“There is no disagreement,” said then-President-elect Barack Obama Jan. 9, “that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jump-start the economy.”

“Does Obama’s victory, as a black man, make you feel that you can do anything?” Someone asked me that on election night.

So, what do “the rich” pay in federal income taxes? Nothing, right? That, at least, is what most people think. And Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to raise the top marginal rate for “the rich” — known in some quarters as “job creators.”

A matter of “neighborliness.” That’s how Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama justified raising taxes.

Lawyers call this a “declaration against interest.”

Washington Post ombudsperson Deborah Howell wrote a column in her own newspaper comparing the paper’s front-page coverage of Democratic nominee Barack Obama with that of Republican nominee John McCain.

Oh, no, not another “town hall” meeting.

Or at least, that’s how I first reacted when I learned the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church intended to host an Obama-versus-McCain town hall forum at the evangelist’s California church.

“Where you from?”

An illegal alien from Mexico, Pedro Espinoza, allegedly asked that of Jamiel Shaw Jr., 17 — before Espinoza shot and killed him.

Question: Before your trip to Iraq, you said that you intend to give the military a “new mission” — all of the combat troops withdrawn within 16 months. Why bother traveling to Iraq and consulting with commanders on the ground, if you’ve already decided on a new mission?

A “jealous rage,” Fox’s Geraldo Rivera called it.

Before taping a “Fox & Friends” segment, Rev. Jesse Jackson, with his microphone on, sat next to another man. Turning to him, Jackson, speaking softly, launched into an attack on Barack Obama. “Barack, he’s talking down to black people on this faith-based ...” said Jackson. “I want to cut (Obama’s) nuts off.”

A prominent 20th-century Democrat made the following statement about the purpose of the Second Amendment: “Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. ... The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard, against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but which historically has proven to be always possible.”

Mr. Elder,

I am shocked that you oppose Barack Obama and belong to the Republican Party. We must get over ourselves and realize there is room at the top for everyone and we must get there by helping each other — instead of agreeing with policies and old politics that are proven not to work.

“I was struck when I got to Iowa and New Hampshire in January,” said Joan Walsh, editor-in-chief of the liberal website Salon.com, “by how our media colleagues were just swooning over Barack Obama. That is not too strong a word. They were swooning. ... The downside, though, is that they hate — hate Hillary Clinton, most of them. Hate is not too strong a word.”

For Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the stars certainly seem aligned.

Seventy percent of Americans consider the economy in a recession. Two-thirds consider the war in Iraq a bad idea. A new Gallup Poll shows Obama leading presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain 46 to 44 percent. And the ratings for “American Idol” fell 10 percent. Given all this, plus a swooning, pro-Obama media, what’s a Republican to do?

“I intend to proudly vote for Obama,” said a caller to a National Public Radio show, “because I want to show the world what America is all about — that a person of color can become president of the United States.”

I recently traveled to New York. On the plane, I met an actress named Lenora. During the long flight, I learned that a) she’s Jewish, b) she works as an actress, and c) was doing a play in the hyper-liberal city of Santa Monica, Calif. Not exactly, I thought, a Reagan Republican.

“It’s a recession,” said former President Harry Truman, “when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”

“Bitter,” says Sen. Barack Obama, the man of hope and change, about those who live Pennsylvania, small towns and the Midwest.

Republicans show more optimism about race relations than do Democrats.

A June 2007 Gallup Poll asked Republicans and Democrats to rate relations between blacks and whites. Among Democrats, 67 percent said relations were “somewhat good” or “very good,” while 77 percent of Republicans gave those answers.

In his Big Speech defending his 20-year membership in a church headed by a racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, conspiracy-believing pastor, Democratic candidate Barack Obama says America needs a frank “talk” about race.

Billed as an “important speech about race,” presidential candidate Barack Obama condemned some of the remarks of his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. But Obama refused to denounce the man himself, considering him family. Commentators gushed over this “groundbreaking,” “stirring” speech about the “state of race relations in America.”

Thank you very much. It’s great to be here.

You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. We are going to do things differently and expect a different result. And if we don’t do things differently, well, the results we get, well, they’ll be the results we deserve. Thank you.

Bookings to promote my new book, “Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card — and Lose,” have been difficult. Many media outlets — television, radio, magazines — flatly turn me down, because they find the title “offensive.”

Outrage!

MSNBC's David Shuster, sitting in for Tucker Carlson, criticized the use by Sen. Clinton of her daughter, Chelsea. Shuster said, "Doesn't it seem like Chelsea is being pimped out in some weird sort of way?"

Why do so many Republicans pound the table and shout, “I’d rather vote for a Democrat than the ‘insufficiently conservative’ John McCain!”?

Some suggestions for the next Democratic debate moderator:

1. Sen. Clinton, you oppose the Bush tax cuts because they unfairly benefit the rich. Since the top 1 percent of taxpayers — those making more than $364,000 annually — pay 39 percent of all federal income taxes, don’t all across-the-board tax cuts, by definition, “unfairly” benefit the rich?

“Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card — and Lose,” my new book, comes out Feb. 5, Super Tuesday. Unfortunately for former President Bill Clinton and his wife, no one sent an advance copy.

Walter Cronkite, when asked whether he agreed that liberals dominated the major news media, told me, “Yes — if by liberal you mean open-minded.”

“I’m writing to you on behalf of my son. In the simplest form, what are the main differences between today’s Democrats and Republicans? I get too complicated with my explanations. I don’t think these kids really know the difference and just vote for a candidate because he is young, or female, etc. Can you help?”

Black South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford (a Democrat), back in February 2007, warned against a 2008 Democratic ticket headed by Sen. Barack Obama.

When the Mitchell Report came out — accusing more than 80 professional baseball players of using performance-enhancing substances — television commentators lectured viewers about “broken trust.” One commentator, in particular, somberly expressed his disappointment.