Straight Talkin' Drive-by

John McCain and Sarah Palin will campaign in Ohio this week. On Tuesday they will hold a rally in Warren County, specifically in Lebanon at the Golden Lamb. The Golden Lamb is a restaurant that has been open since 1803 and has hosted 12 presidents. I guess John is expecting to add his name to that list of illustrious guests. The city of Lebanon is not exactly known for its diversity. It’s still pretty iffy for minorities in that area. In fact, the population resembles all those folks who attended the GOP convention last week, without the 36 black delegates who speckled the floor like flies in buttermilk.

Why does the straight talker go to Lebanon to, in effect, to preach to the choir.....why not come to Cincinnati, just a few miles south? Cincinnati is hosting the National Baptist Convention this week. The NBC is seven million strong. More than 25,000 people are expected to attend. The topic this week is The Heavenly vision and Morals. Topics that should sit well with the ultra religious Sarah Palin and the newly religious John McCain. If I were in McCain’s shoes, I would jump at the chance to make converts to my cause. After all, the conventioneers come from all over the country. Impress them and they may take the message home to others parts of the country. Sounds logical, right? But no, he has chosen to speak further up the interstate.

Makes you wonder...has the GOP once again written off the black vote? Obviously the answer is yes. I have yet to see the GOP ticket land in an urban/city area. McCain did speak at the NAACP convention that was held in Cincinnati a couple of months ago. But nothing even remotely colored has appeared on his schedule of photo ops lately.

McCain was invited to speak, according to Baptist officials. He declined citing other engagements....that pep rally in Lebanon, but offered to send a representative...not Sarah...The Baptist said thanks, but no thanks. Cincinnati and Lebanon are way close enough to make both. He’s on a bus...bus goes up I-71 or 75....30 minutes, tops..unless there is road work going on...then it is a little longer. It’s not like the distance between say, Cincinnati and Cleveland. Those are opposite ends of the state. Lebanon is pretty much a suburb of Cincinnati.

Maybe McCain feels that he already has Hamilton County, Ohio locked up and doesn’t need to focus on his supporters, here. Maybe he feels his supporters are going to overwhelm those who support Obama in Cincinnati. Maybe he knows the fix is in to steal the election in Ohio. Maybe he thinks the black vote is monolithic and having addressed the NAACP, he would be talking to the same people and therefore there is no need to address the Baptists...We look alike, we pray alike, we think alike, we vote alike.....I’m just guessing...at this point.

Every black person I know says they are going to vote for Obama, and I know some black republicans, but none the less, they watched the GOP convention, especially the nights that McCain and Palin spoke. My friends and acquaintances also express the same feelings that I have, namely we want to be fair and give McCain the respect and chances that he is not willing to give to us. So Obama wins, sometimes by default.

The GOP should stop pretending to be the party of Lincoln and go ahead and rename itself the GWP.

By the way, Michelle Obama is speaking at the Baptist Convention on Wednesday of this week. Time yet to be determined.