Big Sole Blog (BSB)

President Obama spoke at the White House today about the Trayvon Martin case saying that 35 years ago, he could have been Trayvon. He said what he had to say diplomatically, making this salient point: . . . [W]hen you think about why, in the African- American community at least, there's a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it's important to recognize that the African- American

FLOTUS visits Harper High, April 2013 (Nancy Stone-Pool/Getty)  So, what was Michelle Obama talking about when that GetEqual heckler interrupted her? When I first read about First Lady Michelle Obama's confrontation with Ellen Sturtz of the gay rights group GetEqual, I laughed. The first lady was keeping it real. Sturtz clearly did not know who she was messing with, I thought. It's no secret

Through his Rebuild the Dream organization, environmental activist Van Jones seems to be playing the prophet Nathan to President Obama's David on matters of climate change. Jones says in the video above that if President Obama continues to support the Keystone XL Pipeline, then the president should rename it "The Obama Tar Sands Pipeline." Clearly Jones is disappointed in President Obama

The video above shows Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain in a pickle again, having to defend President Obama to the fringier folks of the Republican base. The first clip is from a 2008 neeting when a McCain supporter says then-candidate Obama is an Arab. The second clip comes from footage of a McCain Town Hall meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, held this year, 2013.First a

Richard Blanco, inaugural poet, delivered a beautiful poem for President Barack Obama's inauguration on January 21, 2013. The poem is entitled "One Day. " On Twitter I described the poem as "beautiful, lyrical, expansive, inclusive." I saw others tweet about its strong imagery. The poet discussed earlier with the BBC capturing the U.S.A. in verse. He told the interviewer that writing a poem

Despite a recent tragedy in my life, I am very grateful and overjoyed that President Barack Obama has won a second term. Forward! The picture above shows the president, the FLOTUS, Michelle Obama, and the two first daughters, Sasha and Malia, on the stage in Chicago before the president delivered his acceptance speech, November 6, 2012.

Have you seen the pro-Romney ad that begins with voice over saying, "Welcome to the New Normal"? It proceeds to argue that although President Obama's campaign slogan is "Forward," America is falling behind under his policies. Romney's Super PAC called "Restore Our Future" sponsors the ad, which has been running a lot lately in the last few days of the campaign. This ad has a big flaw. Tucked

Mitt Romney, who's been attacking President Obama on the debt, says in his budget plan that he will not be able to balance the budget until the end of his second term. So, how do his supporters defend the Romney argument that Pres. Obama has not balanced the budget in his first term and therefore should be voted out of office? Do people actually listen to the words or read what Romney says he

A young Barack Obama with his grandmother Madelyn Dunham of Hawaii. She passed away in 2008 at age 86 due to cancer. I can only guess at the reason my blog suddenly has so many hits from people searching for information about President Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who was his maternal grandmother, the mother of his mother, Ann Dunham. The president spoke about Madelyn Dunham last

On the heels of his narration of the parents' book, "Go the F*ck to Sleep," actor Samuel L. Jackson now narrates a nightmarish tale with a message for presidential election voters: Wake the F*ck Up!" Here is a link to the website that posted the video. The site is funded by the Jewish Council for Education & Research. The story begins: "In the silvery moonlight that bathes every town,

I have work to do, so I should not be taking the time to post anything so sill, but Jenny Moos's report on Eva Longoria and Jessica Alba petting at the Democratic National Convention was hilarious enough to make me pause and post.

I enjoyed First Lady Michelle Obama tremendously when I watched it on the DVR, and tonight I watched former President Bill Clinton's speech endorsing President Barack Obama for a second term. Clinton was fantastic. He's an excellent communicator and laid out facts against GOP misrepresentations of President Obama's record.

I have not been watching much news TV lately because I'm trying to maintain a calm state, but this morning, I watched anyway and was very annoyed listening to Rick Santorum on CNN. Santorum's Romney campaign talking points calling President Obama's campaign hateful, divisive, and class-war mongering assaulted rational thought on more levels than I care to count this morning. Although Jim Acosta

On one hand, this whole controversy about HBO's Game of Thrones using a fake severed head of former president George W. Bush in episode 10 of season one is silly. It's something that the GOP blew up to recast itself as oppressed for the sake of gaining more power. How Cersei Lannister of them.On the other hand, I've got to wag my finger at the Game of Throne producers and directors. Really?

Here is President Barack Obama's documentary-style campaign film, "The Road We've Traveled." It's an excellent film as campaign films go, and I think it will be effective in solidifying the resolve of those who have already planned to vote Obama/Biden this November and perhaps sway some undecideds who are leaning toward the incumbent already. However, I doubt the film will sway people who are

Reminding President Barack Obama that we all know he can sing now, given his crooning of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" earlier this year, blues man Buddy Guy coaxed the president into singing a few bars of "Sweet Home Chicago" with an all-star band at the White House Tuesday night. Mick Jagger handed the president the mic while B.B. King and other blues greats provided accompaniment. You can

President Barack Obama more than likely ticked off people on both the right and the left with his recent argument that raising taxes on the rich lines up with Jesus' teaching that "to whom much is given much shall be required." On the right there will be those angry because they believe (and are wrong) that Obama is not a Christian and so he has no right to quote Jesus Christ. On the left there

I don't have time to write much about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer wagging her finger in President Barack Obama's face immediately after Air Force One landed on the tarmac in Arizona recently and the POTUS disembarked, so I'll direct traffic to Field Negro's post on the topic, "The Negro Threat." Also, over at the Huffington Post, a reader commenting on the same topic and quoting Brewer made the

And now we know that Michelle Obama had yet another reason to fall in love with President Barack Obama: The man can croon. In the video above he charms the crowd at a fundraiser in New York City on January 19, 2012, singing a line from Al Green's classic "Let's Stay Together." Al Green was in the audience, too, and so was Spike Lee and Mariah Carey.

I remember hearing the news in November 2008 that someone had burned down Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Massachusetts in backlash for President Barack Obama's historic win, and I thought then, "And so it begins." With Obama's election it seemed there would be a rise in white supremacist violence, and there was for a while. That's the bad news.The good news is that the church has been