Election 2008: A Vote For Hope
April 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
On October 9th, 2007, I saw Senator Barack Obama speak to a crowd of over 800 in Plymouth State University’s HUB Courtroom. Coming into election season this was the candidate I had the most hope for. After his now famous DNC speech from 2004, I was sure this would be a strong candidate for exciting new and positive directions for America.
Unfortunately, Obama had done little to impress me in his campaign so far. He speaks platitudes without information or actions to back them up. He has done very little as a Senator, except run for president. This does not endear him or his potential as commander in chief to me.
In person, Obama was even less inspiring. His foreign policy experience and knowledge is weak. He even admits this, claiming the Rumsfeld and Cheney have long resumes and a bad track record, so his “lack of resume” can’t be worse. This doesn’t inspire me.
However, when election time finally came, I was left with only hree options: Obama, Clinton, or Edwards. I had come to like Biden, but he’d dropped. Richardson always seemed like a bit too much of a long shot.
Seeing Edwards stuck out for me as terrifying… During his speech he stated that the best approach with Iraq would be an immediate withdrawal which would lead to a complete anarchy, which would lead to genocide, which would force an international humanitarian effort, which would allow the US to get together with the international community to raise a new Iraq from those ashes. Frankly, this stance is entirely unacceptable. There may be problems in Iraq, but genocide should not be your plan. Ever.
I liked Hillary Clinton in person. She spoke well, her policies were well thought out. However, I find her political maneuvering and style distasteful. I find it easier to hate her, than to like her; even when I agree with what she is saying. This causes her to be seen as divisive. We don’t need division in this country. I’d rather see McCain get the nomination than more division in the country.
This leaves Obama. He’s not perfect. I think he needs more experience, but hopefully this can come with a well chosen cabinet. His inspirational nature could be healthy for the nation. So in the end, not sure which way to go even as I walked into the voting booth, I chose hope. Hope that he surprises me and goes the distance. Hope that he can improve America’s image. Hope that what he says is what he’ll do. Hope for change.
Tags: Barack Obama, clinton, election, election 2008, hillary clinton, obama, politics
Election 2008: Joe Biden
November 25, 2007 | 2 Comments
When I heard Senator Joe Biden would be in town, I knew I would have to see him, but my hopes were low.
Like Richardson, I had also seen him on the Daily Show, but this was a couple years ago. At that time I had him seriously pegged as a potential contender for the presidency. Yet as this campaign season progressed, he put his foot in his mouth a couple times and the media latched on to this pushing him further and further down the list. For me he had joined Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich as a long shot candidate.
Seeing Biden speak caused me to do a complete 180. Without question, Joe Biden has been pushed into his current position in the election by bad media coverage. I think this is unfair and dangerous. I passionately hope for Biden to find some momentum and begin to be mentioned alongside or above Clinton and Obama.
Biden is unbelievably strong on foreign policy. Where Richardson had good experience, Biden has that and more. He has even managed to get a bi-partisan non-binding agreement for a plan on how to succeed in Iraq passed in the Senate. This is a huge accomplishment, but better yet, he explained why a non-binding agreement was useful politically. Taking a complicated political maneuver like that and putting into useful understandable terms was great.
His plans for health care seemed reasonable and incremental. Rather than attack an overwhelmingly huge “universal health care” plan, he instead has broken it down into goals that can more easily and independently be accomplished. He also explains where he’ll find the funding for this initiative…
Along with that topic, as he talks it occurs to me that with every initiative and plan he talks about, he states an estimated cost and where he can find the money to fund it in the budget. This level of fiscal responsibility is refreshing.
This is certainly a candidate I can throw my full support behind. Sure he’s had a few controversial comments, but that bit of humanity doesn’t scare me. Down the road, this guy can talk the talk and walk the walk on all the issues.
Tags: 2008, biden, election 2008, joe biden, nh primary
World’s Narrowest Houses
October 27, 2007 | 2 Comments
Web Urbanist posted “Cramped City Living: 10 of the Narrowest Houses in the World”. This fit nicely with many of the “World’s Largest X” posts I’ve done in the past, plus, the compiled list is amazing.
My favorite is the one pictured above. Owned by a woman named Helenita in Madre de Deus, Brazil, at it’s narrowest, the house is merely 1 meter wide and 10 meters tall.
From New York City is a narrow home with a very Harry Potter-esque address of 75 1/2 Bedford Street. The site lists it’s dimensions: “At 9 1/2 ft. wide, 75 1/2 Bedford St., off Seventh Ave. between Commerce and Moore Sts., is the narrowest house in the city. On the inside, it measures 8 ft. 7 in. wide; at its narrowest, it’s 2 ft. wide.”
“The Wedge” in Scotland “is about 22 ft long by 11ft wide or 6.7m by 3.35m, at its widest point … the front of The Wedge measured just 47in or 1.19m.”
Web Urbanist has a ton of images of other houses which are must see. All of these skinny homes are fascinating to me. I would love to meet the sort of person who would choose this kind of unique house.
Election 2008: Bill Richardson
October 26, 2007 | 2 Comments
I got the chance to see Bill Richardson at a local Plymouth, NH resident’s home on September 2nd, 2007. He spoke for about a half hour, then took questions from the group for about an hour. The crowd was small, maybe 30 people in attendance.
I had previously seen Governor Richardson’s Daily Show appearance and thought he seemed quite strong on foreign policy. In person this impression held true. He spoke of various nations, leaders, and factions within Iraq with familiarity and comfort that could only come from a long time involved with foreign affairs and thinking about these topics. The classic example being his successful direct negotiation with Saddam Husein on behalf of President Clinton for the release of a group of american hostages.
Overall, on each topic he seemed to have a plan of how to make America better. When asked questions he had answers, though not all were entirely polished. This lack of polish did leave me with some concern. It was clear to me why major news outlets would glom on to the slick polish of Clinton or Obama and leave Richardson struggling for third. He occasionally stumbled and would not play as nicely in quick TV segments.
My only real concern with the Richardson campaign is whether this is a truly electable person. Could he withstand a national election up against the Republican campaign machine? Against someone slick like Romney? Maybe… but I’m doubtful.
Overall, I would happily endorse this candidate and without a doubt America would be better with Richardson as a leader. However, I’m not convinced that in the long haul he is an electable candidate.
Tags: america, bill richardson, campaign 2008, foreign policy, new mexico, politics, richardson
Election 2008: My Background
October 18, 2007 | 1 Comment
As I live in NH, I get the opportunity to meet a number of presidential candidates and form an opinion using first hand experience. I find that my opinions of candidates can sometimes change in retrospect, so I intend on chronicling my experiences and meetings going forward. However, there is some history I’d like to get out so I have a starting point.
The first national election I paid attention to was the 1992 primary. I was merely 12, but I can remember supporting Tom Harkin in a formal grade school debate. Bill Clinton went on to win that primary and later the national election. During the national election, I was quite curious about Ross Perot. His concise, non-politician sounding, talk was intriguing. His platform was clear and I was a bit torn before finally siding back toward my liberal roots with Clinton.
Eight years later in 2000 I was finally of age to participate. As a college student in NH, I was able go out and meet candidates. Out of the blue I took the opportunity to meet George W. Bush in Lebanon, NH. What stuck out for me most was his odd spin on how to reform education. More mandatory standardized testing and tax credits for enrolling students in private schools seemed insane to me. Later, I saw John McCain speak and realized that not all Republicans were crazy. With this in mind and Al Gore a sure thing on the Democrat ticket, I’d oppose Bush in any way possible way. This led to me voting for McCain in the primary, which he ended up winning in NH, even though he would go on to lose nationally.
By the time the election came around, I was uninspired by Al Gore and had lost faith with the two party system. I then dipped my toe back into the third party concept and threw my support behind Ralph Nader. When the election was eventually awarded to Bush, I felt somewhat bad about not having supported Gore, when he was electable and superior to Bush. With this in mind, I was more passionate in my opposition of Bush and certain that in the future I would only support candidates I feel are electable.
In the 2004 campaign I met Howard Dean. For the first time, I had found a candidate who truly resonated with me. I vowed to do anything possible to help him get elected. This was the first time I got involved in helping a candidate’s campaign. Beyond participating in the campaign, I took the opportunity to see him speak two additional times before the election, each time reassuring me that this was the strongest person to lead America. When his campaign imploded, I remained faithfully hopeful, but was heartbroken to see his hopes of the White House dwindle. The primary was eventually won by John Kerry.
This left me forced to put my support behind John Kerry, in continued resistance to Bush. Without a doubt this was a better choice than George W Bush and I would not make the mistake of refusing to choose the lesser of two evils in a close election again. Of course everyone knows how this election eventually turned out, Bush getting four more years in Washington.
This leads us to Election 2008… With George W Bush out of the equation, I feel like any candidate will be an improvement, leaving me very hopeful for the future. This also has the side effect of me needing to look at each candidate equally, on both side of the aisle. Over time, I’ll post my impressions of each that I get to see. Of course keep in mind… I’ve never supported any candidate who has gone on to win the presidency…
Tags: 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, america, bill clinton, Bush, clinton, college, dean, election, george bush, george w bush, harkin, howard dean, john kerry, kerry, new hampshire, nh, politics, primary, ralph nader, tom harkin
Free Speech in America?
September 19, 2007 | 1 Comment
I’m speechless at this…
Tags: america, constitution, free speech, kerry, taser
Cheney On Iraq in 1994
August 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment
This video was aired on C-SPAN originally and more recently on the Daily Show. I’m shocked at how accurate his predictions of how an invasion of Iraq would effect America and the region. This account is spot on and certainly if he was uninvolved in the current administration he’d be jumping up and down saying I told you so.
Later on Meet The Press in August of 2000 (sourced from ThinkProgress.org):
Tim Russert: Do you regret not taking Saddam out nine years ago?
Dick Cheney: I don’t, Tim. It was–and it’s been talked about since then. But the fact of the matter is, the only way you could have done that would be to go to Baghdad and occupy Iraq. If we’d done that, the U.S. would have been all alone. We would not have had the support of the coalition, especially of the Arab nations that fought alongside us in Kuwait. None of them ever set foot inside Iraq. Conversations I had with leaders in the region afterwards–they all supported the decision that was made not to go to Baghdad.
They were concerned that we not get into a position where we shifted instead of being the leader of an international coalition to roll back Iraqi aggression to one in which we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world taking down governments. So I think we got it right, so suppose it’s one of those things that’ll be debated for some time. But I thought the decision was sound at the time, and I do today. [Meet the Press, 8/27/00]
The most distressing aspect of this is that when we went into Iraq across the board the administration convinced the American people that this was going to be a simple operation, oil would pay for it all, and the Iraqi people would “greet us as liberators.” This feeling of betrayal and a sense of being manipulated is what demonizes the current government in my opinion.
There are solid arguments on both sides on whether or not we are better off having invaded Iraq and unseated Saddam. I don’t think it is productive to engage in this debate at this point. In many ways this hindsight clouds the overall discussion.
Instead, I am most bothered by this example of clear manipulation of perceptions by the administration. Nothing has changed to prevent this from being done again. They might claim 9/11 changed everything, but it 100% fact that Cheney was not clear with us about what negative potentials this invasion presented. This irresponsibility has cost over 3700 US lives and innumerable Iraqi and international coalition casualties and injuries.
Tags: 911, baghdad, cheney, coalition, dick cheney, iraq, manipulated, manipulation, saddam, saddam hussein, think progress, US, video, war