The president called Romney and told him “he looked forward to an important and healthy debate about America’s future,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said. Romney’s campaign said the call was “brief and cordial.” Both men wished each other’s families well during the upcoming race.

Romney’s primary win in Texas on Tuesday pushed him past the 1,144-delegate threshold he needed to claim the nomination.

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Obama took the formal step of congratulating his opponent even as his team looked to shift to the Massachusetts story under Romney. In a five-page memorandum from senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod, the Obama camp cast Romney as poor steward of the Massachusetts economy during his 2003-2007 tenure as governor.

“When it comes to Mitt Romney and his economic philosophy the facts are clear — it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now,” Axelrod wrote.

Romney’s campaign, meanwhile, was bringing attention to failed stimulus projects under Obama and federal money given to green energy companies like Solyndra, a solar firm that received hundreds of millions of dollars from the government only to go bankrupt.

The competing attack-lines came as Romney pivoted from a long primary slog to the Republican nomination and a new summertime window to sway voters who have not yet fully tuned into the presidential campaign. Romney hopes to present himself as a worthy replacement for Obama who can help revitalize a slow-moving economy, the most important issue for voters.

The country is “just beginning a general election, we’ve gone through a primary … not a lot of people focus time on the characteristics of a new candidate like myself, and people will get to know me better. My guess is they’re going to get to know more about me than they’d like to by the time we’re finished,” Romney said in an interview on Fox News that aired Wednesday but was taped over the weekend.

For months, Obama and his allies have signaled plans to target Romney’s Massachusetts record, with advisers noting that the state’s economy lagged in job creation and saw an increase in debt while he was governor. The critique builds upon a line of attack this month of Romney’s record at private equity firm Bain Capital, which Obama’s team contends led to job losses and bankrupt companies even while Bain profited.

“Whether companies succeeded or failed, Romney Economics netted huge profits for him and his investors, but sometimes proved devastating for the middle-class workers whose jobs, benefits and pensions were put at risk,” Axelrod wrote in the memo released Wednesday.

Axelrod sought to link Romney’s Bain record with his Massachusetts experience by noting that Romney ran for governor on the basis of his private-sector background. “Under Gov. Romney, the Massachusetts economy was not at the top or even in the middle, but close to the bottom of all the states,” he wrote.

Republicans contend that Obama’s critique of the Bain record will backfire because it will give voters the impression that he is anti-business. The focus on Obama’s green energy record, including Energy Department funding for companies like Solyndra, gives Romney a chance to rebut Bain because Republicans say Obama essentially played the role of venture capitalist by investing government money in green energy companies.

On Tuesday, Romney raised money in Las Vegas with Donald Trump, the real estate mogul who has stoked doubts about whether Obama was born in America. It was the start of a weeklong push to raise millions of dollars during a West Coast trip designed to help Romney bring in as much cash as possible ahead of a ramped-up campaign schedule later this summer.

The former Massachusetts governor was looking to take advantage of his official claiming of the nomination, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals. According to the Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning 105 delegates in the Texas primary, pushing his total to 1,191 delegates.

Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation’s struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy.

Romney has scheduled fundraisers this week in wealthy California enclaves like Hillsborough, near San Francisco, and Beverly Hills. He has at least one major fundraising event every day for the rest of the week, as well as a series of smaller events.

He’s also picking up endorsements from high-profile Republicans. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed to The Associated Press that she is backing Romney’s bid.

Obama has scheduled a fundraising blitz Friday in Minneapolis and Chicago.

SEE ALSO: Astrologers Say Obama Wins 2012 Election

Obama’s team looked to respond to Romney, who seized the GOP presidential nomination with his primary win in Texas on Tuesday night. That pushed him past the 1,144-delegate threshold he needed to win the nod.

Obama’s advisers have said that, under Romney, the Massachusetts economy lagged in job creation and saw an increase in debt while he was governor from 2003-2007.

Romney’s campaign, in turn, was bringing attention to failed stimulus projects and federal money given to green-energy companies like Solyndra. The solar company received hundreds of millions of dollars from Obama’s administration only to go bankrupt.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
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Mitt Romney has won the Republican presidential nomination after years of fighting, though his triumph was partially overshadowed by the celebrity businessman who helped him along the way.

As primary voters in Texas on Tuesday pushed him past the 1,144-delegate threshold he needed to win the nod, Romney was raising money in Las Vegas with Donald Trump, the real estate mogul who has stoked doubts about whether President Barack Obama was born in America.

It’s the start of a weeklong push to raise millions of dollars during a West Coast swing as Romney looks to bring in as much cash as possible ahead of a ramped-up campaign schedule later this summer.

“Mr. Trump, thank you for letting us come to this beautiful hotel and being with so many friends. Thank you for twisting the arms that it takes to bring a fundraiser together,” Romney told the approximately 200 people who paid thousands to attend the event at the Trump International Hotel. “I appreciate your help.”

The Trump event and surrounding controversy overshadowed the Texas primary win that officially handed Romney the nomination, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals. According to the Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning 105 delegates in the Texas primary, pushing his total to 1,191 delegates.

The former Massachusetts governor reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of Obama, his Democratic general election opponent. He outlasted a half-dozen Republican opponents to clinch the nomination later in the calendar than any recent GOP nominee.

Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation’s struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy.

Romney will continue his push to raise money with fundraisers this week in wealthy California enclaves like Hillsborough, near San Francisco, and Beverly Hills. He has at least one major fundraising event every day for the rest of the week, as well as a series of smaller events.

But the focus Tuesday was on Trump, who once led polls of GOP primary voters. He endorsed the former Massachusetts governor just before the February Nevada caucuses, offering his support at a morning endorsement event in ballroom in the hotel that bears his name. In the same room Tuesday night for the fundraiser, Trump introduced Romney. He steered clear of the “birther” issue as he spoke to donors, though just hours earlier he had repeated his doubts about the authenticity of the birth certificate that shows Obama was born in Hawaii.

“A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate,” Trump told CNN of Obama’s birth certificate. When CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer told Trump he was “beginning to sound a little ridiculous,” Trump responded, “I think you sound ridiculous.”

Such allegations about Obama’s birthplace have been repeatedly proven false. The state of Hawaii recently re-affirmed that he was born there.

Trump’s comments, repeated in several media interviews Tuesday, overshadowed Romney’s attempts to focus on failed stimulus projects and federal money given to companies like Solyndra, the green energy company that received millions from the government only to go bankrupt.

Romney hasn’t condemned Trump’s assertions. On Monday night, he told reporters aboard his campaign plane that Trump is entitled to his opinion. Even as Trump-related criticism from Democrats and Republicans intensified in recent days, Romney showed no sign of distancing himself from the polarizing figure.

“I don’t agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney said. “But I need to get 50.1 percent or more.”

Trump remains popular among the conservative base and boasts ties to deep-pocketed donors. He has recorded automated phone calls for Romney, hosted a fundraiser with Romney’s wife, Ann, in New York, and pressed the candidate’s case as a television surrogate.

The Obama campaign released a video Tuesday criticizing what it considers Romney’s unwillingness to stand up to Trump and the more extreme elements in his party.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, once a rival for the GOP nomination and now a Romney supporter, suggested that the Trump issue will not derail Romney’s campaign.

“Gov. Romney’s not distracted. The Republican Party’s not distracted,” said Gingrich, who attended the Trump fundraiser. “We believe that this is an American-born job-killing president. Other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs.”

Gingrich was one in a series of rivals who challenged Romney during the prolonged primary fight.

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Michael Cottman at Black America Web wrote an interesting article about Cornel West and his on-going disagreement with the Obama Administration.   Cottman seems to feel that West is “obsessed” with President Obama, like a stalker baby’s mama seeking out another dollar of child support.   Cottman even goes as far as reducing West’s disagreement with Obama to a disappointment about inauguration tickets.  Says Cottman:

There was widespread speculation that West was upset because he didn’t get a ticket to the inauguration after campaigning hard for Obama in 2008. For West, it seems, Obama can’t do anything right: He’s not black enough. He isn’t doing enough or poor people. He lacks foreign policy experience. He doesn’t listen to black folks.  

What’s most interesting about Cottman’s “analysis” of Professor West is that he forgets that Cornel’s so-called obsession with President Obama is only exceeded by the obsession of those willing to protect Obama, even when he’s wrong.  Professor West has a legitimate right to critique President Obama, largely because, among other things, he helped get him into office.  He is also in the company of great men, like Martin Luther King Jr., whose “Poor People’s Campaign” was the last venture of his life.    Similar to King, West is the target of tremendous criticism from those who would prefer that poor people simply go away.  Obama, in fact, was the first Democratic President since Harry S. Truman not to mention poverty in the State of the Union Address. 

 There is nothing wrong with voting for Obama, but to give support to a politician and then ask him for nothing is just an inch short of maniacal buffoonery.  It’s interesting that having voted for Obama is not enough; some feel that you must be in love with him.   Protecting politicians like they are members of the family is simply bad politics, and makes you the laughing stock of those who understand how the game is really played. 

Rather than addressing the critiques that Professor West has brought to the table, Obama-ites (those who feel that no one has a right to openly challenge the president’s policies) focus on the fine print of Cornel’s media campaign, the sentence where he mentions the inauguration tickets, thus using that comment to invalidate a long list of legitimate issues Cornel mentions.  This disingenuous way of evaluating Cornel’s words is one of the many parlor tricks used by the African American attack dogs propped up by MSNBC to keep African Americans in line without actually giving them anything:  Why should I convince you to support me by offering you something, when I can discredit alternative viewpoints instead? 

I wonder if all of the liberals who’ve critiqued the president’s positions on gay marriage, women’s rights, immigration, etc are also considered to be “obsessed” with the president?  It seems that the Obama Administration becomes “obsessed” with the black community around election time (when they need us to show up to the polls), but doesn’t pay much attention to our key issues at any other time.  In a free society, should we not all be “obsessed” with pushing our political leaders (including Obama) to do the job that we sent them to Washington to do?  This is especially true of any politician expecting exceptional loyalty from the African American community.  Speaking up and using your voice is one of the most important rights you possess in an allegedly free democracy, and we can’t give up these rights for anyone.

Would critics of Cornel West be happier if he simply remained silent and chose not to speak about poverty, the deaths of black teenagers, mass incarceration or black unemployment?   Obama remains silent on these issues, but speaks to the concerns of other communities, which has allowed him to be co-opted by Newsweek as “The First Gay President.”

Obama-ites, your decision to enforce silence in the face of meaningful critiques has caused you to be ridiculed, as your hero has been strong armed into appointing a  Harvard alum (Elena Kagan) to the Supreme Court without even considering a black woman for the job.  It has led to Obama boldly speaking on behalf of gay and immigrant communities, while your fathers, brothers and husbands remain products of the prison industrial complex.  White folks are experiencing an economic recovery, while black unemployment remains at levels that would never be acceptable to the rest of America.  All the while, your president says that “the rising tide will lift all boats” and you just smile and marvel at how beautiful Michelle looked at the Beyonce concert.

Do you believe, for one second, that Democracy is made stronger by shutting down all dissenting voices?  Perhaps you also believe in White Supremacy 101, which means that Bill Maher can criticize President Obama nearly every week, but Cornel West can’t do the same thing.  This week, Maher made the remark that President Obama “couldn’t be less threatening if he were Trayvon Martin.”  If Cornel West had said the same thing, the Obama-ites would be up in arms.   Only Colin Powell understands how to offer support for President Obama without being a relentless cheerleader; he knows that unconditional support only weakens your negotiating position, which is why he has what is arguably the most valuable individual endorsement in the United States.

Rather than trying to get Cornel West to stop talking about poverty, how about seeing if Obama is willing to do something about it? Rather than asking Dr. West not to mention mass incarceration and inadequate inner city schools, why not review the Obama Administration’s policies on the issues?  Killing the messenger doesn’t squash the validity of the message.  Also, West was fighting for the black community before Obama came on the scene, and he will be battling for African Americans long after Obama has left the White House and retired with the other Harvard alums to Martha’s vineyard.

The critical point here is that supporting President Obama is fine.  But if there is anything that Bill Maher, Andrew Carvill, Paul Krugman or Chris Matthews can say that Cornel West cannot, then you’re being every bit as racist as the liberals who control your thinking.   Every man and woman has the right to form their own opinion, even if it is an uncomfortable truth.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

NewsOne

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For those who are too young to understand Mac Mall’s impact on hip-hop, he was a pioneer of the West Coast sound in the mid-1990s. Shortly after he dropped the album Illegal Business, then-rising star Tupac Shakur took him under his wing. Tupac was deeply moved by the 17-year-old rapper who was taking over the Bay.

In fact, Tupac’s directorial debut was of Mac Mall’s video “Ghetto Theme,” with Tupac reportedly paying out of his own pocket for the video because of his love for Mac Mall’s music.

Watch Mac Mall’s “Ghetto Theme” here:

Mac Mall is known for always telling the truth on the mic. Some of his music outlines the impact of the drug wars and turf wars across the Bay Area among Oakland, San Francisco, and Vallejo. There was a time when a rapper from Vallejo could not even come to SF and talk because there would be real fights outside, but hip-hop has finally grown up.

Mac Mall’s latest release, The Rebellion Against All There Is, which is accompanied by a visually shocking video of the same title, shows the futures of two Black males (Mac Mall and Ray Luv) imprisoned and executed for speaking the truth. The quality of the music and the lyrical content remind you of the days when rappers spoke truth more consistently on the mic.

Watch Mac Mall’s “The Rebellion Against All There Is” here:

Here, Mac Mall discusses his social and artistic perspectives on music, Tupac’s hologram, and how rap has changed over the years.

NewsOne: You have an incredible album and video out. It’s on fire among the youth right now, from teens to the college scene. What inspired it?

Mac Mall: The title was always in my head. I think the thing that made me write the song was that I had the hook in my head:

Good morning, America/ Time to wake the kids/ And tell them that they only got one life to live/ So while you here/ Don’t waste time with fear/ Might as well rebel against all that there is.

It really made me start writing about all of the things I’ve questioned in my life. I think we all should question everything — no matter what it is. Find things out for yourself and be brave enough to question things.

NewsOne: In your video, there is a lot of religious symbolism as you both are taken to your executions. It’s a little unnerving, but very powerful. Can you explain what it meant to you as an artist?

MM: Kayree, my producer, plays a Catholic priest. He comes to read my last rites before my execution, but I won’t take ‘em. That’s where I am with religion. Ray Luv is with the Imam, and he takes his rites. Just two different looks. Some people ride with it, and some of us don’t.

In the video, I wanted people to see the brutal nature of an execution. I wanted people to see how they shave my head hard [as they prep him for the electric chamber]. I want you to see the fear in my eyes, but how I try to not let it get to me. I want you to see the needle going into Ray’s veins and see the look on his face.

With this record and where I’m at…growing up, hip-hop taught me a lot of things. Things that my parents didn’t teach me. Rappers, even if they were gangster, party, whatever — they always taught you something.

Now instead of teaching it’s all about selling. What once was the people’s — young Blacks and Puerto Ricans in N.Y. — are now being sold to us by Fortune 500 corporations. They are selling it back to us. Telling us how we should be, think, and live. We used to be the trendsetters. That’s not right.

As a fan of hip-hop and a rapper, I said to myself, “I cannot sit here and complain about the state of Hip-Hop- I have to do something about it.” So I came up with The Rebellion Against All There Is.

NewsOne: I know recently they had the Tupac hologram on stage at Coachella. As someone who knew him well, what were your thoughts?

MM: As far as the people at Coachella, I bet it was dope for them to see that, but I don’t know. I don’t care about it one way or another. I don’t want them to take it on tour. I think that would be disrespectful. Him being my personal friend, I thought the hologram did not move like Tupac. I been with him a lot of nights. But it was dope. They did a dope show, keep it moving.

NewsOne: Oakland has been such a flashpoint for political and social movements. What do you think of the Occupy Movement and where could it be headed?

My brother Ray Luv got tear gassed and he wasn’t even marching. He was walking to our studio out in Oakland. I felt like a lot of the people who should have been there were not out there. The real brothers on the corner wasn’t out there. A lot of them were middle class who were rocking for our rights. The cats in the hood was not out there like they should be.

I think the Occupy people need to get together as a political party. We need to get together and vote for whatever it’s worth. I voted for Obama [but] I feel robbed. I danced when he got elected. Now I feel kinda played.

NewsOne: Can Black people come to grips with the role of a President vs. the role of a Civil Rights leader?

MM: But the thing I trip on is that he was doing a lot of the stuff [former President George W.] Bush was doing. I understand you gotta be the President, but you ain’t gotta be the President like THAT!

NewsOne: Will you vote for him again?

MM: I don’t know. I think when I vote, I will vote on the local level.

NewsOne: But can Blacks afford to have Romney in?

MM: In the end, it’s the same agenda. It’s vanilla and chocolate; it’s all ice cream, but it tastes like s*it. I wish he would have stood his ground on some of the issues. I wish he would have brought more troops back quicker. I wish he would have done better with the tax bailouts. I wish he would have helped keep people in the neighborhoods, so they would not keep looking like they lookin’!

Right now, Mac Mall is staying steadfast in his rebellion against all things. You can find him on twitter @therealmacmall. With Occupy seeming to lose a bit of its steam and the Presidential election about to get into full swing, it will be interesting to see how rappers like Mac Mall and others engage their fans and politicians.

What do you think about rappers who give social and political commentary. Is it effective? Is the era for protest music over? Or will the current state of America force more rappers to speak out more? Please post your answers below.

Sound off!

The other day, I was intrigued by the words of Min. Louis Farrakhan, as he gave a public address regarding President Obama’s announced support for gay marriage.  I love hearing what Minister Farrakhan has to say, and although I don’t agree with every word, I’m sure he doesn’t expect me to agree with everything he says either.  Instead, Farrakhan speaks the truth from his perspective, and he delivers it in a way that no one else can.

I was happy that Farrakhan threw his hat in the ring on the gay marriage conversation.  Here are the reasons why:

1) Farrakhan says the things that other are afraid to say:  For hundreds of years, black people have become well-conditioned to say things in a way as to keep our oppressors most comfortable.  Louis Farrakhan wasn’t trying to maintain a good relationship with the White House, for he doesn’t need approval from the White House in order to speak his mind.  He wasn’t trying to lobby for a job at MSNBC, since he knows how to make his own money.

Farrakhan wasn’t speaking to expand his platform to a liberal audience or trying to make sure that Chris Matthews, Bill Maher, Melissa Harris-Perry or some other liberal commentator is pleased with him.  Instead, Farrakhan laid his own gauntlet of truth in the middle of a very serious conversation, staking an independent claim to another point of view that can be added to the black national dialogue.  That is difficult to do when someone is threatening to yank you off the stage for being an impolite negro.

2) Farrakhan has a point of view that is respected by millions of black Americans:  Personally, gay marriage doesn’t bother me all that much, since a gay person has never asked for my hand in marriage.  But for millions of African Americans, the issue is problematic, and unfortunately, we live in a nation where religious differences are not always respected.  By speaking on the matter in a bold and forthright way, Minister Farrakhan is repeating millions of kitchen table conversations happening all across black America.

Far too often, the interests of black folks are hijacked by a liberal agenda, as our Democratic brothers and sisters end up treating us like Neanderthals who need to be taught how to think.  As a case-in-point, notice how Democratic pressure pushed the NAACP to defy the wishes of a large percentage of its membership in order to openly back the president.  The question I’d like to ask is whether or not the Democrats would be equally willing to defy millions of its members to support an African American issue.  I think we know the answer to that question.

3) He is not controlled or owned by anyone (at least not anyone in the liberal establishment):  Minister Farrakhan doesn’t get pressure from the White House when he says something that doesn’t please King Obama.  He is able to speak to the issues that matter to black folks without making sure that they fit snug within the acceptable talking points of the liberal agenda.  He runs an organization, The Nation of Islam, which has been able to create its own opportunities, and never fell for the disrespectful lie called “integration” as the key to its own liberation.

A lack of self-sufficiency is why, to this day, African Americans have the highest unemployment rates in the nation and we remain perpetually frustrated that we’re not getting promoted on our jobs as quickly as Bob Smith down the hall (Malcolm X warned us about this over 50 years ago).   The same liberals who push the black church on gay marriage are the ones who express little concern that black unemployment is nearly double that of whites or that black families have been destroyed due to mass incarceration and blatant sentencing disparities. Farrakhan doesn’t have to decide if he is going to be the house negro or the field negro, who must position himself within someone else’s institutions.  By creating institutions of his own, Farrakhan has followed the tradition of the runaway slave.

4) Barack Obama is NOT the first gay president:  When Newsweek proclaimed President Obama to be the first gay president, every Obama-loving, church-going black woman in the country shuttered at the fact that the most powerful black man in history had been emasculated right before her very eyes.  It would have been no more painful to hear that Barack had dumped Michelle for a white woman.  There’s nothing wrong with being gay, but there is something wrong with involuntarily “turning out” one of the most respected black men in history.   Farrakhan is one of the few black public figures willing to state the obvious, even in the face of liberal disdain.

Louis Farrakhan is a complex soul, but you can never call him weak or stupid.  Even black people who don’t agree with him typically have some kind of respect for him.  Whether you agree with Farrakhan’s position on gay marriage or not, the truth is that his opinion is valid, it should be heard and it’s the perspective of one of the few free black men in America.  Most importantly, Farrakhan didn’t need the liberal media machine’s permission to share his point of view.   That’s why I’m glad he spoke up.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

He began his closing bit as razor-sharp as normal:

“How can you guys be so unhappy with Obama when I’m so unhappy with Obama?” said Maher in response to scripted GOP outrage over every move that the POTUS makes. “You think you got coal in your stocking? I wanted single-payer health care, a carbon emissions bill, gun control, and legalized pot. If you get to carry around all this outrage over me getting that shit, shouldn’t I have gotten it?”

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So far, so good – but then things took a turn for the worse.

In a macabre attempt at humor that was so off its mark and unnecessary that it was pathetic, Maher compared President Barack Obama’s non-threatening, conciliatory demeanor when caving to conservative demands — and ignoring liberals — to slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

RELATED: NewsOne’s Trayvon Martin Coverage

“If Obama is a socialist, he’s a lousy one, Maher quipped. “He could not be less threatening if he were walking home with iced tea and Skittles.”

And the crowd laughed. They laughed.

At first seeming a bit awkward after the words were out of his mouth, Maher decided to play off of the crowd’s groans and chuckles, and offered a wide smile of his own. But it was obvious that he knew it and they knew it — he messed up. It was such a transparent attempt at being witty and conscious, that for a split second I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Then I realized that it was literally three months to the day that George Zimmerman gunned down Trayvon. Literally three months since Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton had their baby’s life snatched away. Yet, there Maher and his audience sat in his snug, cozy HBO studio, sharing a few laughs at the expense of an innocent boy on the cusp of adulthood who was killed for no other reason than being Black.

Note to Bill:

Trayvon Martin is not a political punchline to be trotted out simply because you can compare the Black child to a Black president.

While I understand that at the root of the “joke” was that Obama is as innocent of wrong-doing as Trayvon was on the night he was murdered, it was a horribly misfired attempt at humor. Especially considering that Obama is arguably guilty of war crimes in at least two nations, while Trayvon was guilty of no crimes at all. I am very clear that Mr. Maher has “funny” in abundance; time will tell, however, if he has enough class to admit that, this time, the “joke” was ill-conceived and ill-timed.

I’m sure there are those who will disagree and accuse me of accusing him of racism. Please note that racism was not used once in this article, because I do not believe that Maher has a racist bone in his body. Bottom line: The laughter was beneath him and the comparison was unnecessary. If he had to make it, he should have had the dignity to treat it with the solemnity it deserves.

I may be a fan of Maher, but just as I criticize the president when he deserves it, I will criticize him as well. Just because I think the man is probably one of the most enlightened voices in a generation, does not mean that I won’t call a spade a spade — as I see it.

As he is so fond of telling the president — and it’s as true then as it is now: You made a mistake, Mr. Maher, don’t laugh it off.

Man up.

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Zimmerman on Drugs With Violent Side Effects When He Killed Trayvon [VIDEO]

The president was to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, and then marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In an election year, Obama has touted his work to bring U.S. combat troops home from Iraq and wind down the conflict in Afghanistan. Before military audiences and in a campaign ad released last week, he credits U.S. servicemen who helped in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

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With so many troops returning home from their service, Obama says the U.S. needs to return the favor.

“We have to serve them and their families as well as they have served us,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “By making sure that they get the health care and benefits they need; by caring for our wounded warriors and supporting our military families; and by giving veterans the chance to go to college, find a good job and enjoy the freedom that they risked everything to protect.”

The White House said the gathering at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial War would mark the beginning of a 13-year program to honor those who served during the Vietnam War.

Veterans could play a significant role in the 2012 election. Exit polls in 2008 showed that Obama was supported by about 44 percent of voters who said they served in the military, while 54 percent voted for John McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war for more than five years during the Vietnam War.

Republican Mitt Romney was scheduled to appear Monday with McCain in San Diego, home to a large number of military personnel and veterans. Romney has made the case that too many veterans are returning home to poor job prospects, casting blame on Obama’s economic policies.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics report in March found that 12.1 percent of U.S. Armed Forces veterans who served on active duty after September 2001 were unemployed in 2011. The unemployment rate for all veterans was 8.3 percent.

Several closely watched states in the election have large blocs of military voters. Florida, home to several military installations, has more than 1.6 million veterans, according to the Veterans Administration. Pennsylvania has nearly 1 million veterans, while Virginia and North Carolina each have about 800,000 veterans living in their states.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama were starting the day with a breakfast at the White House for families who have lost loved ones in combat.

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President Barack Obama

Obama’s new worries about North Carolina and Wisconsin offer opportunities for Republican Mitt Romney, who must peel off states Obama won in 2008 if he’s to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to oust the incumbent in November.

Iowa, which kicked off the campaign in January, is now expected to be tight to the finish, while New Mexico, thought early to be pivotal, seems to be drifting into Democratic territory.

If the election were today, Obama would likely win 247 electoral votes to Romney’s 206, according to an Associated Press analysis of polls, ad spending and key developments in states, along with interviews with more than a dozen Republican and Democratic strategists both inside and outside of the two campaigns.

Seven states, offering a combined 85 electoral votes, are viewed as too close to give either candidate a meaningful advantage: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia.

“As of today, the advantage still lies with the president, but there is a long and hard road ahead in this election,” said Tad Devine, who was a top strategist to Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and John Kerry but isn’t directly involved in this year’s race.

If Romney wins all the states Republican John McCain carried in 2008 plus North Carolina, as trends today suggest he would, he would still need 64 electoral votes to hit the magic number. That would require him to win a majority of the states that are up for grabs.

Obama, on the other hand, faces the costly and labor-intensive challenge of defending those states in a much different environment than the one he enjoyed four years ago.

Big-spending, pro-Romney political committees are certain to be a factor, and already are running heavy levels of television ads in states where Obama is vulnerable, such as Florida.

But Obama’s early spending – more than $30 million on advertising before Memorial Day – and new glimmers of economic hope across the battleground states demonstrate the size of Romney’s challenge.

The race is expected to be close, and the past six weeks have been volatile.

North Carolina is a case in point.

Obama announced his support for gay marriage on May 9, one day after 60 percent of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional ban. “That issue definitely hurts him down there,” said veteran Republican presidential campaign strategist Charlie Black, a top aide to 2008 nominee McCain. Black’s not directly involved in this year’s race but is an informal adviser to Romney.

North Carolina’s high African American and young voter population, keys to Obama’s 2008 wins there, give him the edge, aides say. And the president so far has spent heavily there, $2.7 million on television, according to reports provided to the AP.

But Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue gave Republicans an opening by not seeking re-election this year. And union leaders, a key Democratic constituency, are upset that this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., is being held in a state where union rights are weak.

In Wisconsin, embattled Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s improving fortunes as a contentious June 5 recall election approaches could alter that state’s landscape. Walker, who sparked mass protests by signing anti-union legislation last year, has pulled narrowly ahead of Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in recent polls.

If Walker survives, Romney aides say they have a real chance to carry Wisconsin, which no Republican has done since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

“I don’t think there’s been any better dress rehearsal for a presidential election than what’s going on in Wisconsin right now,” said Rich Beeson, political director for the former Massachusetts governor.

Indeed, the Wisconsin recall could signal a GOP shift in an arc of states from Iowa to Pennsylvania that have reliably voted Democratic in presidential elections for a generation.

“Whether Walker wins or doesn’t is going to be a big indicator of how Wisconsin goes, and how the whole upper Midwest goes,” said Iowa’s Republican Gov. Terry Branstad.

Romney has signaled plans to contest Iowa, where Obama’s 2008 caucus win propelled him to the Democratic nomination. Romney also sees opportunity in his native Michigan, where Democratic presidential candidates have won since 1988.

Bright spots are developing for Obama, too.

Public polls this month showed the president narrowly ahead in Virginia, a Southern state Republicans had carried nine times before Obama won it in 2008. Obama’s advantage among Latino voters is moving New Mexico his way. Neither campaign nor the super PACs have advertised there, despite close finishes in 2000 and 2004.

Obama also has seized on new economic data that could give him a lift across the contested map. April unemployment ticked downward in all of the up-for-grabs states except Colorado as Obama and Romney have fought over who is best equipped to lead an economic recovery.

In Des Moines, Iowa, this month, Romney blamed Obama’s spending for the recovery’s slow pace. A week later, on the other side of town, Obama said Romney’s career as a private equity executive was more suited for the boardroom than the Oval Office.

Obama’s attack dovetails with scathing ads on Romney’s career at the head of Bain Capital, which ran briefly in Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Virginia. They remained on the air last week in Ohio, where Obama aides say Romney’s opposition to the auto industry bailout in 2009 hurts him with workers in the region’s auto manufacturing sector.

Obama has had an edge in getting out his message. For nearly two months, his campaign has aired spots across 11 states, heaviest in Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia, according to the ad-tracking reports.

Romney has only been airing ads for two weeks in four states. But super PACs that support him have helped shave Obama’s advertising edge, airing $10 million in ads across 10 states.

Obama aides point to an edge in state-by-state organizing that could be the deciding factor in a close election. While Romney is quickly arranging with the Republican National Committee to deploy staff to various battlegrounds, Obama’s campaign has been up and running for years.

Said Democratic strategist Devine: “The president and his campaign have a real and potentially decisive advantage on the ground.”

“Gosh. If I had some gift, I’d be Beyoncé, I’d be some great singer,” said arguably the most popular, accomplished and beautiful woman in the world. “The power of music, being able to play an instrument…It looks like musicians just have the most fun.”

The love-fest between the First Ladies of the Obama and Carter families have long openly expressed their love and admiration for each other. From Beyoncé’s teary rendition of “At Last” in 2009 at President Obama’s Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, to the “Video Phone” singer’s open letter to the FLOTUS on Twitter (see below), to which Mrs. Obama responded, “@Beyonce Thank you for the beautiful letter and for being a role model who kids everywhere can look up to. –mo,” they have proven to be stead-fast in their appreciation of each other.

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The First Lady, in addition to revealing that she’d be the bootylicious diva in a heartbeat, discusses her book, “American Grown,” about the White House Kitchen Garden, reports the Daily Mail. She also shares the First Couple’s evening ritual:

”We live above the store, which means 6.30pm is dinner. The first half hour, we’re talking to the girls, then we shoo them off to go walk Bo and catch a little check-in without the kids.

‘We have a ritual where he tucks me in, because I’m usually in bed before anybody. He’ll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss and we’ll talk. He’s like, “Ready to be tucked?” I’m like, “Yes I am.”‘

It doesn’t get any cuter than that.

The People issue hits newsstands on Friday.

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Obama still has a significant edge, but it’s shrinking rapidly.

That explains why the president, fresh off of back-to-back international summits, was plunging back into his re-election race Wednesday with a series of fundraising events in Denver and California’s Silicon Valley as he looks to stockpile cash to pay for his coast-to-coast organization, advertising to spread his message and get-out-the-vote operations in key states.
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It’s the start of an extensive money push by Obama in the coming weeks that will feature a series of high-end fundraisers, including New York events with former President Bill Clinton and actress Sarah Jessica Parker and a Los Angeles trip to raise money among gay and lesbian supporters. Smaller-dollar pushes also are under way.

Obama, a record-shattering fundraiser four years ago, has a built-in fundraising advantage as the incumbent and still has a wide money lead over Romney, the challenger who only recently combined fundraising efforts with the Republican National Committee after a bruising – and expensive – primary.

But well-funded Republican outside groups, which are able to raise unlimited sums from donors, are narrowing that gap quickly and using their multimillions to run a slew of TV ads hammering Obama in key states. Obama aides acknowledge the possibility that he could be outraised by the influx of Republican money.

The numbers tell the story.

Through April, Obama and Democratic groups supporting his re-election bid have raised nearly $450 million during the election cycle and have more than $150 million in the bank. Romney and Republicans backing him have collected more than $400 million during the same stretch and have about $80 million at their disposal.

Gone is the 10-to-1 cash advantage that Obama held at the end of March.

To be sure, Romney was bound to erode that money gap as he pivoted to the general election. He still, however, lags on another measure of campaign strength: Obama has had months to prepare an extensive ground game to identify, register and turn out voters.

On the money front, Romney has benefited from a strong desire among GOP activists to defeat Obama, multiple GOP outside groups willing to spending tens of millions of dollars and a well-oiled fundraising machine within his own campaign. Showing that prowess, the former Massachusetts governor raised $15 million this week during three days of fundraising in New York.

“What you see in a very short period of time is a very well-run operation that is putting Gov. Romney in a position where he’s going to, maybe not outspend, but to compete with the collective Democratic fundraising,” said Sara Taylor Fagen, a former political director for President George W. Bush.

Romney has been the all-but-certain GOP nominee for more than a month now, and while he’s focused primarily on fundraising, super PACs backing him have been going toe to toe with Obama’s campaign in TV advertising. That means that Romney hasn’t had to spend heavily from his own campaign account. Chief among those groups has been Crossroads GPS and its affiliated super PAC, Crossroads USA, which quickly matched Obama’s ad buy this month after the president’s team laid out plans for a $25 million advertising campaign.

Democrats haven’t had as much success with super PACs.

A pro-Obama group, Priorities USA Action, has badly lagged behind Crossroads, while Romney has gotten extra help from another super PAC, Restore Our Future. Mary Beth Cahill, a former campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry, recently came aboard as an adviser to help.

The influx of campaign cash in the first presidential campaign since the 2010 Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which helped create super PACs, has taken some Democrats by surprise.

“I don’t think anyone realized going into this cycle exactly how much money was going to be involved,” said former Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, a past chairman of the fundraising arm for House Democrats. “This is a brave new world of campaign finance.”

The president was headed Wednesday to fundraisers in Denver and California’s Silicon Valley. He was addressing about 700 supporters in Denver, with tickets starting at $250 and topping out at $40,000 per couple for a photo with the president.

Afterward in California, Obama was speaking at a fundraising dinner in Atherton that includes a performance by David Crosby and Graham Nash. About 60 people were paying $35,800 per person to attend. Obama was capping the night at a reception with 1,100 people in Redwood City, with a performance by Ben Harper. Tickets started at $250, with some couples paying $12,500 for a photo with the president. On Thursday, Obama was speaking at a private fundraising breakfast in Palo Alto.

To keep his edge, Obama isn’t just focusing on big money.

Many of the planned high-dollar fundraisers include a raffle designed to raise millions more and get more people involved.

In some cases, the grass-roots component raises more than the swanky fundraiser: Of the $15 million Obama raised at a celebrity-studded dinner two weeks ago at actor George Clooney’s Los Angeles home, $9 million came from small-dollar donors hoping to win a chance to attend.

Clinton, arguably the most prominent Democratic fundraiser not in the White House, is joining Obama for two events in New York on June 4. Obama’s campaign also is raffling off a trip to New York – including airfare and hotel for what’s being called “Barack on Broadway” – for two winners and their guests to attend. The two presidents will attend a dinner later that evening featuring a performance by Jon Bon Jovi.

Two days later, Obama jets to Los Angeles for a high-dollar reception with gay and lesbian supporters, featuring a performance by Pink, and a $25,000-per person dinner at the Beverly Hills home of “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy and his fiancé David Miller. Events also are planned next month in Baltimore, Boston and back in New York, where the president will raise money at the home of Parker, of “Sex and the City” fame. A travel-package raffle for small-donors is tied to that, too.

“It should be fabulous,” Parker said in an email to Obama supporters.

Obama began airing two new ads Wednesday, one about his work with veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and another aimed at seniors dependent on Medicare.

In the veterans spot, Obama credits veterans for allowing the U.S. to “go after al-Qaida and kill (Osama) bin Laden” and says the nation has a “sacred trust” to help veterans heal their wounds and find jobs. The ad on Medicare notes that Obama was raised by his grandparents and cites his administration’s efforts to root out health care fraud.

The TV ads are part of the $25 million ad buy the Obama campaign launched in May, running in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.

Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said Obama’s team can’t “distract voters from three years of broken promises on Medicare and our commitments to our veterans.”

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—

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The president declared that there is a “new feeling about America.” He said the work of ending one war and setting the path to end the Afghan war has set a foundation for what he called “a new era of American leadership.”

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Obama’s commencement speech carried clear themes of his re-election bid.

He asserted that America is exceptional and more respected now. And he reiterated his economic vision of cutting the debt but putting more money into education, science, manufacturing and innovation.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

President Barack Obama is delivering his final commencement speech of the season, addressing graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy before pivoting to political fundraising out West.

Obama is keeping up a presidential tradition of speaking to one of the service academies every year at graduation time.

His speech comes after a diplomatic flurry in which he hosted the NATO summit in Chicago, where allies cemented an exit strategy for the Afghanistan star, and an economically focused G-8 summit at the Camp David retreat in Maryland.

Obama has used service academy addresses in the past to discuss the role of the military in protecting American interests in an age of war and terrorism. Since 2009, Obama has delivered commencement addresses at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

The president this year also spoke to graduating classes at Barnard College in New York, and at Joplin High School in Joplin, Mo., where a massive tornado killed 161 people last year and injured hundreds more.

Following his speech, the president was headed to fundraisers in Denver and California’s Silicon Valley.

Sound off!

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In a video being released Monday, Obama’s campaign zeroes in on a Marion, Ind., company, American Pad & Paper, also known as Ampad. The ad charges that Ampad bought and closed the SCM office products plant, immediately costing 250 workers their jobs.

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Watch Obama’s ad here:

The aim is to challenge Romney’s arguments that he’s more qualified than Obama to handle the country’s shaky economy.

The ad says Romney and his partners multiplied their investment in the office products plant by 20 times while the company went on to lose some 1,500 jobs and went bankrupt by 2,000.

Former Ampad worker Randy Johnson calls Romney’s performance “just the opposite of Robin Hood.”

Sound off!

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Leviticus 20:13: “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

Huffington Post reports Gipson’s Facebook conversation below:

Then, veering even further away from politics and delving deeper into Old Testament religious doctrine — which also states that the earth is flat, snakes can talk, whores should be stoned to death and you should kill your neighbor for working on a Sabbath, Gibson had this to say:

Mississippi constituents at UnityMS flagged the post, reminding Gibson just who employs him:

Mr. Gipson needs to realize he represents all of his constituents. He should not cherry-pick which constituents he wants to work for. He should also realize his positions are neither popular nor Republican. LGBT individuals, couples, and families help pay Gipson’s salary. It’s important that he remember that.

According to the Post, “a November 2011 survey found that only 13 percent of Mississippi voters support marriage equality for the LGBT community, while 78 percent said it should remain illegal. Even among Democrats, only 19 percent expressed support.”

Is anyone surprised?

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I read the headline with curiosity, as Klein explains that Michelle was going to leave Barack, after he’d been badly defeated in his run for the Illinois state senate against Bobby Rush.  The family was broke, and Michelle allegedly felt that Barack was being unrealistic in his political aspirations.  The Obamas themselves have admitted to running into “rough patches” during their marriage, but I’m sure most of us get the “made-for-TV” version of their marital challenges.

There is an old saying that “we must spend a few years living like no one else will in order to spend the rest of our lives living like no one else can.”  In no place does this message resonate more than it does in the marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama.  Even if every detail of Klein’s remarks are not entirely true, there are some things we can learn.  Here is a short list:

1) Marriage is not a fairy tale:  Most people who stay together for decades don’t march through years of marriage with comfort and flying colors.  Instead, they have to fight, grind, and remain focused on their objective.  We often hear about people ending their relationships because they “just weren’t happy anymore,” or “I fell out of love with my partner,” as if marriage is like a piece of gum that you replace when the sugar runs out. If you think of love as a perpetual source of instant gratification, then it’s probably best that you never get married.

2) If you aren’t ready for the volatility, then don’t get on the ride: For every woman who fantasizes about being married to the next Barack Obama, the truth is that most people don’t have what it takes.  High rewards require high risk and the ability to stomach significant disappointments.  Those who think that marriage should be comfortable and stable all the time should never consider marrying a man with Barack Obama-like ambitions (or you could also line up with all the women who start chasing the man once he becomes successful).  Obama is a man willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve his dream, and most women would not be able to live with that kind of risk.

3) Never give up on yourself:  Most successful people become highly familiar with failure during their climb to the top.  Part of the reason that Barack has been so successful in politics and life is that he learned the value of remaining persistent when things aren’t going his way.    Your entire life can change in an instant, and the only people who get to experience the sunrise after the rain are the ones who decided to hang in there.

4) Things are almost never what they seem to be:  Anyone who truly believed that the Obama marriage was as perfect as it appears to be is flat-out delusional. Living your life based on a fantasy is a one-way ticket to disappointment. Don’t believe everything you read and realize that celebrities have problems, just like the rest of us. A strong relationship is possible for anyone, but it’s silly to think that it’s going to happen without a great deal of really hard work and commitment.  So, if none of your relationships are lasting longer than a few months, the truth is that you’re probably not built to be an Obama.

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Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the forthcoming book, “The RAPP Sheet: Rising Above Psychological Poison.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

Joe Ricketts, founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade, is the billionaire behind this latest attack. The Obama-Biden campaign address the proposal in emails sent out to supports, claiming that it shows in “vivid and gruesome detail what the President and all of us are up against.”

Unsurprisingly, they plan to paint the president as “slick” and “cocky,” which amount to nothing more than an update of the “celebrity” and elitist” jargon of  ’08. And because people “still aren’t ready to hate this president” they need a token, an “extremely literate conservative African-American” so Africans-Americans don’t think they’re racists.

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Anyone remember Michael Steele and his Hip-Hopping debacle as chairman of the Republican National Committee? How did that work out for you, Republican strategists?

According to the campaign literature, we should expect to see images of the POTUS juxtaposed with Pastor Jeremiah Wright, the September 11th attacks (they forget that was on Bush 43′s watch) and other hot button imagery to remind us that Obama is out to “destroy America.”

The proposal was presented last week in Chicago to associates and family members of Mr. Ricketts, who is also the patriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, reports the Times.

“Joe Ricketts is prepared to spend significant resources in the 2012 election in both the presidential race and Congressional races,” said Brian Baker, president and general counsel of a super PAC called the Ending Spending Action Fund. “He is very concerned about the future direction of the country and plans to take a stand.”

There are three things that it might behoove the GOP ‘Super PAC’ and Republican “strategists” to remember:

1.) African-Americans are not a monolith. Those who support the president have their reasons, as do those who oppose him. Bringing up trivial, insulting language with the primary purpose of race-baiting is going to back-fire. Hard.

2.) Nothing you say or do is going to make President Obama look worse than Mitt Romney. Maybe you should spend your time in that corner teaching him how to remember what exactly it is that he stands for.

3.) You’re attacking a president who allegedly raked in over $1,000,000 within 90 minutes of his announcement that he supports marriage equality and $15,000,000 the next evening at a fundraiser at the home of Hollywood superstar, George Clooney. Bottom line: You need more people.

Oh, and President Abe Lincoln was Black — so there is no need to add the racial qualifier before his name.

As usual, I have to wonder if these “strategists” are actually undercover Democrats, because nothing that the Obama campaign could do would make them look more foolish than they already do.

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Read below to get a list of some of the most memorable quotes in support of marriage equality.

The Root reports:

Jay-Z:

“What people do in their own homes is their business, and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. It’s no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination, plain and simple.” May 2012

Will Smith:

“If anybody can find someone to love them and to help them through this difficult thing that we call life, I support that in any shape or form.” May 2012

Audra McDonald:

“I am a mom. I am an engaged lady — I am soon to be married. And I am someone that believes in marriage and in the freedom to marry.” May 2012

Michael Strahan:

“As a defensive end for the New York Giants, I always played the game tough but fair. It’s unfair to stop committed couples from getting married.”June 2011

Janet Jackson:

On President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage: “He finally came around, didn’t he? He finally came around; good for him.” May 2012

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.):

“Today I think more than ever before, we have to speak up and speak out to end discrimination based on sexual orientation … It’s not the business of the federal government, it’s not the business of the state government, to tell two individuals that they cannot fall in love and get married … I fought too long and too hard against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up and fight and speak out against discrimination based on sexual orientation.”  January 2009

Russell Simmons:

“I am a proud supporter of gay marriage.” May 2012, Twitter

Patti LaBelle:

“I’ve never been with a woman, so I guess I’m straight, OK? But I’m straight enough to know the difference between right and wrong. I am straight enough to know that if you want to marry whoever you want to marry, you should be able to marry whoever you want to marry.” April 2009

Rev. Al Sharpton:

“As a Baptist minister, I don’t have the right to impose my views on anyone else. If committed gay and lesbian couples want to marry, that is their business; none of us should stand in their way.” February 2012

Rev. Jesse Jackson:

“[Obama's same-sex marriage endorsement] is a bold step in the right direction for equal protection under the law for all citizens … If the states had to vote on slavery, we would have lost the vote. If we had to vote on the right [for blacks] to vote, we would have lost that vote.” May 2012

Alicia Keys:

On President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage: “Honestly, it’s about time! This is great news @BarackObama!!”  May 2012, Twitter

Tracy Morgan:

“I know how bad bullying can hurt. I was bullied when I was a kid. I’m sorry for [my homophobic rant]. I didn’t mean it. I never want to use my comedy to hurt anyone. My family knew what it was like to feel different. My brother was disabled, and I lost my father to AIDS in 1987 … Parents should support and love their kids no matter what. Gay people deserve the same right to be happy in this country as everyone else. Our laws should support that.” June 2011

Whoopi Goldberg:

“Really, darling, it’s a no-brainer. You know, I understand not everybody is for gay marriage. But if you’re not for gay marriage, don’t marry a gay person. That’s what I say.” November 2010

John Legend: “Very pleased the President spoke up for human rights and marriage equality today.” May 2012, Twitter

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.):

“I, like the president, have evolved to a point of marriage equality. I have not always been there. I grew up in a parsonage, a fundamentalist-Christian parsonage, and I grew up with that indoctrination. And I have grown to the point that I believe that we have evolved to marriage equality … If we consider this to be a civil right — and I do — I don’t think civil rights ought to be left up to a state-by-state approach. I think that we should have a national policy on this.” May 2012

Tyra Banks:

“A fierce day for my gays and my prez @BarackObama — way 2 stand up 4 luv for ALL!” May 2012, Twitter

Though President Obama’s image has been tarnished some factions of the evangelical community, he’s clearly maintained his support in Hollywood without missing a beat.

Obama made his remarks during a discussion on ABC’s “The View,” a daytime talk show. That interview will air later Tuesday, but ABC broadcast an excerpt on “Good Morning America.”

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He said churches should have the right to make their own determinations about marriage. But he said that as a matter of civil law, all Americans should be treated equally.

Obama became the first sitting president to support same-sex marriage last week. Before, he had said his views had been evolving.

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“I’ve always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country back,” Jay-Z said of not allowing same-sex coupled to wed. “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. [It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple.”

Jay-Z was interviewed on everything from the economy to his thoughts on GOP contender Mitt Romney, while in Philadelphia with Mayor Michael Nutter to announce a two-day Labor Day music festival.

Read more at CNN.com

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Clyburn, who acknowledged his “fundamentalist Christian roots,” says that he has evolved on the issue and now believe that it should not be a states’ issue, but a “national” issue:

“I, like the president, have evolved to a point of marriage equality,” said Clyburn. “I have not always been there. I grew up in a parsonage, a fundamentalist Christian parsonage, and I grew up with that indoctrination. And I have grown to the point that I believe that we have evolved to marriage equality.”

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“If we consider this to be a civil right — and I do — I don’t think civil rights ought to be left up to a state-by-state approach,” Clyburn continued. “I think that we should have a national policy on this.”

Clyburn went a step further and said just as the federal government had to step in to ensure that Black Americans had rights and protection under the law equal to White Americans, they needed to do the same thing for the LGBT community.

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“Newsweek” released the following preview of a piece by Andrew Sullivan analyzing Obama’s announcement on marriage equality:

“It’s easy to write off President Obama’s announcement of his support for gay marriage as a political ploy during an election year. But don’t believe the cynics. Andrew Sullivan argues that this announcement has been in the making for years. “When you step back a little and assess the record of Obama on gay rights, you see, in fact, that this was not an aberration. It was an inevitable culmination of three years of work.” And President Obama has much in common with the gay community. “He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family,” Sullivan writes.”

S**t? Meet Fan.

Black America has been turned on it’s head in the wake of “The Announcement” with civil rights and religious leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton coming out in full support of the president and others, like Pastor Jamal Bryant, saying that they feel betrayed. Professor Michael Eric Dyson joined in the fray when he served as guest host on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” and called out religious “bigots” as “sexual rednecks.” Add to that half-way critics who are pitting the Black community against the LGBT community, as  if they don’t intertwine, and the situation has become combustible.

In an blog earlier this week, Sullivan articulated his unwavering support for the president’s move:

I do not know how orchestrated this was; and I do not know how calculated it is. What I know is that, absorbing the news, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn’t know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes.

So let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human garbage because they loved another human being. I think of Frank Kameny. I think of the gay parents who now feel their president is behind their sacrifices and their love for their children.

The interview changes no laws; it has no tangible effect. But it reaffirms for me the integrity of this man we are immensely lucky to have in the White House.

While the president has surely bolstered his support across the board with this move, it is clear that the dissension in the Black community will be a vulnerability for Obama in November — and “Newsweek” covers with the first Black POTUS with a halo over his head does nothing to stifle the conflict.

[Editor's Note: Though the cover appears on the May 21 issue of Newsweek, the magazine is currently available on iTunes.]

MUST READS:

Let’s Celebrate Obama’s Evolution, Not Criticize It

Same-Sex Marriage Fallout: Bristol Palin Goes After Malia and Sasha Obama

Black Pastors Express ‘Sadness’ Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Announcement

Prominent Black Pastor Supports MD Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NewsOne Poll: 63% Of Respondents Don’t Support Obama On Gay Marriage

Want to Keep Up With NewsOne.com? LIKE Us On Facebook!

The New York Post reports:

“Who sent the e-mail?” [Klein] asked Wright.

“It was from one of Barack’s closest friends.”

“He offered you money?”

“Not directly,” Wright said. “He sent the offer to one of the members of the church, who sent it to me.”

“How much money did he offer you?”

“One hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” Wright said.

“Did Obama himself ever make an effort to see you?”

“Yes,” Wright said. “Barack said he wanted to meet me in secret, in a secure place. And I said, ‘You’re used to coming to my home, you’ve been here countless times, so what’s wrong with coming to my home?’ So we met in the living room of the parsonage of Trinity United Church of Christ, at South Pleasant Avenue right off 95th Street, just Barack and me. I don’t know if he had a wire on him. His security was outside somewhere.

“And one of the first things Barack said was, ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do any more public speaking until after the November election.’ He knew I had some speaking engagements lined up, and he said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t speak. It’s gonna hurt the campaign if you do that.’

“And what did you say?” I asked. “I said, ‘I don’t see it that way. And anyway, how am I supposed to support my family?’ And he said, ‘Well, I wish you wouldn’t speak in public. The press is gonna eat you alive.’

“Barack said, ‘I’m sorry you don’t see it the way I do. Do you know what your problem is?’ And I said, ‘No, what’s my problem?’ And he said, ‘You have to tell the truth.’ I said, ‘That’s a good problem to have. That’s a good problem for all preachers to have. That’s why I could never be a politician.’

“And he said, ‘It’s going to get worse if you go out there and speak. It’s really going to get worse.’

“And he was so right.”

Two of Wright’s more controversial sermons, at least by GOP standards, were at the center of the storm. “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall” delivered on September 16, 2001″ called the United States out for it’s hypocrisy when retaliating for the World Track Center attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. The unrepentant Wright held no punches:

“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye… and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

Then, in “Confusing God and Government,” delivered on April 13, 2003, Wright exposed the United States government for its role in the horrific Tuskegee experiment and it’s systemic racism against people of African descent in the nation:

“The government lied about the Tuskegee experiment. They purposely infected African American men with syphilis. Governments lie. The government lied about bombing Cambodia and Richard Nixon stood in front of the camera, ‘Let me make myself perfectly clear…’ Governments lie. The government lied about the drugs for arms Contra scheme orchestrated by Oliver North, and then the government pardoned all the perpetrators so they could get better jobs in the government. Governments lie…. The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. Governments lie. The government lied about a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and a connection between 9.11.01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie.

“When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness. The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America — that’s in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America, as long as she tries to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent.”

And Republicans went wild.

Voicing their concern that Obama was “anti-American,” many conservatives (and Hillary Clinton) wondered aloud that some of Wright’s hate had to have rubbed off on Obama; he had, after all, “sat in his church for 20 years.”

Before caving to the conflict and disowning his “spiritual advisor” in May of 2008 — the man who penned the sermon “The Audacity of Hope,” on which Obama based his electric 2004 Democratic National Convention speech that catapulted him into America’s conscious — Obama delivered his “A More Perfect Union” speech on March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia, PA, in hopes of taking control once again of the political momentum.

“I can no more disown [Wright] than I can disown the black community,” said Obama. “I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.”

But when Wright refused to go away, making more inflammatory statements as Obama was locked in the fight of his political career, the candidate made the choice to cut ties, claiming to be “saddened” and “outraged” by Wright’s remarks.

I find it no small coincidence that Wright has returned just in time for Obama’s re-election. He has cast himself as the proverbial friend scorned and proven that every ounce of political support that he threw behind Obama was based on friendship not politics. All the speeches and sermons, evoking racial fidelity and identification to shore up Obama’s support within the church, all the statements saying that Obama was the right choice for America, it all boiled down to a broken friendship.

With shades of Dr. Cornel West evident in his tone — a man whom I respect greatly, but who diminished his credibility as it pertains to Obama criticism when he complained that “the guy who picks up [his] bags from the hotel had a ticket to the inauguration” and he did not — it appears Rev. Wright is back with a agenda.

Obama did throw away their friendship for political ambition, and I personally find that reprehensible, but just as the church has no place in state policy, neither do personal vendettas have a place in political elections. There are a plethora of issues that one could challenge President Obama on, but to become entangled in a “you took your ball and went home, so now I’m tattling” dialogue is absolutely ridiculous.

That is something one would think a man of Rev. Wright’s caliber would understand.

SEE ALSO:

Black Pastors Express ‘Sadness’ Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Announcement

Prominent Black Pastor Supports MD Same-Sex Marriage Bill

LIKE NewsOne On Facebook To Stay Up On Black News Worldwide!

Dyson, as he predicted in his Twitter timeline yesterday, went ”HARD on black homophobia and the moral hypocrisy of the black church.” Calling Nelson, Martin and Bryant out by name, he said, “Come on, Sophia, Roland and Jamal, don’t use God to co-sign your bigotry.” He then exposes the hypocrisy of the Black church at large by saying, ” I ain’t never been to a Black church that turns down a gay tithe.”

You have to see it to believe it:

After being called out by Nelson on Twitter for his “attack,” Dyson responded in a series of rapid-fire tweets that I’ve pieced together verbatim below:

“I think each of you believes that being gay is a “sin” — which in my mind is the first problem. Second you believe being gay is a “sin” on par with adultery and all the other sins in whose league its often mentioned. I think that’s problematic and antithetical to the ethic of love [of] Jesus’ teachings. Third, I think there is a blindness — an inevitable bigotry — in the belief that being [LGBT] by definition makes you a sinner. Since the bible has been similarly used to condemn blacks and women, just substitute black for gay and think how unacceptable is the notion that black folk are by definition “sinners.” That’s my bottom line. I was in no way trying to offend any of you. I have mixed it up on this topic with @jamalbryant on TV, and I continue to love and admire him. The same goes for @rolandsmartin and @sophiaredefined, both of whom are also my dear friends. I’d love to continue the conversation!”

Nelson is not entertaining Dyson though, saying that he said all that he needed to say on the Ed Show:

“Mike before you get started. You have had you say on national TV. Disgusted by your attack! The only talking I do next is on National TV-I have asked @msnbc to make this right.”

Nelson also released a statement, which reads in part:

“[Ms. Nelson] unequivocal in her public statements and writings, interviews that she supports her fellow Americans, who also happen to be Gay with regard to equal treatment under the law, fair pay, fair treatment in the workplace, health benefits and the right to visit their domestic partner in the hospital, share property rights, adopt children, etc. Ms. Nelson also supports Hate Crimes legislation, making it a crime to abuse, assault or bully Americans who are Gay, Lesbian, or Transgender.

“Ms. Nelson has also been equally clear as a Baptized Believer of over 33 years, who was raised in a Christian family, whose younger brother is an Evangelist/Minister of the Gospel, whose Grandfather (maternal) was a Minister of the Gospel,  that she does NOT support Same Sex Marriage Rights as a matter of her religious faith. This is the same position that President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Biden, former President Bill Clinton and many public officials in the Democratic Party held for years, or in some instances still hold to this day.”

One of her followers asked the question, “I wonder why [Dyson] never called Obama a bigot?”

R&B singer, Eric Benet weighed on the controversy as well, siding with Dyson:

“Be deeply rooted in your faith without being deeply entrenched in bigotry! Michael Eric Dyson you betta PREACH!!!!”

As reported by Newsone, Rev. Al Sharpton released the following statement in anticipation of this division:

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  As leaders in today’s Civil Rights Movement, we stand behind the President Obama’s belief that same sex couples should be allowed to join in civil marriages.  We also affirm that individuals may hold different views on this issue but still work together towards our common goals: fair housing and equitable education, affordable health care and eradicating poverty, all issues of deep and abiding concern for our communities.

“President Obama stated his view that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.  This is a view that we concur with, because as civil rights leaders we cannot fight to gain rights for some and not for all.  At the same time, we acknowledge that the President stated his personal opinion, which everyone is entitled to – both those who agree with him, like us, and those who disagree.  The President made clear that his support is for civil marriage for same-sex couples, and he is fully committed to protecting the ability of religious institutions to make their own decisions about their own sacraments.

“There will be those who seek to use this issue to divide our community. As a people, we cannot afford such division.  It is our hope that conversations on strengthening African American families continue in a civil and respectful way, on all sides, both with those who support the ability of same-sex couples to marry, and those who do not.”

In other words: Can’t we all just get along?

With the combustibility of intersecting homophobia and religion in the Black community combining with the opinion of the nation’s first African-American president — which in Black America apparently carries more weight than the laws as they are — that may just be too much to ask.

MUST READS:

Let’s Celebrate Obama’s Evolution, Not Criticize It

Same-Sex Marriage Fallout: Bristol Palin Goes After Malia and Sasha Obama

Black Pastors Express ‘Sadness’ Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Announcement

Prominent Black Pastor Supports MD Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NewsOne Poll: 63% Of Respondents Don’t Support Obama On Gay Marriage

Want to Keep Up With NewsOne.com? LIKE Us On Facebook!

In an open letter, the leaders called for “civil debate,” not divisive arguments, as many Black evangelicals try to reconcile their faith with their support for President Obama.

Read the letter in full below:

May 11, 2012

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  As leaders in today’s Civil Rights Movement, we stand behind the President Obama’s belief that same sex couples should be allowed to join in civil marriages.  We also affirm that individuals may hold different views on this issue but still work together towards our common goals: fair housing and equitable education, affordable health care and eradicating poverty, all issues of deep and abiding concern for our communities.

President Obama stated his view that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.  This is a view that we concur with, because as civil rights leaders we cannot fight to gain rights for some and not for all.  At the same time, we acknowledge that the President stated his personal opinion, which everyone is entitled to – both those who agree with him, like us, and those who disagree.  The President made clear that his support is for civil marriage for same-sex couples, and he is fully committed to protecting the ability of religious institutions to make their own decisions about their own sacraments.

There will be those who seek to use this issue to divide our community. As a people, we cannot afford such division.  It is our hope that conversations on strengthening African American families continue in a civil and respectful way, on all sides, both with those who support the ability of same-sex couples to marry, and those who do not.

We are glad that President Obama has joined Dr. Joseph Lowery, Dr. Julian Bond and so many others in full embrace of equality for gay and lesbian individuals in our country.  We also welcome the civil debate on this issue that will surely spring.  And we encourage all individuals to keep all issues of import to our communities in mind in the days ahead, and we seek to secure equal justice, opportunity and dignity for all God’s children.

Many in the religious Black community disagree, including Pastor Jamal Bryant, who was “taken aback” by the president’s decision. Bryant even goes so far as to say that, because the “Black church has been there for him from the start,” Obama’s action should have been preceded by a “warning to the Black church community.”

“The church at its core is to be a refuge for all of God’s children, including homosexuals, wrote Bryant exclusively for Newsone. “There is a gay community within the Black church. We can’t ignore them or bash them. However, the church has no shades of gray when it comes to marriage. Our faith reserves marriage for a man and a woman. President Obama, as a product of the Black church, is fully aware of that. Knowing this, the President made this endorsement without calling or preparing any of us.  For many of us, it felt like a betrayal.”

Apparently unbeknownst to Bryant, President Obama stated that marriage equality is still a “states’ issue,” and, as Rev. Sharpton stated, the president’s personal support is for civil marriages for same-sex couples. This will clearly not infringe on churches who want to withhold that right from “God’s children,” but the inability for evangelicals to understand the concept of “separation of church and state” is not new — nor is it strictly along racial lines. The difference lies in the fact that Black Americans are typically social conservatives who are fiscally liberal, so their support for a Democratic president who supports same-sex marriage is a slippery slope — especially one who has made his views on figurative language in the Bible clear since his early days as a senator in Chicago.

Even then, Obama convincingly makes the point that faith has no place in politics and that because we do not share common spiritual eyesight, we can only share common laws. Most powerfully, he says that “religiously motivated [politicians] must translate their concerns into universal — not religious — values.

Many people see the support of some religious leaders as capitulation to Obama on marriage equality and proof that nothing that he does will sway the Black vote — even if it goes against their religious beliefs. Rev. Sharpton, however, believes that those beliefs have nothing to do with civil rights:

“This is not about mine or anyone’s personal or religious views. It is about equal rights for all. We cannot be selective with civil rights. We must support civil rights for everybody or we don’t support them for anyone.

I am prepared to fight, as I have since 2003 in the faith community, about the rightness of the position that the President has now taken.”

Rev. Sharpton has not changed his position and President Obama has finally decided on his own after years of cautious “evolution.” Only time will tell if the hold-outs in the Black church step into the 21st century as well.

MUST READS:

Let’s Celebrate Obama’s Evolution, Not Criticize It

Same-Sex Marriage Fallout: Bristol Palin Goes After Malia and Sasha Obama

Black Pastors Express ‘Sadness’ Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Announcement

Prominent Black Pastor Supports MD Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NewsOne Poll: 63% Of Respondents Don’t Support Obama On Gay Marriage

RELATED: George Clooney To Host Mega-Hollywood Obama Fund-Raiser

The star-studded soiree took place at actor’s George Clooney’s nearly 8,000-square-foot mansion, where a tent was set up in his backyard for guests to gather.  The affair was hosted by DreamWorks Animation studio head honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg and was catered by world-renowned chef Wolfgang Puck.

About 150 guests at $40,000 a pop were in attendance.  Mega Tinseltown A-listers, such as Barbra Streisand and husband James Brolin; designer Diane Von Furstenberg; actors Toby McGuire, Jack Black, Salma Hayek, and Robert Downey, Jr.; and California politicos Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village) were also present in support of our president.

Watch the lead-up to the event here:

Not every person at the event was a heavy hitter pocket-wise; the Obama campaign also held a contest for those supporters across the nation.  Donations of as little as $3 gave folks the opportunity to mingle with the heavy-hitters at the event.  The winners were awarded airfare to California and a ticket to hobnob at the gala.

Thousands upon thousands of contest entrants contributed an average of $23 for a chance to attend the fund-raising extravaganza.  The winners of the contest Beth Topinka, a science teacher from Manalapan, N.J., and Karen Blutcher, a utility company worker from St. Augustine, Fla., also brought along their spouses.

The event just happened to have occurred one day after Obama made his controversial announcement of how he was in full support of gay marriage.  It’s no secret that Hollywood is one town that has rallied around the gay marriage issue and Obama made sure to mention this in a 19-minute speech he made at the function, reports the L.A. Times:

Obviously, yesterday we made some news,” Obama said to applause. “But the truth is it was a logical extension of what America is supposed to be. It grew directly out of this difference in visions. Are we a country that includes everybody and gives everybody a shot and treats everybody fairly and is that going to make us stronger? Are we welcoming to immigrants? Are we welcoming to people who aren’t like us — does that make us stronger? I believe it does. So that’s what’s at stake.”

The president also touched upon the problems that plagued the country when he took office and how he has tried to remedy many of them during his time in office.  He made sure to punctuate how he created jobs, revived the auto industry, ended a war, and enacted a healthcare reform in his four short years as president of these United States.

President Obama even quipped about how he has aged since becoming president.  “People have commented on the fact I’ve got gray hair now. There was a blog post about look how wrinkly Obama is getting.  Sort of distressing. George doesn’t have to go through these things,” Obama said.  Clooney then chimed in: “You look good to me!”

Meanwhile, Republicans zoomed in on the glitzy affair, saying Obama prefers to rub elbows with Hollywood’s elite and that he is out of touch with the average Joe.

“While he’s noshing with notables, courting celebrities, and soliciting stars, the middle class is being squeezed,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus wrote on Redstate.com, stating, “The unemployment rate has increased from 7.8 percent to 8.1 percent. Today, 23 million Americans are struggling to find work; they’re unemployed or underemployed, or they have given up looking for work altogether.”

Hatahs!

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Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, President Obama had this to say about his personal evolution of thought:

“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” the president continued. “You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation, that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

Bristol, who was a great source of embarrassment for her mother when she turned up unwed and pregnant at 17 — while Palin preached abstinence to the world — decided to attack the president’s credibility in the blogosphere by saying that his daughters really run 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“So let me get this straight – it’s a problem if my mom listened too much to my dad, but it’s a heroic act if the President made a massive change in a policy position that could affect the entire nation after consulting with his teenage daughters?”

[Editor's Note: Malia Obama is 13; Sasha Obama is 10 -- conservatives and those pesky "facts."]

But her sarcasm and homophobia don’t end there:

“I guess we can be glad that Malia and Sasha aren’t younger, or perhaps today’s press conference might have been about appointing Dora the Explorer as Attorney General because of her success in stopping Swiper the Fox,” she said. “Sometimes dads should lead their family in the right ways of thinking.  In this case, it would’ve been nice if the President would’ve been an actual leader and helped shape their thoughts instead of merely reflecting what many teenagers think after one too many episodes of Glee.”

And what what would Bristol’s actions indicate — that she’s been watching one too many episodes of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant?

Bottom line: Children should be off limits. It would also behoove Bristol to remember that it wasn’t so long ago, 2008 in fact, that President Obama defended her against attacks.

“Let me be as clear as possible,” Obama said. “I think people’s families are off-limits, and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president.

“People should back off these kinds of stories;  [I was] born to an 18-year-old mother.”

It’s quite pathetic that the same respect isn’t returned to him. But coming from the Palin family, is anyone surprised?

SEE ALSO:

Black Pastors Express ‘Sadness’ Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Announcement

Barack Obama’s Young Life, Relationships Revealed In Biography

RELATED: Obama, Gay Marriage, The Black Church: Only Squeaky Wheels Get Oiled

One day after gay rights moved to the center of the presidential race with Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriage, a Washington Post report about Romney’s high school escapades nearly 50 years ago added a personal dimension to Democrats’ claim that he’s out of step on the sensitive topic.

The newspaper reported that in one case, Romney and several schoolmates held down classmate John Lauber and cut off his bleached blond hair after seeking him out in his dorm room at their boarding school in the wealthy Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. The Post said Lauber was “perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality” and that he screamed for help as Romney held him down. The paper recounted another incident in which Romney shouted “atta girl” to a different student at the all-boys’ school who, years later, came out as gay.

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“I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some may have gone too far. And for that I apologize,” Romney told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade during a hastily arranged radio interview. Romney said he didn’t remember the Lauber incident from long ago, but didn’t dispute that it happened. He stressed that he didn’t know either student was gay.

The Republican presidential candidate had begun the day by treading softly on Obama’s historic embrace of same-sex marriage, which seems likely to fire up liberal and conservative activists alike. He quietly restated his opposition to legalizing such marriages, but his campaign turned its full attention to energy, the economy and other issues.

Then the boarding school story was posted online and Romney moved quickly to counter any suggestion he had targeted students because they were gay.

“That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s, so that was not the case,” he said, adding that the students involved “didn’t come out of the closet until years later.”

According to the Post account, Romney was upset about how Lauber wore his bleach-blond hair hanging into his eyes.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” Romney told Matthew Friedemann, a close Romney friend and one of five classmates who recalled the incident for The Post. A few days later, Romney led a group of boys out of his dorm room at Cranbrook School and into Lauber’s, where the group tackled him and held him down. Romney cut his hair with scissors as a teary-eyed Lauber screamed for help.

“If there was anything I said that was offensive to someone, I certainly am sorry about that,” he said, adding that “there was no harm intended.” Romney’s campaign has previously highlighted the candidate’s reputation as a high school prankster in an attempt to humanize him.

In a second interview Thursday, Romney laid out what he said was his long-held position on gay rights: While opposed to gay marriage, he said states should be allowed to grant various domestic partnership rights to same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children.

“States could have their own decisions with regards to the domestic partnership rights,” Romney told Fox News. “But my preference would be to have a national standard for marriage, and that marriage would be defined as being between a man and a woman.”

He said he would go as far as supporting gay couples who want to adopt children, saying: “If two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship and even want to adopt a child – in my state, individuals of the same sex are able to adopt children – in my view, that’s something which people have the right to do.”

The GOP candidate defended some gay rights when he ran for governor of Massachusetts but was a leading voice against gay marriage when courts made it legal in the state.

“We would have never gotten as far as we did without Gov. Romney’s very strong support,” said Kris Mineau, the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, the group that spearheaded the fight for the state constitutional amendment.

Still, when Romney ran for Senate in 1994, he argued that he would be a better advocate for gay rights’ issues than Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy because he would make gay issues mainstream. “I think the gay community needs more support from the Republican Party and I would be a voice in the Republican Party to foster anti-discrimination efforts,” he said in a 1994 interview.

Obama on Wednesday became the first president in history to support gay marriage, and Romney was careful to use empathic language as he responded to that decision.

“This is a very tender and sensitive topic as are many social issues, but I have the same views I’ve had since running for office,” Romney said, a rhetorical contrast with some of his sharper responses on issues like immigration.

Romney’s advisers signaled they planned to campaign on the issue in November’s election, but acknowledged they would have to tread carefully. “I think it’s important to be respectful in how we talk about our differences, but the fact is that’s a significant difference in November,” Ed Gillespie, a senior Romney adviser, said Thursday on MSNBC.

SEE ALSO:

Black Pastors Express ‘Sadness’ Over Obama’s Gay Marriage Announcement

Barack Obama’s Young Life, Relationships Revealed In Biography

RELATED: Obama, Gay Marriage, The Black Church: Only Squeaky Wheels Get Oiled

There are at least 150 invitees, from A-list actors to studio heads to power industry players, in addition to the President’s entourage.  There is speculation that the glitzy shindig is expected to raise at least $12 million, which would set a record for a presidential fundraiser.  The demand for tickets was so huge that the guest list was limited only to the residents of Southern California.

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Although attendees paid a mere $40,000 a head, Washington watch analysts believe that online donations could bring in at least $6 million.  Proceeds from the Wolfgang Puck-catered affair will be going to the Obama Victory fund, a joint fund-raising committee of Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee, and several state Democratic parties.

There are a few Hollywood celebs who have dropped off the Obama train over the years, but reportedly, the president still has many supporters in Tinsel Town and Clooney is one of his biggest.  The Academy Award-winning actor has never been one to shy away from politics and has been outspoken in his obvious support for Obama, stating that he is ”proud to do whatever I can to support the President…as long as no one asks me to sing,” reports the New York Daily News.

Meanwhile, Obama is being attacked by the Republicans for being a “Hollywood President,” according to the New York Daily News.  A new ad released by American Crossroads, backers of the GOP, shows Obama’s appearances on Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres during his first presidential election.  The narrator asks, “Four years ago, Americans elected the biggest celebrity in the world. And America got one cool President.” He then states, “After four years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?”

SEE ALSO:

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RELATED: Obama, Gay Marriage, The Black Church: Only Squeaky Wheels Get Oiled

As polarizing as our political culture has become, I’m not at all surprised that Republicans largely condemned President Barack Obama’s decision to publicly state his personal support of marriage equality – framing it as some declaration of war on marriage itself. Frankly, Obama could’ve been sitting on Jesus’ lap when he offered his position on this (or any other given issue) and he would continue to be looked upon as some immoral leftist. However, the more troubling opinions I’ve seen have come from people more than likely to vote for him this November.

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Yes, the line in which he took to state his position was thin and intended to remain within the realm of the political center as much as possible, but President Obama did a very great thing in articulating why he believes gay men and women deserve the right to be married.

Of course, it’s fair to point out that his note saying that states should still have the right to decide on the issue is a politically convenient thing to say. And it is also ironic that the marriage of his own parents might still very well be illegal today if you left the right to miscegenation in the hands of select states in (ditto, our collective right to vote). Still, the semantics of President Obama’s historic decision to publicly declare support for same-sex marriage should not strip the significance of the symbolism behind it. Moreover, in the end, the issue of same-sex marriage will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court anyway.

At this point, all that the president can do is continue not defending the Defense of Marriage Act and essentially help set the tone of the debate as it moves forward. Already, others like Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I have begun to follow Obama’s lead and are expressing their support for same-sex marriage. Obviously, Obama helped spur that.

That’s why I can’t be consumed on whether or not the president is a flip-flopper, a hypocrite, or wonder aloud as to why he waited so long to state what many (like me) assumed was a belief he long shared. I’ve already written about my desire to see him come forth with this announcement, so I don’t see the point in nitpicking so soon after it. Likewise, I can’t be bothered with the doom and gloom and scenarios that have since come since footage of Obama’s now historic “Good Morning America” interview surfaced.

Will some Black people be bothered by Obama’s words in support of gay and lesbian couples? Surely, but do I expect some mass exodus from the polls in November? Hardly, and I’d like to give my own people more credit than that. Besides, anyone who ties their political support to a single issue deserves everything they get in the aftermath.

As a gay man not even sure if I ever want to get married, I do know that I deserve the right to be just as happy or miserable as the millions of American heterosexuals in marital bliss or bitter divorce cases.

A sitting president offering his support to a civil rights case of this magnitude while the country remains heavily divided on the matter – which proves the choice is not as politically beneficial as some would argue – is worthy of celebration.

I’m especially happy to find that a Black man is the president doing so – proving yet again that Black people are not the monolithic and grossly homophobic bloc others (and sometimes ourselves) paint us to be.

Was Obama’s proclamation perfect? No. But nothing ever is, particularly from a politician. What matters most is that Obama did the right thing, and in this very moment, I just want to focus on that.

Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer currently based in Los Angeles. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter: @youngsinick

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Obama holds advantages over likely GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the areas of empathy, sincerity, likeability and handling social issues.

But Americans are split over which candidate can best handle the economy. That could open pathways for Romney as the Nov. 6 election nears.
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Half of registered voters say they would back Obama in November. Forty-two percent favor Romney.

Romney does best among whites without college degrees. Only 5 percent of black voters support Romney.

Tell us!

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Your answer will help decide the next president.

Is it Barack Obama, as seen by Mitt Romney? Or Romney, the way Obama depicts him? For all their liberal versus conservative differences, when the two presidential contenders describe each other, they sound like they’re ragging on the same flawed guy. Or mirror images of that guy.

Will voters prefer the man waving with his left hand or his right?

Blame it on two cautious candidates with more traits in common than their disparate early biographies would suggest.

No Drama Obama is panned as professorial and aloof. Romney is deemed boring when he’s not being awkward.

Distrusted as too moderate within his own party, each is demonized as a radical by the other side. They don’t get specific about the tough stuff, like budget cuts or taxes, that would invite more precisely calibrated negative ads.

Add a presidential contest buried beneath a single issue, the economy, and original lines of attack are scarce. The candidates take jabs anyway.

“They’re trying to define each other. That’s what it’s all about,” said Ken Duberstein, chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan. “They’re throwing out different characterizations to see which one resonates.”

With quickie Internet videos and instant comebacks via Twitter, “the attack and counterattack is happening in real time,” said political communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson. “Campaigns are working to make sure nothing is missed.”

Attacks big or small get batted back, even if the response amounts to “I know you are, what am I?”

Democrats accuse Republicans of a “war on women,” Romney’s campaign notes rising female unemployment during the Obama years.

The Obama camp jokes about Romney’s dog riding on the roof of the family car; Republicans respond that Obama ate dog meat as a boy in Indonesia.

Both candidates are slammed as:

“Out of touch” with ordinary Americans.

Obama: Cloistered in the White House. Hangs out with celebrities, acting “cool.” Doesn’t understand the real world because “he spent too much time at Harvard,” according to Romney, who earned two Harvard degrees himself.

Romney: Grew up wealthy, with a governor for a father. Worth $200 million or more. He’s the kind of guy who had a Swiss bank account and wants a car elevator for his beach house, the Democrats note.

—

Bad for the middle class.

Obama: Failed to deliver on his promises to help Americans “struggling to find good jobs and make ends meet,” the Romney camp says. Median household income is down, unemployment up since he took office.

Romney: Wants to reduce taxes on the wealthy while devastating Medicare and cutting education, health care and other programs the middle class need, Democrats charge. Obama says that amounts to “social Darwinism.”

—

Suspiciously secretive.

Obama: Believing his microphone off, assured the Russian president he would have “more flexibility” after Election Day. Obama will reveal “his true positions only after the election is over,” Romney says. Republicans predict he would tack left on the environment, spending, gay rights and other issues.

Romney: Told campaign donors of plans to cut or eliminate the housing and education agencies as well as others – ideas he hasn’t disclosed publicly. “What’s Mitt hiding?” Democrats ask, demanding more about his personal tax returns and investments, too.

—

Too extreme.

Obama: Hopes to create “a European-style social welfare state,” Romney says, and “put free enterprise on trial.” Endorsing Romney, Newt Gingrich called Obama “the most radical, leftist president in American history.”

Romney: Referred to himself as “severely conservative.” He’s “extreme on women’s issues,” Democrats contend. Obama places him to the right of Reagan and suggests he’s akin to Barry Goldwater.

—

Unable to fix the economy.

Obama: Can’t get the jobless rate below 8 percent. He “delayed the recovery and made it anemic,” according to Romney, who says Obama lacks the private sector experience necessary to understand the economy.

Romney: As a venture capitalist, laid off workers and shipped jobs to Mexico, the Obama campaign says. Also created Massachusetts jobs more slowly than other governors of the time, Democrats note.

—

Not up to foreign policy.

Obama: Too weak to stand up to China or Russia or to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, and too eager to apologize for the United States, Romney charges.

Romney: Likely to stumble into another misguided war, according to Vice President Joe Biden. Wouldn’t have had the guts to send Navy SEALs into Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden, the Obama campaign suggests.

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