Be seen, or you are a nobody

THEIRS is a life above the mundane, their every move often recorded in the society pages of magazines and newspapers. Men in black, women wearing fabulous gowns attending fabulous parties Great Gatsby-style.

This is the lifestyle of the rich and famous so well chronicled in the New York Social Diary, a website that has now become almost de rigueur for those keen to follow the circle.

David Patrick Columbia, the man behind newyorksocialdiary.com, has been writing about New York society for almost 15 years.

He gets hundreds of invitations to dazzling parties, mostly sent out by people seeking publicity on the site.

For example, Frocks, Rocks & Cocktails: An Evening of Glamour & Wine is an event about fashion, gems and cocktails; in March, there'll be the Mad Hatters Tea Party in West Palm Beach, Florida, where women attending the benefit would wear their wildest hats.

Journalists often seek Columbia’s comments on what the Who’s Who are doing on the social scene.

He knows people from A to Z. The Hiltons, for example. Columbia has stories to share about their daughter Paris, whom he already knew when she was a mere 14-year-old.

“She didn’t do anything then except pose for pictures,” he said. In her early days, she would spend the summer with her sister Nicky in the Hamptons (a New York playground for the moneyed). “She was always willing to have her picture taken.”

One socialite who is gaining much attention these days is 39-year-old Gillian Miniter. “She’s getting involved in a lot of philanthropic organisations,” he explained.

As Columbia noted, philanthropic work has become an important device to get recognised. “It increases their standing in society.”

A check with The New York Times archives showed that Miniter, married to an investment banker, once spent US$3,500 (RM11,550) on a Hermès bag.

The New York Social Diary, which began seven years ago, gets about 500,000 unique visitors and 1.5 million page views each month.

That’s remarkable, considering that it encountered technical hitches initially which pushed co-founder Jeffrey Hirsch into going out to buy a “For Dummies” guide on how to go on the Internet just three days before its launch date.

Columbia and Hirsch are also editor-in-chief and associate editor, respectively, of Quest magazine, which reports about “New York from the inside”.

“The Diary has readers from all over the world, including Malaysia,” Hirsch said. The fascination was partly due to people’s interest about the lives of the rich and the powerful, he said.

“And a lot of people come to New York to pursue power and fame.”

New York, in short, is a very ambitious city. People generally are curious about the privileged set because they, at one time or another, dream of, and aspire to, such a life.

Readers also check out the Diary because they love the Big Apple and want to take a peek into its social life.

“There is a romantic notion of the city, which is part of its allure,” Hirsch said.

Columbia said the Diary appealed to a very broad demographics that included age and nationality.

“We try not to leave people out,” he said, pointing out that the Diary published a photo of the four housekeeping staff who cleaned their hotel rooms during their visit to Abu Dhabi in October last year when they were guests of the government at a conference that was attended by 16 Nobel laureates.

To the Diary, the housekeeping staff were witnesses to life on the fast lane.

“The Diary is very democratic. We want to include everybody,” said Hirsch.

But as expected, a picture speaks a thousand different words to different people.

“One woman, who isn’t fat at all, complained to us that her arm looked fat in one photo that we published. She thought we did it on purpose and wanted the photo removed,” said Hirsch.

Another woman, who just went through plastic surgery, did not want the Diary to use a previous photo of hers that would have portrayed her in her “former” look.

How do they handle such complaints?

“It depends on the circumstances. Sometimes we say we’re sorry,” he said. “We are not out to hurt people.”

Generally, most of the people they encountered were nice and pleasant.

“Some of the younger ones can be a bit snooty, but not the older set because these people understand the importance of our work,” Hirsch said.

Besides, the socialites know that they have to be nice, or at least fake it, as they would want to be liked, he added.

The glamour aside, attending all these fantastic parties is just part of the job.

“He has more stamina than me,” Hirsch laughed, pointing to Columbia.

Columbia responded: “We have deadlines. It can be stressful. Going to a party is just the beginning. I would have to write the stories, giving readers a feel that they were there as well.”

So, where are some of the places to be seen at in Gotham? Current hotspots include The Box, The Beatrice Inn and The Waverly Inn.

The term socialite is very much overused, according to Columbia. At the end of the day, it is all about socialising.

“You’ve got to go out a lot. In the New York scene, it’s all about going out. If people don’t see you, they won’t know you. It’s for men and especially women who want to seek that kind of attention.”

Election fatigue

NEWS travels in herds, but that does not mean every American is caught up in the whirl of election stories that dominate every headline these days.

A broadcast journalist went around showing photographs of Republican and Democratic contenders to the man-in-the-street recently. Not surprisingly, most of the people he approached could barely identify the candidates, except for the few prominent ones.

Faces of contenders such as Democrat Bill Richardson and Republican Ron Paul remain alien to the ordinary folk; never mind that Richardson is the first Hispanic seeking the presidential nomination, and the 72-year-old Paul created a record in raising US$6mil (RM19.6mil) on the Internet for his campaign.

(Richardson has since pulled out of his bid for the Oval Office after faring poorly in the Iowa and New Hampshire rounds.)

Polls have shown that a number of Americans are fed-up with the daily diet of political stories. To them, there is still a long way to go, election day being 11 months away. Americans pick their 44th president on Nov 4.

A survey last month conducted by The New York Times / CBS News on 1,028 people found that 54% remained inattentive towards opinion polls about the candidates.

About 80% declared that they hardly paid any attention to the campaign. To another question, 60% said they were less enthusiastic about voting.

In New York City, where there is reportedly a Starbucks every 0.05 square kilometres, the hurly-burly of politics is not everyone’s cup of coffee.

“I don’t follow this presidential race closely. I lost interest after the 2000 fight between George W. Bush and Al Gore,” said D.K., a Wall Street executive. Bush’s narrow victory over Gore led to a stalemate that was only broken by a court ruling.

At work, his colleagues seldom discussed the current race to the White House, he said.

“If we do touch on the subject, it would mostly be on how any new monetary policies would affect the stock market.”

The complexity of the US election process creates even less ripple.

Despite the non-stop coverage of the Iowa caucuses on Thursday last week, many people would be hard pressed to explain the term. To make matters more confusing, Republican and Democratic caucuses do not work the same way.

“I’m not sure what it is. We did not learn it in school last time,” D.K. said.

Indeed, a quick check with several students in the ninth and 11th grades found that they were not taught this in school. A 17-year-old pre-college girl also replied “no” to the query.

“It depends on which school you attend,” said medical editor Geoff Marx. In fact, his 10-year-old son had just completed an assignment for his social studies class on what takes place during a caucus.

The long and the short of it: A caucus is a local-level meeting of party members to determine the support for each candidate.

Marx is one of those who have no problems explaining the election process.

“I am fascinated by it,” he confessed. However, he acknowledged the intricacies in the system.

“It can be a bit crazy,” he added with a laugh.

He has been following the White House race mostly through the radio.

“I don’t read the blogs so much. And TV news coverage is packaged more towards entertainment,” he said.

Marx is rooting for John Edwards of the Democratic Party although the former North Carolina senator ended up a poor third in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

“He’s more honest and truthful. His policies are closest to my point of view,” he said.

But Marx, a true-blue Democrat supporter, said he would vote for any candidate from the party.

“I just want to see the Democratic Party win this election,” he said.

He does not mind Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama who, according to The Washington Times, is being protected by 12 Secret Service agents since winning the caucuses in the Hawkeye State last Thursday.

Although he had been getting Secret Service protection since the end of last year, the number of agents assigned to him has increased of late due to fears for his safety as a black contender mounting a serious bid for the White House.

The score is now tied 1-1 between Obama and Clinton. She won in the Granite State (New Hampshire’s nickname) on Tuesday against all political predictions and polls.

The next stops are Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida. Notwithstanding that some people out there are not paying rapt attention, these states will hog the headlines until the end of this month, raising the mercury in the battle for the White House during these winter days.

Chinese hot pots just bubbling over

IN a country where there is a Ronald McDonald for every 21,000 Americans, the story of McDonald’s is that of a fast-food nation.

Similarly, Burger King which has 11,000 outlets throughout the United States and Wendy's, the number three hamburger chain, with 7,000 locations.

But even put together they are outnumbered by Chinese restaurants, which total 43,139, according to Chinese Restaurant News (CRN), a monthly publication distributed to all such eateries in 50 states.

“The number of Chinese restaurants has increased almost 150% since the late 1990s. Many of the recent ones are operated by newly immigrated families,” said CRN editor-in-chief Betty Xie.

California has the highest number of Chinese restaurants at 7,697. The Golden State’s 4.5 million Asians, or 12.4% of its population, is the biggest Asian population in the United States.

New York is number two on the list with 4,902 Chinese restaurants.

“The data is based on our national subscription list,” said Xie.

Almost 87% of the California-based publication is sent out to family-run restaurants.

The Chinese-language CRN, started in 1995, lays claim to being the largest publication focussing solely on American-Chinese restaurants in North America.

According to Xie, there is a huge array of Chinese food available in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Regulars on the menu would be authentic Cantonese fare such as dim sum, claypot servings like pork belly with May-Cai preserves, thousand-year eggs and roast duck rice congee, steamed fish with ginger and scallion, winter melon and pork bone soup, bitter melon and stir-fried beef.

“Also available are regional dishes like Peking Duck (Beijing Pian Pi Ya), Shanghai Shiao-Long soup dumplings, Sichuan Dan-Dan Mein (cold noodle bowl), Sichuan Ma-La (peppery spicy) hot pot, DongBei Jiaozi (Mandarin boiled dumplings) and Beijing Lamb hot pot,” she added.

Xie said Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine would continue to be popular as it was the most recognised Chinese food among the American public.

Shanghainese delicacies are getting very popular, too.

“One major reason is the rise of Beijing and Shanghai on the global investment map. These cities are experiencing fast economic growth and their cuisine is getting popular outside of China.”

What is the next trend in Chinese food here?

“More Chinese restaurants are becoming aware of fusion food and there are more high-end fine dining Chinese restaurants now compared with 20 years ago.”

Xie believes there will also be more family-operated chains and restaurants that are run on a bigger scale.

She noted that take-outs and food court units were not so popular 10 years ago.

“However, we have seen great success in the supermarket food counter offering family food packages like take-home and reheat meals. Some call it the ‘home meal replacement’ trend.”

But despite the wide availability of Chinese food, it is not the most popular vote among American diners seeking a taste of Asia.

Japanese food is.

“Sushi, especially, succeeds in its artful presentation, simple food ingredients and consistent standard in taste and quality. All these factors need to be established in Chinese restaurants in the United States,” Xie explained.

She said that many American-Chinese restaurateurs had noted the “trade secrets” of Japanese eateries.

“They have made culinary trips to China to bring back know-how.”

But perhaps there is another setback, as pointed out by Nina and Tim Zagat, founders of the popular restaurant guide that bears their name.

“Getting ingredients is no longer an issue. Instead, the principal obstacle to improving Chinese fare here is the difficulty in getting visas for skilled workers since Sept 11,” they said in a June article in The New York Times.

They also observed that while the quality of other Asian cuisine such as Korean, Thai and Vietnamese had soared, “the Chinese restaurant experience is the same tired routine – unimaginative dishes served amid dated, pseudo-imperial décor.”

Nevertheless, it is still chow down time in America.

Bloomy's done ok for NY

HE is Bloomy in the wonderful, wicked world of tabloid headlines.

“Bloomy Blasts Immigration Critics in China Speech”: That’s New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg being referred to by the New York Post when the daily reported about his trip to Shanghai a fortnight ago.

Two months ago, a news story pointed out that Bloomberg, a green advocate, is ironically a big producer of carbon dioxide himself through his constant travel by plane as well as his ownership of several cars and houses.

The heading? “Bloomy Amasses Gas”.

(Although he reportedly takes the subway to work, a reporter who once “spied” on him for five weeks observed that he took the mass transit only about twice weekly.)

Founder of the Bloomberg LP financial news service, Bloomberg is a billionaire who took over as mayor about three months after the Sept 11 tragedy.

He has, by many accounts, done a number of things right for the city of eight million people although New York isn’t always running high on optimism.

“I don’t see much difference, actually. He has even lowered the standard of schools to make their performances look better,” said native New Yorker Elizabeth Barton, an advocate of better living standard for the public.

Neither was she happy with what she saw as neglect of the police department despite its tag as “New York’s Finest.”

“Their starting annual salary is US$25,000. They are among the lowest paid. We are losing many officers to other counties like Nassau and Suffolk,” she said.

Her efforts to contact Bloomberg’s office several times to raise the issue came to naught, she said.

To her, former mayor Rudy Giuliani made a bigger impact on New York although she personally found him arrogant.

“He was very strict on crime. He cleaned up the city,” she said.

Bloomberg’s intention to introduce a congestion pricing where motorists would be charged a fee for using bottleneck areas during peak hours was rather unpopular too.

But Barton acknowledged her approval for Bloomberg’s no-smoking law in restaurants and bars, his tough stance against illegal guns, and the ban on artificial trans fats in all eateries by July 2008.

Others applaud his plans for a Green Apple that call for the planting of one million trees within 10 years, besides adding more parks in the city.

“At the end of the day, he has done quite a good job,” said Lotus Chau who, as chief reporter of Sing Tao Daily, has covered City Hall for the past 10 years.

She described him as efficient although she felt that Giuliani was a tougher mayor.

Last week, Bloomberg held a holiday reception for the press corps at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence which is now used mostly for public functions as he doesn’t live there, opting to stay at his own townhouse.

He joked with the press, besides telling them to continue asking questions that would keep the administration going.

On Christmas Eve, he appeared at City Hall Restaurant where the homeless were served lunch. Bloomberg, a divorcee with two daughters, shared with reporters his Christmas plans with his girlfriend.

When a journalist from Univision, the biggest Spanish TV network in the United States, asked him to offer a Christmas greeting in Spanish, Bloomberg readily obliged.

“His command of the language is quite okay,” said the journalist.

The mayor, who has a weekly radio address that touches on all things New York, has apparently bought a US$45mil townhouse which would act as the headquarters of a foundation that would be part of his philanthropic works once he leaves office in 2009.

Still, talk is swirling whether the 65-year-old Bloomberg would run for president especially when he quit the Republican Party in June, giving credence to speculation that he would battle it out as an independent contender.

He steadfastly denied such talk, saying that he would complete his second term as mayor. The speculation, however, has not died down.

“I don’t think he would run for president. He’s too wealthy and too smart to do so,” political analyst Ari Fleischer told foreign journalists recently.

After all, Time magazine declared him one of America’s five best mayors last year.

An unusual open season in American politics

IT WILL be me. Those were the words from Hillary Clinton’s lips during a TV interview last month, displaying raw confidence of being the Democratic ticket to the White House.

Hillary, in her own words, has not even considered the possibility that she might not be the Democrats’ chosen one.

Will her words prove prophetic? The Iowa caucuses, the first of the nominating contests, takes place 12 days from now.

By end-February, Americans will know who the anointed ones from the Republican and Democratic parties would be. (Thirty states would have made known their choice by “Super Tuesday”, Feb 5.)

Although the red-hot names on the headlines these days are the Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee, the run-up is proving to be “a very unusual open season in American politics”.

“Hillary’s strength is that she is among the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party,” said Ari Fleischer, who was White House spokesman from 2001 to 2003. His views now, he said, were strictly personal and did not represent any party.

In the run for the Democratic nomination, his money is on Hillary. “She is far too strong.”

According to Fleischer, Americans are in a sour mood, unhappy about the economy and the country’s direction.

“A large part of the foul mood is directed against George Bush and the Republican Party,” he said. Hillary can capitalise on this as she is so anti-Bush.

Her downside? “She is seen as too calculated; she will take whatever position that is popular today to win tomorrow.”

Fleischer acknowledged that Hillary had her own unique set of difficulties not because she was a woman, but because she was a polarising figure. “Many Americans have firmed their opinion about her already.”

That, he said, was why Republicans would much prefer her as the rival contender.

“The atmosphere and the country’s mood favour the Democrats in a general election. But if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, it puts the race back to 50-50,” he said.

“So the trick now is how Obama and John Edwards can turn this to their advantage,” he said. They would have to convince the Democrats that they stand a better chance than Hillary to capture the Oval Office.

Dick Morris, a former political adviser to Bill Clinton, wrote: “A lot of voters are backing Hillary because they see her as a winner and they are hungry to throw the Republicans out of the White House.”

But he cautioned in an article titled For Hillary, Electability Now Equals Vulnerability Later that “those who live by their reputation for winning also can die from losing”.

“Already, Hillary is flirting with disaster by maintaining so heavy a reliance on her husband. The more a wife needs her husband to boost her to victory or to handle her opponents, the more voters will impute weakness in her and wonder if she can stand alone as president,” he said.

Based on poll numbers, Fleischer believes that Iowa will be a tight three-way race.

“Anybody can take Iowa. So do not forget John Edwards there. All his eggs are in the Iowa basket. If he doesn’t win there, it will be hard for him to take other states.”

He did not think that endorsements from celebrities would work for the contenders, referring to talk show diva Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Obama.

“It just makes good headlines,” he said.

As pointed out by a commentary in Washington Post, “much of the coverage of Oprah stumping for Obama bordered on gushing.”

“Some reporters confess that they are enjoying Hilary's slippage, if only because it enlivens what had become a predictable narrative of her cruising to victory. The prospect of a newcomer knocking off a former first lady is one heck of a story.”

On the Republican side, Fleischer said that Huckabee’s surge was partly because of a lack of satisfaction among party members over other Republican candidates.

Mitt Romney has to deal with questions about his Mormon faith while “American mayor” Rudy Giuliani has conceded that he isn’t doing well in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina polls (where the selection process takes place first). He is thus turning his attention to other states, starting with the Jan 29 Florida primary.

Fleischer said the two main issues confronting American voters were the economy and security.

“It’s a question of who will keep us safe. Sept 11 has changed the United States dramatically. It brought home vividly how important it is to be tough so that we are not attacked again. This is where foreign policy comes in. Sept 11 reminded us how vulnerable we are.”

Americans, he said, were fed up and tired of both parties. “That is why this election is so volatile.”

Hey, Malaysia is also Asia

GOOD morning Baltimore; every day’s like an open door. So goes the lyrics of a song from the musical Hairspray which was set here, known also as Charm City.

Well, a trade and investment delegation from Malaysia had knocked on those doors, led by Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ng Lip Yong.

He came to this city in Maryland on a mission to sell Malaysia to businessmen here, presenting all the facts and figures about the ties that bind the two countries.

The United States, he told them, was Malaysia’s largest trading partner.

“US statistics on Malaysia’s trade through Baltimore port in 2006 showed that total trade amounted to US$67mil (RM222mil), an increase of almost 17% compared with the previous year,” he said.

Exports from Malaysia to Baltimore totalled US$56mil (RM185.5mil), mostly furniture, wood and rubber products.

Ng noted also that US companies in the surrounding states of Maryland have operations in Malaysia, including Johnson & Johnson, Crest Group, GlaxoSmith Kline, The Boeing Company and W.R. Grace & Co, a chemical and materials company.

Even the weather was a topic.

“Now that it is winter, let me tell you that Malaysia is a sunny place,” he quipped to chuckles from the 130 participants at the Malaysia-US Business Opportunitier seminar on Tuesday.

Ng, however, sure took his job seriously. He arrived in Baltimore on Monday evening and worked on his power point presentation till 3am, he said in an interview later.

“Since it is my first time leading such a mission to the United States, I thought I had better get it right,” he said, and tapping his forehead, added: “My minister would have everything up here.”

That, of course, was in reference to Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz who couldn’t make this trip. The Iron Lady is a figure who looms large in such missions.

US-Asean Business Council senior director Marc P. Mealy, who is well acquainted with Malaysian affairs, assured the Americans that they would find the country a pleasant place to live and work in.

“There are malls for your teenage kids. Designer labels are there, so are Starbucks and golf courses,” he said.

Although Ng explained at length about Malaysia being a moderate Muslim country, (“Look at me, I’m not a Muslim yet I am appointed a deputy minister,” he pointed out) no one brought up the issue during the question-and-answer session.

Perhaps the only “controversial” topic was the National Economic Policy, which Ng acknowledged was frequently raised.

“You have to look at the bigger picture. Some of you may not be agreeable 100% with it. But it has been a stability factor to make sure everyone gets a piece of the pie,” Ng explained.

As Mealy put it, the NEP was affirmative action for the majority.

Other questions touched on a free trade agreement, oil and gas development, the legal system, Islamic financing, the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, and the flow of US goods to Malaysia.

Ieasha Prime, owner of a clothing business, was concerned about labour regulations, to which Ng replied: “I can assure you that there are no sweatshops in Malaysia.”

Almost half of the participants were from the manufacturing sector.

This was Malaysia’s second mission to the United States this year. Rafidah led one to Miami, Florida, earlier.

Malaysian Industrial Development Authority director (New York) Wan Hashim Wan Jusoh said that Baltimore was selected this time because it fitted the profile that Malaysia wanted.

“It has good potential in trade. Also, it is an entry point to the mid-Atlantic region. Its proximity to Washington DC is another plus,” he said.

Besides, there had never been a Malaysian trade mission to Baltimore.

“We try not to repeat the cities that we have covered in the past three years,” he said.

Ng’s task, which ends on Dec 20, has two other stops – Dallas and Portland.

But as pointed out by Mealy, the big boys in the business know about Malaysia already.

“It’s the medium-sized businesses where the focus should be on, as they tend to think of China and India when you mention Asia to them.”

“Malaysia is still not sufficiently known to the average American businessman,” he said.

Seeking blessings from the stars

IT'S the place where stars are born and legends are made. Since 1914, it had been the platform for African-American artistes, who include such superstars as James Brown, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

That’s the Apollo Theatre, located in the heart of what has been described as the “the capital of black America”, Harlem.

“This is the cornerstone of African-American history and culture,” said Leslie Talbot, an educational consultant, referring to the historic landmark.

When Brown, the Godfather of Soul, died last Christmas, a public memorial took place at the Apollo, bringing together countless admirers who wanted to pay their last respects.

Former president Bill Clinton, a big hit among African-Americans, has kept an office near the Apollo since 2001.

So when Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama made an appearance at the theatre last week, it was a political sales pitch that spoke a thousand words.

Although the 46-year-old Illinois senator has the endorsement of talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, polls so far show that more African-Americans back Hillary Clinton.

His fund-raising event, A Night at the Apollo, was also a peek into the Harlem tradition, where gospel music is the hallmark.

The 10-member Harlem Gospel Choir, which has travelled the world to share its music and faith, gave a rousing performance, delivering such numbers as Amazing Grace and I Believe I Can Fly among others amid shouts of “hallelujah”.

The choir members sure knew how to tease the 1,500 people at the Apollo that night to donate to the Obama campaign.

“It gives me great honour to introduce,” one singer announced, “... the next song,” drawing laughter from those who had expected Obama to come on stage then.

Later, a local pastor walked up to the pulpit and prayed for Obama, invoking God’s blessing on him (Harlem, by Wikipedia’s estimate, has about 400 churches).

And as reminded by the emcee that night, Harlem was also a top entertainment centre. So, even as the Obama crowd was working up a frenzy waiting for their political star, performers of all ilk also took to the stage.

Kersten Stevens, a professional violinist, proved what a talent she was in jazz and classical music. She appeared twice to enthral the crowd. Still, the night has not even begun. Apparently, the organiser had a mystery guest, and he brought down the hall when he emerged from behind the curtain.

Comedian Chris Rock cracked everybody up when he asked them to be on the right side of history, because they would be “real embarrassed” if they had backed Hillary ... and Obama won instead.

“You’d say, ‘I had that white lady! What was I thinking?’,” Rock hollered.

He also poked fun at president George W. Bush, saying that his presidency had not let Americans down, because he was “everything that people thought ... and worse.”

“It was like a horror movie,” he continued.

The audience roared.

It was not just the African-Americans who turned up that night. A large number of non-blacks were there too.

Finally, at 9.22pm, the man whose face will grace the Dec 10 cover of Time magazine made his appearance, and was introduced by Rock as “the next president of the United States”.

Obama, who is sometimes said to be “not black enough”, started off by noting that it was a good thing Bush’s name would not be on the ballot paper when Americans go to the polls next year.

“And, the name of my cousin Dick Cheney won’t be on the ballot either,” he said. “We have been trying hard to hide this for a long time; everybody has a black sheep in the family.”

Oh, how the crowd loved that. Cheney and Obama are distant cousins.

Obama was plainly seeking endorsement from the Apollo crowd. Explaining why he wanted to be a part of the amazing race to the White House, he said: “I don’t want to wake up in four years and see that we still have more black men in prison than in college.”

Studies show that in the United States, more black men are behind bars than have been enrolled in colleges and universities.

Obama said he was tired of seeing young black men languishing on the streets without employment.

“I am in this race also because I am tired of reading about Jena,” he said, referring to a racially-charged case where six black teenagers were accused of beating up a white student in Jena, Louisiana, last year.

Pouring on more rhetoric, Obama declared that he no longer wanted to see a blue state or a red state. “I want a United States.”

Outside the Apollo, traders sold T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Black House” depicting the official residence of the US president.

Harlem-born artist R. Harper said: “I came tonight to hear his message. People want real change now.”

She believes he could grasp issues confronting the country now “as he is a person of mixed race himself”.

That night at the Apollo belonged to Obama, seeking to write history as America’s first black president.