Viewing entries tagged
Baratunde

1 Comment

My Comment Piece In The UK Independent On Obama's Ability To Unify

Full piece here Excerpt:
The polling is clear. Obama has a steady national lead. More importantly, he is leading in the handful of states whose electoral votes actually matter including four states that voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. John McCain had hoped to make California competitive. Instead he finds himself ahead by only two points in his home state of Arizona, forced to commit resources and to start running deceptive automated phone calls in a desperate attempt to prevent an embarrassing loss. Assuming he wins, what can we expect from Barack Obama. Can he unite the country as he's promised? He will have his work cut out. The divisions in America run deep racially and politically, but there can and will be progress, if not total resolution. A friend and fellow comedian who produces a video series called "This Week In Blackness" spoke with me about the oft-repeated concept of a "post-racial" America. The notion is that we will have won the War On Racism by electing Obama and once and for all healed America's racial divide. Claims of employment discrimination, systematic imprisonment and economic segregation could be met with, "But you have a black president." The country could finally move on to more pressing matters, like selecting the next flavour of Coca Cola. This simple resolution will not happen. In fact, Obama's mere candidacy (and the reaction of his opponents to it) have exacerbated that racial divide in small but poignant ways. Obama has tapped into hope, but he has also triggered a backlash of fear from the more ignorant realms of our society.
As usual, Bring it for Barack

1 Comment

2 Comments

This Friday, I'm On BBC Newsnight Review With Guests Talking About Things

This is so exciting! Tomorrow I join a panel of some pretty cool people talking about some pretty cool things on the BBC programme (see how I spelled it all British-like?), Newsnight Review Panelists
  • Me
  • Ron Silver (actor/director and has his own political radio talkshow)
  • Kathleen Parker (syndicated columnist) - yes THAT Kathleen Parker
  • Joe Queenan (film critic/author).
Topics
  • What's happened to American culture under the Bush presidency. How did TV, film, literature and music respond to Sept 11th?  Or the Iraq War?  Is there more political diversity in the arts now?  Would Obama or McCain be better for the cultural life of the country or does it not really make a difference?
Then review items If you have thoughts on any of these things that I can appropriate as my own, jump in!

2 Comments

7 Comments

A Chance To Attend My Obama Comedy Show FREE

This Wednesday, I'm part of an incredible comedy fundraiser for Barack Obama at the Gotham Comedy Club in NYC. It is a fundraiser, but I know many of yall don't have many funds so I'm offering you a chance to get one of my five comp tickets (that is, free!). In order to get the tickets, post a comment on this blog post (by 2pm Monday) with your name, why I shouldn't make you buy your own damn ticket and how you've contributed to the campaign in whatever way you could. Maybe you phonebanked for the first time or gave $20 in September because you were so insulted by Sarah Palin. Or maybe you're just down for Obama but low on funds because you lost your shiny Wall Street job. The show is gonna be hot. More info on the comedy event: Join New York Latinos for Obama, South Asians For Obama, The Coalition for Barack Obama in Mt. Vernon, Dominicans For Obama and Young Latino Professionals for Obama for a memorable night of laughter supporting our soon-to-be next president. Wednesday, October 29th - - Doors open at 6:30p | Pre-Show from 7:00p-7:25p | Showcase from 7:30p-9:00p MC: Eric Vetter. Starring… Craig Baldo | Leighann Lord | Elon James White | Carmen Lynch | Baratunde Thurston | Marilyn Torres | Joseph Rocha | Jane Galvin-Lewis

7 Comments

Comment

Me With Onion Folks Speaking At The National Press Club, Plus Politico Coverage

I've been a journalism geek for a long time. In high school, I enrolled in a summer journalism program at American University, and as part of the class we got to visit the National Press Club. It was the summer that baseball almost died (again), and Bud Selig had been named acting commissioner. We got a tour of the building and got to attend his luncheon talk. Well, some 15 years later, I returned to the NPC victorious and shared the stage with coworkers from The Onion. Our charge: discuss this election season and our coverage. Here's an audio recording of the event. (apparently mainstream media is in such bad shape that they couldn't afford to record images as well). And here's the Politico's post-event report in which they reprint our post-event report and we wonder why the media is in the state it's in? :)

Comment