Folks need to stop saying that Obama is "suspending" his campaign to go visit his ailing grandmother. He's not. His ads will run, his field workers will organize, his running mate and wife will give speeches. He himself is leaving the trail for a day to attend to personal business. It's an important distinction: The campaign, at this point, is bigger than Obama, bigger than McCain. It involves hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of millions of workers and volunteers. The idea that it seizes up if the candidate turns his attention elsewhere is absurd. It's comforting that Obama has kept sight of this distinction between candidate and campaign, and isn't pretending that his temporary absence somehow overwhelms the functioning of the American electoral process. Candidates don't get to call time out on democracy.Meanwhile, others have remarked on this, but the resemblance between Obama and his grandfather is incredibly striking, and folks should read Ta-Nehisi Coates' touching meditation on what it tells us about Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. NO SUSPENSION.
Folks need to stop saying that Obama is "suspending" his campaign to go visit his ailing grandmother. He's not. His ads will run, his field workers will organize, his running mate and wife will give speeches. He himself is leaving the trail for a day to attend to personal business. It's an important distinction: The campaign, at this point, is bigger than Obama, bigger than McCain. It involves hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of millions of workers and volunteers. The idea that it seizes up if the candidate turns his attention elsewhere is absurd. It's comforting that Obama has kept sight of this distinction between candidate and campaign, and isn't pretending that his temporary absence somehow overwhelms the functioning of the American electoral process. Candidates don't get to call time out on democracy.Meanwhile, others have remarked on this, but the resemblance between Obama and his grandfather is incredibly striking, and folks should read Ta-Nehisi Coates' touching meditation on what it tells us about Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. 
