My first video. Enjoy. Leave any feedback. Sorry for the cheap camera. If I follow through, I will upgrade.

As many of you know, I now volunteer to Cary Silverman who is running to be full-time DC council member for Ward 2.  Yesterday, we had a chance to compete for the much coveted endorsement from the Ward 2 Democrats.  Going  into the voting meeting last yet, I felt that we had a good chance to win.  We had a good turn out from our supporters and they had brought friends with them.  However, as the night continued I began to think we weren’t going to win but at least make a good showing. And that we did.   Cary lost the Ward 2 endorsement 105 – 67.  But in order to win the endorsement, our opponent “bused” people as well as provided Fried chicken for his “supporters”.   As one of my co-workers put it:

I don’t care if you give ALL your voters an incentive to come out and vote.  However, I do have a HUGE problem when you give selective incentives and it appears to cut across racial lines.  I am under the belief that voting should be its own reward.  The carrot should not be chicken dinners, but civic duty and pride.  It got fuzzy for me when the people with the dinners went in and voted for him.

Moreover, the process was completely screwed up.  People presenting themselves were not not even asked for IDs when they came in to vote.  So basically there was no way for people to check if the people voting the endorsement were indeed Ward 2 residents.   From talking to one person that was bused in by our opponent , she said she was a resident of “ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 3 and Ward 4… Whatever you want me to be.”  Something like that should have easily caught. What’s the point of calling it a ward 2 Endorsement, if people from around the bused in?

The most frustrating part of last night was the realization I can’t vote while  people who don’t care about this election and would gladly give their vote for a KFC dinner are allowed to participate in the election.

Despite all of this there is a silver lining to last night meeting.  We can win this election. Had we convinced 15 more people to show we would have blocked him from receiving this endorsement.  So despite our opponent’s questionable tactics, we can still win on Sep 9th.

You read comments from other frustrated voters in the dcwire blog post.

I saw this while reading a TechCrunch Article this morning, so I thought I’d share for with the rest of people not reading techcrunch. Also check out the Fundrace on Huffington Post.  Every time politics meets technology to make the process more transparent and easy for the people, I get giddy inside.

Over the last year and half, I’ve looked for various YouTube videos on Obama.  Of course some where in complete utter distaste and should prolly be take down, but the vast majority were inspirational and depict the American genius and  creativity.  Below are my favorite YouTube videos about Obama with a few honorable mentions.

Barack Obama/Bobby Kennedy – Hope

Work to Do Remix

Yes We Can – Barack Obama Music Video

Barack Obama: Reflections of Bobby Kennedy

Barack Obama: We Shall Overcome

The Obama Dream

The “Obama Movement”

BARACK OBAMA YES WE CAN RAP SONG

Honorable Mention

Baby Got Barack

Sing for Obama Grassroots Music Video

Barack Obama: Poetic Politics

For Obama: “Si Se Puede Cambiar” by Andres Useche

What are your favorites?

Someone once said all politics is local.  I don’t know who that person is (I suppose I could Google it) or why that they said that, but it turns out they must have been right because people have been repeating it ever since.   Since I enjoy politics and all politics are local, I figured it’s about time to get involved in local politics. I have thus decided to join the campaign of Cary Silverman running for Ward 2 DC Council seat.  We are looking a unseat current 17 yr Council member Jack Evans.. what can I say? Go  big or go home. I’m not going to seat and tell you why my candidate is better Ward 2 residents than Mr. Evans, nor am I going to tell you that He will solve every issue facing Ward  2 and the rest of the city.  What I will tell you is that he is a person dedicated to the DC neighborhoods and it is reflected in the involvement the years.  His presence on the council will be a breath of fresh air and new ideas to what has become an old boys club serving developers instead of citizens (yes I’m talking about the DC council). One thing I’ve learned so far is that local politics isn’t sexy but it matters. It matters because it affects our daily lives, from recycling to schools, from liquor licenses to gentrification and from sidewalk construction to zoning restrictions.   The campaign currently  has a small staff thus my role will vary greatly. Regardless, I look forward to meeting many of the residents of Ward 2 and making the case why it’s time for change in Ward 2 Seat.  If you’re in DC and would like to meeting Cary Silverman, please join us at a Happy Hour this Wed at Wednesday 6/4  at 1625 17th Street, NW from 5:30pm – 8 PM.  If you have any other questions about the Campaign feel free to e-mail henri at caryforcouncil dot org.

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that Barack Obama is my candidate for president.  I even went down to South Carolina to volunteer for him.  I also volunteered when it was time for the DC/MD/VA.  However, I have yet to take the time to  explain why I favored Obama over McCain and Clinton.  While I was searching for the right words and the right way to present them to you, I found two videos by Professor Lessig (blog) of Stanford law and founder of Creative Commons.  He was recently drafted to run for US congress in the 12th district of CA but decided against it because his opponent, Jackie Speier,  has been one of the most popular state legislator for the last 30 years.  Instead, he decided to focus on his new project, change-congress, which he will unveil this week at the Sunlight Foundation.  Needless to say, I will be in attendance.  At the time he was considering running, I would have moved to CA to help out with his race though he probably did not need it.

Regardless of what comes of his political future, Lessig’s videos basically express my thoughts about the election,more specifically about Obama’s candidacy, more eloquently than I ever could.  Take a look below.

First video – 20 minutes or so why I’m 4 Barack

Second Video – 10 minutes on whether Hillary can win

While Lessig  makes several good points as he often in his lectures, the most poignant is that it’s time to pass the torch; it’s time for a new path; it’s time for a new generation of leaders.  To borrow a much overused phrase of this electoral season, it’s time for real change. It is my hope that in January 2009, Obama will be able to borrow to words from JFK and say "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generations of Americans." 

While following analysis of the election results on CNN, I posed the question question “Who has the best American story Obama or McCain?” on Twitter (which updates my Facebook status to the dismay of some) and the following email conversation ensued. I obviously removed the name and email of the individual with whom I had the conversation.

Friend:

Pretty hard to beat wasting away in a POW camp for years in service to one’s country. Much as I love Obama, I’m going with McCain on this one. I’m disappointed he didn’t decisively knock her out tonight. This race needs to end already, it’s driving me crazy with all the hoping and waiting.

Henri:

I think it’s pretty much a wash. rags to riches vs. army boy?

Friend:

Maybe so. But we’ve had rags to riches already recently (hello Bill Clinton). Been awhile since there’s been a certified war hero. Though I wonder how much Vietnam will resonate against a much younger opponent. Not like he’ll want to draw endless amounts of attention to the fact that he’s so much older.

Henri:

Vietnam didn’t help Kerry (website) and didn’t help McCain in 2000, if nothing else people have become less sympathetic to the story and like the military even less. Rags to riches story always make you feel good.  Especially for a black man.

Friend:

Yes, though I think nothing would have helped Kerry, he ran a pretty poor campaign. Rags to riches is more relatable, something so many of us aspire to. But McCain still gets my vote simply on the merits of the story.

Henri:

Fair enough.  I’m not picking sides on this one. Just tallying the votes.

Obviously, both candidates have very compelling stories and McCain’s service is to be commended at every turn.  However, I really believe that if  each candidate properly tells his life story(barring any swiftboating)neither will have and edge because of it.  Your thoughts?

This the second article of a three part series that I’m doing on my experience volunteering for the Obama Campaign. You can read the first article here.

While in SC, I have several interesting  encounters that I thought I’d share.  For the purpose of this article, we will refer to my friends as “John” and “Meg”. I did not ask for approval to use their real names therefore I feel that it would be inappropriate to do so.  It is worth noting that John is black while Meg is White.

The first of these encounter happened at Huck’s post-primary party.  John, Meg and I exited from the ballroom and into the main corridor.  Unfortunately, there was not sighting of the legend that is Chuck Norris.  John decides to stop to purchase a couple of Huckapins.  Disinterested, Meg and I continued to walk down the main corridor.  About half way down the hall, a white lady(WL) approach us and the conversation goes something like this:

WL: Excuse me (This was directed in my direction and she got up to started walking towards me. so I stop)
ME: Yes?
WL: Are you for Gov. Huckabee?
ME: <at this point I think I know enough for talk about the Gov. standing on the issues, so why not go along? plus I’m at his party> Yea I am.
WL: Can you tell me why there are not more of your kind here? 
<The audience at the party was very diverse in age but not in race. Is she talking about my race? Is this lady serious? At this point I’m trying to figure what to say.  First thought that came to mind was to pretend that I’m dating Meg and claim that she dragged me to this all white event.  But Meg was so offended by the question that she ran back to John who was still purchasing Huckapins.  Left with no witty comebacks, I decided to not be offended and address the question. I can’t remember what exactly what I said but it was something like the following>
ME: Well we have one our own running right now and his message is appealing and that’s very exciting. Also, while The Gov’s message does resonate with some conservatives black community but post-primary parties are not exactly the most advertised event on TV.
<She asked about to which church I belong to, to which I answered that I was in from DC to see the Huck speak. But I am attending church up here. She asked a couple more questions that I’m answered.  The end of the conversation went something like that this.>
WL: Blacks are going to be important in one and Gov has a nice message.
ME: Yea we are.  have a good one.
<exit stage right>

When I twittered about having an O’reilly moment that is the conversation I was referring to. It was very surprising that the woman felt comfortable enough to approach me and asked me a question worded in such a manner.  The lady was not trying to offended or insinuate anything negative about the African Americans.  Moreover, I truly believe that the question itself was relevant however the manner in which it was asked displays some sort of ignorance about race relations in that part of the country. More surprising than the actual question was the genuineness behind the question. Part of me wanted to shake her and ask her what hole she had been living in. Regardless, I hope she learned something, because I know I definitely did.

My second encounter was with two older gentlemen at the MLK march. I ran into a small coffee shop to get some coffee and tea. While waiting for my beverages, I asked two gentlemen what they thought about the speeches given by the NAACP representative. Basically, they told me they had conflicted feelings. They said that they appreciated that the NAACP was pointing out some of the discrepancies that exist is South Carolina today. They felt that a lot of the younger generation are not exposed to the history of the state to comprehend some of the subtleties of the racial tensions that still exist today. However, they felt that the NAACP would not do much. They felt that its leaders are more selfish than they have been in the past. Moreover, they felt the leaders were using the MLK holiday, along with the presence of Presidential candidates to get their 15 minutes of fame.  They rebuke the NAACP leader for constantly evoking, King’s name and ideals while falling well short of them. For me, this encounter presented a new perspective because I always thought that only young people like myself think that the NAACP is losing its greatness by the hour.

My last encounter was with a gentlemen protesting that the confederate flag should stay up. John and I had a discussion about the flag the night before.  We have a different stance as the what the faith of the flag should be.  Regardless,  John first approached and asked about the gentlemen stance on the issue.  The gentleman stated he wanted the flag flying over the state capitol building like it used to.  I tend jumped and asked why?  his answer was something like “because that’s were it belongs.”  I told him he was wrong for unconditionally wanting to flag to stay up, and the NAACP was wrong for unconditionally wanting the flag to come down.  The fact of the matter is that the flag means  different things to both groups and neither group should impose its will on the other.  I continued by stating that since both party would back down from their current position, it would be much useful  approach the problem from another angle.  I suggested forming an education panel comprised of people from both camps, that would talk about how schools in SC should teach the about the flag.  And in that process, they may come with a solution about the faith of the flag.  Another gentleman protesting with the gentleman I was talking to agreed with my point.  As for the gentleman I was talking to, he took a second to think about what I said, and then presented another argument which I then countered.  Eventually, we said  goodbye and left.  I doubt anything will come of that conversation.  That being said, it showed me if you come open minded about issue and are willing to offer an alternative way to look at problem, they will listen.  And that’s the first step to solving any issue.

While not very memorable as the title would suggest, these encounters brought home the reality of racial tensions in certain parts of the country. Living in a city such as Washington, DC and being in an inter-racial relationship often makes it easy to lose sight of what some parts of the country are still going through.   That’s being said, I believe that there things we can do to soften those tensions, like talk to each other and instead of yelling at each other and being offended by every thing we see.

I’ve been following the primary on both side for what seems like forever now.  So when a friend who is involved for MD for for Obama group called me to ask to go volunteer for Obama in South Carolina I jumped on the chance.  We agreed to go down on MLK  weekend.   We left Friday after work, drove down to NC and spent the night at my friend’s uncle place near Raleigh, NC.   Saturday, we left around 2 pm and headed down to Columbia, SC.  We checked in the most ghetto hotel available. The TV didn’t work in the first room and we were moved to another.  Since we had not contacted the Obama campaign before going down, we did not know what they had planned for the evening.  We decided to watch some political shows.  After about 2 hours, we were bored and I suggested that we go party hop around all the Republican primary parties.  We started at Fred Thompson’s Headquarters then to his party.  Fred’s Party was really sad.  They were about 30 people there  and at least 10 of them were members of the Media.  My friend and I provided all the diversity for that party.  When we were  there we could Fred was going to drop-out  of the race.  As we were leaving, a Giuliani aide/volunteer was recruiting one of Thompson aide for Florida. 

Rumors of the street had it that Mike Huckabee’s (a.k.a ”The Huck”) party had good cookies and brownies, so we decided to head there next.  The Huckaparty was much more happening then Fred’s.  The Huckabus was huge, although the C-SPAN bus held its own.  We barely missed the Huck’s speech but managed to get a few pictures as he exited stage right.  Since McCain was in Charleston and the rest of Republicans were to lazy to compete in SC, that was all she wrote for that night.  We got some food and headed to the ghetto hotel only to find 10 cops in the hallway.

On Sunday, we woke up bright and early to run some errands only find out that county law does not allow for sale of general goods before 1:30 PM on Sunday.  No lie.  We headed to Obama’s headquarters.  As soon as we walked in a gentleman said that we would be volunteering at an event where the senator was to speak.   GREAT!  At the event we were assigned to be Press volunteers or Press chaperone and bouncers as I called it.   We help set up, we regulated rowdy photographers with the help of secret service, but mostly we took pictures and help ADA individuals.

On Monday, We woke up bright and early to march in the freezing cold and listen to Clinton, Edwards and Obama speak as well as some less than impressive NAACP leaders.  At the end of Clinton’s  speech we bolted out of there.  The trip felt a bit rushed, I wish I could have stayed a bit longer, maybe till the primary.  Unfortunately work and other obligations called. I would def do it again. Although, I think I would have to be at least sympathetic to majority of the the candidate’s views.  It’s just too much work for someone whose idea you disagree with. 

On a historical day in the history of this nation, much of the talk in the tech blog world was about how Robert Scoble, a prominent tech blogger, lost access to Facebook while testing a beta version of Plaxo pulse, which is a script that will allow you harvest contact information of all your friends to store them elsewhere.  Too see how many other  bloggers beside Scoble that covered the story, just Google “Robert Scoble and Facebook.”  I was really disappointed to find the day of the Iowa primary this was much of the talk in the tech blog world.  The result of this presidential election will affect the future of the Internet will greatly affect the future on the Internet and how technology as a whole will be viewed/used in this country and by the government.  Aside from TechCrunch, none of these other tech bloggers have interviewed any of the dozen of presidential hopefuls on either side of the isle.  If these candidates can pander that to every other constituency in the country to get their vote, why isn’t the geek community, with the exception of the Google, Microsoft and Yahoo of the worlds, also demand the attention of the future president.  Net Neutrality, Identity Theft, Use of voting machines, How to address the technology divide in our public school system, media consolidation, upgrading federal government IT infrastructure are just some of the few issues that the next president will have to address.  Without the bloggers and the rest of the tech world exercising any pressure or forcing the candidates to be better educated about these issues, big tech companies will be only ones to have a say on how these issues unfold.
Moreover, since this election has be dubbed the “technology election”, I would imagine on the day of the first caucus the tech blogging world would be a conversation about creating objective measures that could be used to examine exactly what affect technology will have and has had on the election.  More frustrating than not being able to vote in this election, to no fault of my own, is people squandering the opportunity to bring important issues to the light before it’s too late.  Today’s coverage of “Scoble-Facebook gate” was would be equivalent to something like CNN covering Britney’s latest night of debauchery instead of covering Bhutto’s assassination.

Sorry Scoble but I really don’t care that Facebook banned you for breaking the rules that you agreed to uphold in the first place.