Source: Tumblr.com

This past Sunday at church, we were having altar call prayer when the woman speaking starting praying for our president. If you go to a black church, this is probably nothing out of the ordinary: “Lord, please bless our president, Bah-ROCK Obama.” The next sentence was a little bit more unorthodox. “And Lord, I know I may step on a few toes with this one but please bless Mitt Romney because we know he’s a little confused right now.” 

Even though, it would seem like that sentiment would be unpopular, there were several people who chuckled, grunted, and nodded their head in agreement. It’s true.

If we’re to judge by Romney’s recent actions and even his statements to his supporters and fundraisers, it would seem that he’s pulling for all kind of straws, looking for a way to explain his second presidential defeat. I mean this is the same man who allegedly didn’t have a concession speech on election night, the same man who’s said that President Obama only won the election because he was handing out “gifts” to voters. If you were to ask me his ego, elitism and even entitlement is suffering a huge blow right now. So while I’m glad he didn’t win, for the sake of the country, I’m not opposed to sending up a prayer for him, in hopes that this election will help him become a better man.

Networks like CNN, NBC and even Fox news are projecting that President Obama has earned enough electoral votes to be elected for a second term as President of the United States.

The news was announced after numbers came in from the swing state of Ohio, saying that the president’s lead was enough at this point to assume that he had won the state and the entire election with 274 votes, to Mitt Romney’s 203. After the news Mitt Romney’s team was still refuting the claim, stating that it’s still too early to tell. At this point, Romney and his camp have not conceded to the president.

Many are doubtful that the numbers will turn in Romney’s favor.

After the announcement was made, Obama, who is in Chicago for the evening, took to Twitter to tweet this message to his followers and supporters:

We’re all in this together. That’s how we campaigned, and that’s who we are. Thank you. -bo

As many of you know, when President Obama’s tweets are signed with “bo” that means he’s written it himself.

We’ll be keeping our eye on the election coverage to update you with final numbers; but if you’re an Obama supporter, we think you’d be safe to celebrate.

Source: Youtube.com

If you’re anything like me, the election has probably got you on pins and needles at this point in the game. Like Clarke Gail Baines said, I’m just ready for it to be over. And I know I’m not the only one who feels like this. So in order to calm your nerves and mine, check out this satirical video about how we, women, can make sure the election plays out in our favor.

Check it out.

Funny, right? I’m sorry but the punk azz beyotch line had me cackling. Of course, it’s all in good fun. People, of any gender, can vote for who they’d like. Are you anxious about the results of today’s election? Did the video give you a good chuckle?

via Contemporary Arts Museum Houston , Martin Yaptangco

Add this to your list of watch party options. Tonight, some museums across the country are hosting Election Night viewings in connection with the exhibit “Your Land/My Land: Election ‘12”—inviting impassioned online debate across all 50 states.

Conceived by New York-based artist Jonathan Horowitz, the installation simultaneously on view in seven museums around the nation features blue and red carpets divided into opposing zones to reflect the Democrat-GOP divide. Monitors suspended above the carpets simulcast a live feed from liberal leaning news network MSNBC on one side and a live feed from conservative-friendly outlet Fox News on the other.

President Obama’s portrait hangs on an adjacent wall while a photograph of Governor Romney waits on the floor, only to replace Obama’s hanging position if he wins.

Horowitz told Madame Noire he designed the installation as “a location for people to gather, watch coverage of, and talk about the presidential election.” He added, “Aesthetically, it depicts an electorate and media that have become polarized like never before.”

Polarization is safe in the museum setting says Bill Arning, director of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, one of the museums exhibiting “Your Land.”

“We don’t have the type of social spaces we used to,” Arning explains, citing the shortage of public forums where people can physically congregate for the express purpose of deep civil debate. “[These days] the only place we’re used to seeing 40 people at once is a shopping mall,” he quips. “The social role of museums as being the safe place to discuss dangerous ideas is getting more and more important.”

But you don’t have to share your personal political views with strangers to share the “Your Land” experience. Allison Agsten curator of public engagement at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum says visitors have already been flocking just to watch the debates with a group. “For the final presidential debate, when the rest of the museum was closed,” she says, “nearly forty visitors came.”

Turnout could be even higher on Election Day, if not after says Agsten which is the exhibit will remain on view for two weeks after the polls close. “We all know that MSNBC and Fox won’t stop churning out the coverage!“ With pretty much every poll predicting a statistical dead heat between the candidates, and Hurricane Sandy damage potentially impacting voter turnout on the East Coast, a nail biter of hanging chad proportions could be in store.

Flashbacks from 2004 aside, Dominic Molon, curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis where “Your Land” greets visitors in the lobby, says the exhibit ironically offers voters a detox from election fever. “Jonathan’s work is very much about this kind of intersection of the mass media, popular culture, and politics,” he observes, “[and] the way that they kind of cancel one another out.”

Molon adds, “Like [the] viral video of the little girl crying about ‘if I hear about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney anymore…’ I think we’re almost all kind of at that point right now.”

Tell us how you feel on YourLandMyLand.us and #YLML. “Your Land/My Land: Election ’12” is currently on view at the museums listed below.

Contemporary Art Museum St Louis – on view till November 11, 2012

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston – on view till November 11, 2012

Telfair Museum (Savannah) – on view till November 11, 2012

Contemporary Art Museum (Raleigh) – on view till November 12, 2012

Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) – on view till November 18, 2012

New Museum (New York) – on view till November 18, 2012

Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City) – on view till November 24, 2012

President Obama speaking about Hurricane Sandy relief at the Red Cross HQ in Washington DC yesterday. Image: Rex Features via AP Images

The economy, Hurricane Sandy, the women’s vote and campaign fundraising are the current topics of discussion when it comes to the election.

Hurricane Sandy will no doubt have an impact on early voting in the mid-Atlantic, southern New England and inland states. This could affect Obama more, says former President Bush and McCain adviser Mark McKinnon in The Daily Beast. The President is counting on early votes and even cast one himself. The Obama camp, however, says he is more focused now on the impact the storm has had on people rather than the election.

“I am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. I’m worried about the impact on families and I’m worried about the impact on our first responders. I’m worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. You know, the election will take care of itself next week,” said the President.

Besides the weather, the other “W” that will have an impact on the election, says McKinnon, is the wallet.

“A majority of Americans still describe the current economic situation as poor, and likely voters now trust Romney more than Obama to do a better job of managing it, 51 percent to 44 percent, according to a recent AP-GfK poll,” McKinnon points out.

The polls also play into the third “W” — women. According to that same AP-GfK poll Mitt Romney has made inroads with women, overcoming the President’s 16-point lead with that demographic. However, President Obama has made gains with men, erasing Romney’s lead there.

“A month ago, Romney’s advantage among men was 13 percentage points. Now, it’s down to 5 points, with most of the shift toward Obama coming among unmarried men,” reports Yahoo News.

According to Forbes, there are three reasons Obama is losing the women’s vote: some women think the President isn’t paying enough attention to foreign affairs; The Paycheck Fairness Act, which is meant to further equal pay, but may cause other problems for job creation; and the negative perception of President Obama as a leader.

BusinessWeek has a roundup of the various latest polls.

-An Oct. 24-28 survey by the Pew Research Center found Obama and the former governor of Massachusetts each supported by 47 percent, a slight gain for the president from an Oct. 4-7 Pew poll.

-Another poll has the race at a dead heat. An ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll had both tied at 49 percent.

-Yet another poll, this one Gallup’s daily tracking poll of about 2,700 likely voters, had Romney ahead, 51 percent to 46 percent. But as fickle as polls are, the Pew poll, had Obama leading, 50 percent to 44 percent, among likely women voters, while Romney led, 51 percent to 44 percent, among men.

It’s no wonder then that both camps still have their fundraising efforts in high gear. October saw Hollywood raise $13 million for President Obama, due in large part to a fundraiser held at the home of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. This election cycle has seen a stunning $2 billion raised, not including the super PAC and other outside nonprofit dollars that have poured into this campaign.

“The eye-popping figure puts the election on track to be the costliest in modern U.S. history,” reports AP.

Source: iStock

At this stage in the game, the only thing that should be undecided about the election is whether people on the east coast will be able to make it to the polls next Tuesday. As for the rest of the world who can’t decide which box they’ll be checking when it comes to determining the next President of the United States, I just have one question: What can you possibly be undecided about at this point?

I’ve been asking this question since before the Debates began this month, but I figured maybe some people approach their presidential candidate choice like sports and for them the Debates were like a championship or Super Bowl or World Series. Each man’s slate was wiped clean at that time and whatever he and his VP said and did during those four games/debates would be the basis for their choice. That’s not exactly how I would approach my decision, but hey, there are different strokes for different folks. Still, for as many people who made their voting decision based on the debates, we still saw a hefty number of individuals the very next day after the final debate and even up until today who claim they have no idea who’s the best man for the job. Really people?

Now one theory I have is these people just need attention and pretending they don’t know right from left is the only way they can get on TV. The way narcissism has run amok in our society, I wouldn’t be surprised if 99% of these so-called undecided Americans didn’t fall into that category of trying to make the candidates sweat in their boots and prove their worthiness down to the last minute because there’s no way after all of the campaigning and media coverage, you couldn’t at least be leaning far to side or the other. But as the Wall Street Journal points out, there are a good number of people who make their decisions at the last minute and for good reason.

Though a Gallup poll found overall just 4 percent of all likely voters were undecided at the beginning of the month, 22 percent of protestant pastors were undecided at that time, according to Lifeway Research. Scott McConnell, Director of the organization said:

“Most Americans wind up having to compromise something they want when choosing candidates, and that includes the presidential race. But pastors tend to be pretty definite in their beliefs and in the advice they give people from the Bible. They are not used to gray areas.”

I can certainly understand the religious element for ordained individuals but are there really that many gray areas when it comes to the average, everyday American? As political analyst and MSNBC host Alex Wagner hilariously pointed out on a recent episode of W. Kamau Bell’s “Totally Biased,” the choice for women is essentially, do you want to have control over your va-jay-jay and what goes in and comes out of it or not? For men who don’t have those same concerns I’d think the choice would boil down to, do you want to know what to expect for the next four years or do you want to just wing it and give Romney time to figure out his game plan somewhere down the line. Or for any undecided voters who are a part of that 47% of Americans that the Republican candidate said he doesn’t care about, I’d just like to know what the heck you’re thinking period.

Obviously I’m showing my political bias, but from the other side you could ask some iteration of those same questions. Do you want women to be able to get abortions when God intended them to have their baby and they weren’t legitimately raped? (Please read sarcasm.) Do you want to approach American life, i.e. economic growth and health care, the same way we have for the past four years? Do you give a eff about that 47%, or heck, do you want to take care of the 99%? Some of these questions are quite concrete as are the answers to them. If you’ve established a list of priorities and actually paid attention to this presidential race those questions should have been answered long before now.

Rectifying one’s religious beliefs with the stance of governmental leaders is no easy task, nor is it one that should be taken lightly – particularly if you are of a faith that believes when the earth and all things in it pass away, you still have God to answer to. But for other people who are just sort of out here winging it before Election Day, please let me into the mind of an undecided voter. Do you need attention or are you really that indecisive?

The front of an NYC building collapsed due to Hurricane Sandy. Image: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)

With the clean up efforts beginning in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, it’s reassuring to know that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has enough money to take care of business.

“Nearly $7.8 billion is available for storm response through FEMA’s disaster relief fund, congressional aides said Monday,” Politico reports. There’s even access to billions in additional funds should it become necessary.

But Mitt Romney has suggested that funding for FEMA might end up on the chopping block should he win the election. When asked directly by CNN’s John King about funding for FEMA in June 2011, Romney advocated for turning disaster relief over to the states. He said, according to the Christian Science Monitor:

“Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better…

[W]e we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.”

Now, a Romney spokesperson is reaffirming those comments about moving disaster relief to state jurisdiction, but, the CSM says, it’s unclear how exactly the relationship between FEMA and the states would change under Romney. Moreover, the budget that the Romney/Ryan ticket has in mind would make large cuts to FEMA.

The New York Times’ editorial page called for a “big government” to handle these sorts of situations, slamming Romney for trying to move disaster response procedures to the state-level given how “financially strapped” they are.

“The agency was put back in working order by President Obama, but ideology still blinds Republicans to its value. Many don’t like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast,” the strongly-worded op-ed says, in a way that hints, once again, at Romney’s bad-mouthing of the 47 percent.

With this story rearing its head, the Romney campaign made sure to assert its support for the continued existence of FEMA yesterday.

With more detail about Sandy’s havoc being revealed in the light of day, it’s also revealing the need for a strong disaster response mechanism. During Hurricane Katrina, the need for an organized and well-funded disaster response became glaringly apparent. Even with all of the other reasons to detest the Bush administration, it was the situation in New Orleans that really proved to be the final straw for some, showing a level of disorganization and outright callousness for fellow citizens (and fellow human beings) that the country simply couldn’t ignore.

With that in mind, it makes sense that the Romney’s camp would be vague about their candidates feelings and intentions for the agency. It’s one more thing to consider as you enter the voting booth next week.

AP Photo/Pool-Win McNamee

Last night’s final debate on foreign policy oftentimes veered back to domestic issues, particularly the nation’s ailing (but recovering) economy.

“Former chief of the — Joint Chiefs of Staff said that — Admiral Mullen said that our debt is the biggest national security threat we face. This — we have weakened our economy. We need a strong economy,” Mitt Romney said (while answering a question about Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian leader, but OK). He also said that US influence around the world is “receding” because “of the failure of the president to deal with our economic challenges at home.”

“But more importantly it is true that in order for us to be competitive, we’re going to have to make some smart choices right now,” President Obama said later. “… Bringing down our deficit by adding $7 trillion of tax cuts and military spending that our military is not asking for, before we even get to the debt that we currently have, that is not going to make us more competitive.”

So what exactly does the national debt have to do with national security? CNN tackled the question.

“The concern: If the debt continues to grow unbridled, the U.S. government will be constrained in its ability to pay for what it wants to do militarily and diplomatically. And it could limit the country’s leverage with foreign powers,” the outlet writes. “While national security spending is not the primary cause of the country’s debt problem, it accounts for about a fifth of federal spending. And many defense and budget experts think the defense budget is filled with inefficiencies and waste that can be curbed without compromising national security if done smartly.”

Beyond dollars and cents, that’s where strategic spending and budgeting comes into play. Also, horses and bayonets! That entire response from the President — from the Battleship reference to the assertion that Romney isn’t entirely clear about how the military works — was gold.

Getting back to foreign policy — as Bob Schieffer tried to do last night — Romney in many ways agreed with the steps that President Obama has taken in his first term, specifically with respect to the Middle East, which is where most of the foreign policy discussion turned to. The one exception was Israel, where both sides tried to outdo the other in showing their fidelity to the country. Twitter lamented the lack of discussion about Europe, which we would have to agree with. The future of the EU and its financial security will have a major impact on how we deal with that important part of the world.

If there was an area where the two did butt heads it was on the auto bailout and what Romney would’ve done had he been president. If you want to know, you can read this op-ed, published in The New York Times in 2008. He wrote at the time:

A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

So Gov. Romney, anything you say now besides that is a flip flop.

We have two weeks until election day, so make sure you’re all set to vote.

2 Chainz. Those shoes! Image: FayesVision/WENN.com

Nicki Minaj rapped about Mitt Romney. Shyne recently slammed President Obama. Killer Mike called out Obama on his latest CD. So has hip hop abandoned Obama?

In 2008, many people  believed one of the main reasons Barack Obama prevailed was because the hip hop community put their full weight—money, endorsement, promoting the vote and the man (such as P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die” campaign) — behind the then-presidential candidate. There is even a school of thought that theorizes that young white voters, especially college kids, backed Obama because they are of the hip-hop generation. That they were more comfortable with the thought of a black president because through hip hop they have embraced black culture. At the time, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, said, “The early results of the presidential election verifies that the hip-hop generation is a responsible and caring generation. Hip-hop artists and icons, male and female, all worked hard to make sure the issues and the interests of young people were represented. President Elect Obama now has a serious mandate from the hip-hop generation. Hip-hop transcends race and will continue to be a force for change, not only in America, but also throughout the world.”

This time around, hip hop is once again coming to Obama’s aide. On October 27 in Teaneck, NJ,  Lenny “The Barber” Hansen closes out the 2012 presidential election with the “Respect My Vote/Fright Night Concert.” Hip hop stars Machine Gun Kelly, Meek Mill, legend Ice T, Funk Master Flex, DJ Wallah and others will make the “Respect My Vote / Fright Night Concert.”  

For the event, Lenny the Barber and his Carefree Nation team partnered with 2 Chainz and the Hip Hop Caucus, to bring together some of the biggest names in hip hop and American politics all in an effort to get young people to exercise their vote.

Other rappers are pulling for Obama with independent acts of support. Even though the President once called Kanye a “jackass,”the rapper has been hitting the streets to encourage people to vote for Obama even it has been reported missing girlfriend Kims birthday in lieu of campaigning for Obama. Jay Z and Beyonce recently hosted a mega bucks, star-studded fundraiser for Obama. BET also recently followed hip hop veterans like Treach, Snoop Lion, RZA, DJ Kay Gee, and Ice Cube speak on personal experiences showing their support for President Obama.

Still, the passion and drive doesn’t seem to be there as it was in 2008. Maybe because it’s a re-election? What do you think?

Image: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)

Oh man, oh man, oh man. Our President, Barack Obama, brought it big-time during last night’s debate. He did it right and we couldn’t be happier. And Mitt Romney? Frustrated, sweaty, wrong and talking crazy talk about women in binders, Mitt Romney went off the rails. And took his manners with him. Was it just us or was he particularly rude last night? To Candy Crowley and the President. We’re listening to CNN right now and the pundits and an audience member from last night both commented on how Romney was over-aggressive to the point of being offensive.

But on to the issues… The men talked about everything from energy policy to taxes, gas prices, the economy, China and jobs. You can watch video from the debate and a full recap here. But the thing that we want to highlight here was the connection that President Obama drew between equal pay, women’s health and the average family’s finances.

In response to a question about equal pay, Romney launched into an evasive speech that never made it clear that the former Governor is in favor of equal pay policies. And then, to prove that he likes women, he made the aforementioned “binders full of women” comment that was not only ridiculous, but said a lot about the way he thinks about the issue. It’s just another talking point that he’ll address with an awkward, unrelated anecdote. And he’s got an actual book (The Atlantic reports on the binders that Romney’s office used to find staffers while he was governor of Massachusetts) that he can pull out and show off when necessary.

“Romney did a good job appointing women to high office in the context of a bipartisan statewide push to get him to do so as a new governor, but a terrible job in finding and promoting women to senior roles in the context of the high-paying private-sector business he built himself. That may be why, by his own admission, his social power network when he came into office led to an all-male pool of job applicants,” reports The Atlantic. Boo.

On the other hand, President Obama drew the connection between the middle class, women’s health and financial well-being. “This is not just a women’s issue,” he said. “This is a family issue. This is a middle-class issue. And that’s why we’ve got to fight for it.” He also noted the increased cases in which women are “breadwinners” for their families. And, of course, he opened with talk of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that he signed into law in 2009. An advisor tells The Huffington Post that Romney was opposed to the law as it made its way through Congress. He still hasn’t voiced support for it.

It’s simply unfair that women make less money than men for the same work. It’s something that we shouldn’t stand for, and the fact that this is an issue that some people have found a way to be opposed to is appalling. But even when you look at the issue in purely dollars-and-cents terms, any political leader who claims to be working towards restoring the middle class without advocating for fair pay when so many women are providers for their families is destined to fail. And when you add health care costs — the cost of medication, ob-gyn services, contraception, the cost of having a baby, and the financial toll it takes when a woman is too sick to work — into the equation, you can clearly see why equal pay and women’s health are critical topics as we continue to climb out of this recession. President Obama laid out his feelings on the issue. Romney did not.

“That’s a pocketbook issue for women and families all across the country,” President Obama rightly added. There’s a great analysis of this segment of the debate on The New York Times.

In the end, Reuters says that President Obama “likely stemmed decline in support among women” while Romney is now doing battle with a damaging Internet meme during these crucial final weeks of the election.

Reuters reports: “‘Any ground that Mitt Romney gained over the last week or week and a half, he lost tonight,’ said Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University.”

Via BindersFullofWomen.Tumblr.com