Rain Shoe to die for this week:

Here's to April showers! I actually got these.
Top-Sider Sadie Boots: $70

Commenteria: What REAL Americans say about Obama's "bitter" remarks...

Comments made by readers taken from articles in the Washington Post, Gather.com, and USA Today:

"Obama does not have to answer a thing. All he has to do is get out and remind everyone he was raised by a single mother, they were on FOOD STAMPS for some time, and the elite schools, he went there on a merit scholarship, and he took loans for Grad School. Forget the statements, just talk about the elitist tag and turn it against them. Make it about Clinton and McCain not YOU."


"I've never seen such a widespread attempt to mischaracterize, misinterpret and exploit a non-issue. If any of you don't believe, for one minute, that there aren't people that choose one or two social issues that drive their political choice, thus allowing them to be easily exploited by the Republican party.....come to my next family reunion and I'll introduce you to some people. Or just take at look at the travesty that is the re-election of George W. Bush. He was just as incompetent in 2004... Barack Obama's comments were truthful. A large segment of this country is woefully uniformed when it comes to the real issues that our government can impact. Sheesh.


Obama has a major problem in extemporaneous speaking. He stammers, stumbles, uses "you know" repeatedly as a verbal crutch, and all too often says the wrong thing. His reputation as a super-sharp speaker is startlingly amiss when he does not have a written speech in front of him. He really has to avoid racial references which get him into difficulty with white voters, such as his mention of people in small towns who have problems with individuals "who do not look like them" or his referral to his grandmother as a "typical white person." He'd better stick to the script."


"I am a little put off by comments flying around from some of Clintons's supporters. Even though I am a pretty conservative, white, West Point graduate, having voted Republican in every election I have taken part in, I am likely going to vote for Obama in the general election because in my opinion, he is what this country needs right now...not another deceptive Clinton...and not a "hawkish" McCain. However, I definitely did not come to my conclusion because Obama is a black man according to BET founder Bob Johnson...yeah, and this is probably not another ploy by the Clinton camp to make it look like Obama is out of touch, even with fellow black people. I truly am disgusted by the politics being played this year. Hopefully Obama with his charisma, tact, and cooperative outlook on the American people and government will make it to the presidency. I would hate to see Clinton or McCain pull the wool over everyone's eyes."


"For Hillary Clinton -- whose ex-president husband Bill has championed and continues to champion free-trade agreements that cost working-class Americans hundreds of thousands of jobs -- to call Barack Obama an "elitist" over his comments on working-class Americans is a crock oh hypocritical B.S. What does a multimillionaire -- The Clintons have a personal fortune of $100 million -- know about working-class Americans?"


"Well I'm bitter. I'm damn bitter. These Fat Cat SOB's have been hijacking our economy for the last 25 years while the politician's have been getting their pockets lined by them. Both Clinton and Obama want to talk about job losses but they don't even make the slightest mention of anything specific that they propose to do about it. McCain doesn't even acknowledge it. Both Democrats AND Republicans are crooks. We need a third party that represents people who have to work for a living, because neither of the existing parties do."

Boot to die for this week

Justin Boots with Hearts: $250

Commenteria: Obama's Big Plans

From the LA Times:

Since Obama wants to send federal dollars to people who took out unwise mortgages, can't he send a few bucks to my family members who made unwise decisions with their credit cards?
Perhaps he could just explain the difference in unwise borrowing in each case.


Clearly none of the kneejerk commentors above has actually read or heard the speech. It's on the NYT website here
The brief story by Baltz doesn't do the speech justice-- the richness and specificity of the speech doesn't translate well into soundbites. So if you want to have in informed opinion of Obama's view of the free market tempered by government oversight, read the speech.


I consider myself a strong Obama supporter, but I disagree with his $30 Billion rescue (but agree with need for more regulation). This is following what Hillary proposed while he is on vacation, which politically is wise to insure she doesn't gain a policy position advantage she can exploit. But, bailing people out seems extreme to me (so did the Bears-Stern buy out).
This smells a lot like offering to buy votes in hard-hit states (especially PA). I thought this was an ugly move by Hillary, and I'm disappointed in Barack following her here.


By the time he gets into office, a stimulus plan will probably be too late, by which I mean unnecessary.
Nobody should bail out anything or anybody who engaged in speculation or fraud (for which read lenders AND borrowers of money under false pretenses) whose failure would not bring down the whole economy.
Financial institutions need enough regulation to make speculative bubbles a once in a lifetime (or less frequent) occurrence rather than a yearly one.


As an Obama supporter and a loan officer, I don't believe in a $30 billion rescue. I think there should be some help. NOT a bail-out. There has to be some responsibilty. There does need to be extentions of unemployment benefits to get. There are other ways to save both homeowners and companies. Major govenment intervention is not a help.

Shoe to die for this week

Easter Time AJ's, from SneakerFreaker

Another reaction (mine) to the Obama Speech

Has a presidential candidate ever spoken this way about race before? It surprised me how well suited Obama is to speak to both sides of the racial divide. He comes from both houses so to speak, and so he has spoken with great eloquence about the gravity of the state of race relations in this country. FINALLY!

A cold, hard look at race in this country has generally been ignored until it explodes in violence, or from some miscarriage of justice, or until an Imus tries to be Dave Chappelle. These are not productive ways to broach this topic, because any potential gains from discourse are overshadowed by the ugliness of the events that put race in the spotlight.

Obama did much more than defend himself in this speech. He acknowledged the frustration many whites feel over affirmative action. We are told to not judge people by the color of their skin, but we must abide when people of color are advanced by their race. At the same time, he smoothly chided whites for being offended by statements like Rev. Jeremiah Wright's. Black people have a right to be angry, and whites have to respect that. And in recognizing both sides, he has helped coax all our grievances towards a resolution.

Commenteria: The Obama Speech

USA Today:

Even more impressive for me, is that after 8 years with a slack-jawed dufus in the Whitehouse, we can look forward to not only a President that can string a 6 word sentence together without drooling on himself, but he can actually WRITE such an elequent speech.

Obama tried to use the ol' bait-and-switch in his speech - tried to turn the spotlight on race relations instead of on his own lousy judgement and the fact that he's been proven a liar. Nice try, bud, but this issue isn't going away, and all the pretty words in the world won't make it so.

Barack used his grandmother as an example that he views Wright more as family than anything. Just as he wouldn't denounce his very own grandmother, he feels he can't denounce his pastor as well. Stay off the Fox News soapbox a little.


Guardian UK

If people would take the time to read Barack Obama's speech or even better read his book, they would see that he could never and would never agree with the alarming statements reverand Wright made in his sermons. In fact if you look in the videos of Reverand Wright you see that the majority of the people in the pews don't agree with the statements either.

I'm not American so this just conjecture on my part but I would guess that Obama has been hurt badly in PA by this kerfuffle for three reasons:
1) Jeremiah Wright's comments about 9/11 have upset a lot of people, given that Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.
2) Wright's comments have raised questions about Obama's credibility as a potential CinC.
3) Obama has already had problems with the perception that he is a candidate more in tune with upscale, rather than 'blue collar', voters. Wright's comments attacking the US will only reinforce the 'values gap'.

Here in the UK, that speech could never have been made. While racism certainly exists here, it is never acknowledged in the way that Barack Obama just did in his speech. I am heartened by seeing such an honest and heartfelt examination of the issue, and have never been as proud of my country as I was today, watching from abroad.

Who was Obama talking to? Who was listening? Would any working class white person change their mind after listening to this speech? Would anyone who had decided that Obama has been tainted by Wright now be swayed to vote for him?