BestofBarack.com

Sabermetrics Meets Obamania

2008-06-11T02:10:04Z

What happens when baseball stat geeks start running tens of thousands of simulated elections? Today, Obama wins a majority of the virtual elections but it looks like it'll be a squeaker.

FiveThirtyEight.com

Next Up, Things Blacker than Barack?

2008-05-16T03:20:01Z

At Things Younger Than McCain we learn:

"Alaska - the freaking state - is younger than John McCain. And, for that matter, so is Hawaii. McCain is older than two of the fifty states."

I'm Waiting for the "Gott ze Danken!" T-shirt

2008-05-10T15:29:22Z

But in the meantime, a fine alternative at Zazzle.

The Empire Strikes Barack

2008-05-02T13:03:20Z

More creative casting as Barack begins his Jedi training to take on the Galactic Empire of you-know-who.

Eboo Patel on The Real Jeremiah Wright

2008-04-28T15:11:53Z

"What if the only thing you knew about Thomas Jefferson was that he owned slaves?

What if, instead of the video of the I Have a Dream speech, elementary school students were taught that Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "My government is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world ..."?

What if the single piece of information you possessed about Nelson Mandela was that he co-founded a terrorist organization called Umkhonto we Sizwe (abbreviated as MK), which stands for Spear of the Nation?

With apologies to William Blake, if you believe you can see the world in a grain of sand, you better make sure it is the right grain."

-- On Faith, Washington Post

All the Way to the Top

2008-04-25T03:30:07Z

I know some folks feel bitter about me, as bitter as the first dandelion greens of the season. Yet these people are not without hope, hope that is drizzled on those dandelion greens like a dash of sweet pomegranate vinegar. Do they begrudge the scorpion its sting, or the duck its quack? How can I be other than what I am, The Guy Who Got Where He Is Only Because He's Black?

-- Visible Man, Colson Whitehead, New York Times

Father Phleger Drops Science on Fox

2008-04-22T01:17:02Z

BARACKY

2008-04-15T04:08:48Z

A little non-traditional casting not to be confused with another blood-pumping effort with a similar name.

Lessig on Pennsylvania, Obama and Change

2008-04-07T08:22:08Z

A long, thoughtful analysis of the current election by Stanford Law prof. Lawrence Lessig. Well worth the 20 minutes.

Alice Walker's Video Endorsement of Obama

2008-04-07T07:40:37Z

A warm, low-key, unscripted endorsement from a writer in her kitchen.

The View From Room 306

2008-04-04T05:11:12Z

"Martin Luther King Jr. at least left behind a model of how to repair the social fabric. He was scholarly, formal, assertive and meticulously self-controlled in public. If Barack Obama's campaign represents anything, it is the triumph of King's early-'60s style of activism over the angry and reckless late-'60s style. King was in crisis when he was gunned down. But his inspiration is outlasting his critics." -- David Brooks

How to Design a Good Campaign

2008-04-03T15:05:29Z

Steven Heller interviews Brian Collins on branding and typography in the New York Times:
"Barack Obama is running the first real transmedia campaign of the 21st century. His people not only understand how media has splintered, but how audiences have splintered, too. Cell phones, mobile devices, Websites, e-mail, social networks, iPods, laptops, billboards, print ads and campaign events are now just as important as television. The senator's design strategy has given these diverse platforms (and their different audiences) a coherence that makes them all work together. I've worked with giant, global corporations who don't do it this well."

President of the United States of Cyberspace?

2008-03-29T05:16:19Z

GoTellMama I'm Making Art for Obama

2008-03-23T04:11:46Z

Check out GoTellMama.org's super-stylish and sage PSAs (and while you're there, hit the online store and buy a poster!).

The Dream

They Once Said

Revolt

The Obama He Knows

2008-03-16T23:15:35Z

"... at the University of Chicago, Obama is liked and admired by both Republicans and Democrats. Some local Reagan enthusiasts are Obama supporters. Why? It doesn't hurt that he's a great guy, with a personal touch and a lot of warmth. It certainly helps that he is exceptionally able.

But niceness and ability are only part of the story. Obama has a genuinely independent mind, he's a terrific listener and he goes wherever reason takes him."

-- Cass R. Sunstein