Here are six people or groups of people who paved the way for the Obamas during my lifetime. I’m 29, so this is post-MLK era. This list was also not created to exclude anybody, but instead to celebrate some of my personal choices:

6. Tiger Woods -

One of the first multiracial celebrities who transcended race. He’s the most popular golfer by far despite golf being the most lily-white sport we have.

5. Will Smith -

He’s the first black actor to become Hollywood’s biggest star. The fact that he’s had a record eight $100 box office-grossing movies in a row proves that.

4. Michael Jordan -

As a kid, growing up in Springfield, MO, a Southern MO town, Michael Jordan was the most popular athlete by far. There were more Air Jordans floating around my grade school than Bart Simpson T-Shirts. He achieved mainstream acceptance among whites like no athlete before him.

3. Oprah Winfrey -

Without Oprah Winfrey, I don’t think either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would have made this far. No question about it in my mind.

2. Jesse Jackson -

What he did in 1988 built the foundation for BHO’s historic campaign. Period.

1. The Huxtables -

After seeing Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha on stage talking to their father over the TV, I couldn’t help think about the Huxtables. If the barrier is broken, and the Obamas move into the White House, Bill Cosby and the rest of the show deserve some credit for putting some cracks in that glass celing. For a lot of white families, the Cosbys proved that a black family could be just as American as the Cleavers or the Seavers. Without Phylicia Rashād’s Clair–who was also a lawyer, and devoted mother and wife on the show–a lot of America would not be open to Michelle (and not all of America is–yet!). I also couldn’t help thinking of little Rudy Huxtable when Sasha blurted out, “hi, daddy!” I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one.

Wow, I’m going to have to watch this again. Just so much to digest, but what a beautiful and bold speech. Most politicans wouldn’t dare give a speech like this in the midst of a heated political campaign, but that is exactly what makes Obama different and special. He’s a leader who’s not afraid to stand up and speak the truth.

The mostly glowing reviews are in…

And you can find the transcript here…

Keith Olbermann was Edward R. Murrow tonight. He’s just amazing; First he’s the best sports anchor on TV, now the second coming of Murrow. What more can I say…just watch…

What a night! Man, this is without a doubt the single most impressive night of Barack Obama’s astonishing political career. Here’s an excerpt from the front page of Drudge that sums up his dominance:

In the Chesapeake Rout, according to exit polls in Maryland, Obama won:
Latino Voters By Six Points: 53-47
All Religions (Including Catholics)
All Age Groups (Including Seniors)
All Regions
All Education Levels
And Women by TWENTY ONE POINTS…

But wait — there’s more. Obama won the White vote in Virginia. Say what!? OBAMA WON THE WHITE VOTE IN VIRGINIA! I really can’t believe that shit. A Black candidate named Barack Obama won White voters in Dixieland. He also apparently won Latino voters in Virginia, a bigger part of the electorate there than you might expect. And let’s not even talk about how handily he beat her in the District. Not pretty for HRC. Not at all.

What I’m curious to see is how the delusional Clinton spinning machine will play this latest round of defeats.

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The New York Times’ Frank Rich’s scathing indictment of the Clinton campaign is an absolute must-read piece. It was very difficult to find and pull my favorite snippet — I love the whole thing — but here you go:

The question now is how much more racial friction the Clinton campaign will gin up if its Hispanic support starts to erode in Texas, whose March 4 vote it sees as its latest firewall. Clearly it will stop at little. That’s why you now hear Clinton operatives talk ever more brazenly about trying to reverse party rulings so that they can hijack 366 ghost delegates from Florida and the other rogue primary, Michigan, where Mr. Obama wasn’t even on the ballot. So much for Mrs. Clinton’s assurance on New Hampshire Public Radio last fall that it didn’t matter if she alone kept her name on the Michigan ballot because the vote “is not going to count for anything.”

If this is any indicator of things to come — and I think it is judging from what I’ve heard out of other states — Obama might not only do well in Colorado, but also in crucial states like Arizona, California and New Mexico. From the Denver Post:

The Democratic caucuses hold more potential for high drama in the presidential race, with Colorado voters split evenly between Barack Obama at 34 percent and Hillary Rodham Clinton at 32 percent — well within the poll’s 3.5 percentage-point margin of error. John Edwards was the choice of 17 percent of likely caucus-goers. Fourteen percent said they were still undecided.

Obama’s strength in Colorado may come from the fact that the state’s Democrats see the desire for change as a driving issue in the campaign. The poll showed 51 percent of Democrats see change as more important than experience — and the ability to bring change is a trait they overwhelmingly associate with the Illinois senator

Bill Clinton isn’t as sly as he thinks he is.

(By the way, how could someone who’s been linked to as many affairs as he’s been — Gennifer Flowers, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Wiley, Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones, at least — ever really think they’re sly? I’m just asking.)

It isn’t just Dick Morris, a former Clinton strategist, that sees what Bill’s doing. We all see it. Iowa threatened his precious “Clinton Restoration” dream down to its very core, scared the Lewinsky out of him. That’s why he came out guns a’ blazing as Hillary’s hitman during the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, and has played that same role ever since.

The Clinton camp thinks this strategy it’s working, but it’s not. They fooled us twice already, but this time it isn’t going to work. You see, Slick Willy is serving as a similar diversion to the one that his wife provided him in 1992. Bill thinks that if all of Barack Obama’s focus is on him that not only will it not be on Obama’s inspirational message, but the heat will also be off of Hill. I’ll give him some credit — it worked for a little while.

But Bill’s political thug tactics aren’t working any more.

Why not? There are several reasons.

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