THE WEEKEND IN REVIEW: Iraq, Barack and More

A sleepy 2007 news cycle (relatively anyway) is starting to pick up a bit. To wit, some things that struck me since my last post:

B.O.

Barack Obama is officially in the 2008 presidential race and exactly no one is surprised. He's already endured faint (and vaguely racist) praise from rival Democratic candidate Senator Joe Biden and a right wing, reactionary slur from--get this--the Australian prime minister John Howard. And a lot of African-American intellectuals and politicos aren't exactly falling over themselves to jump on the Obama bandwagon. Why? If I get the gist of a lot the rationalizations, Barack is either a) not black enough, b) too black to beat out Hilary or John Edwards, so why waste time supporting him or c) too inexperienced at the national level. I'd buy "c", but not the other two, which is just more evidence supporting my assertion that some of the worst enemies to progress in the field of American race relations are African-Americans over the age of 40. That's a blog for another time though.

So, as a politically interested African-American am I on the Barack Bandwagon? Well, I keep jumping on and off, which is frankly starting to hurt my shins, but right now I think I'd rather have him than any of the other contenders in the Democratic field. I won't give him a ringing endorsement, but he certainly seems like the most principled, charismatic candidate so far in the race. He may never be able to raise more money than Hilary Clinton though, so time will tell if backing Obama turns out to be more than a fool's run. Contrary to what it may seem like, the race is young and there are twists and turns ahead in the 2008 elections that no one can suspect that will reveal a lot about all of the contenders for the office.

By the way, whichever Democrat gets nominated out of the Big 2 1/2 (Obama, Clinton and John Edwards) don't be surprised if their choice for number two winds up being Wesley Clark. Remember him?

Grammy Recap

Like I wrote previously, I don't normally check out the Grammys. Although they have drastically improved since their low point in the late 80's/early 90's, they are still kind of unhip, out of touch and most of all, ridiculously bloated. But I had to see my band The Police performing for the first time in two decades (they were understated, but oh-so-cool) and I had a feeling The Dixie Chicks would have a huge night, which they did and I couldn't be happier for them. (Politics and issues of free speech aside, the album really was one of the best of 2006, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts.)

The highlight for me, believe it or not, was something awards shows usually do pretty badly--the "necrology", or roll call of recently deceased contributors, that ended with an electrifying performance clip by James Brown (perhaps on the TAMI Show? I'd love to know--that would be a great, subtle Police tie-in!) which was mimicked live on stage pretty well by 17-year old soul phenom Chris Brown and punctuated by an appearance by James Brown's emcee who draped his famous cape over the microphone just before the show went to commercial. I almost lost it. James Brown might have been an SOB, but American pop music wouldn't be what it is today without him. I miss him already.

The Iraq/Iran Report

Sectarian violence in Baghdad killed 80 more civillians this weekend while the rhetoric between the United States and Iran escalated, with the U.S. blaming Iran for arming the Shiites while Iran vehemently denied it. I'm now placing the over/under on the first official U.S. bombing of Iran at April 10th. Whoever comes closest in the pool earns the uncomfortable knowledge that we are that much closer to World War III.

OK, One More Thing About Anna Nicole Smith

Quick, raise your hand if you think you might be Anna Nicole's babydaddy. Not so fast there, Howard K. Stern and Larry Burkhart...

This is one of the most ridiculous stories I've ever seen and it's only going to get more ridiculous, which means get used to seeing it dominate the news (tabloid and otherwise) for at least the next month. If anything remotely intelligent or shocking comes out of Smith's death and tabloid life in the coming weeks, I'll make sure to make a comment on this blog.

In the meantime, Seacrest out--er, I mean, Peace...