This campaign is stressful to say the least. Sometimes it is good to take a Mental Health break. This made me laugh and release some stress.

It isn't difficult to guess who these two men are in American political history. Garry Wills, author of "Negro President"and aficionado of Thomas Jefferson examines Abraham Lincoln's address at Cooper Union and Sen. Obama recent "race" speech in Philadelphia.

I live in San Francisco, where the "bitter" remarks were made.  Tonight on CNN's  "Compassion Forum", Sen Obama acknowledged that "bitterness" isn't limited to rural communities. He is correct. Just visit the Bayview section of S.F.. Visit the Fillmore, Western Addition and the Tenderloin and bitterness will jump up and bite you in the leg.

"How can all this go on without anyone noticing?"

I have been meaning to take my text book Questioning The Media: A Critical Introduction off the bookshelf during this long campaign season. It is full of helpful insights on the media and how they operate. This book and specifically the chapter Mass Media and U.S. Presidency is so appropate for the current campaign. It was helpful as I watched John King of CNN question the African America Mayor of Philadelphia, Mike Nutter. John King asked Nutter about his support of Sen. Clinton. He wanted to know if Nutter received any pressure from his African American constituents to support Obama? Mayor Nutter explained to John King that he spoke to his African American constituents about the meetings he had with Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama. He told them that he was deliberate in his choice to support Sen. Clinton and that these type of questions mostly came from the media and not the people who he represents. He essentially said that his African American constituents respected his decision to support Sen. Clinton.

This, in my mind, prompts the question: How does the media shape and or misshape public opinion? Mayor Nutter's response to John King offers ever so small a glimpse beyond and almost certainly behind the slick productions of news organizations like CNN. What is behind the curtain? I have a theory that news organizations benefit the most when they keep a so-called controversies in the public domain. They win because they can demand advertising dollars when the demonstrate to advertisers that they have the greatest set of eyes balls watching their newscast. It really doesn't matter if the controversy is about Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama. It is all about the advertisers and that they see a return on their money.

Thank you Mayor Nutter for giving me this opportunity to explain the role of the media in the political process.

For the record, I didn't vote for Sen.Clinton, Sen. Obama nor Sen. McCain because I wanted a full view of the campaign.