Comments on: Starting Off At The Chili Bowl

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:54:41 +0000

Was Cosby being funny, or what? Yep, and he's good at it, too. Lighten up, fellow BnN readers. Being words sans pictures, the transcript loses much of the lighthearted context of the Ben's Chili Bowl conversation. If you view the January 11, 2009 Meet the Press video (skip ahead and start at 45:17), you'll see that Gregory, Cosby, and Fenty are laughing and kidding each other about BHO's "half-smoke" question. One gets the feeling they'd be kidding Barack face-to-face if he was there, too. MTP also plays a brief videotape of Obama (and Fenty) at Ben's. The only ones who look like they're not enjoying themselves are the security detail...

By: Julia Grey

Julia Grey — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:54:03 +0000

Was Cosby being funny, or what?

By: AK

AK — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:31:00 +0000

A half-smoke is whatever the others have posted from Wikipedia. It tastes fantastic! When I was at Howard University, I would have it everyday. I hadn’t known at the time that they don’t even have half-smokes in the DC Suburbs in Maryland! Ugh. And don’t get me started about Baltimorians not knowing what the heck a half-smoke is. They think it’s a smoked sausage and it definitely is NOT! Please someone tell me they at least know what Mambo sauce is.

By: SDMike

SDMike — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:26:46 +0000

Reading that transcript, I wondered if, by saying that Obama hadn’t earned the right to eat at the Chili Bowl — but his wife and mother-in-law had earned the right — Cosby was referring to Obama’s African, rather than African-American, roots. There is a cultural separation between the descendants of American slaves and more recent African immigrants that is still there, I think.

By: zatopa

zatopa — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:28:04 +0000

Is it worth mentioning that Cosby makes it radiantly clear that he really didn’t want to talk about this?

By: Susan Abe

Susan Abe — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:32:52 +0000

Worth noting in the top photo — there’s something in Obama’s hand besides the basket. I’m guessing he didn’t eat free.

By: Ursula L

Ursula L — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:43:31 +0000

I wish O would stop schmoozing around public places. What the hell is he still doing that for now that the campaign is over? If he wants to eat that kind of crap, can’t he send out for it? He must be the Secret Service’s worst nightmare.
Well, part of his job is to be aware of and respond to the needs of the ordinary people of this country. Being physically isolated is contrary to this obligation – he can’t know the mood of the people while living in a bubble.
We’ve seen the effects of this isolation with Bush – he lives in his safe little bubble, and is very unaware of the effects of his decisions and the unpopularity of his policies. Protests are kept out of his sight, and the needs of the American people (and the people of the rest of the world) are completely abstract to him.
Security is a concern, but if it becomes the dominant concern, the ability of the president to carry out his job is compromised.

By: dogfood

dogfood — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:14:20 +0000

I don’t watch MTP, having nothing but disgust for Gregory, but this is beyond ridiculous. They actually PAY people to go on television and talk about something so utterly moronic? Pa thet ic.
I wish O would stop schmoozing around public places. What the hell is he still doing that for now that the campaign is over? If he wants to eat that kind of crap, can’t he send out for it? He must be the Secret Service’s worst nightmare.

By: alterlinguist

alterlinguist — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:57:47 +0000

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5521925.ece
Hot enough for you?

By: Ursula L

Ursula L — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:10:30 +0000

I find it rather disturbing that Obama (or anyone!) should be disparaged for asking a simple, straightforward question when confronted with something they don’t know.
Curiosity is good. A willingness to recognize and correct one’s own ignorance is good. While willingness to try a new variety of sausage isn’t going to make a difference in the course of world history, I find the reported question to be reassuring – if he’s willing to risk making a fool of himself in public over a silly question about a sausage, then he won’t think twice about asking for information about other, bigger issues, helping ensure he has the information to make better decisions.
I don’t think Shrub asked even one honest question for purposes of getting information in the past 8 years. We finally have someone with brains enough to know that he has things to learn, and he gets mocked for asking questions? That’s very, very wrong.