THE WASHINGTON REVIEW & COMMENTARY: Weekly News From The White House

I was shocked when I heard those words “acquitted” and “R. Kelly” in the same sentence last Friday. While in the midst of this shock, I was completely shook when following that pronouncement, the news of Tim Russert’s sudden death hit the news within minutes. I couldn’t think about R. Kelly at that time.

But, I am about to weigh in my two cents right about NOW.

Well, Kelly has a second chance to redeem himself. He can walk away from this and over haul his life. Or he could go back to doing what it is that WE ALL know that he has been doing for the past decade or so. For me, it all started with Aaliyah. The marriage that never happened until Detroit DJ John Mason went to the courthouse and found proof of it. She was fifteen at the time. Her family quickly had this marriage and relationship annuled. And that was that.

But this was only the beginning.

I never watched the tape of him doing the unthinkable. Or allegedly. I left that to those who chose to get their rocks off or who loved to wallow in the degradation of minors and other perverts. However, based on his previous track record, I was more than certain that Kelly was guilty. To many outside and in the jury room, I reckon, they felt or feel the same. Still, R. Kelly is walking amongst us as free any one has the right to be.

Yet, I have to say that the thing that bothers me the most about R. Kelly is that if he was so darn innocent, why did he pay his attorneys tons upon tons of loot to stall the judicial process for six years? That makes absolutely zero sense to me. If a brotha is innocent, wouldn’t he want to prove that as soon as humanly possible? Why would a superstar choose to have his name unceremoniously raked and dragged through the mud for years without doing something about it?

Well, R. Kelly dodged a bullet, I know this. I hope that he gets the psychological help that he needs. I also hope that he looks at O.J. and recognizes that if he DOESN’T get help and change his alleged ways, he will be back in the hot seat again. AND…it doesn’t look too good for that brotha either.

Scandal plagued Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced today that he would not be attending the rally to be held for presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama tonight. Mayor Kilpatrick, in a press conference held Monday afternoon, stated that the decision to not attend the Obama rally was strictly his “choice.”

Was it? Claiming to have a “good relationship” with Barack Obama that includes numerous of “phone conversations,” and a “ten hour conference” with Obama and his campaign organizers, Mayor Kilpatrick worked overtime trying to convince the Detroit public that even though he has this ‘nightmare text message soap opera’ hanging over his head, he and Barack Obama are the best of friends. And it is because of this ‘firendship’ that he has chosen not to taint the rally with his presence.

What a crock of crap! That ten hour conversation that Kwame Kilpatrick and the Obama camp had was nothing more than a negotiating session. Kwame wanted to come to the rally and Obama’s camp said don’t even bother. With good reason, too! Who would want a blatant liar and extortionist of millions of tax dollars out of the citizens of Detroit’s pockets associated with the front-runner in the campaign for the highest office in the country? When selfish, self-serving Mayor Kilpatrick insisted that he show his face, that is when the negotiating began.

Also, lets not forget the fall-out Barack had to suffer over his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. All Senator Obama needs is to breathe the same crusty air that Kwame does and it will be all over! The Republicans are certainly poised to pounce over even the tiniest misstep on Obama’s part.

I mean, really. This rally has been planned and over planned for months. Detroit pulled off the event of a lifetime a few years ago…The Super Bowl…so a rally at an arena is not a ten hour conversation. It is my opinion, and only my opinion that some kind of deal was made. I think that Barack Obama is a cool guy, but that Kwame…well lets just say that it wasn’t his “Choice” to not attend the most important rally in Detroit history since the visit of Dr. Martin Luther King where he made his “I Have A Dream” speech …two weeks before he revisited it in Washington. Obama and Kwame are politicians. They know the game and how it is played.

So it will be interesting to see how all this plays out if: Obama is elected President AND if by some miracle Kwame Kilpatrick is not behind bars.