Amy Goodman Arrested at RNC

Journalist and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was arrested earlier today at the Republican National Convention. Apparently she was arrested while attempting to assist her colleagues who were themselves being arrested while covering protests at the convention. She and Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar are now in the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul. There's more info and how to help free Goodman and her colleagues here, and a video of Goodman's arrest here.

Goodman was obviously not causing any sort of disruption. The fact that she, a journalist, was arrested while covering the protest is not only a disservice to her but an attack on the free press. Citizens have a right to know that protests like this are going on and hear what their fellow Americans have to say. It is enraging and scary that this can happen so easily.

Is racism the only thing that could stop Obama?

Lately Barack Obama has made me rather wary. Looking closely at his policies, it's clear that his administration would not be a every progressive's dream. Obama's pretty conservative economically and his plan for Afghanistan doesn't differ much from McCain's. The United States would still have military bases across the world under his presidency and even Guantanamo is unlikely to close. Yet despite these flaws, he's still light-years ahead of John McCain, who's platform is argubly Bush 2.0 if not worse. The lesser-of-two-evils situation has become exasperating to say the least but that's the reality of American politics today.

An article by Jacob Weisberg in Slate confronts an unsettling idea: racism might really keep Obama out of office. Weisberg examines the statistics and comes to the conclusion that a sizable proportion of white voters are uncomfortable about Obama's presidency principally because of his skin color (or because of some ridiculous idea that he's secretly a radical Muslim). I recall a Daily Show segment during the primaries in which an older woman voter basically said she didn't vote for Obama because his middle name is Hussain. Will this election go down in history as the one where voters made their decision on the basis of a candidate's middle name?!

Maybe African heritage really is a bigger burden in politics than a vagina. I thought it was the opposite while Clinton was still in play, but who can really say? If Hillary was the Democratic nominee, we might be having this same conversation, except the polls would be saying that men felt uncomfortable voting for a woman.

Regardless, I agree with Weisberg's statement that choosing McCain over Obama will not just be a misstep for the American people. It will signal to the world that we're still just as backward as we've always been with regards to race.