The TFA Winners Afterparty!

The Future.. Awards Winners After-Party At the Miccom Golf Resorts - when we got winners, nominees, judges, press, volunteers and friends of the awards for a weekend getaway... as usual, apart from anything to do with Hillary Clinton I dont want to attempt to string together any thoughts, so will just let the pictures speak. What I did was take a picture from each separate thing that happened...

Me? Right now I am in Port Harcourt en route Abuja. No rest for the wicked! By the way, The Apprentice africa starts in 10 days, so check the website out, anmd continue to give ypour feedback!

Eyes Still on the Dem Primaries, of course!

On the little matter of the Obama-Hillary run: this only will I say until March 4th; Weeping may last for two weeks, but Ohio and Texas come in March!!


That said; a 'comment-er', Ola, on my last post had this on-point comments about the 'freshness' and 'trandescending vision' of the 'change' candidate, Obama:

Hi Chude,
I'm another Nigerian who gets the 'Are You Crazy?'stare for preferring Hillary to Barack.Undoubtedly, Barack is a fine young man with immense charisma and a political talents but I still remain sceptial about the 'substance behind the style'.I have a problem with the change and unity message as no one has been able to tell me what the change is from or to? Is the process of governance going to change? are the rules of proceeedings in the US congress going to change? Is the deliberate, thorough and often slow process of legistlation going to change? I assure you talk about UNITING everyone will end the day he gets into office when he has to take a position on approving or vetoing a bill on some hot-button issue which splits america right down the middle. By the way-he is far left on abortion and that automatically guarantees him hatred form almost half of America(See http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51121 as an example, maybe a partisan one, of how divided the country will remain) His careful and nuanced positions going by his Illinois senate record will not work then. His lofty goals of unity and change are simply not SMART (Simple, measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound)-unite america, change washington? What does that mean exactly?

Beyond that, I have been quite disappointed about how quickly the black community hung the Racist label on Bill clinton-so much for his friendship with African-Americans. The media also has been rather easy on Obama-almost unintelligently so-there are hard tough questions-based on Obama's previous record that haven't been asked. It would be naive of the Democrats to prop Obama up against John McCain-the GOP attack machine will simply tear him apart-unfortunately the liberal label will hang even better on him than it did John Kerry and Michael Dukakis. . I can just imagine Karl rove begging to be let in on the action. John kerry's was the flip-flopper label-Obama's will be soft on crime (illinois voting record opposing a ban on an early release for sex offenders), soft on dictators and America's enemies(comments about meeting unconditionally with the leaders of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba etc), soft on drugs(his documented use of crack and his alleged support for de-criminalsing marijuana(http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/NATION/896961936/1001)-they'd certainly accuse him of being to the extreme left on the abortion issue. These attacks may not always be accurate or entirely truthful but they have worked over and over again and you can be sure the GOP will use them again. Have you even noticed how some conservative pundits have been emphasising his middle name? These are all the tricks they'll play and I think it's a stong argument that they (the GOP
)have thrown their best at Hillary and will have no more tricks against her left in their hat. Besides, I have listened to her again and again and there's just this passion and resolve to her about tackling America's problems that just get me.

What's my own with Hillary, eh?

One of my 'well-wishers', well aware of my obsession (as many across the nation are, since I never shy away from gratuitously dropping her nme of our show every week!) with the American elections and especially Hillary Clinton, pointed me to this a piebe by Funmi Iyanda on the American elections - on the 21st of February.

Lemme quickly say thought that my interest in the Democratic primaries (and suddenly the Republicans, since McCain became frontrunner) is simply a hobby. Yes, what America does will affect teh world dramatically, and whoever is at the 'bully pulpit' tyhat the Presidency is will be defining the rest of the world, including Africa, but that is not why I am interested. I am interested because the campaign's central characters fascinate me, and inspire such emotions and passions in me that our own politicians are underwhelmingly unable to.

Well back to Funmi, as expected the reactions to her post were passionate AND heated, and many of our 'black brovas' tore at Funmi for a lot of things, but underlying a lot of it, no matter the intellectual pretence, is SHOCK at a black person not supporting the historical candidacy of another black person who says the right things and looks the part.

For blacks in America this is an emotional issue and I can understand. If Obama becomes president it will be a HUGE psychological as well as a social lift.

But people like me who live here at home are lucky to be able to afford objectivity, and from an unecumbered viewpoint can say who we like, who we trust, who we believe in, who we would vote for if we had the chance. Funmi took the words right out of my might in being suspicious of an Obama who hasnt been tested and trusted. They stand on the same team in terms or policy: the difference being that one is vetted and tested, the other gives inspiring speeches. Say what you may, speak all the obscurantist grammar, it's really that simple. Hillary is a worker, Obama, a talker.

I dont like - or trust - Obama. It's that simple. Trust has to be earned. Trust has to be worked for. Trust has to be built. What the Obama supporters are riding on now is a huge wave of 'feel-good' opium. For people like me, that is not and can never be enough.

Being 'the good, clean, new guy' was what took Bush to the white house twice - and where did that leave the world? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. Obama is riding on that same wave - good clean, new guy. Same as any guy that comes up on the scene now.

All in all, any two of them would be better than a Mitt ROmney, or a Republican President at any rate. It is my fervent wish that Obama humbles himself, works hard to earn cogent trust, and then join hands with Hillary to win a TRULY historical presidential contest. Until then, I'm enjoying the thrills of the race!