Politics Blog

This “Hope: It Could Happen To You” video from MoveOn.org is a witty spin-off of the anti-drug ads that my generation grew up with. For grabbing your attention from the very start and then leaving you laughing at the obvious spoof, this is worth sharing. (If it was mocking an anti-drug ad that was still circulating and current, it could be a very different story….)

(This was supposed to be posted quite a while ago, but alas, computer problems abound and life gets busy. Here it is, none the less.)

Further proof that you should never jump to conclusions until you know the full story: When I first read that Obama voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill that will give immunity to telecommunication companies who cooperated with Bush’s Constitution burning wiretapping, my immediate reaction was, “HOW COULD HE?” Immunity for the telecoms was pretty much all I knew about the bill, but certainly enough to leave me upset that Obama would support something like that. Now, after further research, I can conclusively tell you … I’m more confused than ever.

I did find the Daily Digest for July 9, the day the bill was passed, and it shows which amendments were made. I also found the full bill as passed by the House and Senate. But neither link to the actual government website works for very long apparently, since the pages were found through a search. Thankfully, GovTrack has the full text.

According to this NPR article, ACLU plans to go after the bill, which would make me think that it has some pretty bad amendments … right? But wait a minute, here…

The news articles discussing the bill say it authorizes “warantless wiretapping.” From what I can glean though (from reading the actual text of the bill, mind you) the new amendments actually require warrants for spying on Americans abroad and provide more protections for people being wiretapped in general. I know - it’s still an invasion of privacy that seems bound to be abused (as it undoubtedly was by the Bush administration.) Though the act is still far from perfect, and improvements still need to be made, are we really going to bash something for being improved? I’m confused.

I might be missing something glaringly obvious somewhere - I am human, and bound to miss something now and then, despite the research I’ve put in. If anyone could clear things up it would be greatly appreciated.

So, as for the candidates’ views:

Obama’s defense is that he voted “for an amendment offered before the final vote by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, that would have stripped the immunity provisions from the bill, but the amendment failed,” and the bill had several amendments that made it more acceptable to Obama, according to the CNN article.

McCain’s take on all of this? Well, unfortunately, we can’t really know: on the day of the vote he was busy campaigning. How convenient. I’ll give him a break though. Maybe he was just finally getting computer lessons from Cindy.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest stories lately has been the controversial satirical cover of the New Yorker. I understand that it was supposed to be satire, but I think that unfortunately, even by this point in the race, there are too many lingering questions in some people’s minds about Obama (thanks, Fox News) and the illustration dances on a very fine line. As one New York Times article put it, “The New Yorker seems to have unwittingly reiterated the misconception it meant to lampoon.” Oops. Better luck next time … maybe after Fox News and the McCain Twist-the-truth Express stop spewing flagrant lies.

McCain has found ways to sink even lower in his comments, saying that he “doesn’t know” if Obama is a socialist or not. Give me a break. This guy can’t even keep his own voting record straight, (or bring himself to discuss Viagra and health care) and he’s saying he knows enough about Obama’s votes to judge him as a socialist? That’s quite a leap there, sir.

Things are getting nasty on both sides though. The VP search continues for now, but once the tickets are filled, I’m quite certain the new additions will quickly become punching bags for the other side as well.

Ah, smells like politics.

It’s increasingly difficult these days to find a site that will give you an unbiased account of the presidential campaign, but JibJab takes an equal “jab” at each candidate in this video:

I’ll be back with more once I’ve sorted through the mess of political news from the last week.

There’s some really exciting news for anyone lucky enough to go to the Democratic National Convention at Denver in August. Obama has moved his speech from the 20,000-seat covention hall to a 75,000-seat arena. The move fits perfectly with his theme of making politics accessible and important to everybody, but a Newsweek article points out the political implications of such a decision. Welcoming a large crowd for a DNC acceptance speech has only been done previously by JFK. Obama’s speech will be Aug. 28 - the 45 year anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Comparisons of Obama to JFK and MLK -figures who have been “perfected” by the gloss of time - will set impossible expectations. It’s a very interesting article.

Even if the high expectations end up hurting Obama later on, I think there’s little doubt that the comparisons are helping him for now. But that doesn’t mean he’s won over everyone with even a wiff of nostalgia for the days of Kennedy and King. Evidence shows it’s still difficult for Democrats to win the white male vote. From the article:

“In a time of economic insecurity, it is rational for people to turn to things they can rely on, such as faith and patriotism, and unwise for Democrats to scorn them for it. That is why Mr Obama’s comment that people in small towns “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” because they are “bitter” will be the keystone of Republican attacks, predicts Mr Kuhn.”

I think that prediction will turn out to be quite accurate, and that definitely won’t help the Democrats win any white male voters. Basically, Obama will get bashed for pointing out what’s true, but what the guys don’t want to hear. No wonder he’s been turning to the safe tip-toeing of the other politicians.

The economy, of course, is currently the most important issue to many voters. So who wins on the economic front? Neither McCain or Obama really has much experience in that area. Picking a VP with strong economic skills could prove a major turning point for one of the campaigns.

The age of a potential VP could also turn out to be important though. A recent CNN poll shows that people believe age affects effectiveness in the White House more than race. (Disadvantage: McCain.)

There are many ways to score who is ‘winning’ at this point though.

Obama is ahead by an average of 5 points in national polls.

Newsweek has a scorecard for the candidates that compares who has the advantage for certain physical features based on who has won past presidential elections. Accurate for prediction efforts? No. Funny? Yes.

And sometimes we all just need to lighten up a little bit anyways.

Tapping in to global views, this article from The Economist makes some good points about how at least McCain and Obama are both better than Bush when it comes to foreign relations, but each will certainly face their own unique obstacles as results of their different personalities and approaches. The article also mentions that it seems the world should be able to vote in U.S. presidential elections, given the global impact that such a choice has. That will obviously never happen, but the world can express their choice in other ways…

Obama is planning a trip to Europe and the Middle East. Given the way the European media seems to be responding to Obama, it should be interesting to see how the people there react to his visit. Will most Americans pay attention though?

Everyone is picking up on Obama’s politics as usual. It’s not that McCain isn’t guilty of it too, it’s just that (as I pointed out in the last blog) Obama promised something different. Would it have really been possible to win without playing the game the way it’s always been played though? Well, we certainly won’t know now.

At least when their supporters make poor choices, the candidates are distancing themselves from the truly dirty political games. Obama rejected Wesley Clark’s lower-than-low comments degrading McCain’s service, and McCain didn’t pounce on Obama (even before his speech) for Clark’s comments, using it as an excuse to go equally low.

Maybe this race can still be different.

Is Obama shifting some of his views to be more in the political center? It certainly wouldn’t be anything remotely new or surprising in the political world, but for Obama - who has campaigned on being a different kind of politician - he risks alienating some voters in an attempt to gain more. Hmm, looks like squishy ground there Mr. Obama.

On the sunny side for him, Obama’s middle class problem just became a little less problematic: the AFL-CIO (the largest labor organization) endorsed him on Thursday. It’s not really a suprise, since they’ve been against McCain as early as March of this year, but the endorsement should really help put more middle class laborers on Obama’s side.

Apparently I was wrong earler. Hillary came back into the spotlight Friday for an
appearance with Obama in the town of Unity. (Aww, how cute.) She wore a blue suit, and he donned a matching blue tie. (Ok, I get it. You’re coordinating in the name of ‘unity.’) But will their appearances together be enough to overcome the bitterness of the past few months and bring more Hillary supporters to vote for Obama instead of running to McCain? Only the polls will tell. (You can also watch the 40 minute video from the NYTimes article page to judge for yourself how effective the two democrats are together.)

I was correct on at least one earlier prediction though. The Republicans are indeed worried that Bob Barr - running as the Libertarian candidate - will take votes from McCain. (And - of course - Nader is in the race again, though I’m not sure where he would draw any votes from by this point….)

There’s still lots of buzz going around about McCain’s age possibly playing a factor in the way votes are cast in November. (Not much unlike the way sexism was heatedly discussed as a ‘possible’ factor in Hillary’s future.) McCain - ever the knowledgeable campaigner - seems to have found a way to spin it positively though (or at least try to.) In a Newsweek interview, his chief speechwriter repeatedly touted McCain’s energy plan as “grown-up” and “adult.” As opposed to juvenile and immature? Will we see more spins like this - trying to make Obama’s relative “youth” into a factor?

I’m actually looking forward to the ads to come just to see what stops the GOP will actually pull out, and how Obama will respond. I think with national polls still so close, and the nation still so desperate for anything but politics as usual, we might actually see a fair fight (relative to most races) … for a while. Here’s hoping.

Obama recently decided to give up public financing, which will allow him to have more spending money and amp up his ad campaign. It was a needed move for him to keep up with McCain’s campaigning (the GOP candidate had already decided to forgo public financing as well.) But now McCain is accusing Obama of being a flip-flopper. (Obama bit right back, getting McCain for his changed position on oil drilling.)

Seems to me like politics as usual.

Despite that, Obama seems to be faring pretty well. Even after Hillary dropped out of the race, the polls showed McCain and Obama pretty much tied, but Obama now has a 15 point lead over McCain in the latest Newsweek poll.

For more recap of events, look here.

I’ve been unable to be online lately for many factors that I won’t bore you with, but I’m going to try to recap some of the most important stuff.

Well, first things first. Hillary gave a speech on the Saturday after Obama cinched the nomination in which she supported him. Finally!

There’s a lingering question of whether sexism played a role in Hillary’s media coverage (I would say yes to that, unfortunately, for several news organizations at least.)

Now there’s also a question of whether McCain’s age could play a role in voters’ minds this fall. (I’m going to say yes to that, also.)

One thing that always intrigues me about presidential races is that it brings up a lot of issues that usually go otherwise unnoticed in our society. Gender, race, and age prejudices have all been exposed as a result of this current race, and although they’re not pretty to look at coming out, baring their ugly teeth, it does force us to discuss the problems and try to dispel the biases that some still hold.

As for the VP question, it seems Hillary is completely out of the question for Obama’s running mate. In fact, she seems to have completely stepped out of the spotlight to just let Obama do his thing, which I think is a great move. I could see her privately raising funds for him, but I think that letting him run his own show is really important.

On the Republican side of the VP question, I have a growing feeling that Lieberman’s outspokenness and shadow-like proximity to McCain means he is definitely vying for the spot. Will McCain give it to him though? The former Democrat could be important to getting the swing-votes that McCain will need, but I’m not sure that will be enough for McCain to give him the spot.

Well, that’s barely the tip of the iceberg for the political world right now, but I can’t make this coffee last much longer to justify using the free wi-fi in this café. Hopefully I’ll have my own internet back soon, and there will be much more to come.

I hate to admit it, but I have been holding my breath for the last few days. Obama inched closer to cinching the nomination with a majority of delegates by gaining more superdelegates from around the country and a few pledged delegates from Puerto Rico (although Hillary had a sweeping win in the primary there). Despite Obama’s gains, Hillary held out, and it seemed uncertain whether she would ever stand with Obama rather than continuing her stand-off against him.

Last night, however, it all changed.

Obama officially has the majority needed to give him the nomination for the party. While Hillary neither officially recognized his win or conceded to withdrawing, she did make some interesting statements, and the media world is buzzing with talks of her being willing to accept the Vice Presidential slot.

So now the question is, exactly what does Hillary want? I can’t wait to see what happens with the VP chatter … I think if she can swing her supporters to Obama - whether by taking the VP spot or not - that’s all that will matter for the Democratic party before November.

Obama-Clinton 08 though? Some say that Obama offering the VP spot to Hillary would be strictly political theatrics - a way for her to keep her dignity after a toughly run campaign. After sifting through as many articles as I could this morning, I’m going to call the question as still up in the air. I’m definitely leaning towards what Newsweek’s Howard Fineman suggests though, which is that neither camp wants to run together in November. No matter what happens, we’re moving on in this race, and hopefully the time is here to turn the attention back to the issues. Speaking of…

If you need a refresher on just where Obama stands, go here.
For McCain’s stances, look here.