Friday, January 12: Condi's Beat Down, Freshman from Brooklyn Speaks Like One and Darfur and Clooney Go Together

Condi's Unattractive Hot Seat

What a difference an election makes! I hope you saw the most unflattering picture of Condi Rice on the cover of the New York Times today (Friday, January 12, 2007).  If you didn't make a point of seeing it.

As I have conveyed before, sometimes the real story is in the picture.  This particular picture conveys more than just a bit of frustration and anger. This is not how Condi is used to being treated when visiting the Hill.  This picture says that it is a new day and Bush administration officials will now have to answer to a newly emboldened Congress.  I hope they can do more than hold the Black girl's feet to the fire.  It'll take more than Boxer's offhanded comment about Condi's lack of children to get the administration to listen to the American people.

Now that Ms. Pelosi is large and in charge, the Dems are selling lots of wolf tickets.  Let's see if they can create a cohesive unit and get some real work done.  The clock is ticking on her 100 hours!  Look, I never said that Nancy was capable of hitting the mark, just that it was going to to fun watching her and the Dems continue business as usually while pretending to be something different.

Brooklyn's Freshman Congresswoman Needs a Little Polish (not on her toes) or a New Handler

While driving to a breakfast meeting several mornings ago, I was listening to an NPR interview with the freshman congresswoman from Brooklyn, New York, Yvette Clarke. Here's what I heard toward the end of a very bland interview--
Question: Do blacks still feel at home in the Democratic Party?

"I think that there... certainly have been challenges along the way, that need to be addressed head on. I'd like to think that we have a new day, a new moment and a new hour. And I can say that, certainly, I'm bringing my unique chemistry to this body. And I will be very vocal in letting folks know when they're stepping on my corns."

What the hell was that?  The congresswoman was speaking to a national audience, she occupies the seat the Shirley Chisholm held with dignity and power and grace and she  uses the very down home expression "stepping on my corns" when she has an opportunity to sparkle for a national audience.  I'll bet there are still people (white folks and/or young folks), questioning what she was talking about--has some other strange Black slang infiltrated the august halls of power?

The ABW Balances Plate and Wine Glass, Lives to Tell the Story

If I'm not careful, I'll turn into a real Washington insider who regularly attend receptions and eats finger food and knows how to juggle my little plate atop my drink glass.  That said, on Wednesday night I attended an AmericanLifeTV-sponsored event in support of Darfur.  In attendance was Martin Luther King III and Nick Clooney, yes George's dad.  George did drop in via satellite.  We had all gathered to watch the documentary  "A Journey to Darfur."  Clooney, Jr. and Sr. had smuggled themselves into Darfur to see first hand the devastation that these people are living in.   It was a splendid evening.  And it seemed to me to be really about putting the genocide and how to stop it out front and not the stars who have attached themselves to this issue--I don't think that was George with a little Black infant on his hip!?

Hip-Hop in the Nation's Capital

For hip hop fans and critics in the Washington, DC area, on January 28 at Busboys and Poets restaurant,  ITVS' Community Cinema is sponsoring a screening of the documentary I have been telling you about for months, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.  To attend RSVP at [e-mail].  See ya there and . . .

MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO SHOW #25-07

See ya next time,
Sunny!