from the week of January 14 2007

Barack Obama may be running for president. At least he's thinking about it.

The Illinois senator today filed papers setting up a presidential exploratory committee. That doesn't mean he'll run. Instead, he will decide in the next three weeks.

As he said in a message on his web site:

"For the next several weeks, I am going to talk with people from around the country, listening and learning more about the challenges we face as a nation, the opportunities that lie before us, and the role that a presidential campaign might play in bringing our country together. And on February 10th, at the end of these decisions and in my home state of Illinois, I'll share my plans with my friends, neighbors and fellow Americans."

Posted on January 16 2007, 11:01AM | Permalink

I'm now predicting that Dreamgirls will clean up at the Academy Awards this year. The hype behind this movie has been unprecedented for a "black film."

Over the weekend, actor Jake Gyllenhaal hosted Saturday Night Live and started the show with a surprisingly hilarious rendition of Effie's song "And I Am Telling You." (When did SNL become funny again?)

Two days later, Dreamgirls won 3 Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood.

And then last night, the original dreamgirl Diana Ross told David Letterman that she hasn't seen the film or the musical and may see the movie with her lawyers.

All of the controversy simply feeds into the hype for the movie. As I said when it came out, the movie's an instant classic.

Posted on January 17 2007, 11:22AM | Permalink

Ten years ago it would have been unusual to read a newspaper article about a major pro tennis tournament that featured photos of only two players -- both of them black.

But since Venus and Serena Williams catapulted onto the world tennis stage in the past decade, we've become accustomed to seeing black tennis players on the court and in the media.

Although Venus and Serena are no longer the dominant players they were just a few years ago, there are other black tennis players who are also getting their share of attention.

First is James Blake, who was featured on the front of the sports section of today's New York Times (see photo above) after beating Alex Kuznetsov in the Australian Open.

The only other player featured in the story was Gaël Monfils (second from top), the young French player who defeated Marcos Baghdatis Wednesday night in Melbourne. The times they are a-changin'.

As usual, click on either photo above to see a larger image. Both pictures come from the New York Times.

Posted on January 18 2007, 10:57AM | Permalink

Did Barack Obama start a trend?

A few days ago in this space, we reported that Obama had formed a presidential exploratory committee. Today (on a Saturday?), Hillary Clinton has done the same thing.

In a move reminiscent of Obama's announcement on Tuesday via his web site, Senator Clinton made her announcement in a video released on her web site. "I announce today that I'm forming a presidential exploratory committee," she said.

"I'm not just starting a campaign though. I'm beginning a conversation, with you, with America. Because we all need to be part of the discussion if we're all going to be part of the solution."

Clinton mentioned several issues, including Iraq, energy independence, federal deficits, Social Security, Medicare, and, of course, health care for "every American," which was her signature issue in her husband's administration.

And she repeated the mantra of the 1992 Clinton campaign, saying that she was taught to believe that "if you work hard and play by the rules, you can build a good life for yourself and your family."

Clinton also announced that she will be holding live on-line video chats starting Monday.

Posted on January 20 2007, 10:38AM | Permalink