Obama's Ad

Obama smashed ratings with his paid political ad, which aired Wednesday on seven separate television networks.  On average, these networks will pull around 30 million viewers on a Wednesday night.  Obama's ad grabbed over 33 million; the baseball World Series got a measly 19.8 million, and the presidential debates topped the count with 57.4 million viewers.  Obama also appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart the night that the ad aired, and raked in a record 3.6 million viewers for Comedy Central.

bWa

A Look Back

With just 4 days to go till Election Day, I think its time for a little recap; you know for the sake of perspective. It feels like this election process has been going on for while. A long while. But just how long has it been? Well the first caucus was held January 3, 2008 in Iowa. But that was by no means the beginning of the race for the White House. The party debates were held in June of 2007: the Republicans' on the 5th, the Democrats' on the 3rd. By January of 2007, the field of candidates was already beginning to take shape. Names like Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, George Pataki, Al Gore, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich, and Tommy Thompson graced polling ballots across the country. Barack Obama announced his consideration of a presidential bid in December of 2006, and McCain formed a presidential exploratory committee just a few weeks earlier in November. That's a solid two years of campaigning for both major nominees. Yet we can push the start date back even further. The first Republican straw polls were held March 11, 2006. By the way, that poll saw John McCain recieve only 4.6% of the vote. Some would argue that the cycle began as soon as the final vote was counted in 2004. It was a few months earlier, July 27, when America was first publicly introduced to Barack Obama. He spoke at the Democratic National Convention, and from then on was the subject of presidential speculation. Conjecture about Hillary Clinton's candidacy existed as early as 2002 with Maureen Dowd's New York Times Article, "Can Hillary Upgrade?" So if after as many as six years of presidential gossip you're fed up with the whole process, the end is in sight. But rest assured, on the morning of November 5th, you can bet someone will start the ball rolling on Campaign 2012.

bwA

Obama's Not Socialist?

In the last few days, McCain has been calling Obama a socialist, as a last effort to get the few undecided votes left. i would think that that'd be a compliment since pretty much all of Obama's plans are socialist. i mean, im not a socialist, but apparently most people want socialized health care, government help with current economic problems, and a mass redistribution of wealth in this country. all of which Obama is proposing. On these issues and other key issues Obama promotes bigger government (classic socialism). Therefore, Obama is more or less a socialist. i don't think that's a stretch. i mean itd be tough to argue that Obama's for small government, and low taxes for all. okay, so McCain claiming Obama's going to socialize America is fairly truthful, and if i was Obama, i would say ya, i am. here are all the good things socialism will bring, and have brought in Europe. strangely, Obama has dismissing claims he's a a socialist, and has been complaining and asking McCain to stop. he routinely brings up in his speeches the 'desperate attacks' of McCain.
i think Obama should bring socialism to America, and why wont he say so. does he think he'll lose votes? i don't. i think most people in America want socialism. The grass is always greener on the other side (of the ocean).

Rogue Agent Palin

Gov. Palin has been branching out politically lately. Sources from the McCain camp indicate that her deviations from the McCain platform are creating real tensions within the campaign. It could very well be that her policy contradictions were completely unintentional; that she got confused when answering direct questions, or just flatout didn't know what she was talking about. Honestly, that's not too hard to believe. Other inside sources have said that Palin's "lack of fundamental understanding of key issues" after her appointment "was dramatic." The sources went on to say that Palin might well have been the least informed candidate in history. But certain McCain aides have accused her of being a "diva," who "takes no advice from anyone," believing her statements were premeditated. She definitely shops like a diva. Palin is not the only V.P. to take a stand against her ticket-mate. Biden's getting his fair share, what with the "international crisis to test Obama" schpiel. John Edwards in '04, Gore in '96 and '92, even Bob Dole and Dan Quail have all endured some strife with their Presidential partners.

bwA

Wow

When Brian Williams asked governor Sarah Palin in an interview Thursday night "Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist, under this definition, governor?", he was giving her a no-brainer.  Filler.  I don't think that anyone honestly expected her to reply,   "There's no question that Bill Ayers by his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our US Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist.  Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that it would be unacceptable to... I don't know if you're gonna use the word 'terrorist' there."

Now, Palin, I don't care what your actual beliefs are.  When you're asked in an interview if people who would kill American citizens for coercive purposes based around their own highly prejudices ideals are terrorists...  You say yes. There's no room for 'I don't know.'  But no, Palin hemmed and hawed, and eventually decided that the question was too hard.  I guess they can't really be terrorists if she shares their beliefs.

bWa

 

Gaining Capital Gains

The other night at dinner, i was discussing what the tax rates would look like under an Obama administration with my mom. Someone had sent her an internet calculator which showed how much money you would be saving under Obama compared to McCain. In this calculator it was shown most people would save 3 times as much as McCain, and as he boasts, 95% of middle class families would see lower taxes. hey, that sounds nice. but there are other taxes besides income tax. Sales tax, estate tax, capital gains tax, etc. while i dont know what hes doing about sales, or estate taxes, hes made it clear he'll be raising my capital gains tax. That sounds good to me, since well, only the rich invest, therefore we should take their money, and redistribute it to the poor. wait a sec, i dont like that idea. The current rate is 15% and John McCain has said he'll keep it the current rate. When talking to Maria Bartiromo, Obama said he'll raise it, but not more than 13 %to 28%( the Clinton rate). it comforts me to know Warren Buffet is advising him, so he wont raise it too high, and i trust Buffet to know what hes doing with the economy, which is who'll be essentially in charge of it.
Where im going here is that in theory a raise in capital gains sounds nice, and makes sense (even to me). Unfortunatly, itll make a lot of upper class people kinda annoyed, since its essentially stealing more of their "hard earned" money, which they need to go to Mortons, and Ruth Chris every night. Sounds funny, but i had to pay capital gains tax the last few years, and its just down right annoying to make X dollars and then have to give some of it to the government. im pretty sure theres not much intrinsic value difference in the tax raise, but there's some emotional discomfort with big time investors who wont like it, and they'll have to spend more time finding loopholes, which is time could be spent making more money.

Bwa

A Global Picture

So much of the media's election coverage revolves around domestic issues: policy changes each candidate will make, how they plan to help Americans, and more recently, heated accusations and challenges of character. Yet the domestic concerns are only half of a president's responsibilities. Foreign policy (that thing that Joe Biden is so good at and that Sarah Palin winds up embarrassing herself over) and how the US is represented on a global scale are just as important. Over the past 8 years, America's world image has suffered. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 recieved standing ovations world-wide. Large numbers of tourists, including a German couple I know who are quite fond of backpacking in the American West, plan trips to Canada to avoid Americans. We have generally established a persona of arrogance, impatience, and ignorance. But change is in sight: change we can believe in.
In a recent BBC poll, voters in each of the 22 countries studied preferred Obama to McCain, in an overall ratio of four to one. Almost half of these voters declared that thier view on the US would "fundamentally change" with Obama's election. This seems to fit with Colin Powell's theory that Obama's election would "electrify the world." Hopefully the world's hatred of Bush will be outwieghed by its love of Obama, and America's actions will reestablish its international legitimacy. But if not, maybe the fresh, modern, hip America that could elect Obama could also transform its own image. Electing him would sure help with that though.

bwA