"The American President" Speaks: Movie Wisdom

Here's one of President Obama's remarks from the Democratic National Convention:
"I'm not the same man I was four years ago. I'm no longer just a candidate, I'm the President."

I immediately thought of a scene from one of my favorite movies The American President. Briefly, the 1995 comedy-drama is about a widowed US president (Michael Douglas) and a lobbyist (Annette Bening as Sydney Ellen Wade) who fall in love. Don't worry. It's all aboveboard, but "politics is perception" and sparks fly anyway, stirred by the opposition candidate Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss).

In an important speech, President Shepherd says "America isn't easy. America is advanced leadership."  "America has serious problems to solve and we need serious people to solve them." He says his opponent "simply doesn't understand it".

Since the film's speech addresses issues all right out of the current media headlines, flag burning and all, take a minute to view the clip, them let me know your thoughts.

Cast Your Vote: It Does Matter

I was listening to a Michael Baisden radio program yesterday, and heard a 20 year old African American woman tell the show host that she wasn't going to vote in the coming election.  In fact, the caller said she wasn't even registered. While she supported President Barack Obama, she said that her vote didn't matter. The host and his sidekick George Wilborn went back and forth with the caller, recalling those who died to gain the vote for African Americans, and reminding her of how close the 2012 election is forcasted to be. I never heard a valid reason why the caller felt as she did and I felt sorry about her indifference. After the back and forward discussion, the caller promised the host to register and cast her vote in the coming election.

Paul Ryan's Black College Girlfriend

Deneeta Pope

In 2005, Ryan revealed in a statement to Milwaukee Magazine that he dated a black woman when he was in college. “I have a sister-in-law who’s African-American. My college sweetheart was black,” he said. “I just experienced some ugly comments; some racist views from people who I thought were friends of mine.”

Ryan’s campaign spokesman, Michael Steel, confirmed to the Daily Mail yesterday that “Mr. Ryan dated Ms. Pope in college. They dated in the mid-1990s, and broke up several years before Mr. Ryan met Mrs. Ryan [in 1999].”

Deneeta Pope, an African-American former cheerleader, that Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan reportedly dated in college, spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail and provided insight into claims that she was his “college sweetheart.”