republican National Committee, some of those friends with shady backgrounds have gotten together on Barackbook.

Technorati tags: democrats Barack Obama Obama Politics Bill Ayers terrorism Weather Underground Left Wing Extremists

White Sox fan loses eye after beating from Cubs fans

Disclosure: I'm a Chicago White Sox fan.

Another news source mentioned that the party where the beating occurred had a Sesame Street theme. Big Bird would not approve. The Chicago Sun-Times has more details:

Friendly bantering between three Cubs fans and a White Sox fan at a child's birthday party turned nasty, then allegedly erupted into a brutal beating that cost a 32-year-old Gurnee man his right eye.

Sox fan Robert Steele's eye was damaged beyond repair when an attacker wearing steel-toed boots kicked him in the face during the 2-year-old's birthday party, authorities said Tuesday. Steele also suffered a broken nose and fractured orbital bone in the July 19 attack in northwest suburban Huntley, officials said.

"It was a terrible, terrible beating," McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi said.

Three Cubs fans have been charged with felonies for allegedly attacking Steele about 10:45 p.m. after hours of good-natured ribbing about his baseball preferences became heated, Huntley Deputy Police Chief Todd Fulton said.

This detail will not shock you: Alcohol was involved. It was not purchased at Mr. Hooper's store.

UPDATE 10:00PM CDT: While I'm aware that the great majority of Cub fans are not brutes, last night some other fans allegedly beat up a supporter of another team, this time a Milwaukee Brewers fan who is now being hospitalized. The Brewers fan supposedly "started it" by throwing a can of Red Bull at a bus carrying fans of Chicago's North Side team.

If someone throw a can of Red Bull at your vehicle, or one you're riding in, my advice is to either ignore it, or call the police.

Like those three McHenry County men, those bus passengers have greatly complicated their lives.

Can't we all get along?

Technorati tags: illinois baseball mlb Cubs chicago cubs sports Chicago White Sox white sox crime criminal

Obama still hearing criticism over snub of troops

Now the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review takes its turn in scolding Barack Obama for skipping a scheduled trip to visit wounded troops in Germany.

The first explanation was that the junior senator from Illinois had decided to cancel the visit because the campaign-funded trip might have been viewed as inappropriate. Later, the campaign blamed the Pentagon for classifying the visit as a campaign stop.

The Department of Defense disputed the original Obama spin -- and then the backspin.

As a U.S. senator, Obama most certainly could visit the wounded and brought office staff -- just not from his campaign. "(R)ather than go forward and potentially get caught up in what might have been considered a political controversy of some sort, what we decided was that we not make a visit and instead I would call some of the troops that were there," Mr. Obama told The New York Times.

He still could have visited had he kept his Big Media fawners behind. Presumably, that would have been too audacious for the self-proclaimed agent of change.

How many explanations is Obama going to give about the snub?

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama Election Democrats Germany Deutschland Yes we can military war on terror