$100,000? You betcha!

As the first year of Obama's presidency nears its close, it is interesting to look ahead slightly to the potential candidates for the Republican nomination for President in 2012. One potential figure in politics today is Sarah Palin, the former Vice-Presidential candidate and Governor of Alaska.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/10/sarah-palin-from-winks-to-winces.html

This link contains an analysis of some of the things that Sarah Palin has done since the end of the 2008 Presidential campaign. While she may have some prominence left over from that election, the actions she has taken since losing have seemingly weakened her stance as a potential Presidential nominee for 2012. For instance, resigning from the Governorship of Alaska does nothing but provide fodder for her critics to label her as a 'quitter'. Furthermore, her charging $100,000 for a speaking appearance in Iowa, a state which as we know can set the tone and momentum for an entire election, can severely hurt her prospects in that state which is accustomed to being catered to, rather than held up for money.

If Palin hopes to make a serious run at the Presidency in three years, she would do well to adapt her strategy now in order to appeal to voters, especially those such as in Iowa who can sink her aspirations before they have left the docks.

Arnold's Power

I want to elaborate on the first function of a candidate's website using Arnold Shwarzenneger's website for the governor of California. His website has many features that lure younger generations through social networking sites like Twitter pages, YouTube clips, and even a Facebook page and group that keep people involved with Arnold's issues. By offering these features it makes it even more convient to be involved with issues and policies that arise in politics. Blogs are rather new ways of political support that keep the more computer savvy users involved and drawing a line between older generations. Having blogs and other multi media also just makes the site overall more interesting for users that want to get involved. I think that it is a good approach to possess because the younger voters are going to become more active in the next couple years which could possibly keep Shwarzenegger in office longer.
http://gov.ca.gov/

Third Tier and Obama's website

Today in class, we discussed the three tiers and their functions a little bit more in depth. I went back to my assignment from last Wednesday, and realized that I was confused about the differences between the first tier and the third tier. I realized that the third tier is not just about having websites in multiple languages, it deals with actually getting people involved directly from the website. Thus, some examples I had for other tiers could be applied to the third tier.

For exmaple, Barack Obama's website (http://www.barackobama.com) applies to the third tier because it acts as a direct way for visitors to get involved. If you click on the link, and look to the top right of the page, it allows people to actually volunteer and call congress directly from the website. It even provides the volunteers a script to read when talking to officials.

Although other political candidate websites relate to this example, I thought Obama's was the most obvious.

Obama, Basketball, and women

In the article Man's World at the white house? No harm, No foul, there is a new story that has caused some headlines. According to the New York Times some womens right's organizations are starting to bring to light the fact the Obama invites only men over for pick up games of basketball on the lawn of the White House. President Obama occasionally calls over some high level officials in D.C. for some quick games of basketball. Apparently the fact that he only calls men has started to anger some women's organizations. They feel that he is sexiest based on the fact that he has never invited any women. This is an important issue for Obama becasue over the course of his political carrer he has been a positive leader for many women. In fact women are part of the core supporters of Obama. Women believe he has a personal appeal that they can relate to. In light of the recent aligations that Obama is sexest the White House has released some numbers. According to there record it is a 50/50 split of men and women working on the White House Staff. In addition Obama pointed out that he has hired many women for top positions.
I find this article and these claims comical. Just becasue Obama enjoys the game of basketball I see no shame in him calling some "guys" over to play. The fact of the matter is the White House is his home. If he wants to enjoy a pick up game or two why can't he call whoever he wants to join him. I think these women's organizations need to pick their fights smarter and realize Obama is far from sexest. In fact he has done a lot for the progress of women. Maybe Obama needs some "guy" time. Let's face it, alot of men enjoy sports and some quick competition with some other men has never hurt anyone. This is just another classic example that as the president everything can have an effect on someone or something.

Joh Edwards Ties them all

In Political Communication class, I learned that the internet, especially websites are becoming increasingly important in political campaigns. This article illustrates how the former North Carolina Senator John Edwards' presidential website explains the three tiers, which are; first-tier content, second-tier content, and third-tier content.
Trent and Friedenberg explains that the first-tier content website contains the candidate's biography, campaign news, as well as links that enable the visitor to volunteer to help the campaign or donate to the campaign. It also includes a clear means to facilitate contact between the visitor and the campaign. If that is the case, then the following links from John Edwards' website best illustrates the aforementioned first-tier functions in their respective order.
http://johnedwards.com/about/john/
http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/
http://johnedwards.com/action/join/campaign-short/
https://www.johnedwards.com/action/contribute/form/
http://johnedwards.com/action/mobile/form/

John Edwards' website not only illustrates first-tier content but also demonstrates second-tier content. According to Trent and Friedenberg, the most commonly used of the second-tier content is multimedia. According to John Edwards' website, this function is best demonstrated by the following link;
http://johnedwards.com/media/

Still, the other tier that is illustrated by John Edwards' website is third-tier. Trent and Friedenberg points out that among the functions of third-tier website are providing ability of voters to organize their own fund-raising campaigns, providing for volunteers to organize and track their activities, providing help to volunteers to set up house parties for the candidate, and offering podcasts. Here is a link from John Edwards' website that illustrates how voters can organize thir own fund-raising campaigns;
http://johnedwards.com/login/?back=http%3a%2f%2fjohnedwards.com%2faction%2fcontribute%2fgrassroots

Threfore, it is reasonable to conclude that John Edwards' presidential website ties all the three tiers.

Post-New Orleans visit

Although the visit to New Orleans was a successful one and one that brought joy to many people of the New Orleans area, reality was struck by being in the city itself. Obama received cheers while pulling into the city and many were overly-excited to see the President.

After passing an area of the city that was still in dispair from the terrible storm, it became a picture of some 91,000 homes that are still in dispair in result from the floods four years ago. One sign that was up in front of the line of homes was a wake up call alone, saying "Four years later..."

Students at the University of New Orleans were also pretty upset with the way Obama and his administration has been doing for the city. They are still struggling big time and were hoping things were different once a new president came into office. With any administration or person trying to help out with a huge disaster, such as this one, there is always going to be critisism until the crisis is totally solved. It is very difficult for them to see the great things and the changes Obama has made to the area since there is still a lot of work to be done. Nobody said that fixing up and cleaning up from the natural disaster that hit was going to be easy or not take a lot of time. They are hoping to make the changes complete in 10 years from the time Katrina has hit. Currently, they are on year five, which will be halfway through. There is still a lot of work to be done, but overall, Obama and his administration has been very helpful to New Orleans and the surrounding cities that were hit by the storm almost five years ago.

Nancy Pelosi and health care

In this article it deals with the ongoing debate about health care and the reform. This article highlights the beliefs that Nancy Pelosi has about the health care reform. Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the house. In addition shes a far left democrate that has a strong voice in D.C. Even though the debate about the healthcare reform has slowed down Nancy is continuing to voice her opinions. She is in support of a government run health care system. If Pelosi could have it her way she would not leave any options for the health care agency's and the American citizens. She would be in favor of the government controlling the overall healthcare.The fact that she is voicing her opinion is very interesting. Even though Barack Obama is a democrate it seems like Pelosi and him disagree on some of the topics involved in the reform. She continues to state that the public option is a huge aspect of the reform. Whereas Obama officials claim it is not a huge topic. I think that Obama is trying to ride the middle of the road. He does not want to step to far left with Pelosi and lose the support of many other supporters. I think it is evident he is worried because he keeps using advisors to make his remarks about the topic. This is a classic example of a president trying not to go one way or the other. They try to satisfy both parties to an extent. Throughout his campaign and presidency Pelosi has been a great supporter of Obama. She still is but it is evident that she wants him to push further left than he is comfortable going.

Dress, politics, and communication

The major theme that surfaces throughout political campaign communication course is that political campaigns are about communication. The law of communication states that "It is not what you say but how you say it." If that is the case, then I would argue that there are many factors that contributes to "how" people/politicians articulate their ideas. Among them socio-economic status, and most importantly dress. How a person dresses can either turn off the audience or catch their attention. Did the dress factor play a role during the recently concluded selection of the "AskMen's 49 most influential men of 2009?"
I would say that yes, dress definitely played a role in the selection, where Mad Men's Don Draper emerged as a winner, followed by president Barack Obama. Before I go a head to argue my case, I first of all I have to clarify that I consider the selection to be political because voting was involved in the process. Moving a head to clarify why I think dress was a factor, the link
http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/a-line/askmens-49-most-influential-men-of-2009/281?nc
portrays Draper dressed in an elegant suit, tie, and a merging hat. President Obama is also depicted in an equally striking suit. Both of them puts on a confident look that goes inline with their outfits. Even though the link also portarys other contestants in suits, but someone could easily notice that the top two contestants are dressed in a way that makes them to stand out. Therefore, dress is definitely a factor in political communication.

Mass media and action groups

In Political Campaign Communication class, under mass media and politics, I learned that the internet/website plays a vital role in political campaigns. Websites not only help candidates to reach out to voters but also raise funds for their campaigns. Interestingly, politicians are not the only ones who use websites for the aforementioned purposes. Action groups/organizations do it too.
A good example of a public organization that utililizes the website to discharge services is the ACCION International. The organization's website http://www.lendtoendpoverty.org/ discloses that ACCION International emphasizes the need to send children (especially girls) to school and give them a hope for the future. Through the wesite, the organization communicates its agendas, like what is stands for, to the general public. The organization also makes good use of the website to create civil rights activism, by putting pressure on the United States to ratify the UN. Convention on the Child works to secure children's rights to survival, health, and education in every country around the world. Furthermore, the organization use the website to raise funds to alleviate poverty among children around the world.
Therefore, politicians are not the only ones that use the internet/website to advance their agendas as well as raise funds, Action Groups/Organizations do it too.

Natural Disasters

President Obama has planned a visit to New Orleans, which is just one region that was hit five years ago by Hurricane Katrina. This visit, which is planned for October 15, is crucial to show the people of that area that he is helping considerably with trying to build up the city. Obama criticized Bush for his lack of support and help in re-building the city and had promised to do better. With the money that the city has gained since Obama has been in office to help with the rebuilding of the city, as well as the 100-year protection system for future hurricanes, Obama has began to show that he is going to be doing better in helping New Orleans and other surrounding areas.

There is still a lot of work to be done, with the population of the area still down and the city in need of more money and work to be done. It is, according to Amy Liu, who is the co-director of the New Orleans Index, too early to tell if Obama is just the right help that New Orleans needs, or if he will eventually give up or back down on his efforts to re-build the cities that were damaged during the terrible Hurricane five years ago.

Bob Brown, the managing director of the Business Council in New Orleans also gave his opinion about Obama, his administration and their efforts to help out New Orleans. He claims that if one were to compare the performance of the Bush administration to the Obama administration, they would be able to see the considerable differences between the help that has been given to New Orleans. According to Brown, "even if you hate [Obama]...you'd have to be the biggest ideologue in the universe not to soften up a bit."

Obama has been doing great things to help out the cities that were hit terribly by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans has the highest population growth of big cities across the US. Hopefully Obama keeps up the great work to help rebuild New Orleans and other cities that were hit hard by Hurricane Katrina to become the great cities they once were.

More troops

In this article it discusses the further developments on the situation in Afghanistan. Many senators are calling for Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan. In addition the lead military advisor Stanley Mccrhystal in Afghanistan has told the president that more troops are crucial to the success of the America in the war. Like many other controversial topics the debate about sending more troops is becoming hotter. Highly publicized political leaders like Senator McCain are urging the president to listen to his military advisors and send more troops. On the other hand powerful democrate Nancy Polaski, and vice president are pushing for less troops and more unmaned military missions. This is a common predicament for a president to be in. Both sides, democrat and republic have their beliefs about what is right. It is tough for the president to please both sides. Like we spoke about earlier in the class many presidents try to walk the line between both parties. Therefore, Obama needs to be careful about the decision that he makes. Even though Obama is a democrat their is extreme pressure from republicans such as McCain to add troops. In a situation like this its common for political parties to fued and fight. I think that Obama is smart by trying to walk the line between the parties but I also think he needs to be careful. Throughout Obama's campaign and presidency he's stressed the importance of both parties working together. Obama wanted to "end the politics of Washington." If Obama doesn't make a decision the debate will get hotter, more publicized, and both parties will be upset with each other. I think Obama needs to make a decision to stop the feuding and save face on the topic that he has stressed. A topic that calls for both parties to work together.

Young Jeezy's Approval of Obama

Ok, so I am trying to be creative with this post after our class discussion yesterday about how candidates don't always know that they are being promoted in strange ways. Ray demonstrated how womens' thongs can be printed with Obama's face on it or the infamous shirt stating, "Once you go barak you never go back". We talked a little about how some candidates have sponsored theme songs (the annoying Ike jingle that sticks in your head). I did some thinking and another form that wasn't directly mentioned in class is a rap song by Young Jeezy titled, "My President", which explains his thoughts about having Obama be the first black president.

"My president is black, my Lambo's blue And I'll be goddamned if my rims ain't too My money's light green and my Jordans light grey And they love to see white, now how much you tryna pay? " I find it interesting that after mentioning Obama he uses a drug reference in the same sentence!

A rap song casually uses Obama in its chorus. This is a first for rap using a president in their songs, showing how much change is actually occuring not only economically but culturally as well.

"Obama for mankindWe ready for damn change so y'all let the man shine Stuntin on Martin Luther, feelin just like a king"

"Yeah, our history, black history, no president ever did shit for meHad to hit the streets, had to flip some keys so a n**** won't go broke"
-Young Jeezy
This is some powerful stuff for more than just hip hop, people in the ghetto have new inspiration to succeed because of Obama and a need for change. I'm sure most of you have heard the song and it's catchy eventhough I don't even like rap music.

Heres a link to the song on YouTube if you want to check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JLuWZed8rs