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Post-Election Thoughts and Wrap-Up

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Alright – so Barack Obama won just like everyone thought that he would. No surprise there. Also, the Democrats took the large majorities that everyone thought they would in both the House and the Senate. No surprises there, either. Congratulations to Barack Obama for winning the election – it was a long contest that, thank God, is now over.

Speaking of the long contest, here are some of my thoughts about the election now that it is over.

The Campaign was Too Long!
America is exhausted. I know that Obama ran as a reformer and a healer, but the best thing that could ever happen to this country is the election being over! Campaigns and candidates have become too partisan. Americans need to reject politicians who begin their Presidential campaigns YEARS in advance of the election. We can’t take this amount of bullshit for this amount of time. The election of 2008 will go down in the history books for a variety of reasons, but as long as I continue to teach American government, I will teach students about the negative effects of an 18 to 24 month Presidential campaign.

Fix the F*&$^% Voting System Already
How in God’s name can we have a two year Presidential campaign AND be eight years out from the 2000 debacle and NOT have a better voting system yet? How is it that college campuses can manage to run their entire operations via secure databases, yet we can’t run local elections on similar systems? Some colleges use an online voting system that absolutely cannot be cracked for stupid elections like Homecoming King and Queen. And we can’t figure out a local, regional, and/or national system for harnessing the power of the internet in our voting? Give me a break.

Sarah Palin Destroyed by the Media
Once again – as long as I continue to teach American government to college students, I will be sure to talk about how vile the media coverage was of Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin. The bias in the media when covering these two women is that worst type of bias – the type where neither the media nor the public even recognize it on its face. For example, how can you ask a female candidate how she’ll be able to raise her children if she’s elected? What type of bullshit is that?! Not one reporter asked that question to Barack Obama, John McCain, or Joe Biden. And the whole flap about Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe (which wasn’t really hers) was just about as biased and outlandish as you can get.

What is the best part about the media’s bias against women? For me, it’s the fact that Palin will likely run for the Republican Presidential nomination at some point in the near future and (depending on who she runs against) she’s likely to win it. And you know what happens next? Well, let’s just say that I think a Palin Presidential ticket has a better chance to succeed than a McCain Presidential ticket ever had – and you see how many votes McCain got this time around. Same story for Hillary, too. Take THAT biased media!

More on the Media – In the Tank for Obama
The right wing has been beating up the New York Times and MSNBC (among others) for being what they call “in the tank” for the Obama campaign. Guess what? The right wing is correct on this issue. The way that biased commentators like Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman swooned over Obama during a time when they were supposed to be unbiased newscasters (Democratic National Convention coverage) was horrible. Yes, Barack Obama won the election, but did you know that there were newspapers and magazines that called the election in his favor as early as November 1st? America’s print and broadcast media are dead. Thank God for the internet.

The New York Times commented on the vast ideological differences between the FOX News Channel and MSNBC on Sunday. And to that biased paper’s credit, they included the following paragraph:

But within that universe, the study found, the share of positive reports on Mr. McCain at Fox News was above the average of the news media at large, and the share of negative reports about Mr. Obama was higher, too. (The study found that the mix of positive and negative was roughly equal for them on Fox.)

That paragraph deserves more than the quick drive-by that author gives it. In fact this is a study by the Pew Research Center and – to further prove how the New York Times is biased and FOX News reports the facts – I’m going to use a blurb from a FOX News online article to help explain Pew’s results:

The independent Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at coverage in the six weeks following the conventions through the final debate and found on FOX News 40 percent of stories on John McCain were negative, while 40 percent of stories on Obama were also negative.

In contrast, on MSNBC the study found that 73 percent of stories on McCain were negative while Obama received just 14 percent negative coverage on that channel.

Why didn’t the New York Times article cite those numbers specifically? I give them credit for briefly mentioning the results, but when FOX News gives an equal percentage of time to negative stories for each candidate, can you really trust the New York Times when they call this, “the share of positive reports on Mr. McCain at Fox News was above the average?” Above the average? So in the New York Times’ mind if you’re not consistently bashing McCain and the Republicans, you’re “above the average?”

Once again – America’s print and broadcast media are dead.

Those are some preliminary post-election thoughts. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Wednesday Night’s RNC Speeches – Palin Overwhelms

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Governor Sarah Palin absolutely overwhelmed the Republican National Convention last night with one of the best speeches of this political season. What was impressive about this was not just her amazing poise, grace, and precision in delivering the speech, but the fact that it followed a rousing series of former Presidential candidates who threatened to steal the show! Mayor Rudy Giuliani hit a major homerun with his speech much like President Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention last week.

I would equate the Huckabee and Romney speeches to the brilliance of Senator Hillary Clinton’s speech at the DNC. They were powerful, effective, and served their respective purposes.

The talking heads on television kept repeating that “a star was born” during Palin’s speech. One of the channels had Howard Wolfson (former leader in the Hillary Clinton campaign) who suggested that Barack Obama bring his A-game to combat the McCain-Palin ticket. In fact, Wolfson had nothing but positive words to say about Palin to the extent that it was almost awkward.

Palin’s line of the night: “Some people use change to advance their careers, others use their careers to advance change.” WOW! Talk about knocking home a grand slam! That line will probably be the best line to come out of the entire convention and possibly this entire campaign (on both sides). Amazing – absolutely gorgeous speech writing.

Now, whether you agree with that ideology or not is up to you, but I thought Governor Palin’s speech was perfect. And I’m glad that those stupid Greek columns were bashed – man, I hated those things!

But let’s not overlook Rudy and his contribution tonight. He made such a great speech that I was very concerned about anyone’s ability to follow him. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand and even his off-the-cuff comments were dead on accurate. The most memorable part of his speech had to be when he mentioned that Senator Barack Obama was a community organizer and he giggled afterwards – drawing a similar reaction from the crowd. His comment of, “What?” was the perfect accent to the crowd’s reaction.

However, I’m not very comfortable with people bashing the concept of being a community organizer. I actually DO know what a community organizer is and what they do on a daily basis and it’s a much-needed occupation in many of the downtrodden places of our nation. That said, I’ve seen and worked with a large number of community organizers in my current and previous careers and organizing communities is NOT a good foundation to build a Presidential campaign on. Granted, the Obama folks have never made this claim, but the Republicans have masterfully made his previous occupation an issue. Good move.

All in all I think the Republicans have had a great convention even though it got off to a slow start. And I can’t reiterate enough how showstopping Governor Palin was in her speech. Brilliant.

Hillary Clinton Swings it Home in Denver

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Like every other political wonk out there, I watched New York’s Senator Hillary Clinton give a great speech during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. The goal of this speech was for Senator Clinton to show her unyielding support for Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy and I think she did just that – and did it in grand style. Many of the talking heads on the television talked about how Hillary’s speech put herself in front of Obama on a variety of policy issues. I disagree. I think that she said as clear as she could possibly say it – she supports Barack Obama for President.

Yes, her speech was lacking a lot of flowery language and poetic verse. But folks, Hillary isn’t Obama. Senator Obama gets on the stage and sounds like the modern day Mark Twain, yet says nothing in the process. Sure, he’s someone that is probably fun to listen to live, but he gives no indication on what his specific course of action will be if he is elected as President.

For those of you who expected a flowery speech from Hillary – you’re nuts. Flowery speeches are reserved for those political figures who are on their way out (think Senator Edward Kennedy in 1980 – YouTube it if you’ve not heard it). Poetic speeches are reserved for those who will not run for higher office again and you KNOW Hillary is going to run for President again!

All in all, I was pleased with Hillary’s speech. I’m having a major problem with the DNC, though. It seems like it’s a good time out in Colorado, but I’m not able to get that feeling in my living room. By matter of contrast, both the Republican and Democratic conventions in 2004 brought a palpable excitement into many homes around the nation. This year the Democratic convention is missing that electricity. I think it’s because there are no specific policies being explained in detail (and if they are being explained, then our biased American media isn’t reporting it).

Here’s hoping the Republican convention has as many good speeches as the Democratic convention has had so far…and that’s it more fun to watch!

The Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado

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For political science junkies, this is the most wonderful time of the year! Or the last four years, to be exact. This week we will be treated to political craziness at its best with the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. I’ve been following the pre-Convocation hype machines on FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC (all emanating from Denver) and it’s been interesting to say the least. Both FOX News and CNN keep asking their Democratic guests about the logic in choosing Senator Joe Biden as Senator Barack Obama’s running mate while the fish at MSNBC keep flopping around like crazy about how great Obama/Biden will be for the country.

Personally, I’m a fan of Biden, but for the wrong reasons. I like the fact that he speaks his mind and seems like a regular guy in terms of telling people to go F themselves. I also like the fact that he isn’t afraid to say, “Person A is a complete moron. Don’t listen to them because they don’t know what they’re talking about!” That’s candor for you!

But as much as I enjoy watching the political conventions (there will be more insanity when the Republican National Convention takes place), I always hate what comes with these events. For example, as I was flipping from CNN to FOX yesterday I caught a bunch of protesters on FOX News chanting, “Fuck FOX News! Fuck FOX News!” This was their response to a FOX reporter who was asking them what they were protesting about and if they could justify their stance. That type of childish, grade school activity is unnecessary and strongly detracts from any “cause” these people are trying to push. I’d rather that these protesters come on and give their best shot at answering the question (which one older man tried to do to no avail – he made no sense).

Anyway, the big story of the week will be how the Clintons interact with the delegates at the convention. Will Senator Hillary Clinton use her speech to focus on her personal accomplishments and the amazing gains that she’s made for women in national politics? It’s likely, but it’s also well-deserved. Will President Bill Clinton continue his lackluster support for Barack Obama or will he come out of the gate swinging for Obama/Biden? I think we’ll see Hillary continue her support for Obama and for Bill to talk about the message of hope and change. Nothing ground-breaking from either of them, though.

But be on the lookout for people going over the edge during the conventions (and I’ll repeat this warning when the Republicans begin their show). You’ll hear more lies, half-truths, and spin during a political convention than almost any other time of the year (the day before Election Day being the exception). So sit back, relax, and enjoy political theater at its best!

The Danger of Harping on “Change”

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Unless you live under a rock or you don’t follow politics to any great degree, then you know that the new buzzword in the Presidential campaigns is “change.” The Iowa caucuses and the national polling data all indicate that the people want change from their government. I agree – I want change from my government, too. So far in the campaign the term “change” has largely benefited Senator Barack Obama, though the Republicans and Senator Hillary Clinton are trying to put the concept of change to work for their campaigns.

But I hope someone who is working for their individual campaigns is telling these candidates that winning the Presidency on the concept of “change” is not the best way to win the hearts and minds of the populace in the long-term. Why, you ask? Simple. What does change mean to you?

Think about it. What does change mean to you? Change, to me, means that I won’t be stuck in a position where roughly 35% of my income goes towards paying student loans when I was a straight A student all throughout my academic career. My change means that my desire to trade in my current gas-guzzling SUV for a hybrid car would become a reality in short order (my finances say otherwise). For me, change means that we stop spending hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars on other countries and we redirect that money back into America and American technology. I consider change no longer hearing the right/left bickering in America and, instead, seeing a strong third party or even a third and fourth party rise to break the grip that this double-headed monster has on American politics.

I could go on and talk about how change should mean more tax dollars directed towards upgrading America’s physical infrastructure (roads and bridges) and how change means that local police forces will be mandated to truly serve and protect and not act as a fundraiser for local governments. I would say that change means taking care of unfinished business: i.e. making the accepted language for the last 400 years in the American settlements, colonies, and states the official language of this country. Change should mean that if the United Nations is going to be a feasible world-body, then it should be equitably funded by ALL member countries and it should be corruption free. My concept of “change” means that we – as a nation – will respect every last letter in the Constitution and if that means that the majority of America rules over the minority, then that’s what it means (it’s what it’s supposed to mean!).

There’s so much more that “change” means to me, but this is exactly my point. Any Presidential candidate who embodies change (and Obama embodies it the most right now) will need to have a clearly defined agenda during the second half of this Presidential campaign. Saying “change” will win primaries today and it may win an election tomorrow, but when the American people do NOT see things changing around them, then things can start to get very, very ugly.

What does change mean to you? I’d be interested to know.