Barawwwwk Lobster Wrap!

CommandeeringTheFlyingFortress
B-52'sVille


Two great wrap-ups on 2008's Obamathon....

First, from a new Mediaista who is making inroads into the old media, Ms. Hamsher:

It was an amazing night last night. I was on the BBC all night from Time Square, with CNN on the jumbo tron over my shoulder. When Obama went over 270 electoral votes, we were shouting and cheering. The Bush era was over, and the possibilities that now exist for people of color in this country made it an incredibly emotional moment. Obama had an extraordinarily well-run campaign which showed that brilliance and determination could triumph over a campaign that placed a losing bet on the the entrenchment of bigotry. ......


Second, from an old newsprint guy who is making new space for himself in the Toobz, Mr. Willcocks:

I was 15 when the photo appeared, in Life magazine, I think.

Barack Obama was six.

It was a black and white shot of a Mississippi sheriff named Lawrence Rainey. He was beefy, bald guy in uniform, something between a grin and smirk over his long chin. Black cowboy boots, with short socks, so you saw a patch of white hairy shin, as he sprawled with one leg crossed over the other, his right hand dipping into a pouch of Red Man tobacco, a chaw in his cheek.

He was sitting in a courtroom. Around him were grinning co-defendants, all charged in the murder of three young civil rights workers.

The picture showed the men believed they had done nothing wrong. And that they would get away with murder.

And the two sheriffs and gang of Ku Klux Klansmen who killed the three men were almost right.

The state wouldn't charge them. It took three years for the federal government to bring charges of violating the dead men's civil rights, by killing them.

Only seven of 18 men charged were convicted. No one served more than six years in jail.
The photo was one of those defining images - of hate and power and a place where the most basic rule of law was unknown. Where you could be killed by the police for talking about human rights.

That was 1967, not long ago really.

And now Americans have elected a black president.....


Now.

There is sure to be a huge dissection to follow of the Obama Machine and how it worked on a mechanics/nuts & bolt level to get him over the top (eg., see: Turnout, New Voter).

And some of it will, no doubt, turn out to be true.

But I don't think we should ever forget the Branch Rickey Effect.

And how much it foreshadowed Mr. Obama's ability to exude grace under pressure.

Which, in the end, clearly mattered for a whole lot of other voters who may not have been so new, young, or open-minded.

OK?


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Here is a link over at John Simkin's history project site to the story and the photo that Mr. Willcocks describes. I remember the story from when I was a kid because it seemed like 'To Kill A Mockingbird', only worse.

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