Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the all-time leading scorer in the NBA, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Friday's Hardball with Chris Matthews.

"I think Sen. Obama is a very good choice," Abdul-Jabbar said. "I was very impressed [with] his knowledge of the issues and the fact that throughout his lifetime he has been a consensus builder and someone who can build bridges to different segments of America society. I think that's something we need at this point."

Is America ready for an African-American president? Abdul-Jabbar said it was time to "test the water."

"If Sen. Obama can get the confidence of the Democratic party, and get them to believe in him, I think he has an excellent chance of winning."

Race has taken center stage in the Democratic primary this week, after Sen. Joe Biden described Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who’s articulate, bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Biden explained his comments on Thursday's Hardball.

"I'm glad he managed to do some damage control," Abdul-Jabbar said of Biden. "I still think highly of him. Sometimes we get our foot caught in our mouth no matter how hard we try not to. He dealt with it. I respect him."

BASKETBALL LEGEND THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND OBAMA
Posted: Friday, February 02, 2007 5:49 PM by Hardball
http://hardblogger.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/02/48752.aspx

But rarely have celebrities and musicians banded together to create new music in the heat of a presidential campaign.

The Black Eyed Peas' frontman, songwriter and producer known as will.i.am, along with director and filmmaker Jesse Dylan, son of another socially active musician, Bob Dylan, released a new song Friday that attempts to do just that.

The music video includes excerpts from the Obama speech and appearances from a range of celebrities including: Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta and Nick Cannon.

New Celeb-Filled Music Video for Obama Song from Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am Inspired by Obama Speech Feb. 2, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4231523