This is
an exciting time in politics. Born in the middle part of the 70’s I have had
the pleasure of seeing four presidential eras in the White House. As an
African-American journalist, I believe that Barack Obama could lead our country
in the right direction. However, the question that I continue to ask myself,
“Is this the time for Barack to lead our country out of the mess we're in and redeem
us from the pitfalls of hell.”

If it happens in Africa it must just be the primal instinct based in tribalism. The mass media has been covering the situation in Kenya as a near exclusive tribal and ethnic conflict without accounting for the history of Kenya's political turmoil and where ethnicity is put into a colonial context. The crisis in Kenya is not solely ethnic and tribal. It is a crisis based on democracy and fueled by past divisions created by British colonial rule.

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Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee city commissioner and creator of the Young Elected Officials Network, has been named the new Emerging Leader of the Year by Impact D.C.

Andrew received the award while co-hosting a reception with Sen. Barack Obama. His victory came after a two-week Internet poll in which “so many votes were cast that it crashed the Web site.”

Since my last visit to the White House webpage on the current "Africa Policy" not much has changed. Our current administration still lumps all African countries together and creates one broad policy to deal with all African governments. On the site there is a list of President Bush's "Africa Accomplishments and Initiatives." They include meeting with 25 African Heads of State, visiting Africa in his first term, providing the greatest level of monetary assistance, and promoting health, development, and peace & stability. Possibly a great list, but it all has to put into context. We need to look at what was discussed with African Heads of State, where he visited in Africa, what restrictions there are on his 'development' funding, and what constitutes peace and stability promotion?

We are back again to the age old debate of language and the way it is used - this time however the consequences are much greater. Genocide, how do you define it? In a Slate News, Senator Obama's comments are noted when referring to genocide. The article, titled "Getting comfy with genocide", gets deep into the definition of genocide and the consequences of our current use of the term.

Barack Obama came on Saturday for the usual presidential campaign fundraiser. While everything was the same as any other politician, Barack stood out to me. I've heard about him, read about him, and still I wasn't convinced. I expected to hear the same ol' lines that all politicians give you. In the last year or so, I've been lucky and blessed with the opportunity to hear many of them speak in person. For many cynics, that's no big deal. For me, it is wonderful, not because of who they are and because of their celebrity status. It is wonderful because it demonstrates how they do want to get to know their constituents. I am a girl born and raised in a South American country. I grew up feeling small in comparison to the world and the big, glamorous world of Hollywood. These events help bring down their stardom status in my mind because I get to see them, and I get to judge...

So many people ask: "Is the United States ready for it's first black president?" However I think the real question is, "Will the American people be prepared to recognize the differences that we all share?" The truth of the matter is that we won't have a `black' president if Barak Obama is elected. If Obama is elected he will carry on the great American tradition of presidents who are racially and ethnically mixed. The attempts to stamp our current society with the false vestiges of time will not do. Today is not as black and white as the televisions once used to be.

Does the most-financially supported candidate always win? Does the person with the most money get the message out to the most people? Will this presidential race be like anything we have seen before? As reported in an NPR article the magic number to accumulate this year is $100 million. But why? And more importantly where do all those millions go?

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He is too black, he is too young, he is not experienced enough, he is just a political phenomena now, he can't hold his popularity for 2 years. . . Barack Obama a man of many talents, attributes, and ideas - mired in petty complaints and cries against his ethnicity and youth. Seeing as so many have written about Barack Obama's potential as a presidential contender I figure I might as well jump on the bandwagon and start tooting my horn on what I think of Obama and his potential for a change in the US Africa policy. Are you ready to listen to the tune of a fast changing world? Listen to those drums, the beat goes on.

This year the Iraq conflict will be as long as World War II. This makes me question and wonder where we are headed and what could possibly be the best remedy now. In history classes the great victorious war of our grandparents to ensure the freedom of the world seemed so long and bloody and full of courage. How will the conflict (congress never declared war) in Iraq be recorded in history - full of bloodshed, uprising, sectarian violence, failure, and limited successes. Both will have covered the same time span and yet we are still stuck in Iraq attempting to clean up the mess.

Today I read an article in the New York Times at breakfast in which David Leonhardt of Economix looks at the ways the $1.2 trillion, spent over the span of the Iraq conflict, could have been better spent. Check it out: