M.J. at Summer Jam, Obama on the text

For those of you who may not have quite the love affair I have with hip-hop, the title of this post is a line in Jay-Z's song, "On To The Next One" on his newest album, The Blueprint 3.

As I was walking around in D.C. last weekend with my dear friend Scott, I asked him if he thought President Obama and Jay-Z really exchange text messages. After all, Scott did work for the Obama campaign. From there, we opined on possible texts between the two. This begins a (hopefully) weekly post on President Obama's text messages to Jay-Z.

• "Man Jay, Scott Brown sure is giving Kanye a run for his money when it comes to putting foot in mouth."
• "I know everyone thinks I'm being a wimp lately. People need to realize that I'm not a countryman, I'm the country, man." (courtesy of AP)
• "Hey, is Beyonce available this weekend? I'd love it if she could teach Michelle some of her dance moves."

It ain't over til it's over

"He's done. This thing is over"

I hear people saying that almost every day. People at work, on the street, friends and family alike agree that Obama has pretty much already won and this election has already been decided. Political polls show Obama leading in all the usual left-leaning states, but also in some that usually go red. What do you think at this point? Is it really over?

Palin made an appearance on SNL last night in a last-ditch effort to charm the American people in voting for her and McAngrypants. Unfortunately for them, she was not charming or funny. Lorne Michaels was smart enough not to make her look good so close to election day, but rather let Alec Baldwin rail on her while standing right next to her and then of course had Tina doing the usual bit. Dudes for Sarah might have been happy just to see her on tv, but I'm pretty sure no one else was impressed. The Republicans are getting desperate and this last move couldn't have gone as they had hoped.

Here we are, so close to electing our first African-American president with people turning out in droves to rallies and donating every last extra penny to get him in the White House. Even Colin Powell supports him! What could go wrong? Could anything turn the tides at this point? Voter fraud is what scares me the most, but others are predicting secret racism that seems to show its ugly head once people get in the voting booth. This one doesn't seem as threatening to me, but then again I've really only lived in the most liberal and open of places. Other than that, I just don't know what could happen to reverse the force that has taken the country in favor of Obama.

I guess all we can do is go to calling parties, wear our buttons and well, of course vote on election day. It's not over yet, but god I hope it's ends well.

there probably shouldn't even be a foreign policy debate

So we all know that McCain's big thing against Obama is to say he's not experienced enough, especially with foreign policy matters. With the debate raging about US presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, you'd think we'd want our future president to at least know which countries still exist in the world. Yea, well, guess which one doesn't. Seriously. I'd rather have someone with slightly fewer years experience as long as he is somewhat aware of what is going on outside his precious US borders.

guest post: obama and the iraq war

This is the debut post from Our One Republican Friend. Enjoy, and please, keep the commenting civil.

Before everyone lines up to drink the anti-war Kool-Aid that Barack Obama has been passing out since the beginning of his campaign, I thought I would point to a few indicators that maybe you should think twice before you dawn the bright blue jump suit, hold hands for a sermon about the promised peace on a spaceship behind the withdraw from Iraq and drink down that colorful promise of a speedy exit from the real world.

In the real world Iraq has improved and is improving dramatically. Let me say that again…Iraq has improved dramatically. The Iraqi army is securing its own country under the command and direction of its civilian government, and is doing it without American help. The government has been able to move its parliament toward important political progress on a variety of important initiatives. Last month was one of the most peaceful months in Iraq since the war began.

And yet…Barack Obama continues to tell anyone with a microphone about a 'third Bush term under Senator McCain,' '100 years this and 100 years that,' and 'home in 16 months' or whatever the time. Perhaps he is not reading the papers or maybe he knows that all things being equal, Americans prefer peace. Maybe he is betting that we will drink the Kool-Aid without asking too many questions; like what is going to happen in Iraq if we just up and leave immediately? or will our enemies "leave it at that" when we go?

I don't know about you but I am not ready to bet on a mystical spaceship behind a comet. I am not ready to assume that our enemies will suddenly change their minds, decide we are not so bad or call the whole thing off if we would just leave Iraq. I am not ready to drink the Kool-Aid because a first term Senator from Illinois promised me a spaceship.

Instead I will stick with a man whose strategy is working, a strategy, I might add, that he supported because he knew it was the right thing, even when it was unpopular. I will stick with the man who was fighting for our country and enduring years as a POW while Obama was learning to tie his own shoes and ride a bike without training wheels. I'll stick with another man who even democrats (and New Yorker's at that) are starting to agree will be vindicated by history.

Don't drink the Kool-Aid without some answers. Peace, but peace through strength.