God bless Britney spears

I don’t like what’s happening in the life of Britney Spears now. She has been into a lot of issues and controversies. I hope everything will turn out fine. She needs enlightenment. She needs someone to get her out in the darkness. I am just so sad. You know Britney I am one of your fan.

I hope you are okay now. Please don’t ruin your life and your name. If you need help, call HIM. He is always there for us. Nothing is impossible. Please….a lot of people are looking up at you. You used to be their model but right now, I really don’t know. Please….don’t worry, I will always pray for you. I love you Britney!

Absolutely ridiculous story update,''Questions We Hope Get Answered in Palin's $7 Million Book''

While George W. Bush is still without an offer for his presidential memoirs, literary insiders say the bidding for Sarah Palin's story could reach $7 million. Proving, once and for all, that the public is more interested in designer eyeglasses and short skirts than the highly controversial guy who has spent the last eight years actually running the country.At Asylum, we're as guilty as the rest of the media in obsessing over the Alaska governor and all of her comings and goings. But is it wise it to spend so much on a subject whose life is already such an open book?According to an unnamed literary insider, "Sarah brings something different to the table -- there is so much curiosity surrounding her and her life. If they move fast and get this thing on shelves, then a $7 million advance could be worth it."Whatever the publishers decide to pay for this tome, we do have a number of unanswered questions we hope Sarah Palin's ghostwriter poses to the Arctic sensation:- Isn't it true you only went along with that embarrassing Nicolas Sarkozy prank because the last time you thought you were being targeted by an impersonator it turned out it really was John McCain and he really was offering you the VP slot?- During the VP debate, how distracted were you by the glare off Joe Biden's freshly Botoxed forehead?- Can you prove you talked the way you do now before the movie "Fargo" came out?- Is it more embarrassing to lose an election to someone you insinuated was a terrorist, or to have helped make Katie Couric look like a serious journalist?- You have attributed your surprise election as Alaska governor to the blessings of an African witch hunter. Where was Pastor Thomas Muthee during the campaign, and does his absence prove you are saving his mystical electoral powers for 2012? - As a rugged individualist who named her children Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig, how much does it irk you that our President-elect -- who the kids like to claim is "cool" -- gave in to yuppiedom and named his daughters Malia and Sasha?- Explain to us exactly why you are as much, if not more, of a babe than Tina Fey. (And just relaying how Alec Baldwin whispered this to you backstage at "SNL" doesn't count as an explanation.)

Titanic nearly ruined Leonardo DiCaprio

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio insists he was too young to handle international fame after starring in blockbuster hit "Titanic" at the age of 23.
The 34-year-old became a heartthrob all over the world after landing the lead role in the 1997 film alongside Kate Winslet.
But DiCaprio admits he was not mature enough to cope with turning into a major Hollywood star overnight, reports contactmusic.com.
'Titanic began a period of rebellion for me. As soon as people give you enough compliments and you suddenly have more power than you've ever had in your entire life. It's not that you become arrogant and rude to people, but you get a false sense of your own importance," he said.
"You're treading in dangerous territory when you begin thinking you've altered the course of history. It was like a runaway train. I didn't understand what was happening to me.'

Scarlett Johansson confused over Lohan's remarks

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson is still shocked over the vulgar remarks Lindsay Lohan allegedly scribbled about her on a New York City bathroom stall in 2006.
Lohan wrote an offensive remark with a permanent marker before making her exit during a night out.
According to contactmusic.com, Johansson is still baffled by the graffiti, since the two actresses have only met a handful of times.
'I don't know what the motivation was. I remember it was something really vulgar. I mean shockingly so, like, Whoa, what, who are you? I don't really know that person (Lohan). I only met her, like, three times,' Johansson told Allure magazine.

idiots writing bullshit against Obama

Yes! Finally, the McCain-Palin ticket is coming out swinging. I may only be an undifferentiated mass of cellular tissue, but even I could predict that as November got closer, they were finally going to go on the offensive, and boy oh boy, they did not disappoint me! For the last week, Palin has gone ballistic about Barack Hussein and his connections to crazed bomber 60s radicals.

All right! Now that’s the Republican party I know and love!

What’s the matter, liberals? Does what I’m saying upset you? Think that just because I'm a fetus that means I can’t play hardball with the big boys, is that it? Well guess what, blue-state donkeys? I can say anything I want and there's nothing you can do about it, because I haven’t been born yet, and as a member of the unborn, I am more important than everything else on Earth.

Hell, even a retarded fetus is more important than any other concern you can name—lack of experience, lack of knowledge, a pronounced inability to answer simple questions.

Still don’t like what I’m saying? Well, how about you try sucking it up, jerkwads! After all, what else can you really do?

Come on, I dare you! I double dare you! Yeah, that's right, I didn’t think you had the guts.

Man, being a fetus fucking rules.

Obama Warns He May Cease To Exist Unless America Believes In Him

Unless citizens throughout America keep him in their thoughts, say his name to themselves over and over, and otherwise believe in him with all their might, Barack Obama may cease to exist, the candidate warned supporters Thursday.

"My fellow Americans, I am currently very strong and very, very real," Sen. Obama told a cheering crowd of 12,000 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. "Even here in Hoosier country, a traditional Republican stronghold, your faith has kept me from growing faint, becoming transparent, and slowly fading from view."

"But please, don't stop now," Obama added. "Unless you continue to believe in me, I'll completely disappear. You have to keep me in your thoughts at all times!"

Deputy campaign manager Steve Hilde- brand, who has been tasked with making sure volunteers are chanting Obama's name with their hands clasped and their eyes shut tight, said that the candidate has nearly faded out at several points during the long campaign. Early in the primaries, when Hillary Clinton was up in the polls, Obama's typically solid composition began to waver and his voice became a distant echo. Currently the Democratic nominee is a blurred and vague outline in the state of West Virginia, where he trails McCain by almost 12 points. In Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, Obama is already a waning dream to some people, while in Texas, he is nothing more than a gentle wind, rustling through the trees—a ghostly visitor soon departed.

"During these last few days, I call on all Americans to keep thinking happy thoughts," Obama said. "Otherwise our dream of turning this country around will vanish, as I vanish, leaving nothing behind but a wisp of my memory and a few faint strains of my voice, forever whispering, 'Yes, we can…. Yes, we can…. Yes, we can.'"

Return to theonion.com for live, all-day election coverage on November 4th and 5th.
More News Briefs

Does Palin's maverick label still stick?

A loyal Democrat, Kenny Powers never shared Sarah Palin's conservative politics. But the United Way organizer confesses a fondness for the governor who paired a folksy charm with scorn for Alaska's Republican old guard.

"She was such a breath of fresh air," he says.

That was then. Nearing the end of a bruising campaign, the Republican vice presidential candidate has seen her appeal to her party's conservative base feed speculation about a future national campaign at the same time increasing numbers of others recoil from her.

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"She changed her personality," Powers, 55, said at a downtown espresso shop, where the front window features a Palin portrait over the boldface word "Hype."

"It makes me wonder whether I knew her."

Palin introduced herself to a nation as a conventional homemaker eager to shatter convention — the hockey mom roughing up the power brokers, a reformer with a bipartisan streak. But that maverick image — along with her poll numbers — has been scuffed, if not reshaped.

The designer eyeglasses are the same, but it's clear many voters outside the Republican base are looking at her through a changed lens. A woman who ascended to power in Alaska by challenging the Republican establishment now represents it on the national ticket. In her coming-out convention speech, Palin said, "I took on the old politics as usual," but in two months on the national political stage she has encountered questions about expenses and trips charged to taxpayers, as well as her account of actions she took as governor.

Duke University political scientist David Rohde says Palin has alienated independents at the very time the Republican ticket needs to attract votes from the political center.

"They first saw her as refreshing," Rohde said, referring to unaffiliated voters, a crucial swing group. Now, "more see her as a typical politician."

Among the revelations, Palin charged the state more than $21,000 for her daughters' commercial flights, including events where they weren't invited, and later ordered their expense forms amended to specify official state business. She billed the state for expenses, usually collected for travel, while she was at home, and her administration used private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.

Her scalding attacks on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama filled a traditional vice presidential nominee's role, but they also eroded her bipartisan credentials. In Alaska, her administration, once known for openness, developed a reputation for insularity. A legislative probe found she abused her power as governor.

She claimed she told Congress to cancel the "bridge to nowhere," but it turned out that she had supported it until it became an embarrassment. Disclosures that the Republican Party spent $150,000 for designer clothes, hairstyling and accessories and $36,000 to have celebrity makeup artist Amy Strozzi travel with her undermined Palin's homespun image and her professed preference for thrift shops.

And questions about her qualifications, ratcheted up by her often cringe-worthy answers during television interviews, haunted her candidacy

Vice presidential candidates rarely affect the presidential vote, but recent polling suggests Palin could be a drag on John McCain's chances.

She attracts raucous, standing-room only crowds on the stump, but national polls in recent days indicate her popularity is shaky.

AP-Yahoo News polling found Palin's unfavorable rating jumped as voters learned more about her. In a survey conducted soon after McCain picked her, 42 percent of likely voters rated her favorably, 25 percent unfavorably and 33 percent didn't know enough to say. In a survey completed this week, the poll showed 43 percent of likely voters viewed her favorably and an equal 43 percent unfavorably, with 13 percent not knowing enough to say.

Independent likely voters started out a bit more sour and have grown increasingly negative — 35 percent gave her an unfavorable rating in early September, 47 percent in late October.

In a New York Times-CBS News poll completed this week, 59 percent of registered voters said Palin was not prepared to be vice president, up nine percentage points since the beginning of October. Almost a third of those polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major influence on their vote for president, and those voters broadly favored Obama.

Some unflattering impressions of Palin might be the fault of McCain's own campaign. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, on Thursday criticized the way the governor was introduced to voters. In her first weeks on the national stage, she became viewed as "just an empty suit" because she spent too much time repeating the same speech, Ensign told the Las Vegas television news program NewsONE.

Pollster Ivan Moore, who tracks Alaska politics, said Palin will remain popular among Republicans, but Democrats and independents "don't like the pitbull-with-lipstick persona at all."

In Alaska "she really governed in a fairly populist way, which led to her high approval ratings," Moore said. As a vice-presidential candidate "she completely ruined the kind of bipartisanship she built up."

Her Alaska supporters blame the media for biased coverage or dismiss questions about expenses or trips as distractions.

Sharon Balsky, 70, an Anchorage retiree, has no problems with Palin's maverick credentials. The national media "doesn't go after Obama and (Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe) Biden the way they go after Palin," she said.

Palin appears to be asserting some independence from the McCain campaign. She spoke out against the campaign's decision to abandon Michigan and lamented its use of robocalls; she has defied her handlers in order to engage reporters more frequently. These moves generated reports some McCain operatives believe she is trying to position herself for a future campaign.

"She is a maverick. She took on the establishment up here," said Carol Milkman, 52, a hospital worker from Eagle River who volunteered to help Palin's campaign for governor. "I think she would make a good candidate for president."

'I Haven't Always Just Toed the Line'

Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Ask Sarah Palin what she has found most surprising about her campaign experience and she replies, with more than a touch of humility, "the enthusiasm." She's got a point.

Wending my way through the traffic and crowds around the Palin event in this small river city on Thursday morning, I began to wonder if the whole state hadn't shown up. Walking the cold half-hour from the nearest parking space, I passed mobs of disappointed voters who had already been turned away for lack of space. Inside the city's Show Me Center, thousands of roaring, stomping, sign-waving Palin fans were practically hanging from the rafters. It felt like, well . . . an Obama rally.

Terry Shoffner

And there you have the paradox of Sarah Palin. The press has brutalized the Alaska governor, playing gotcha with her record, digging through her family life. The liberal intelligentsia has declared her unfit for office, a rube, a right-wing maniac. The conservative intelligentsia has accused her of being a lightweight, of "anti-intellectualism." Polls suggest a significant number of voters believe she is not up for the job.

Yet her supporters idolize her -- all the more because of the criticism. Mrs. Palin has, for millions of Americans, become a symbol of a reformist average Jane, a working mom, ready to take on the Washington they detest. Talking to Missourians before the event, I heard little mention of flashpoint issues like her religious views, or her experience. I was instead repeatedly, and vociferously, informed that a Vice President Palin would "fix that place" and "shape up the GOP." I also heard a lot about how she would accomplish all this because she was a "real" person.

The governor is one of those politicians with the gift of connecting with her audience, a trait that surely has helped with her quick political rise. "I'm so glad you're here!" she said as I walked in to the holding room, with such warmth I wondered if she might actually mean it. As in her staged events, she comes across in person as confident.

The tasks of "fixing" Washington and "shaping up" the GOP are no small things, whether from inside the West Wing, or depending on Tuesday, from some future role as a party leader. And so, after a firm handshake and an introduction to First Dude Todd, I ask the governor if we could forgo the stump speech and talk about her contribution to this ticket, and the future of the party. Why, exactly, are Republicans as a whole struggling so badly? Are the liberal pundits right that modern conservatism has run its course?

"The planks in the Republican platform are good, they are strong. Economically speaking, Republicans support a uniquely American system that rewards hard work and empowers the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country the greatest country on earth. And on the national security front . . . it is about strength through power, it is about diplomacy across this world, allowing America to lead us toward a more peaceful world. On those planks -- economic and national security -- the Republican Party has the right agenda."

The problem, she explains, is a failure to deliver. "We must prove to the American people that we will live out the ideals and the values articulated in that platform." She says that "in too many cases" the GOP has let voters down, in particular on spending and with the abuse of earmarking. She argues the most effective way to revamp the party is from the top, by putting her ticket in the Oval Office, where it will enforce discipline. "We have a track record that proves we can reform government. And ultimately, that will reform the Republican Party."

I probe a little bit more on this word "reform" -- a favorite of Gov. Palin's, though it isn't always clear what she means. What exactly will she reform? "It's reform of the abuse of the earmark process. There's nothing wrong with governors and mayors and members asking for a share of the federal budget, in order to help a community, but it is the abuse of that process that has got to be reformed. It's reform of federal government spending; they've run up a $10 trillion debt that we're expected to hand off to our children. . . . It's about, ultimately, putting government back on the side of the people. Not to make Americans believe that they have to work for government, but that their government needs to be working for them. . . . This is their government. It's of the people, by the people, for the people."

She also explains that what distinguishes a new generation of reformers in the party -- people like her, or Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- is a willingness to learn from Republican failures or successes of the past, and apply them to current concerns, say health care. "We have the luxury of looking back with 20-20 hindsight." She mentions Ronald Reagan, his ability "to win the Cold War without firing a shot" and his focus on pro-growth policies, as examples of those successes. But she also notes that today's global economy and global threats have combined to demand more from leaders.

"It used to be you could choose the president based on one or two things, on strength on national security, or on a view on the economy. Today, everything is interwoven. With globalization and with how quickly the world has changed, we need a president with the experience and leadership capability and the good judgment to handle both." She flags energy, saying that today it is both an imperative for domestic economic prosperity as well as a question of national security.

The vice-presidential nominee took heat recently for talking about the values of "real America" -- a comment some took as an implication that red-state America is more patriotic than other parts of the country. I ask her if the GOP doesn't in fact have a perception problem, that it is no longer viewed as a big tent? What does it need to do to reach out and once again become competitive in places like New Jersey or Connecticut, or the suburbs?

Mrs. Palin, again, suggests that implementing reform is the best way for the party to connect with the broader electorate. This was her approach in Alaska, where she at one point boasted 90% approval ratings. "My concentration is on bettering our country. I've never been known as an obsessive partisan. In fact, I've taken on my own party. I've run against members of my own party in order to reform at a local level and a state level. And on a national level I'd do the same thing and so will John McCain. And McCain, he's got the scars to prove that independent streak, that comes from making the right decisions for the people he was serving, putting country first. So my concentration is on how do we make this country as a whole better, stronger, safer."

The governor herself has also been attempting to retool the GOP's message to broaden the party's appeal with key voting groups. In a largely unnoticed policy speech in Nevada last week, Mrs. Palin pitched to women. Flanked by feminists -- including Democrats and members of the National Organization for Women -- the governor argued that the GOP's free-market policies were particularly important to women. Women need changes in rigid 40-hour-a-week labor laws to obtain more flexible work schedules; women own millions of small businesses that would be hurt by tax hikes; women need entitlement reform to provide security for their long retirement years.

"Every woman that I know works so hard, because they have a couple of extra hurdles, obviously, that they have to jump over in order to succeed. . . . Of course we want and deserve equal pay for equal work. But we also want to be able to afford good health care for our families. John McCain's plan for the $5,000 tax credit will allow us to make our own decisions, to be able to afford health care, to erase these state lines that prohibit a competitive environment to purchase a good health-care package. . . . That's an issue that is important to women."

All of this, says Mrs. Palin, undermines suggestions by conservative critics that she represents an us-versus-them streak in the party. She bluntly suggests they are missing the point. "I think those who would criticize what I believe I represent -- and that is, everyday, hardworking American families who desire and deserve reform of government -- I think they are out of touch with what the rest of the nation is talking about today. It's a reflection of some elitism that assumes that the best and the brightest of this country are all assembled in Washington, D.C., and I beg to differ. You can walk out in the rally that we are going to attend in a minute, and you talk to anyone there, and I believe you will hear the same thing. Enough of that arrogance. Enough of that assumption that unless you are a part of that Washington elite that you aren't worthy of serving this great country."

She is equally blunt in her retort to those who say she's not up to the job. "I'll tell you, some within the party who have criticized me -- or John McCain's pick of me -- I think some of this underlying criticism is again coming from the hierarchy. It is because I haven't always just toed the line in the party. I'm not wired to do that. I want reform of our party, I want to be able to prove that our party is worthy of leading this country. And I'm not going to just go along to get along. I've never been able to do that. It bodes well for someone's character, I believe, and is a strength."

I ask if she's already discussed with Mr. McCain what her portfolio would be as vice president, and she enthusiastically ticks off her responsibilities: "Energy independence -- and that is just key to our national security and our economic prosperity. Reform of government -- put us back on the sides of the people. And helping families who have children with special needs -- ultimately, allowing every family to know that they have a friend and advocate in the White House, but specifically families who have worked so hard to make our nation a more welcoming place for children with special needs."

Related

Main Street: Palin Shows How to Transcend the Culture Wars
A society should be judged by how it treats its weakest members.
By William McGurn

Mrs. Palin doesn't mention her youngest child here, who was born earlier this year with Down syndrome -- but she doesn't need to. It's clear this is a subject on which she feels passionate. "They are special. We will elevate this whole issue, letting families know that children with autism, Down syndrome, with physical disabilities, these are special citizens of the United States of the America and they will be made to feel that way, not excluded, but included and provided equal opportunity."

As we wrap up I thank the governor and she asks a few questions about me. Then I am whisked out to the rally. Within a few minutes, the speakers start to blare Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," and Mrs. Palin steps out on to the stage. Listening to the crowd go bonkers, it's hard not to think that -- whatever happens Tuesday -- Mrs. Palin may yet have a long political future.

Ms. Strassel writes the Journal's Potomac Watch column.

tactful palin

Anchorage, Alaska - When he faces off against Sarah Palin Thursday night, Joe Biden will have his hands full.

I should know. I've debated Governor Palin more than two dozen times. And she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality. Against such charms there is little Senator Biden, or anyone, can do.

On paper, of course, the debate appears to be a mismatch.

In 2000, Palin was the mayor of an Alaskan town of 5,500 people, while Biden was serving his 28th year as a United States senator. Her major public policy concern was building a local ice rink and sports center. His major public policy concern was the State Department's decision to grant an export license to allow sales of heavy-lift helicopters to Turkey, during tense UN-sponsored Cyprus peace talks.

On paper, the difference in experience on both domestic and foreign policy is like the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing a bullet. Unfortunately for Biden, if recent history is an indicator, experience or a grasp of the issues won't matter when it comes to debating Palin.

On April 17, 2006, Palin and I participated in a debate at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks on agriculture issues. The next day, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner published this excerpt:

"Andrew Halcro, a declared independent candidate from Anchorage, came armed with statistics on agricultural productivity. Sarah Palin, a Republican from Wasilla, said the Matanuska Valley provides a positive example for other communities interested in agriculture to study."

On April 18, 2006, Palin and I sat together in a hotel coffee shop comparing campaign trail notes. As we talked about the debates, Palin made a comment that highlights the phenomenon that Biden is up against.

"Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers, and yet when asked questions, you spout off facts, figures, and policies, and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, 'Does any of this really matter?' " Palin said.

While policy wonks such as Biden might cringe, it seemed to me that Palin was simply vocalizing her strength without realizing it. During the campaign, Palin's knowledge on public policy issues never matured – because it didn't have to. Her ability to fill the debate halls with her presence and her gift of the glittering generality made it possible for her to rely on populism instead of policy.

Palin is a master of the nonanswer. She can turn a 60-second response to a query about her specific solutions to healthcare challenges into a folksy story about how she's met people on the campaign trail who face healthcare challenges. All without uttering a word about her public-policy solutions to healthcare challenges.

In one debate, a moderator asked the candidates to name a bill the legislature had recently passed that we didn't like. I named one. Democratic candidate Tony Knowles named one. But Sarah Palin instead used her allotted time to criticize the incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski. Asked to name a bill we did like, the same pattern emerged: Palin didn't name a bill.

And when she does answer the actual question asked, she has a canny ability to connect with the audience on a personal level. For example, asked to name a major issue that had been ignored during the campaign, I discussed the health of local communities, Mr. Knowles talked about affordable healthcare, and Palin talked about ... the need to protect hunting and fishing rights.

So what does that mean for Biden? With shorter question-and-answer times and limited interaction between the two, he should simply ignore Palin in a respectful manner on the stage and answer the questions as though he were alone. Any attempt to flex his public-policy knowledge and show Palin is not ready for prime time will inevitably cast him in the role of the bully.

On the other side of the stage, if Palin is to be successful, she needs to do what she does best: fill the room with her presence and stick to the scripted sound bites.

• Andrew Halcro served two terms as a Republican member of the Alaska State House of Representatives. He ran for governor as an Independent in 2006, debating Sarah Palin more than two dozen times. He blogs at www.andrewhalcro.com .

Sarah Palin-holy shit

It’s an inescapable conclusion that this woman has, in 6 short weeks, single-handedly destroyed the Republican party. Certainly George Bush may share some of the blame; but we conservatives must remember how our hopes were buoyed by his impressive bloodlines and Yale degree before we realized his excursion to Texas had caused him to “go native.” But la Palin offers true conservatives no such extenuating graces. I mean, my God, this woman is simply awful; the elided vowels, the beauty pageantry, the guns, the crude non-Episcopal protestantism, the embarrassing porchload of children with horrifying hillbilly names, the white after Labor Day. As fellow conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan quipped to me the other day outside a Martha’s Vineyard antique shop, it’s gratifying to know the Gipper isn’t alive to see what has become of his party.

But it’s not just American conservatives who are appalled. Just last week conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks and I were enjoying an apres-badminton apertif at the family weekend house in Montauk with my good friend Viscount Klaus-Maria Von Wallensheim, the conservative EU Agricultural Pricing Minister with whom I shared an Alpine chalet and manservant during our years as classmates at a Swiss boarding school. “Kloonkie” (my old school appellation for the Viscount) reported the growing dismay of the Continental Right over Palin’s embarrassing enthusiasm for childbirth and Israel.

“Coddsie, old chap,” he warned, “You know I’ve always been America’s biggest defender in Monaco. But if you elect this ill-bred charwoman, I will be forced to move anchor to St. Tropez out of pure shame.”

Such ballderdashery should never be tolerated, my good chappies.

People fear Obama Assassination; It's Time to Pray

evelation by Federal authorities in Tennessee, USA last Monday that they had arrested two white supremacists who were allegedly planning a killing spree that would end with the assassination of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, ought to have sent shock waves around the world.

Interestingly though, the arrest of Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas didn't lift too many eyebrows. If the killers that be could kill John Fitzgerald (J.F.) Kennedy, who remains arguably one of the most loved American presidents besides the likes of Abraham Lincoln (16th President, 1861-1865), they should have no qualms trying out their luck on the son of a Kenyan immigrant who is trying and is on the verge of becoming US President.

Little wonder that Secret Service agents began protecting Obama on May 3, 2007, less than three months after he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination-- the earliest that such protection has been authorised for a candidate in US history. As we speak, he is also easily the most protected candidate there has ever been in US history.

When the race began, with the primaries, personally I made up my mind that it would be perfectly okay if Obama or Hillary Clinton became President. Being a black man, Obama's victory would signal a victory of the US over the racial divide that has haunted it for a long time, since the days of the slave trade. My support for Obama was not just blind support. The man is good! His charisma, charm and oratorical skills cut him out as a cross between Martin Luther King Jr, the great black American who championed the black peoples' cause in the US and Kennedy, the 35th US President (1961-1963).

If Hillary won, it would be a victory not necessarily for women, but for gender equality. It would be a vote of confidence in the women; evidence that they too can do anything including running the world. My wish had been that Hillary would pick Obama as her running mate and subsequent Vice President. I had hoped also that she would serve five years and then make way for Obama to take over as President. But since Obama carried the primaries, I threw my vote behind him. The kindness he exudes, the sincerity with which he speaks, the leadership qualities he has demonstrated and the symbolism his victory would carry cut him out as the man for the White House.

His clean lead in the opinion polls suggests he will win, but one wonders whether at the critical moment of decision, some of the white folks, just about to cast their ballot, won't develop cold feet and opt for one of their own. The moment of decision carries its own pressures which make even the penultimately loyal voter change his or her mind at the very last.

There is one other disturbing similarity between Martin Luther King and J.F. Kennedy; both were assassinated. King on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee on a second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel and Kennedy five years earlier, on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

If Obama is assassinated, it could plunge the US and indeed the whole world into chaos the kind that will make riots that followed the Martin Luther King assassination look like a tea party. Ultimately of course, Obama's security will depend on the Lord (I am a very spiritual person). Like David the Psalmist said, unless the Lord keepeth a city, those that keep it are wasting their time. Spiritual power will be as important as the guns guarding Obama.

The billions who believe in peace, equality and goodwill among people should uphold Obama and America in prayer until their knees are sore that this heinous intent is not actualised.

A beautiful Article for Obama by Gary Younge

Barack Obama is greeted by supporters in Springfield, Illinois in February 2007 as he formally announces that he running for president. Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA

The day we brought my new-born son home to our Brooklyn apartment, an article in the New York Times pointed out that "a black male who drops out of high school [in the US] is 60 times more likely to find himself in prison than one with a bachelor's degree". These are the kind of statistics I often quote in my work. But this time it was personal. Looking down at him as he snoozed in the brand new car seat, I thought: "Those are not great odds. I'd better buy some more children's books."

Over the next few weeks, as we fumbled with the nappies, pram, barfing and burping, a new, previously unthinkable option for black American males emerged: the presidency of the United States. Osceola was born on the weekend Barack Obama declared his candidacy. This prompted conversations that I would not have had otherwise. His success, I was told, would signify great things for my son. Osceola would grow up with an assumption that the highest office in the land was open to him. That the future could be his. That there was, I was told, nothing that this child could not achieve.

Back in February 2007, when Obama announced his candidacy, this never made much sense to me. The fact that my son suddenly has a tiny theoretical chance of getting to the White House is less important than the more real chance of his ending up behind bars (one in three black American boys born in 2001 will do so) or dead (three black kids are shot every day). I wanted a president who could change the odds for the many rather than raise the stakes for a few. I didn't care what they looked like. It wasn't that I didn't understand the symbolic importance of his bid. I just did not want to mistake it for substance.

On a political level, I have always thought he was interesting. Obama's announcement came 18 months after hurricane Katrina put black America's collective deprivation and individual success clearly on display. One man can rise to the presidency and a whole community can sink into the Gulf of Mexico: anything, I thought, really is possible. And with three days to go before election day, it looks like the US stands on the verge of making the historic decision to put a black man in the White House.

This was no reflection on Obama. Everything I'd heard about him - not least his opposition to the Iraq war at a time when such a position was unpopular - was impressive. But his two years in the Senate suggested he was pretty mainstream and even, at times, a little suspect. He'd supported Joseph Lieberman (a Democrat who is now supporting John McCain) in his primary Senate campaign against an anti-war campaigner. And he voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state. It wasn't obvious to me that he would be any better than some other generic Democrat with different pigmentation. The idea that his presidency would mean anything for Osceola's life never really crossed my mind.

To express such scepticism before many Obama supporters was to be accused of cynicism. The true believers do not just want you to drink the Kool Aid. They demand that you chug it.

The people my scepticism vexed most were white liberals. Obama had become prey to the soft bigotry of unreasonable expectations. Describing the crowd's reaction to him in Rockford, Illinois, Time's Joe Klein noted: "The African Americans tend to be fairly reserved ... The white people, by contrast, are out of control." They had found a black politician they felt comfortable with, and wanted him to be everything: Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, a griot, president, vice-president, motherhood and apple pie. They prattled on about a post-racial America as though the Jena Six never happened and Sean Bell, a unarmed black man from Queens who was riddled with bullets on his wedding day, was still alive.

My wife, who is African American, shared my reservations about Obama, but saw things differently. She remembers the thrill of being a young girl when the black Democrat Harold Washington was elected in her hometown, Chicago. She liked him because her parents liked him. She could see it was important, but she didn't know why.

"My dad grew up being told a black person couldn't be a pilot, and my son is growing up knowing that a black person can be president," she said. "It's not that racism is gone, it's just that it's not about the idea that all black people are excluded on the basis of their race from any part of society or any particular job. That was the racism my parents grew up with and that is now one generation removed from Osceola." Her dad became a pilot, as did her brother.

Of course, Obama isn't standing for Osceola's benefit - which is just as well, because if Osceola could vote he would most likely support Elmo for mayor of Sesame Street. But in a sense these projections lie at the heart of any thoughtful appraisal of the racial dynamics underpinning Obama's candidacy. The desire to believe we are in a paradigm-shifting moment must be set against the fact that not every historic first changes the course of history. Changing our understanding of what is possible doesn't, in itself, create new possibilities.

I watched Obama accept the Democratic nomination with my mother-in-law, Janet, in a cinema on the southside of Chicago. Janet was raised in the South with the laws that put her at the back of the bus. As a teenager she went with her mother to see Martin Luther King speak in Philadelphia, listening in the overflow in the vestry because there were too many people in the church.

She was the one who first told me about Obama in 2003. She got involved in his primary campaign for the Senate when he didn't have a prayer, after she'd seen him on the local public channel, when he was a state senator. "He seemed like a bright guy," she says. "He reasoned his way through things and was always very impressive." She particularly liked his stance on the war. When he said he was running for Senate, she signed up as a volunteer.

And now, here we were just five years later seeing him clinch the deal in Denver on the big screen. At one point, when he recalled his anti-war speech in 2002, she punched my arm. "I was there." As she drove me to my hotel, she would occasionally say to no one in particular: "I just don't believe it."

Whether Osceola would ever be able to relate to what a momentous time this is for Janet remains to be seen. But her response made me think that the late comedian George Carlin was wrong. Symbols are too important to be left to the symbol-minded. By that time, my thinking on Obama had evolved. Not so much because of the man, but the moment. The atmosphere during this campaign has been unlike anything I've ever seen in a western country. To see so many people - particularly young people - engaged and hopeful about their political future after eight depressing years is inspiring. The last time I saw it was in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

Walking down Sumter Street during Charleston's Martin Luther King day parade, watching white volunteers chant: "Obama '08! We're ready. Why wait?" gave political voice to an America I never doubted existed, but had yet to see. Among them was a young man who was "so depressed" after Obama's New Hampshire defeat that he had dropped everything he had been doing in Guatemala and flown back to help out. Local African Americans lined the sidewalks, cheering encouragement. Obama's victory in Iowa had proved that a black candidacy was not a pipe dream.

It was a moment. Fleeting and maybe even fatuous. But nonetheless a political moment that produced hopeful human engagement. Within half an hour it had evaporated. The white volunteers went back to the office and black people went back to their homes in the poorest parts of town and waited for change. But that didn't mean it didn't happen or that it couldn't happen again. Nor was there anyone else who could make it happen.

A couple months later came Obama's race speech in Philadelphia in response to the attacks on his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, in which he addressed black alienation and white disadvantage, set them both in a historical context, and then called on people to rise above it. It was a tall order. He pulled it off.

That weekend, a friend invited us to brunch with a group of other black people to discuss the fallout. There were nine of us (10 if you include Osceola, who yanked a blind from the window). It was a typical boho (black bohemian) Brooklyn crowd of voluntary sector workers, teachers and the like. Most, like me, had been ambivalent about Obama at the outset. But his candidacy was becoming a vehicle for something bigger: a teachable moment about the potential of anti-racist discourse.

A year before, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, laid out a plan of attack against Obama. "All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light. Save it for 2050. It also exposes a strong weakness for him - his roots to basic American values and culture are at best limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his centre fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values ... Let's explicitly own 'American' in our programmes, the speeches and the values. He doesn't ... Let's use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let's add flag symbols to the backgrounds."

Clinton rejected Penn's advice, but McCain pretty much adopted it. And at this point it appears to have failed. This time Republicans have misread white America's appetite for divisive racial rhetoric and overestimated its fear of the other. The fears and division are still there. But whatever the result on Tuesday, they are clearly no longer the decisive mobilising force they once were.

If there is promise in here for my son, it is not so much that he is capable of doing anything he wants - I am his father and it's my responsibility to teach him that - but that white people won't necessarily stop him. What that does for his odds of finishing high school or going to jail remains to be seen. In the meantime, I'm off to the bookshop.