June 10, 2008Fans of Clinton accept defeatFor Roanoke City Councilwoman Gwen Mason, Salem High School senior Kim Foster and 18 million other Hillary Clinton supporters, their candidate's historic run for president was supposed to end differently. But after a bruising battle of primaries, caucuses, spousal gaffes, errant preachers, debates, denouncements and rejections, Clinton stood before the world Saturday and acknowledged her loss and Barack Obama's victory. June 7, 2008You go, Hillary!Hillary Clinton hit a homerun with her speech Saturday afternoon! If she had used that tone and approach rather than her win-at-all costs tactics that divided the party and cost her support, we might be looking at a different nominee. June 6, 2008Obama can reach all walks of lifeBRISTOL -- For the Rev. James Beatty of Roanoke, Thursday was a day he never thought he would live to see. As a 70-year-old black man who grew up in the segregated South -- first North Carolina and then Virginia -- Beatty assumed there was no way he would ever witness a black man with an honest shot at the presidency. Just maybe his three grandchildren might. But on Thursday morning, after climbing out of bed at 4:30, after taking his daily walk and after driving with a five-car caravan of Roanokers, Beatty sat quietly and dignified among the cheering throngs who piled into a gymnasium in far Southwest Virginia to see Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. "What you thought would never happen is happening," Beatty said. "I just could not contain myself. I want to be here. I had to be here." June 3, 2008Let's not forget Gilmore's great follyHe's baaaack! Jim Gilmore -- the man, the purveyor of the no-car-tax myth, the inflexible state leader -- has his eye on Virginia's U.S. Senate seat. But will Virginians vote again for the man who was elected governor on a fiscal stunt that sent the state's finances into a tailspin and put its credit rating in jeopardy? Will they push the touch screen for the man who controlled a legislature of his own Republican Party and still managed to mangle the budget as well as some relationships within his own party? When presented with the memory of Gilmore, one of my e-mail correspondents, a moderate Republican, essentially said: Don't remind me. May 18, 2008What do you think, sweetie?I don't know what's worse: Feminists having hissy fits because Barry Obama called a Detroit TV reporter "sweetie" or 90-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela on U.S. terrorist watch lists. Do tell. A follow-up on our informal game of Democratic VP roulette: VaGuy weighed in saying that HairBoy (John Edwards) would be a poor choice, citing HairBoy's less-than-stellar veep run four years ago. He floated the name of Sam Nunn, the retired senator from Georgia. s May 15, 2008That's what I like about ya'llYou're not afraid to essentially ask, "Shanna, what 'chu been smokin'?" Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton? What was I thinking!? Granted, I knew Barry would have to toss his principles (and probably his cookies) to pair up with Hill if he wanted any real shot at the White House. But it wouldn't be a first. I saw a report recently on PBS that chronicled folks who didn't like each other but served together as prez-vp. (All of the pairings escape me now, but JFK-LBJ and Eisenhower-Nixon were among the examples cited.) But no, wait a minute....It's a bird, it's a plane....it's JOHN EDWARDS to the rescue of the Democratic Party to save it from itself! This campaign has more twists, turns and cliffhangers than an episode of The Young & the Restless. All I can say is stay tuned....and dare I put forth a Barack Obama-John Edwards pairing!?
May 11, 2008The end is nearNot THAT end, folks. The end of Hillary's sense-of-entitlement, self-annointed ascent to the presidency. Here's what I think. Obama can't beat McCain. Hillary has made sure of that with all of her talk about working-class whites not voting for him. (In case Hill hasn't noticed, blacks aren't exactly lining up to push the touch-screen for her, either.) If by some miracle that the superdelegates lose their minds and make Clinton the nominee, she can't beat McCain, either. (see above paren. That won't change in the general.) So here goes the regurgitation of the "dream-team" talk floating out there in cyberspace: A Obama-Clinton ticket in the general. Such a ticket would clean McCain's clock, because all segments of the Democratic base would have a dog in the fight. But I don't think Hill wants to be the No. 2 of the man she has trashed --- and intensely --- for the past several months. She's not going to play second-fiddle to a perceived newbie interloper. What do y'all think? Loving court case took laws off loveAubrey and Michelle Wright embody the typical boy-meets-girl American love story. On Thanksgiving Eve 2002, she was out with her friend Susan at Corned Beef & Co. in Roanoke. He was out with his brothers. The couple met, and they hit it off immediately. They made plans to meet at the same spot two nights later. Eight months later, they married. "It was love at first sight," Michelle said with a smile one evening last week as she recalled meeting her husband. One thing, however, distinguishes their love from most American couples. It reaches across racial lines. Aubrey, 32, is black. Michelle, 33, is white. |
About this blog In her signature plainspoken style, Michigan native Shanna Flowers peels away the layers and gets to the heart of the issues. No pretense. Just straightforward perspective. Shanna writes about local people whose circumstances reflect decisions made as near as City Hall or as far away as the halls of Congress. Other times, she weighs in on a topic because it is incredibly ridiculous. Or heartening. Or fascinating. Read Shanna's column three days a week, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at roanoke.com
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