“The power base of black politics is shifting to elsewhere in the country.“

HOTT LOOK@POLITICS!

With President Barack Obama in the White House as the country’s first African American commander-in-chief, one may think Harlem, a center of black politics in this country for decades, would be soaring. Harlem produced New York’s first black governor and the city’s first black mayor.

Instead, the power base of black politics is shifting to elsewhere in the country and the city, according to an article in Tuesday’s New York Times.

As the article points out, two of Harlem’s, and the nation’s most well-known, black politicians–Congressman Charlie Rangel, chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and New York Gov. David A. Paterson–are experiencing difficulties. Rangel is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee regarding his financial disclosures, and Paterson is polling so poorly that the White House has requested he not seek the Democratic nod for governor next year.

According to the New York Times:

Nationally, Harlem is increasingly eclipsed by Chicago, the home base of President Obama and much of his inner circle, while the power Mr. Rangel and others once wielded in New York City affairs is rapidly dispersing to Brooklyn and Queens, home to a younger generation of elected officials eager to assert themselves. If Mr. Paterson goes, some black leaders say, the Harlem machine goes with him.

Younger politicians in Brooklyn and Queens who supported Obama’s unlikely candidacy over that of Hillary Rodham Clinton are now stepping up to fill the potential power void:

But while Harlem and its voters remain influential, Governor Paterson and Mr. Rangel have few heirs. The president pro tem of the State Senate, Malcolm A. Smith, is a product of southeast Queens. His likely successor, John L. Sampson, the Democratic leader in the Senate, hails from central Brooklyn, part of a close-knit group of younger black lawmakers with overlapping districts and ambitions. The party’s standard-bearer in this year’s New York mayoral race, William C. Thompson Jr., is also from Brooklyn, as is the chairman of Albany’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns.

“That’s how it is. The younger generation will challenge the older generation, and that’s how it should be,” said Ronald Walters, professor emeritus of government and politics and former director of the African American leadership Center at the University of Maryland. “Back in 1984 to 1988, when Jesse Jackson ran for president, a new generation of people came aboard and learned the skills needed to make it into politics and worked their way in to the media and policy.”

The reluctance of some African American elected officials to support Obama’s candidacy, combined with the failure to groom the next generation of African American leaders, is being cited for the shift.

HOTT DAMN!

There maybe a lot of truth in this!

Slim Thug Speaks On Rappers Being Affected During The Recession

In what’s sure to be the biggest moment from the internet, Obama affably downplays the suggestion that opposition to his administration and its policies is racially motivated.

HOTT LOOK@POLITICS!

Nothing wrong with easing a little tension!

Seeking to downplay accusations that those against his health reform plans are racially motivated, Obama chose to go for laughs on Letterman tonight.

In what’s sure to be the biggest moment from the internet, Obama affably downplays the suggestion that opposition to his administration and its policies is racially motivated, deadpanning, “I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election.”

It’s a nice laugh line, only helped by Letterman ably playing the straight man and asking back, “How long have you been a black man?”

Obama also does a bit of policy pushing, lightly touching on the economy, unemployment, and his strategy in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, he knows how to end strong, ending with a bit on how Malia and Sasha Obama are handling living in the White House: “They basically just goofed off all summer, which I couldn’t do.”

HOTT LOOK@POLITICS!

President BARACK OBAMA gives a speech directly to Americas students welcoming them back to school. He emphasizes their hope and potential but makes clear they will need to take responsibility for themselves and their education to reach that potential. September 8, 2009.

[singing] “blame it on the news ... taxpayer blues ... blame it one loans ... now your home‘s gone!

HOTT DAMN!

“Blame It On The Economy” [music video parody]

The President responds to critics who say he wore “mom jeans.“

HOTT LOOK@POLITICS!

Critics are annoying! LOL!

Forget his policies on health care, Iran and and North Korea, apparently what people want to know is: What’s up with those jeans?

After wearing these to throw the first pitch at the All-Star game in St. Louis last week, fashionistas criticized the usually dapper PRESIDENT for wearing an outdated pair of Levi’s.

When asked about his choice of denim on NBC’s Today Show, Obama said, “I’m a little frumpy. I hate to shop, those jeans are comfortable. For those of you who want your president to look great in his tight jeans I’m sorry, I’m not the guy.”

But I guess we can fogive the guy, seeing as he’s the President and all.

“We went down in some dungeons where captives were held. There was a church above the dungeons, which tells you something about saying one thing and doing another. We went through the door of no return, and I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the injustices and all the indignities, on the voyage from slavery to freedom“

President Barack Obama walks onto stage to speak at the NAACP annual convention July 16, 2009 in New York City. Obama discussed the civil rights movement and the importance of carrying on civic responsibility at the 100th anniversary of the nation‘s oldest civil rights organization.

HOTT LOOK@POLITICS!

Preach on, Brother! Preach on!

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formed by a group of blacks and whites in response to lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Ill., the political birthplace of President Abraham Lincoln. After a century spent fighting for racial equality and social justice, a black man is leading the nation. So it was only fitting that at the NAACP’s Centennial Convention in New York City, attended by Black Voices, President OBAMA took the opportunity to thank the civil rights organization for laying the foundation of his success.

“Because ordinary people made the civil rights movement their own, I made a trip to Springfield a couple years ago – where Lincoln once lived and race riots once raged – and began the journey that has led me here tonight as the 44th president of the United States of America,” he told those gathered at the NAACP Spingarn Awards Dinner yesterday at the New York Hilton in Manhattan. “Because of them, I stand here tonight on the shoulders of giants.”

His address, which he clearly enjoyed making, had the air of a homecoming. The preacher-like intensity he reached at its climax brought the crowd of dignitaries and NAACP members to its feet three times, with thunderous applause. Perhaps Obama’s recent trip to Ghana had stoked the fire in his belly. “Michelle and I took Malia and Sasha to Cape Coast Castle, where captives were once imprisoned before being auctioned, where, across an ocean, so much of the African American experience began,” he described. “We went down in some dungeons where captives were held. There was a church above the dungeons, which tells you something about saying one thing and doing another. We went through the door of no return, and I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the injustices and all the indignities, on the voyage from slavery to freedom.”

Though it was clear Obama’s mission last night was to thank and to inspire, he did cite some of the efforts his administration is making to address the education and achievement gaps between blacks and whites, as well as to protect consumers against predatory lenders and reform health care. He pointed to the creation of the still-embryonic White House Office of Urban Affairs and also mentioned a recent report by New York City controller Bill Thompson that the number of unemployed blacks in the city rose four times as fast as the number of unemployed whites between early 2008 and early 2009. However, those looking for meat on the bones of efforts benefiting African Americans would go away hungry from the Spingarn dinner.

Instead, Obama seized the moment to exhort the group — and all black Americans — to take responsibility for overcoming the economic and social inequalities that still plague our our community, while acknowledging the role of institutional racism. “Government programs alone won’t get our children to the Promised Land,” Obama said. “We need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes – because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way that we have internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little of ourselves.” He left the group with this message: “If three civil rights workers in Mississippi…could lay down their lives in freedom’s cause, I know we can come together to face down the challenges of our own time. We can fix our schools, heal our sick, and rescue our youth from violence and despair.”

Though black Americans must continue to hold the president accountable for addressing our needs, it’s clear that as Obama attacks the many-headed hydra of a failing economy, a dysfunctional health care system and two wars, indeed, the task will largely fall on our own shoulders.

Those who follow Mrs. Obama’s sartorial choices will be interested to learn that the First Lady wore a black skirt, top, and veil by Italian luxury brand Moschino

HOTT LOOK@POLITICS!

First impressions are always the most impressionable!

Today, BARACK OBAMA met POPE BENEDICT XVI for the first time as President of the United States. First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA accompanied him to the sitting, which took place in the pope’s Vatican library on Friday.

According to the Associated Press, Pope Benedict XVI underscored the church’s opposition to abortion and stem cell research during the 30-minute meeting. The president and the pope also reportedly discussed immigration, foreign aid, and the road to peace in the Middle East.

Those who follow Mrs. Obama’s sartorial choices will be interested to learn that the First Lady wore a black skirt, top, and veil by Italian luxury brand Moschino. Stylish and in accordance with the Vatican dress code, naturally.

HOTT DAMN!

This is some funny sh*t!

The president told ‘Newsweek’ that being surrounded by men with guns may hamper Malia and Sasha’s dating lives down the road

I feel sorry for the guy that chooses to date one of President Daddy’s little girls! LOL!

In an interview with Newsweek published Saturday, President BARACK OBAMA said that daughters MALIA and SASHA have adjusted to public life exceptionally well, but expressed some concern about their coming teenage years.

Were you surprised at how quickly your family became part of the cultural iconography?

”You know, the nice thing is that, partly because of temperament, partly because of Michelle’s unbelievable parenting skills, I’ve just got some happy, normal kids. And all that stuff that’s going on around them, they just kind of miss. We have not seen any effects, any fishbowl effects, yet on them. Now, I worry about them when they’re teenagers where, you know, you’re already embarrassed about your parents and even more embarrassed on TV all the time. And dating I think will be an issue because I have men with guns surrounding them at all times [laughter], which I’m perfectly happy with, but they may feel differently about it.”

The president has set rules agreed upon by members of the press about shooting pictures of the two girls. Though he and Michelle have been very open in talking about their family dynamics, the girls are often off limits.