Of course, they also voted against an African-American, his opponent!

As I just posted on the previous thread, and more timely here:

This repeated 'this is a Black-Brown debate' is offensive. Shall we next have a 'white debate'!? Issues of bad parentage and other challenges are not just a matter for Blacks and Browns.

BTW, when did the terms Blacks and Browns become the norm?

Obama very rarely gets his "smug" on. He acknowledges good things with a good sense of humor (yes, he has one), but when he gets his "smug" on, it's because he's deserving of it.

Before you all start yelling at me for sounding subliminally racist or some such stupid thing, please know that I am a white woman, 43 years old, in a long-term relationship with a wonderful black man who is 50. I know what "getting his smug on" means, LOL....and I'm always proud of my man when he does it.

I've never heard of "getting your smug on," but I think Barack has every right to do that tonight. As opposed to previous debate performances where he was hesitant and unspecific, he was completely on point tonight.

Way to go Barack!

HRC sucks!

Tom - agreed.

He's doing an awesome job, and I'm so glad he was able to turn the blacks vs latinos question in his favor. HRC was being divisive, and Obama was able to show they'll vote for him and got a good laugh out of it.

He really did perform very well tonight.

He is the only one that got laughs (multiple) and applause from the audience.

I also think he did a good job calling Hillary to task for using fear as a campaign tactic. Her response was pretty unsatisfactory, and it was pretty clear that she had meant the comment to imply that if Obama is elected president we will be vulnerable to terrorist attack, even immediately.

Colonpowwow, when you've had a great moment, when you've been through **** and withstood it and kept a smile on your face, then you'll know.

;-)

Perhaps it was too personal a reference, but the term has been used at my office and my home, when people have been deserving of kudos, so it came naturally to me.

Matthew,

Come on, now. You don't really believe that, do you? You may like Hillary, but you can never claim

Let's see, Obama worked his way through college, graduated from Columbia, left a job on Wall Street to do inner-city community organizing, graduated from Harvard Law School while serving as the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, turned down high-paying law firms to become a civil rights lawyer in Chicago, served eight years in the Illinois legislature, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, strongly and publicly OPPOSED THE IRAQ WAR when it was politically unpopular, gave one of the best keynote addresses in Democratic convention history, won a smashing victory in a US senate race in Illinois, including in rural areas, and is now about to topple the most powerful political machine in the country. That's pretty impressive if you ask me.

jeanba,
I totally agree. Greg, what up with calling Obama's answer to the question "cocky"? The audience laughed at Obama's comment. He does great at handling questions about race that could have turned out awkwardly. His first book, Dreams From My Father, really explains why his own personal journey allows him to do that.

There is a troubling development for Clinton in the Michigan primary. CNN just reported that even though she was the only major democrat on the ballot, a whopping 70% of Michigan's African American democratic voters DID NOT vote for her. They voted for the "uncommitted" category instead.

Looks like the Clinton's pissed off the AA community with all their race-baiting shenanigans.

Uh oh…

obama's opponent was alan keys. I'm sure greg meant to mention that.

I suppose different words have a different meaning for different people. I do not see "cocky" as necessarily derogatory. I think it was a fairly good-natured answer and a slightly playful post.

jose, he keeps trying but for some reason some people seem to do their best to ignore that and post the same question over and over.. If you are really interested, though, a good start would be to review his Senate activities http://obama.senate.gov/news/ starting 2005. Beyond that, he has his years in the Illinois legislature, his teaching career (constitutional law), community organizing and of course studies in foreign relations and law at Harvard.

Well how is this for experience.

A college law professor teaching CONSTITUTIONAL LAW!!!!!!!

I personally would like a president who actually knows the constitution and doesn't hire a bunch of lawyers to get around it.

Considering the underhanded way Hillary is running her race, I don't think she would have a ethical problem hiring a bunch of lawyers to write OLC stuff to get what she wants. After all Bush was not a constitutional scholar or lawyer he was able to shuck responsibility and blame it on OLC. Who's to say Hillary won't do the same.

How about a president who knows the constitution backwards and forwards. How about one who will uphold it?

Barack Obama has all the experience I need.

Hadenough,

Who did Hillary run against? She was lucky Rudy got sick otherwise she won't be in the senate. Yeah Obama run against Keys and Hillary to kick her ass in IA.

jeanba,

What is your problem?

"Obama, asked at the debate if Latino voters have a reluctance to support black candidates, shows a flash of latent (and perhaps deserved) cockiness:

"Not in Illinois -- they all voted for me.""

obama ran against alan keyes. Get. Over. It. Just as bad as obama's "perhaps deserved cockiness" is sargents hackery.

Obama may have run against Alan Keyes in the general, but in the primary he still got 54-percent in a 7-way race.

HRC won the debate and people are just upset. Every word she says to you folks is racist. I would wager most of you are not black but are acting like you know what would be racist remarks even when your leader said stop making stretches. Knock it off. It is hurting your cause and the party. It is not working. Get behind the Queen. Wait your turn.

Greg:

maybe i missed it:

1) did Obama say "Latinos love me??"

2)and what, exactly, how does one operationalize "cockiness?" what (behaviorally) does it look like?? what does it sound like??

have you read richard cohen's article?? and the response??

Look, if you were interviewing these three for a job to run your company, who would you choose.

But we're not! We're choosing a president, and the job of president is very, very different from that of CEO. A CEO has a responsibility to increase revenue for investors. A president is a messenger. He or she sets the agenda and makes a case to the American people.

Hillary Clinton answered in response to Russert's question asking if BET's Johnson's comments were out of bounds, "Yes they were, and he has said that."

I am shocked by this little bit.....anyone have a clip or reference that shows Johnson saying that? I thought Johnson did the opposite, and defended his statement.

What is the truth here, folks.....because it goes to the issue of whether Clinton has blatantly deceived in a public debate.

Let me second DonnaG's question above--and hope someone at TPM will deliver an answer. My impression is that not only did Johnson not repudiate his crack about the neighborhood (pun intended), but that both Clintons defended him by saying we have to take him at his word when he claims he was referring to "community organizing." We reply on journos to examine what the candidates actually say in response to questions, not merely to serve as echo chambers/megaphones--or to gloss over the words in favor of what the writer imagines she meant to say. The same applies to TPM's headline writers, who casually invent phrases such as "Barack says Latinos love me" when Barack Obama said no such thing! TPM, we need you as journalists, not as shills for one candidate or the other!