(s)word » president

Obama’s Inauguration – Former Black Presidents

LoveHowlMuse — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:36:40 +0000

Richard Pryor shows how farcical the idea of a black president seemed in the 1970s. Eddie Murphy seems to think that it’s a bit closer in 1983 – at least if enough white folks get drunk before voting – but hopes he’s nimble if he does win. More than 20 years later, Dave Chappelle still shares his fears and suggests a Mexican vice president as insurance. James Earl Jones has to deal with becoming The Man in 1972 (”It took an accident to make this man President of the United States. What they do to him now won’t be an accident.”) Finally, Obama’s refreshingly honest and thoughtful speech about race in the USA during the election campaign. (This is a YouTube playlist. If you want to see a list of the videos, click the icon next to the play button at the bottom left.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

There’s also a 1964 clip from the BBC where Martin Luther King predicts a black president in less than 25 years. Only a few years late…

Happy Birthday Mr. President

LoveHowlMuse — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:21:35 +0000

The 6th of July is George W. Bush’s birthday. To celebrate this infernal occasion, for one week only Viralux are making their song Happy Birthday Mr. President available to download as a high-quality MP3 – just click below…

[Edit: Unfortunately the week has come to an end. Subscribe to the blog using RSS or the email subscription box on the right to receive updates as soon as new blogs like this are posted.]

Happy Birthday Mr. President:

Music: Gordon Dawson and Heather Jones X

Lyrics and vocals: Trish Lyons

Produced by: Viralux

See more about Viralux on LoveHowlMuse »

Send us a message if you want the lyrics…

Hillary Clinton’s fat ankles

Adrian Toll — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:21:36 +0000

One theme that has run throughout the Democratic presidential primaries in the USA has been people’s pleasant amazement that, unless there’s a huge upset (remember George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004?), the next president of the USA will be either a woman or black. This is celebrated as proof of how far the country has come in terms of racial and sexual equality. But, certainly in terms of the political commentary in the media, the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama brings a further bitter twist to Yoko Ono’s comment that “woman is the nigger of the world” (later turned into a song by her and John Lennon - watch it, including a great introduction by Lennon, on YouTube).

Clinton’s appearance features heavily in the coverage of her campaign, for example Carl Bernstein’s disgust at her “thick ankles”. If we’re talking about appearances, what about Obama’s fat lips? Can you imagine the McCain audience question “How are we going to beat the bitch?”, to which he replied “good question!”, rephrased as “How are we going to beat that black bastard?” There’s a whiff of suspicion that, admittedly along with other concerns about Clinton, the commentators would prefer a man to win, even if he is black.

Thirty eight years ago, in 1970, Robin Morgan was working for one of the leading counterculture newspapers in New York City, Rat. Disgusted with the creeping sexism in the paper, she and her female colleagues took over the paper, and for the first female-only edition wrote a celebrated polemic, Goodbye To All That. Goodbye To All That lamented how the New Left hierarchy, dominated by white men, had simply replaced one form of sexual repression for another, subtler version. You can read the original article in full on the Fair Use Blog.

Until now she has resisted the temptation to write another version, but the treatment of Clinton by the media has enraged her enough to write Goodbye To All That (#2). Goodbye To All That (#2) is another polemic, this time about the viciously misogynist media coverage that Clinton has had to endure. Whether you’re for Clinton, Obama or even McCain, and despite some flaws (Morgan voting for Clinton because Morgan is a woman seems very dubious), this article is a sobering reminder of how far we haven’t come.

You can read the article in full on the Women’s Media Centre website.

“Well they say women shouldn’t be the president

Cause we go crazy from time to time

Well push my button baby

Here I come

Yeah look out baby

I’m at high tide”

Laurie Anderson – Beautiful Red Dress