February 24, 2008

Current News

-Obama is definitely on a roll now leading Clinton in response to a string of victories. The delegate race is still close between Obama (1319) and Clinton (1250) to the coveted 2025. Super Tuesday II is coming on March 4 and will inevitably carve the path in each race.

-The Republican race has for a while now been mathematically over but we still see Huckabee on the ballot. If you didn't get to see Saturday Night Live last night, Huckabee was a guest and he actually made fun of himself at his current stance in the race. I thought the funniest part was when he stated that he still had a chance in the race because he could still earn superdelegates. But if you are an educated person about the current election it is clear that he will never earn a single superdelegate because the Republican Party race doesn't have them. I really like that Huckabee is being McCain's fly in this race, but he will be dropping out after McCain secures the Republican bid on March 4.

-With the Wisconsin primary now over I know that many of you have seen a barrage of advertisements for Obama and Hillary. I am very surprised with the successfulness of both candidates’ advertisements. The two advertisements below are the two most successful and talked about.

Barack Obama



This Obama ad is extremely successful due to the fact that he actually instills you with the sense that he can change the world.

Hillary Clinton



This is by far my most favorite political advertisement I have ever seen. It is very successful because you don't actually realize that it is a political advertisement until half way through it. It hooks blue-collar workers into the advertisement and then they will keep watching the advertisement and figure out what she believes.

-If you haven't already heard, Ralph Nader entered the presidential election today as an independent. Nader definitely played a large role in the 2000 election and many Democratic Party members are lashing out at his choice to join this year's election. Nader took many of the votes away Al Gore that would have inevitably propelled him to President instead of George Bush. Nader stated in the 2000 election that he ran because there wasn't much of a difference between George Bush and Al Gore, which looking back 8 years he was completely wrong. Although this is the case Nader should not make too much of a difference in this election. He took 2.7 percent of the popular vote in 2000, but only 0.4 percent in 2004. In 2000 Nader stressed views that weren't stressed by the other two candidates such as lobbying and corporate influence in the government, which have since been picked up by Obama. If Obama wins the Democratic bid Nader will not be much of a distraction to the Democratic Party as he holds the views that Nader shows his uniqueness. Nader is in this election hoping that Clinton will win the bid and in effect taking many of the Democratic Party voters that are Obama enthusiasts.

-Florida and Michigan were recently disenfranchised of the Democratic race due to their illegal action of moving up their primary dates. Both states were stripped of the delegates won by Hillary Clinton. Clinton is now pitching that since she won these delegates she should be granted with them. Barack Obama wasn’t even on the ballot for Michigan. The Democratic Party definitely hopes that they choose a candidate before the election reaches the convention or this action of the two states could end up in a big mess.

-The Democratic election is definitely heading into a very hostile state. There have been many attacks on Obama from McCain and Clinton that he is all about words and not saying much about his policies he believes in. Also Clinton is attacking him for the false Mailers that were sent out to Texas and Ohio citizens. Clinton must attack Obama in their next debate to have a greater chance of winning in the next staes. She definitely will be aided when the media gets into these attacks on Obama. She really can't win much without the media on her side attacking with all the momentum Obama currently has.

-I can't wait until March 4. If we see Hillary get back into this race with wins in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania there will be so much confusion in the Democratic Party. It is said that if this happens there will be a Democratic paid election in Florida and Michigan to make up for the originally thrown out delegates for these two states. If Clinton doesn't sweep these states the race is inevitably over and we will see Obama earn the bid for the Democratic Party.

February 17, 2008

Obama Rally

On Tuesday February 12 I had a great experience as a volunteer at the Obama Rally in the Kohl Center. I was originally planning on just going to the rally without volunteering until I received a call from my friend that invited me to help. I would never pass up the chance to experience the behind the scenes of a political event and have the chance to get a picture with Barack Obama.

I showed up at the Kohl Center to begin volunteering at about 3:00 and ended up finding about 50 people already in line waiting for the speech that would start about 6 hours later. It's crazy how dedicated some people can be, as to wait that long just to be a little bit closer to the speaker. I am usually content with just being in the building/stadium of any event and not worried about being the closest to the action.

We were lectured a while and then we got to choose which task we were volunteering as. I really wanted to be in charge of taking care of the media, but received my second choice of being an usher. I really didn't have to do much the first 3 hours except watch everyone do their jobs. As soon as the doors of the Kohl Center opened there were hoards of people running to get the closest seat. I was a pretty crazy scene and was definitely not ready to deal with the crowd. I later learned that the section I was to be the usher was for VIP so I actually didn't have to do anything but stand there and make sure no one went in which I definitely was very content about.

After the near 20,000 people got in the building I was relieved and took my seat in the luxury boxes, which we were to sit in and make sure no one else did. But like usual, no one listened and I soon found myself surrounded by people anxious for Obama's speech. I really never would have expected such a great turnout, but I was extremely pleased to see this initiative out of so many students and other wisonsinites.

When Obama finally started speaking I was amazed. Although he didn't go into depth about his policies he will put through (as expected) his charisma was mesmerizing. I have never heard anyone in my life speek with such heart as Obama did.

After his speech I made my way down to the main floor to hopefully meet with Obama. After hearing that he was in 3 interviews at the time and was extremely tired from traveling from Virginia the same day, I was extremely disappointed, but understood his circumstances. Although I never got a picture with him I did get on CNN and had a great experience of how much work is actually put into one of these political events. I hope all of you were at his rally and really enjoyed it as much as me.

February 10, 2008

Your Candidates

Super Tuesday was an adventurous day with the Republican race mathematically over (McCain in the driver's seat) as Romney stepped down the next day, but the Democratic bid still up for grabs with a basic split of delegates. With Obama sweeping the weekend though, he has inched ever so closely to Clinton in the democratic race, where he finds himself only 27 delegates behind. After the weekend votes, Obama is now over Clinton in the pledged delegates for the convention, while Clinton still holds the superdelegate edge. With the Democratic race so close and our primary on the 19th it would be helpful to meet the candidate's thoughts on a few main issues surrounding our nation at this time.

HILLARY CLINTON



BUDGET AND ECONOMY
- put 30 billion dollars in an emergency housing fund to help with the rising foreclosures
- a 90 day suspension on subprime foreclosures to work with the mortgage companies and large financial banks in order to keep people in their homes
- freeze interest rates for 5+ years to help stop rising mortgages that some may not be able to pay in the future
- put 25 billion dollars in an emergency energy fund for rising energy bills, in effect lowering cost of commodities
- stimulate unemployment insurance with 10 billion dollars
- put 5 billion into alternative and more efficient energy, which she says may create 5 million new jobs with clean renewable energy while combating global warming

IRAQ
- originally voted for the use of military in Iraq, but that "if we know now what we knew then" she would have voted differently
- voted for spending bill that would have withdrawn most troops by March 2008
- opposed Bush's plan to increase amount of troops in Iraq
- supports phased redeployment
- with the Iraqi government given everything they needed for a bright future, she would withdraw troops in a careful manner of 1 to 2 combat brigades per month.
- this would get the Iraqi government actively thinking about tough decisions instead of the current unactive stance without us withdrawing troops
- also engage diplomatically with other countries in the region
- best way to force Iraq to make decisions is to show them that we are on our way out

ENVIRONMENT
- would develop a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012, which is basically an agreement by every country who ratified it to reduce greenhouse gases by 5% of 1990 levels (ironically we are the last to ratify this agreement)
- focus attention on international deforestation
- move towards energy independence towards more renewable sources
- place market cap on trading to reduce carbon emissions
- she states that with fuel efficiency, fuel standards and her proposal, that the US will contribute 80% less than it had in 1990 towards global warming
- opposes drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- believes that not dealing with global warming will wreck economy and undermine the standard of living around the world
- it doesn't have to be a choice between the economy and global warming; proposes to fund energy and climate research by taking away from tax subsidies for the oil companies and putting them to work on alternative energy (people can make living doing this in America without outsourcing)

BARACK OBAMA


BUDGET AND ECONOMY
- have a short term stimulus of 250 dollars as a tax rebate for workers totaling 35 billion dollars
- have a short term stimulus of 250 dollars as a supplement for senior's Social Security check totaling 10 billion dollars
- there would be 45 billion dollars immediately going to Americans, but if we continued to see a drop in employment and other indications of further recession there would be additional dollars put in our pockets
- long term there will be a working out of the tax quota that currently burdens working families while giving tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations that find the many loopholes
- invest in education and energy independence
- these long term programs would be paid entirely by the government
- would rather jump start economy than try to balance budget or be stingy on stimulus package

IRAQ
- voted for spending bill that would have withdrawn most troops by March 2008
- opposed Bush's plan to increase amount of troops in Iraq
- supports phased redeployment
- once called for troop withdrawal to begin in by the close of 2006
- will bring troops home within 16 months
- will finish fight against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, which is where we should have focused attention in the beginning
- doesn't just want to end war, but change mindset that got us into war by negotiating with our enemies (Hillary strongly opposed this in one of their debates)

ENVIRONMENT
- would implement an economy wide trade cap to reduce greenhouse gases to scientific recommended levels, charging every bit of pollution that is sent into atmosphere
- this will create a market so that people can make money by saving the environment
- "there is nothing we can not do if the ingenuity and creativity of American's is harnessed"
- make US the world leader in global effort by leading an international partnership on climate change
- would establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard to increase fuel efficiencies on cars
- create a program to help export healthier climate technologies to the developing countries in the world
- create incentives for management in0 sustaining forests globally
- also would create incentives to forest owners and farmers that plant trees and undertake other practices that help in capturing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere
- if we cap the emissions of greenhouse gases, power plants will have to change equipment and in effect charge more to consumers so we will each have to make small steps in making our houses more energy efficient

If anyone has any questions with terminology or anything at all I will be glad to answer. Also if there are any other issues you believe are important please let me know. I will also be talking about the Republican candidates later this week.

I strongly urge everyone to learn more about the Democratic candidates by going to meet with Chelsea Clinton Monday from 3:30-4:30 at the Memorial Union in the Second Floor Lounge or listen to Barack Obama at the Kohl Center on Tuesday where doors open at 6:15.

February 3, 2008

An Educated Vote

Now that the Super Bowl is over and another football season has come to a close I need something that I can follow. This is the first time that I will be able to vote for President and it may be for some of you as well. I know that when I converse with my close friends from time to time about the current primaries and caucuses that are taking place I am left in silence or a blunt "Why should I care?" My response is usually something pertaining to George Bush's current presidency.



Many young adults and other stubborn Americans have a simple notion that they shouldn't even bother voting because the chance that they would win the lottery may remarkably be better than the chance of a complete tie in their state. I know that this statement makes a great point, but if the entire community of "voters" that have this notion would actually vote, elections could actually be drastically different, such as the state of Florida in 2000.

The fact that more and more people are voting every election is a good sign of our country becoming more active. More than this though, I hope that all of these voters are well educated about all the candidates so that they are making an educated choice and not just choosing a face or a name. My hope is that by presenting candidates and their views on certain issues, that I can help you and also myself cast a meaningful educated vote.

Below are the current candidates still running for their respective party and links to their candidacy page.

DEMOCRATS
Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama

REPUBLICANS
Mike Huckabee
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney

NOTE: After Super Tuesday, February 5th, there may be a clearer look to each party's race.