Larry Roibal

Ball point pen on paper napkin

I don’t agree with Ralph Nader on may things, but I agree that the way we select a president is not serving us well.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint.

I can see myself going out for a beer with John McCain, and it’s been said that many americans want that in a president. If you think it doesn’t matter, you’re either underestimating americans love of beer or overestimating their thought process in choosing a leader. Americans regularly choose a candidate based on race, gender, heritage, or even sex appeal… campaigns know it, and they’re not above courting any demographic. The most forced example was Hilary’s campaign having a photo-op kegger on the plane with the press and Senator Clinton drinking beer out of a large red plastic cup. Haaa!….I think the Joe-Sixpack vote goes to McCain.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint.

“Let’s saddle up and have an argument.”

Ball point pen on morning newsprint.

I love Jon Stewart’s line ‘Normally when you see a black man or a woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty.’

Until now, casting the role has been a tool to immediately tell the audience it’s the future and move on to the plot. Are screen writers and casting agents waiting to see who wins in November before filling the role of a fictitious future president?

I wish I could have voted for 24’s David Palmer.

Ball point pen on morning newsprint

Next year my daughter will be a freshman at Rutgers. Last night in the Women’s NCAA, the Rutgers, Scarlet Knights advanced to the Sweet sixteen winning over Iowa State.

Ball point pen on morning newsprint

Ball point pen on morning newsprint.

McCain said today, “General Petraeus and I and Osama bin Laden are in agreement.” (that Iraq is the central battleground)…. I know he wants to distance himself from President Bush, but he may want to rethink aligning himself with Osama if he wants to win in November.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint.

Nothing says men’s collegiate basketball like pictures of guys with their mouths wide open. As the NCAA tournament gets heated up, we can look forward to a few more weeks of jaw dropping images on our sports pages.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint.

Ball point on morning newsprint

While the front pages of this mornings paper are filled with politics and race relations. Buried on page 14, Chinese troops are marching on Tibet.

Ball point on morning newsprint

Doodling over some of the reactions to Senator Obama’s speech on race…. I’m not sure if the country is ready.

Ball point on paper napkin

Yesterday I took a break from my work to watch Senator Obama deliver a speech about race relations in america. Sometimes we can recognize a transformative moment in history as it’s happening i.e., man steps on the moon, Kennedy is shot, a plane crashes into the World Trade Center. No matter what follows, you know the world will never be the same. Other times, society needs to digest it and history put said moment into context. Whether Obama goes on to loose the primary race to Senator Clinton, capture the nomination but loose in the general election, win the presidency but become an ineffective president, or win the presidency and become a transformative figure in american history, will likely be the context by which we remember this speech. I hope I can someday say I remember watching the speech while I scribbled this doodled on a napkin in my kitchen. That would mean that history has judged Obama to be the latter. Can we do it? I’m not sure.

Ball point on Newspaper text of speech