Keeping it together

Stress, anxiety and overwhelming pressure; not just for the democratic candidates to win the nomination for president but for the citizens of the United States to elect the most suitable person into office. The pressure is on and it is an intense time for everyone in this heated election between Senators Clinton and Obama. While the candidates continue to rally and motivate the public to vote for them, the people of America are engulfed in this election and are torn between two apt people running for the same position. One wonder who of the two parties involved has it worse.

The candidates are doing everything in their power to gain more votes than the other. Through financial and emotional support, each of the candidates is able to carry him and herself through these campaigns. It is a great thing that citizens are getting so into this election but this forces one to speculate whether or not there is a limit to all the insanity that are the presidential primaries.

The irony behind the excitement of all the election coverage is that one must follow it all, day by day and week by week in order to fully grasp the messages that the candidates lay out there for the public to see and base their votes on. It is not just stress for the candidates but it is tension for voters as well.

Nonetheless, it is a duty and a liberty to be able to vote and in this time of urgency for a new leadership in the United States, the American people owe to themselves to follow up and make the correct choice so as to electing the most suitable candidate into office.

-Lubna Najjar

Making history

One might say that this year’s election for the democratic candidate is one that will hold historical significance in the future due to the undeniable competition between the two nominees. Not only are they both fit for the position as leaders but both Clinton and Obama have loyalty to his/her party to represent it well, if nominated. Neither candidate will back down unless there is a tremendous gap between their supporters and Super Delegates.

Clinton is confident and adamant over winning Michigan and Florida as she presumes she will. Clinton’s campaign sent out an email to reporters stating that she is now ahead of Obama in total votes but according to David Greene of National Public Radio, Obama is still leads by 500,000 votes.

The politic of politics shines through this action by Clinton’s people to show the American people that she is still in the race and that she will continue to strive for that victory. This places a fair amount of pressure on voters to choose the ‘right’ candidate because of all the deliberation in each state. Hopefully the American people will be more encouraged to follow the election coverage on the news and in the papers verses losing interest and letting history make itself.

The future is in our hands and it is up to us to elect a candidate who will represent our country in the best possible way.

-Lubna Najjar

My MTV says I’m a Democrat

Dear Barack Obama,
Hi my name is Eric Horst and I am a person who is thinking of voting for you. My roommate, Joe Harrington said I was crazy for supporting you because I’m not a Democrat.

Yeah, that Joe sure is weird; he said I was blindly supporting the Democratic Party because MTV, P-Diddy and that awesome Paris Hilton tells me I should. Well, I talked to our other Roommate, Jake, and he said that Republicans are just a bunch of people that suck and want to blow up the world. I don’t want that, Barack so I’m supporting you.

But I do have some suggestions for your campaign that I think would help me out; First of all, I’m cheap and have complained about paying my taxes for the past month. I work too damn hard at my landscaping job to give taxes to those poor people in the inner city. Joe, that stupid guy, tried playing devils advocate and told me taxes pay for potholes to be filled. Well I can drive around those.

Second of all, I think you should drop this healthcare stuff, because I don’t ever get sick, so I don’t want to be paying for some other guys’ cough medicine (which he’ll probably just abuse anyway).

Next I think you should avoid that talk about increasing taxes on us rich people, because my family owns a farm and we make pretty good money (you got to see this new snow board I got, it’s the same one John Kerry had in 2004, it’s sweet). Raising taxes would suck, so if you could, don’t do it.

I’ll finishing by saying that I hope you can go deer hunting with me this season, because my dad just bought me this new shot gun (it’s my fifth gun) and it can really blow the snot off Bambi.

If you could send an email to my roommate and tell him why he’s an idiot for calling me, of all people, a conservative Republican because I hate taxes, don’t care about equality and love my Remington shotgun. But hey, I got to run because Jon Stewart is on and Joe says I don’t get half the jokes and don’t realize that I could be a Jon Stewart punch line.

-Peace out Barack, and hope to see you in the White House, your No.1 fan, Eric Horst.

This fictional, but truthful, letter was the result of a conversation I had with my roommate Eric while I was watching Hard Ball. I really could care less about who people support in the election because it’s their choice, but too many students on Kent State’s campus are totally oblivious to what the two parties support.

Eric is an obvious Republican who wouldn’t support stricter gun control laws, higher taxes to support more government programs, and although I have never asked him, I bet he’s pro-life.

The only reason I can come up with on why he claims to be a Democrat is because he is always going to side with the popular pick. So many people are excited about Barack Obama, and what he believes that Eric must think he’s a good candidate.

But deep down, Eric, like many other people on the Kent State campus, who don’t know squat about politics or history, will support Hillary Clinton or Obama just because they think it’s cool.

-Joe Harrington

Obama=JFK

Many people are saying Barack Obama is today’s John F. Kennedy. JFK’s family has even endorsed Obama because they say he reminds them so much of JFK and what he stood for in his campaign. Obama is getting more people involved with politics, especially younger people and he is getting a majority of the African American votes as JFK did.

After reading the book The Making of the President 1960 by Teddy White I have began to wonder even more if Obama is really so similar to JFK. Obama does seem to have the same charisma tha JFK had. He is young and although Obama is African American and JFK was just young, tan and “pretty” they both have physical characteristics that have been elected to the White House.

One of the biggest similarities is religion. JFK was a Catholic and a majority of America did not like Catholics. JFK had to make televised speeches and talk to voters to get them to realize his religion would not affect his role as President. Obama is having a similar battle concerning the church he attends and its reverend, Reverend Wright. Rev Wright has made some anti-American remarks, among other things, that has upset Americans. Obama has had to defend himself and his religion. He has had to try to get people to understand that he cannot control what someone else says and he does not agree with everything Rev Wright has said.

Another comparision is the issue of assasination. Unfortunately in November of 1963 JFK was assasinated in Texas. I hope that no president ever gets assasinated again it is a terrible thing. People have, however, said that they feel if Obama is elected it may happen. A British Nobel Prize winner told a newspaper in February, the article was later posted on The Huffington Post.

 Yes the man who said it is 88 years old, but he is also a well educated person. He is not from the U.S., so he does not know the politcal system as well as an American would. He did go on to say that the best thing for the Democratic Party would be if Obama and Hillary Clinton ran together.

I do think Obama and JFK are very similar for the good reasons, though. He has gotten people who have never been interested in politics before, interested and he has brought a new hope to the Democrats, just like JFK did. Not only that, if the Jfk’s own family sees similarities between Obama and their own family member how could anyone disagree? The Kennedy’s knew JFK better than anyone and if they think Obama can do the things JFK did for this country, maybe he can.

-Liz Laubscher

Who really lost the ABC News debate?

Obama supporters point to Clinton and vice versa, but who really lost the debate?

While one of the candidates may have done better than the other, the real loser was the media. Instead of the questions being about policy the moderators mostly focused on politics. Obama’s “bitter” remark about how some Senator Pennsylvanians “cling to guns or religion” and the make-believe bullets that rained down around Senator Clinton when she visited Bosnia as the First Lady in the 90’s.

Throughout the 2008 election the media has continually made a mockery of itself. The only relevant outlets seem to be ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer’ – the others rarely focus on the issues, instead they treat the election like a horse race. For a political science project I monitored several different media outlets from January to mid-march and the trends were the same in every medium except those making fun of the news medium (‘The Daily Show’) and the (partially) publicly funded ‘NewsHour’. Time Magazine, the New York Times and any cable news network focus a lot more heavily on the campaign strategies of the candidates than what the politicians stances are.

As a journalist-in-training this is a tragedy and think the media should be partially blamed for the some of the ignorance among the ignorant masses. The Huffington Post reported the Vice President of ABC News said the reason the moderator, Charlie Gibson, was booed was because they were going to commercial and not because of the questions he asked. Logically, the audience would not have booed the final commercial coming if their thirst for some sort of knowledge has been quenched. Maybe less questions about bullets and more about economics? Less about “bitterness” and more about pork barrel spending?

Looking back at how much more substance pre-broadcast news actually had, maybe ABC needs to take a look back and take some advice from their slogan. It’s time for them to “Start Fresh.”

-Ted Hamilton

The differences between John and George

It’s clear the Democrats will seek to label John McCain as the second coming of George Bush in the general election. Both Democratic candidates have already adopted this line of attack and it’s reasonable to expect whichever candidate emerges from the primary will escalate its use in commercials and sound bites.

But, in some very important ways, George Bush and John McCain are nothing alike. And, while the MSM isn’t saying so, this attack has the same ring to it as criticizing Obama for the words and conduct of his pastor. That is, criticizing McCain for Bush’s conduct is the same as criticizing Obama for Wright’s conduct.

But, I digress.

The first way that Bush and McCain differ is in their personal service to the nation. George Bush attended Yale and then Harvard Business School before joining the Texas Air National Guard. While in the Guard, Bush lost his flight status. In comparison, McCain made at least 23 bombing raids over Vietnam before having his plane shot down and spending years in the “Hanoi Hilton.” Unlike Bush, McCain truly put his life on the line for the United States.

A second, striking difference between the two men can be found in their personal approach to government spending. McCain has been called “a taxpayer hero” by Citizens Against Government Waste. The Club for Growth, an organization that rates lawmakers on their spending restraint, gave McCain a score of 76 in 2005 and 2006, making him better than 71 other senators both years. In comparison, Bush has expanded the government at levels not seen since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program.

In a test of conservative priorities, spending and enlarging the size of government are issues that McCain excels through his great restraint. In comparison, Bush consistently fails.

With the Iraq War, Bush and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld adopted a light-footprint strategy that essentially allowed U.S. Troops to make gains quickly in the initial invasion but left them without adequate manpower to control the situation afterward. McCain, the war hero, consistently called for more troops, something that evolved into our nation’s current surge strategy. McCain was also openly critical of Rumsfeld when Bush stalwartly stood behind the embattled public servant.

On matters of abortion and gay marriage, McCain generally believes in leaving the decisions up to the states. He cites the 10 Amendment to the Constitution, which reserves unenumerated rights to the states.

So, in some very real ways, McCain and Bush are very much different individuals with different positions. In an election year, though, this doesn’t really matter – it’s all about gaining an advantage with voters.

- Matthew White

McCain wrong about MLK holiday

Senator John McCain said he was wrong in opposing the Martin Luther King federal holiday during his first term in Congress in a speech Friday.

“I was wrong, and eventually realized that in time. [It was] time to give full support, full support for a state holiday in my home state of Arizona,” he said. “I’d remind you that we can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing.”

McCain voted against a bill proposing Martin Luther King Day in 1983. Most House Republicans – Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich included – voted for the bill, though all three Arizona representatives opposed it. The holiday eventually was celebrated for the first time in 1986, but only 27 states and Washington, D.C., recognized it.

McCain claims ignorance as the reason for his vote against the King holiday.

“I was in prison when they announced over the loudspeaker in my cell, I was living by myself, that Dr. Martin Luther King had been assassinated,” McCain said in January. “They always told us the very bad news, but somehow avoided telling us minor events such as landing a man on the moon. I didn’t find that out until a couple years after the event itself. I didn’t know Dr. King.”

McCain may have deserved a grace period to catch up on current events after being locked up in Vietnamese prison for more than five years. But King’s legacy didn’t die with him, and the fight for the holiday was visible. McCain’s excuse is flimsy at best. in light of the events in the fight:

• McCain was released from Vietnamese prison following the war in 1973.
• Representative John Conyers (D-Mich) introduced legislation to create the holiday shortly after King’s assassination in 1968 and re-submitted it to every Congressional session until it was passed.
• Illinois passed a bill creating a state holiday for King in 1971. Other states followed.
• According to The King Center, Corretta Scott King, MLK’s widow, launched a campaign to create the holiday. Between 1968 and 1984 she met with legislators and testified before Congress several times. In 1979 that collected 300,000 signatures on a petition presented to Congress supporting the holiday.
• Stevie Wonder recorded the song “Happy Birthday” in 1980 to urge passage of the bill.
• McCain voted against the federal holiday in 1983.

The reason McCain showed up for the vote at all is elusive. No votes are common in Congress when casting a particular vote could place legislators in a tough spot. Voting without knowledge of King’s achievements cast a racist light on McCain.

The argument that this vote proves McCain’s racist tendencies is not an especially strong one. But McCain’s ignorance excuse isn’t exactly believable, either.

McCain had an easy out if he had said he didn’t support the King holiday because of King’s strong opposition to the war in Vietnam late in his life. But he didn’t.

Something is missing here.

-Allen Hines

Keep Talking Back

Keep Talking Back I had an amazing revelation the other day.  I can do all the research I want and read all the statistics and charts and tables that I want but I get the best information from simply talking.   It is when I’m talking with friends or classmates whose views are different than mine that I am most aware of where I stand on certain issues.  It is while conversing with others that we discover most about ourselves.  I find myself forced to disagree and defend that position.   For example, about a week or so ago I was eating dinner with a friend.  We started talking about the election and she said that she was going to end up supporting McCain because Huckabee is no longer in the race.  Politely, I asked her why.  She said that he (McCain) is pro-life and so is she.  That’s an issue she cares deeply about.  I asked her where she stood on the death penalty and she said that she supported it.  Almost instantly, she realized the inconsistency.  By talking, we each were able to realize what is really important in this election.   Maybe it is the debate coach in me but it seems more important during this election season to talk, debate, challenge, converse, and question.  We should be challenging and questioning ourselves as much as we are others.  It is by doing this that we might be able to really discover who we support and what it is that we really stand for.  That is the best tool we have going in to the election in November; our own ideas that just need to be realized.   Keep researching and reading but also, keep talking.  Argue even!  Take a position and stand by it.  If it changes, great!  Let it.  The election is more than convenient labels or neat boxes that people fit in to.  It is about doing what we think is right for the next phase of American life.  Your most powerful tool is your voice.  Use it well. Jessica Schecter