What a Bad Card

From time to time, I tune in to the televised theatre, that is to say the news carnival that alternately seems to applaud and want to obliterate the mere hope for change that the Obama campaign speaks of. It's funny how they're grabbing for anyone within reach-- Obama's minister, his dog, his third grade substitute teacher-- with the idea that this will pull down the senator and slow his advance.

And it very well could. Who knows.

What I can say is that even if Obama goes no farther than he has gotten at this writing he has traveled so much further than any of us could have imagined. And though his voice contained some tentative and uncertain notes in the beginning, it has grown stronger as the race has gone on. He has acted with intelligence and integrity when his hand was forced, and in that old tradition of "speaking truth to power" has been courageous enough to give voice to things that some would imagine are better left unsaid. For this he gets much respect.

I recently heard some politician say, half-jokingly, that a presidiential race is as much about music as it is about platforms. (Funny that only when tied to politics, and of course profit, is Art deemed to have any worth, that some folk come to recognize it's power and usefulness...but that's kind of beside the point). Obama's folks have made good musical choices that make you want to snap your fingers and wiggle your backside, because you remember. McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stopping Us Now." Stevie's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." Songs with meaning. And yeah, Soul doggonit.

Wouldn't it be something, though, if their selector were to spin that old Impressions song "We're a Winner" or that one little piece-a tune called "Bad Card" by our brother Bob (big grin + wink an' chuckle):

You a-go tired fe see me face/Can't get me out of the race/Oh, man, you said I'm in your place.../Propaganda spreading over my name;Say you wanna bring another life to shame/Oh, man, you just a-playing a game...