Democratic Convention in Melbourne

Here it is a gray Melbournian winter day, around 1:30 in the afternoon. I have just turned off CNN's coverage of the Democratic Convention--profoundly saddened by the endless refrain of the commentators: the Obamas have to prove that they are like every body else, over and over, as if African-American lives are a foreign substance in the American imagination. This is the performance of other that has no basis in fact--African-American culture is American culture, African-American families are American families, African-American struggles for economic security are American struggles. The Obamas are not freaks of nature that have to continuously prove how like "us" they are--this mythical "us." From this distance I see how hopelessly mired in self admiration and lust for blood this version of the US media coverage is--and CNN is countries ahead of Fox--others have said you can for tell the ruin of a culture by its sexual practices, I say a much more accurate gauge is by the popular success of killing propaganda machines like Fox "News." But then I would--being a queer pinko Jew.