I knew this day would come. But I didn't know it would come so soon. Today is the last day I will post a blog entry on keithboykin.com. We tried to hold on for a few months after we shut down the old site, but now things are moving so quickly that I can't continue to maintain this blog.
The good news is that I am now the editor of a brand new web site called The Daily Voice, which launches today. It's the most exciting media project I've been involved with in my entire life, and I'm thrilled to be in the middle of the cutting edge plans for the site.
We launch today with some heavy hitters, including Rev. Marcia Dyson and Jacqueline Jackson, each of whom is taking a different position on the presidential campaign than their famous spouses.
We've also got contributions from former Essence magazine editor Diane Weathers and bestselling author Crystal McCrary Anthony. And later in the week we'll hear from John Amaechi, Deval Patrick, Terry McMillan and Isaiah Washington. Plus we have a special interview with Janet Jackson. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm about all this.
I think this site is going to be revolutionary. I'm biased, I know, but I really think this is the spot that I've been looking for all along.
I should also say this. The Daily Voice is not a gay site. Or a straight site. But rather it's a place for all of us to come together in the African American community. Whether you're male or female, gay or straight, young or old, Republican or Democrat, we want to hear your voices. I see this as a space where Rev. Jesse Jackson may contribute one day and then Clarence Thomas the next. (And you all know what I think about Clarence Thomas.)
Still, this new project is much bigger than me. It's about us, our community, our people coming together as one. This past weekend, as I watched the new Barack Obama music video, "Yes We Can," I suddenly felt inspired again. I remembered what it felt like to believe that anything is possible. I remembered what it felt like not to listen to the cynics and the naysayers. And I remembered the awesome power we have inside of us when we only dare but to dream.
Many of my dreams have come to life over these past few years, and now I hope the dreams of our community can breathe life as well. Thank you so much for the journey with me the past few years on keithboykin.com. I love you all, and i will miss you in this space. But I look forward to seeing you in the next spot, The Daily Voice.
Goodbye!
Posted on February 4 2008, 3:41PM | Permalink
| Comments (20)
To understand the scope of Barack Obama's big victory in South Carolina on Saturday, consider this. Obama not only defeated Hillary Clinton by a 2-1 margin, he also won more votes in the South Carolina primary than Republican frontrunners John McCain and Mike Huckabee combined. Yes, that is not a misprint.
Democratic turnout was incredibly strong in this Republican state, indicating that the Democrats are much more excited about the race and their candidates than the Republicans were a week before. A record 530,000 Democrats voted Saturday, nearly 100,000 more than in last week's Republican primary.
Obama's numbers in this red state also suggested that he might be able to assemble a national multiracial coalition in the fall general election campaign that could compete and win in some southern states traditionally won by Republicans. About as many South Carolina white men voted for Obama as for Clinton, and about 70 percent of white voters said they would be satisfied if Obama won the Democratic nomination, according to exit polls reported in the New York Times today.
The news also spelled trouble for Clinton, whose campaign was widely criticized by fellow Democrats for negative attacks. "If the South Carolina result buoyed the Obama team, it left Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign facing a new set of questions," the New York Times reported. "Her advisers’ steady attacks on Mr. Obama appeared to prove fruitless, if not counterproductive, and the attack-dog role of former President Bill Clinton seemed to have backfired."
Perhaps as a result of the negative campaigning and their enthusiasm for a viable African American candidate, black voters in South Carolina abandoned the Clintons after years of loyalty. Even black women, a targeted constituency by both campaigns, voted overwhelmingly for Obama. "More than half of black voters in the state said the country was definitely ready for a black president, while only about a quarter of white voters reached the same conclusion," the Times reported. That's a dramatic turnaround from other polls that had shown that blacks were less likely than whites to believe America was ready for a black president.
It was a stunning victory for Obama that exceeded all expectations. With Clinton and Obama now tied with 2 wins each, the battle turns to the delegate count and the Super Tuesday election on February 5. If Hillary Clinton hoped to surprise or startle Obama in South Carolina, she failed. If Obama hoped to prove himself in that state, he more than succeeded.
Posted in politics on January 27 2008, 10:57AM | Permalink
| Comments (13)
Just finished watching the South Carolina debate and I have a few quick observations. I thought the first hour was a hot mess. Clinton and Obama spent a good deal of time throwing mud at each other, and I don't think it helped either of them. John Edwards also played a critical role, at one point teaming up with Clinton against Obama, especially on the question of his voting "present" more than 100 times in the Illinois state senate. But Edwards didn't hold back against Clinton either and he took her on as well.
The nastiest exchange of the entire debate took place when Senator Obama charged that he was working as a community organizer while Clinton was a corporate lawyer on the board of Wal-Mart. Clinton fired back by saying that she was working against the Republicans when Obama was a lawyer representing a slumlord in Chicago. Score one point for each candidate.
Posted in politics on January 21 2008, 10:38PM | Read More
| Comments (14)
Two weeks after the election, analysts are still scratching their heads trying to come up with an explanation for the stunning disparity between the pre-primary polls and the final results in the New Hampshire primary.
The prevailing theory seems to blame the problem on the unusually large number of undecided voters who made up their minds at the last minute. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won that group.
Posted in politics on January 21 2008, 11:20AM | Read More
| Comments (3)
Is it just me, or is race suddenly becoming an issue in the presidential campaign that it wasn't before Barack Obama won Iowa?
Last week, former Bush political strategist Karl Rove described Obama's unfortunate "you're likable enough" remark to Hillary Clinton at the New Hampshire presidential debate as "trash talking" that he said "was an unattractive carryover from his days playing pickup basketball at Harvard."
Posted in politics on January 14 2008, 10:59AM | Read More
| Comments (24)
