April 28, 2008

Political Cartoons

During High School receiving the Sunday paper was a blast. Not only was there an infinite amount of reading, but there was also a complete section of comics. Ever since I read the comics I would look for the political comics that most often bashed our system or president. They are very comical and entertaining to read. I have taken this to the next step and now look at a website entirely about comics that people have submitted. Here are a couple comics from the past couple of weeks that I thought were very clever.




April 20, 2008

YouTube Your Candidates

YouTube is becoming a more intricate part of every person's daily life. Less and less people are watching primetime news and getting their daily dose of news from different Internet sources. I am curious as to how many YouTube videos in the first results page of a search are actually worth watching. Since the cyber community is putting out these videos I don't think the probability of finding any powerful videos are likely, but funny indeed.

After searching "Hillary Clinton" and after reading over much of the titles of the movies and watching a handful there was maybe ONE movie that actually made Hillary look good, but to tell you the truth it is a big stretch to say it makes her look good. However when searching under "Barack Obama" almost all of the movies were positive. There were some of Obama's speeches or interviews. Things that also came up on his search was the "Obama Girl" and "Yes We Can" mashup which are two very popular movies that have been seen by millions. There were also some movies that I remembered them showing before Barack spoke at the Kohls Center. It is clear that Obama is represented highly by the YouTube community.

I am really confused as to why Clinton would be projected so poorly by the YouTube community. Also, I really don't understand how movies are ordered when they are searched. There has to be some way to have the powerful and positive videos of Hillary at the top. I really don't hope that citizens are getting their information about Hillary from this online source because much of the videos just make her look awful. Citizens can get information about Obama from YouTube. However, I don't think YouTube is the greatest place to get information to go out and vote. It could definitely have skewed information that will make you cast a poor ballot.

This is one of my favorite YouTube movies I found.

April 13, 2008

Obama's "Bitter" Comment

A comment made by Barack Obama may have just given Hillary Clinton the opening she needed to propel her back into the Democratic race, coming at a mere essential time as a must win primary for her in Pennsylvania is less than two weeks away. Obama's comment was directed towards the working class when he stated that these small town workers that have lost their jobs are "bitter." Obama's entire comment is as follows, "It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

This simple remark that Obama claims he miss worded have been projected heavily by the Clinton campaign. The Clinton campaign has made Obama look arrogant and elitist in hope to try to hit the swing voters particularly the working class that the comment was directed towards. Clinton supporters have took actions such as handing out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, which has an upcoming primary essential to Clinton as well. Also, supporters from North Carolina have called on Pennsylvania mayors to put down Obama because of these comments, which would definitely be devastating if they listened and took the advice. Clinton has been taking large actions as well going directly to these workers and telling them of what Obama has said about them.

The Democratic party leaders have been indifferent about Obama's comment and some think these comments could be extremely detrimental and called for voters to steer towards Clinton now, even though she is currently losing the race for delegates. I don't know if this is the right thing for these party leaders to do at this point in the primaries. This is just one more example of how the Democratic party is hurting itself by prolonging this primary race.

Obama is even getting hit from John McCain for his comments as being elitist. It is going to be essential for Obama's campaign to immediately diffuse this situation. Obama however is fighting his words saying that they are legitimate because people in these small towns "are angry and feel that they have been left behind."

It was said that for Obama to lose at this point he would have to make a monumental mistake and this might be it. I don't really think that it is still possible for Clinton to logically come back, but you never know. Personally I don’t see how what Obama said about the working class that have lost their jobs as being arrogant. I'm sure that I would be extremely enraged and bitter if I found myself without a job. I really can't speak for these people though since I necessarily am not in their position. What do you think about this comment that Obama has stated?

April 7, 2008

Mark Penn

On April 4, 2008 the Wall Street Journal reported in Clinton Aide Met on Trade Deal that Hillary Clinton's chief presidential strategist, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Columbian officials to have met with the Columbian ambassador of the US to discuss a free-trade deal. The catch here is that this is one of the issues that as a candidate Clinton is opposed to. I'll give you the scoop.

Mark Penn is a CEO at Burston-Marsteller Worldwide a public relations firm and president at Penn, Shoen and Berland a political consulting firm. According to the Wall Street Journal this international communications and lobbying firm already has a contract with this country to promote congressional approval of this trade deal. Under Burston-Marsteller Worldwide Mark Penn met with the Columbia ambassador to the US to discuss this pending free-trade deal. Although Penn was only there taking part in a job and not campaigning this will give a bad wrap for the Clinton campaign, which has campaigned against this deal.

It's quite ironic that Clinton's campaign win in Ohio was credited to Obama's raised doubts on the North American Free Trade Agreement. With trade agreements being one of the most tested issues between these two candidates, this action taken by a campaign leader could prove damaging in the upcoming votes. It wasn't right for Mark Penn to form opinions on two sides of an issue to appease both parties and it bit him last week when reality hit him.

Mark Penn reported to having a meeting with the Columbian ambassador in respect to the trade deal and is making a good decision and stepping down from his position in Clinton's campaign. CNN reported that Mark Penn called his meeting "an error of judgement" and in reponse the Columbian government fired him from their pending agreements due to a "lack of respect towards Columbians." So basically he lost everything by trying to please everyone.

My question to you is: Do you think that the Democratic party is hurting itself by prolonging their presidential candidate campaign and finding harmful things about both candidates? Since McCain has had his spot wrapped up early in the Republican race do you think not hearing about him as much is good for him?