The Comeback Girl

***in my most excited Molly Shannon (SNL) goes back to 8th grade (I’ll wear my alma mater St. Anthony’s ugly plaid blue uniform with the horribly placed maroon stripes) but I refuse, I repeat REFUSE to pull my socks up really high, k?***

Now, let’s play the McLaughlin Group Analogy Game

I’m John McLaughlin only black, cute, female, younger and smarter. And my Comeback readers (that would be you) are my hip, well rounded, well styled, handsome/pretty round table pundits. So….who wants to be Eleanor (Clift), who wants to be Pat (Buchanan), finally I know this is a tease, who wants to be Tony (Blankley)……Now wait you all can’t be Eleanor.

Ok thanks for volunteering.

Let’s begin shall we. ***clears throat*** Cathy Hughes is to (fill in the blank) what Oprah Winfrey is to (fill in the blank). Talk amongst yourselves. Vanna start the clock. (yes Vanna is here because I’m John McLaughlin and I can do anything I want).

Stumped?

The ANSWER is Cathy Hughes (chairman and founder of the publicly traded Radio One) is to radio what Oprah is to network television. And THE RELEVANCE is that they both, respectively, will shape and influence black women opinion of Clinton and Obama.

What remains to be seen, even as Obama’s black women support is slipping, is who will ultimately win the match of influence. The rabbit in the hat trick (particularly with her announcement to join Obama on the campaign trail)could be that Oprah may win a larger female voting base crossing all racial lines for Obama. Cathy Hughes, the mother of Black radio and a Comeback Girl herself, recently did a two part interview with Hillary and gave her a huge seal of black women approval on her TV One show. Cathy talked about the Clinton’s relationship to the black community and her take on her husband being regarded as the “first black president”. It was great and convincing tv, I must admit even with the portrait of Fredrick Douglass hanging in her NY home. Clinton made some brilliant correlations to Douglass and the suffrage movement and also spoke to the kinship she has always felt. She also spoke of real issues hitting black women today including healthcare, education, economic policy and the home run in my opinion was her experience.

I have a confession. When I was nine or ten (on Saturdays) I would pretend I was an adult, stay up late, eat a pop tart, drink a little soda and watch The McLaughlin Group. He was my current events with a bitter, arrogant, “I don’t give a damn-you’re wrong”. twist. Gotta love it.

(PS: NBC, ABC, CNBC, Larry King somebody, have witty talking points, will travel. I’m just one ringy dingy away.