Barack Obama: Yes We Did

It's finally over. Perhaps I can actually stop talking about politics for a while. The polls were accurate, and at around 11 pm last night Senator Obama became President Elect Obama in an electoral landslide. A political shift has occurred in this country and our new president is going to be facing challenges that we haven't seen since FDR took office. For better or worse, the United States of America is entering a period of change and after this historic event, we've gone from living in depressing times to exciting ones.

So what's going to happen? Will the race issue get better or worse? Will President Obama get our flailing economy back on track? Will the war in Iraq finally come to a close? I don't know the answer to any of these things. Right now I feel a combination of relief and pride and I believe that last night was something that I'll never forget. It doesn't feel like the Democratic party won last night, it feels like America won last night.

Election Day 2008: It's Time

Go out and vote. Double check which candidate you checked off especially if you're using computerized voting machines. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't vote. Make sure you fill out a real ballot and not a provisional one. Make this election end differently. It's your civic duty.

McCain's Pennsylvania: The Hate-Land

Things are starting to get pretty bad in my home state of Pennsylvania, and I have to say at times I'm disappointed in both sides of the fight. This election is bringing out the worst in everybody and I wish it would just be over with already. But in the case of McCain, he's created a monster with his negative campaigning. Tying Obama to terrorism with lies and Muslim extremism by emphasizing Senator Obama's middle name. This isn't the only video like this out there, and its by no means even the worst example of belligerant McCain supporters, but since it took place in Pennsylvania which is where I live and where I believe this election will be decided it's the one I chose to include. It's scary really, its like watching people come out of the shells of their normal daily lives to give a brief peek at who they really are deep down inside, and it isn't pretty.

I think Colin Powell put it best when he made his endorsement, what if he was a Muslim? So what? That sort of speaks for itself. All of a sudden Muslims can't be Americans? Another video showed the McCain campaign in a more positive light, where McCain party officials came out to silence anti-Muslim McCain supporters. Unfortunately that's not the case here. This isn't just a fringe of McCain supporters as he wants us to believe, this is an entire string of Pennsylvanians being disrespectful and at times down-right offensive and even racist. It makes my blood boil that people like this can exist in an civilized country, let alone my own country, and even my own state. Worse yet, it's all done under the guise of being a patriotic "Real American" as if it's some kind of free-pass to be a bigotted, ignorant asshole.

Now I understand the context of this video isn't 100% fair. Nobody likes to be confronted by protesters they don't agree with, and some people just don't like protesters in general, but we have a constitutional right to do so. It's kind of funny how a lot of these people are all for the second ammendment but if it was up to them the first, a much more important ammendment, would be done away with. If they were for the moral values they say they are they'd turn the other cheek, but they'd rather create drama. What's worse is they're doing so on camera. These aren't comments they make in private (I'm sure those are far worse), these are comments they're not ashamed to be caught on film saying.

Honestly I don't care if you vote for McCain or Obama. Your judgement and your world view may be completely different than mine. The problem is that demonstrations like this are showing more and more that it's hate fueling some of these votes and not facts or issues and that's what scares me. And as stated the McCain campaign is partially to blame for this even if McCain has tried to tone it down and confront these people, it's too late for that now. I'm seeing shades of the 1960's and honestly that's a decade I really don't feel this country needs to repeat. It's like some of these elderly people put the time of their life and their mentality before the civil rights movement into a deep corner of their pockets, waiting for this day when they could pull it out again. It's gotten to the point where I honestly fear for Barack Obama's life if he wins this election.

Back in the primaries Obama made what he called "his biggest bone-headed move" when he talked about Pennsylvanians clinging to their guns and God at a campaign stop in California. The truth is it may have been a bad political move, but he was absolutely right. Because of people like this, we're the laughing-stock of the civilized world right now, and to go from the most influential country on the planet to one big joke is a travesty. This needs to end. America needs to change.

Election 2008: The Final Countdown

Hello blog! No I haven't forgotten you. I've just been a combination of busy/lazy/frustrated with the current state of political affairs. A lot has happened in the presidential race since I last blogged about it. A lot of my opinions have changed and since we're in the home stretch this may be the last time I get to talk about it.

In 2004 a man with a funny name gave an incredible speech at the Democratic National Convention and I stated that Barack Obama would be our next Democratic president.

And in 2008, yes, I still support Barack Obama 100%, now maybe even more than ever. Republicans have fought tooth and nail to crush Obama in the last few months and he's somehow stayed ahead in the polls, giving me some hope that most of America is either getting over or getting sick of dirty politics. Obama is the only one offering me the things I need such as good healthcare without worry of being rejected for my pre-existing condition and much needed tax hikes for the wealthy so that we can start balancing the budget and maybe paying off a bit of this ridiculous $10 trillion debt we've racked up. I'm also looking forward to the Democrats restoring some of the regulations that we've been busy repealing since the Reagan years and what's gotten us into this sorry mess of a economy that's spiraling into oblivion and bringing the rest of the world down with it.

As you know if you've read my blog in the past, I wrote that out of all of the Republican candidates running for election that I liked John McCain the most. He was the most liberal candidate, he wasn't afraid to ruffle feathers within his party, and because of all that he seemed like the most likely Republican to run in a post Bush world. He used to be harshly critical of Bush despite his voting record and he seemed to embody the bi-partisan spirit that the United States needs right now.

Well all that's changed. McCain who never really pandered to the evangelicals before was now pandering to the religious right. Absolutely ridiculous attack ads started to pop up such as Barack Obama's association with William Ayers, a former domestic terrorist member of the Weather Underground. Let's just ignore the fact that today he's a successful English professor and a valued member of the Chicago community, even at one time winning a person of the year award. That's okay though, just say that Obama is working with terrorists and don't explain it to make it look like he's done something wrong. So let me get this straight, if I took a class with Ayers would I be a terrorist?

Anyway, a big bomb dropped when McCain announced his candidate for vice president, Alaska governer Sarah Palin. Oh dear God. McCain who said he'd chose someone he was close to and could work with choses a woman he only met twice in his entire life. Now why would he do that I wonder? That's right, to go after angry Hillary Clinton fans or people who will vote for anything involving a vagina because they think they'll be voting for gender equality or some bull. Well I've got news for you, neither McCain or Palin supports equal pay for equal work for women so I wouldn't believe Palin's statements about breaking the glass ceiling. Not only was this obvious and insulting to women voters, but Palin is also an Evangelical and pro-life to get the religious right crowd in line since McCain has never been particularly popular with them. Way to alienate all of the feminist voters in the process. I have a hard time believing John McCain really wanted this woman as his running mate. He's gone from the "maverick" centrist he claimed to be to a simple tool of the Republican party ever since getting their nomination. I guess that was the stipulation.

She delivered a cute lil' ol' country gal speech at the Republican National Convention and for a moment McCain pulled into the lead. She re-invigorated the Republican base and attracted media attention away from Obama, something the McCain campaign was seriously struggling with in the early months. Unfortuntely for McCain in terms of intelligence when Palin isn't performing a practiced speech she's the second coming of Mr. Potatoe himeself, Dan Quayle. She was crushed in interviews with Charlie Gibson and especially Katie Couric who were just trying to learn more about the Governer and her beliefs and ideologies. She proved herself completely unworthy to take the place of McCain if he were to die in office and the campaign railed against the media claiming they were trying to smear Palin when all they were doing is what they were supposed to do, ask questions and recieve answers. Well McCain, you wanted more media attention, you got it, deal with it. Claims like sexism and "gotcha" questions are absurd, the media is not as biased as people tend to believe it is. Making the media an enemy instead of a friend is never a good idea since they're your bridge to the public. It's hilarious to hear Republicans call journalists "elitists" in any case. The best thing to come out of Sarah Palin is the Saturday Night Live skits with Tina Fey who is a dead ringer for Palin.

With the economy dropping like a rock and Obama trying to discuss the issues, McCain has resorted to throwing everything he has left at Obama like a handful of spaghetti and hoping something will stick. The Ayers thing has come back with a vengeance and McCain has attempted to sew seeds of distrust among the American people. This has been good and bad for him. The Republican base is eating out of his hand but the general public seems to be getting frustrated. The country is in a time of crisis, Obama is offering hope and answers, McCain is offering the school-yard bullying tactics of the Republicans when they're down in the polls and people really don't want to hear it. Do we hear Obama cry about Sarah Palin abusing her power in Alaska? No, because that's not what's important right now. Another unforseen consequence of McCain's negative campaigning is he's gone a bit too far in brainwashing is supporters. People going to his rallies and making threats on Obama's life or calling him an arab or saying they're scared for their children's safety in an Obama presidency is making McCain's supporters look like the party of lunacy and it's not helping him one bit, in fact it's forcing him to reign back some of the negativity he's unleashed. It's a bit too late in the game to close Pandora's box however.

So yeah, I'm a little biased, and I'm furiously dissapointed in what John McCain has become during this election and I really see he's not the man I thought he was initially. I usually say that people should vote for what they truly believe is right, to ignore my ramblings or take from them what they like and toss out what they disagree with. In this election however, the country is in dire need of a serious change of direction, and John McCain is not it. I urge anybody out there who might stumble upon this rant who is of voting age in he united states to help elect Barack Obama our next president. If I'm wrong, and the country is worse off in four years then you can say you told me so. I've said it to Bush supporters 2004. I predicted the worst economic disaster since the great depression if Bush were re-elected, and now in 2008, here we are. Put aside any social disagreements you might have with the Democrats and think economy, think national debt, think jobs, think energy, think environment, and think blue state.

Can We Fix it? No We're Fucked!

So now that the general election campaign has finally started I’ve had a hard time following the news. The Democratic race has mentally drained me and probably a lot of voters who had to put up with Hillary and Obama beating each other’s heads in. I have to say it is pretty amazing that this happened though considering George Bush Jr. got reelected I guess anything is possible in politics. Though I said the first time I ever saw Barrack Obama that he would one day be the President of the United States, I was pretty resigned to believing that Hillary would eventually come out on top. I guess I shouldn’t get into trying to predict political stuff since I’m usually wrong, not that anybody in the media knows what they’re doing anyway. The polls, the big impressive charts and graphs, it’s all BS.

Anyway here we are, general election woo, the Democrats can work together now right? Right?! Unfortunately one of my political predictions did come true, at least partially. The rift in the Democratic Party that still exists is unacceptable. The tooth-and-nail race that the candidates ran has left grudges in its place, some of which with unimaginable consequences. Hillary Democrats swearing their allegiance to John McCain.

It’s one thing for them to “refuse to vote” due to the loss of their matriarch but it’s another thing to vote for the Republican candidate. And it’s not that they’re doing it because they think he’ll be a better president but rather just to spite Obama for having the audacity to beat Hillary in the primaries.

I know, I know, things like Florida (I fucking hate Florida, they mess up every election they touch. If it were up to me the entire state would be disenfranchised permanently. Sorry Floridians, no offense. Please teach your government how to run an election.) and Michigan delegate woes were a little underhanded though they’re lucky they got counted at all. I also know that I gave McCain a bit of a thumbs up in the past if only because he was better than the other candidates offered by the Republican party. However, since becoming the presumptive nominee, the once independent-style McCain seems to have fallen in line with his party as if they held a gun to his head and told him that if he didn’t act like Bush they’d pull the trigger.

Now let me get this clear right now, I think McCain is smarter than Bush, I think he’s a better man than Bush. I don’t think, however, that McCain’s policy of staying Bush’s course if he gets elected is the right direction for the United States. I also fail to understand how Hillary supporters can look at McCain, look at Obama, and decide that McCain better represents their interests when McCain’s stance on the issues couldn’t be further away from Hillary’s. Let’s not forget than in early Republican debates, McCain was right there with everyone else bashing who they thought they’d be running against, Hillary Clinton, with comments that bordered on school yard bullying and sexism. And this is the man they’d rather vote for than the Democrat whose stances are in all honesty nearly identical to Clinton’s? What's worse is most of Hillary's die-hard supporters are middle class voters who are truly struggling in the current state of the economy yet now they're going to vote for somebody whose view on the economy is to keep it running the same way it has been in the past eight years and expect it to get better? I don't want to make this an issue of race or anything but seriously, sometimes I wonder.

It leads me to only one conclusion. It’s a popularity contest, it’s like “reality TV” more than it is a government election. People weren’t going to vote for Hillary Clinton because they liked what she stood for, they were going to vote for her because they just happened to like her. And just like the immature kids these voters are they’re going to jump ship because I guess they never really gave a damn about what the Democratic Party is trying to accomplish anyway. If they’d rather have a Bush sequel then they can bring it on themselves. I just want to make this plea to these people, if any of them for some strange reason happens upon my blog. Just DON’T VOTE. If you feel neither of the candidates represent you, you have the right and the privilege to not vote. If you’re upset with the party, it doesn’t mean you should support someone whose views are the polar opposite to your own instead just because your candidate lost. Hillary isn’t supporting Barrack Obama because somebody is making her, she’s doing it because it’s what all Democrats should do and she wants her supporters to do the same and even that hasn’t fazed some of them.

I know most of those Democratic voters are in the minority, or at least I hope they are. Though I’ve been a supporter of Barrack Obama from the beginning I truly expected him to lose and was prepared to offer my full support for Hillary Clinton. This needs to be the year that Democrats can finally come together to try and do something about the current state of our nation. Somebody needs to restore the world’s faith in the United States and retune a failing economy. If you think John McCain is the man to do that then I’m fine with your decision and your opinions. If you think Hillary Clinton was that person and you’re voting for McCain out of spite, then you seriously need to rethink your action before the ballot is cast.

Political Highlander?

I'm not sure if Time was aware of the hilarious pun they were making with this cover. It sums up the state of the Democratic Party pretty nicely though.

I wonder... which one is MacLeod and which one is the Kurgan?

Obama vs. Clinton: We're All Screwed

"Super Tuesday" is tomorrow, that means over twenty states will be voting in their primaries, making me feel a little helpless in Pennsylvania since ours isn't until April. You see PA actually decided to follow the rules of the Democratic convention and not move their primary up, thus keeping its delegates, while states like Florida thought they could get away with it and that their delegates will be counted anyway. Let's just say there's going to be a lot of drama at the convention this year when that issue comes into play.

In any case while McCain picks up steam surprisingly, (though a McCain win in November would mean at least four more years in Iraq) Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton are duking it out over every issue including the incredibly stupid issue of race that Mr. President Clinton decided to bring up. I wonder if he was trying to sabotage Hillary or something with that one.

The election is months away but with the election coverage and the primaries every other day it feels like it's already here. The only problem is it's more like Democrats vs. Democrats than Republican's vs. Democrats. There's one serious problem that the Democratic party has always had that causes Republicans to win elections. They just can't get along. There's so many different sects of liberalism and not all of them look favorably at one another. We've got Hillary representing white elitism and the promise of returning to the Clinton years and Obama representing change in government and overcoming racial prejudice and stereotypes.

Then we have the Republicans, all of which the same kind of old white men who've run this country forever and I don't know if the United States is ready or willing to change that any time soon. Sure the Republicans have taken a lot of serious pot-shots at each other but the war between Obama and Clinton is ridiculous. They're going to tear each other limb from limb until the Republicans don't even need to dig dirt because the Democratic party did all the digging for them.

Obama is popular. Clinton is not popular but people trust in her experience. I've met a lot of people who vehemently hate Clinton though they can never give me a rationale explanation as to why. It's always some crack about her being a woman or that "Something about her just bothers them." Obama haters are usually on the Republican side, with comments as stupid as "because he's black" or "his name sounds Muslim." What infuriates me is I truly believe that Americans will place their votes based on reasons like these no matter what happens between now and November.

Though the Democratic National Convention isn't until the end of August we'll at least be closer to seeing who the candidates will be for president, and I sincerely hope that the race isn't even close. One of them needs to be knocked out, and considering both Obama and Hillary are fine candidates who would be serving their party better by complimenting one another instead of flaming each other on camera, I don't give a damn who wins and who loses. All that matters is the Democrats stop shooting spitballs at one another if they want to win an election for a change. The abysmal track record of the new Democratic majority congress certainly isn't going to help them out.

LOL I LUV BIBLE

I hate to make another political post this soon but I just watched Mitt Romney's speech on religion and it has me furious.

He's trying to pretend he's a new age JFK though now it looks like his campaign is more about religion than ever before as he continues to suck the cock of Evangelicals, desperately trying to latch on to their votes. Attention Mitt Romney: I don't hate you because you're a Mormon I hate you because you're a dick.

He was giving a speech in front of mostly family and friends who of course applauded and gave him standing ovations like it was some kind of canned laughter on a sitcom. He's just so fake and plastic that it hurts. He's like that arrogant president in any generic Hollywood movie that causes the downfall of the nation.

None of this is what really pissed me off though. He says that we need to bring "religion back into the public domain" and that there's "a new religion of secularism" and that those people "are wrong." Way to attack voters Romney. You preach tolerance for all religions except for people who don't practice religion. I guess you figure they're all democrats and won't be voting for you anyway. Still calling any block of voters "wrong" is one of the stupidest things he could've said when he was up there trying to prove that religion won't affect his decisions as president. All I got from this speech was that religion will be a major factor in all of his decisions as president and secular people should start searching for a new country.

I don't understand what the America we're living in is anymore. It's like the middle ages and we're in the middle of the crusades. What's next? A return to radical puritanism? Religion is the cause of just about every armed conflict this generation has had to endure. Religion was an important tool in creating civilizations but we're past that now. We're a nation of laws not gods, not magic, not superstition.

Republicans vs. The Internet

So here I am blogging about the CNN Youtube debate like all the other cruddy bloggers out there. The real reason is I have some downtime and classes/projects have been pretty stressful lately as the semester winds down.

I've been paying attention to both parties this coming election unlike 2004 which was blatantly "Anyone but Bush." I might be paying more attention to the Republicans if only to assure myself that it can't get any worse than where we are right now. Anyway I feel like a fair portion of America does right now with neither side having done anything to excite or impress me. Our Democratic majority congress certainly hasn't.

The CNN Youtube debate is an interesting concept. In theory it should allow average people to ask questions to political candidates in a nation wide forum. In practice CNN just picks questions they would've asked anyway, but they're able to poke fun in ways they'd never be able to do thanks to their professionalism. For example they had somebody wave a bible in front of the candidates to test their religious beliefs and, true to Youtube form, had a guy with an acoustic guitar sing a song about the current political climate. CNN tried to create the illusion that the people were asking the questions but it wasn't really any different than any other debate except for some additional drama like an openly gay retired general challenging "don't ask don't tell."

In any case the debate was very telling and probably important in terms of who's going to win the primaries. Rudi Giuliani was very middle of the road, and is practically liberal on things like religion and abortion. I would support him more if he didn't come off as a bit hot-headed as he teased Mitt Romney about the illegal immigrants he employed to work at his mansion. The two front-runners argued like it was a forum flame war in front of the entire nation. Giuliani is a good guy, and he's proven that by doing a lot of great things for New York. I think people are selling him a little short when they're saying that he's just using 9/11 for his run at the presidency. Don't get me wrong, he probably is just using 9/11 fame for his campaign but at least he's got it more together than the other candidates and he's more centrist and isn't afraid to not agree with his party 100% of the time. He needs to work on that whole allowing torture like water boarding to be legal though. Most of the candidates on both the Republican and Democratic side have a stance on Homeland Security that I think is unacceptable. I can't believe how many people can sleep at night while supporting the Patriot Act.

Romney on the other hand is taking the opposite approach to Giuliani. The Mormon is obviously going for the Evangelical's love, and it's hard to blame him since the dumb fucks put Bush into office twice. I don't think he's very sincere about it though, he looks like a rat and he sounds like a rat. Fred Thompson's only triumph of the night (which was also a blunder because he submitted a negative advertisement to be aired during the debate) was to show a video of Mitt Romney in his youth saying that he supported Roe v Wade. Romney recovered by saying people change their decisions and he admitted he was wrong and we should all want a president that can admit he's wrong. Okay, sure, I used to be pro-life myself but the way Romney handled the issue of abortion is that it's a horrible unforgivable crime. Even though I'm pro-choice now I can still agree and work with what some pro-lifers have to say. I have a hard time believing anyone of even a tiny bit of intelligence would all of a sudden vehemently oppose something that they used to agree with without at least settling for some middle ground or understanding where the opposition's argument is coming from. He was also the only candidate who said he believed every single word in the bible. Literally. People already hate the fact that he's Mormon so I doubt it'll help him out much. It's safe to say that this slime-bag is my least desired candidate and his reign would result in four more years of the current state of the United States.

There's Mike Huckabee who tried to steal the show with a few lame jokes, taking pot shots at both the other candidates and the questions. People like him and he might gain some steam through that. He's also a minister who'll attract the evangelical vote. I don't think he's got the right stuff to be President and he's just hoping to coast to the White House on his image alone.

Fred Thompson... what about him? He's a waste of time. He basically admitted that he's going to cut funding to Social Security... uhm.... excuse me I mean "reform" Social Security. My bad. Totally not the same thing when the question is "What three government programs would you cut funding too to help alleviate the national debt?" He seemed pretty unprepared and definitely not in the same league as the other guys in terms of public speaking and likability with the general public. He's just your quintessential "old white guy" republican.

John McCain was McCain as always. Love him or hate him, I at least respect him. He seems like the most grounded, and one of the most intelligent, members of the Republican party. I don't agree with him on most of the issues but he has a "tells it like it is" attitude and has been willing to work with Democrats in the past to get things done. I think he's got the most experience and the best track record to be president if God is real and the Republicans prayed to him hard enough to win the election. He played on his Vietnam vet credibility, something he always does, to crush Mitt Romney in an argument about water boarding defying the Geneva Convention. He hates the war as much as any Democrat, and most words that come out of his mouth actually tend to make sense. I wouldn't vote for him, but I'd vote for him over anyone else at this debate. Unfortunately he doesn't really have a chance. He's tried this in the past and he's always failed because he has far too many enemies in the Republican Party and he doesn't pander to the massive voting block of brainwashed Evangelicals.

Finally there's Ron Paul. Holy shit Ron Paul. I can go on for hours about him but I won't. There's a few things I whole-heartedly agree with him about. Getting rid of NAFTA for one, and getting the fuck out of Iraq for two. Unfortunately he's also just a crazy libertarian and an isolationist. America has done a lot of damage to its image overseas in the last six or seven years and nows not the time for us to cut ourselves off from the world community and become a xenophobic powder keg. His push to get us back on the gold standard would probably also end in complete economic disaster though I doubt congress would ever let him do it if he was president. If Ron Paul had any ounce of brain, which he does not because he's not anymore intelligent than my 10th grade libertarian History professor, he'd run as a third party candidate, something that a large number of Americans are looking for right now. This was addressed by one Youtube question and he said that he was a Republican and he wouldn't do it. Unfortunately that means when the Republicans obviously don't pick him because he's insane, then if he runs as a third party candidate, people will call him a liar and a (I hate this term because it destroyed Kerry) a "flip-flopper." I do hope he runs though because he'll wind up splitting the vote. His massive following of Internet failures and white supremacy groups is another warning sign that you should stay away from Ron Paul. Oh, and he's from Texas.

Well that about wraps it up. We'll be seeing a lot of Romney vs. Giuliani and Clinton vs. Obama as we near the start of the primaries. It'll be good to see how they actually go after hearing all these predictions and poll results. If you're a die hard Republican or a die hard Democrat I can't recommend to you enough than to watch what the other side has to offer before you make your decision, and for the love of these United States don't be a single issue voter. Just because you're registered for one party doesn't mean you can't cross over and vote for somebody else. I feel a little hypocritical saying that because I'm a Democrat and I'll most likely vote Democrat. In any case, vote for who you think will be the better president, not for who will save the most unborn babies.