Let's talk about NY-23

New York's 23rd Congressional district was the subject of much national discourse this month, as Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and other prominent Republicans backed a third-party candidate, Doug Hoffman, over moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava. Scozzafava ended up dropping out of the race and backing the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens. Owens would go on to win, finishing slightly ahead of Hoffman.

What makes this particularly signifigant is that this may be a precursor to how the 2012 Republican primary will shape up. Essentially, what we might be looking at is the rise of a third party fueled by the far-right's frustration with the Republican party.

What this means for 2010 and 2012 is that if a third-party cannibalizes the Republican party, then there may be more incidents like NY-23, which is now represented by a Democrat, not having been so in over a hundred years. If this third-party movement gains any more traction, then the Republicans may be forced to adapt their party platform or face losing many of their positions in the years to come.

Following the promise-The narrow path to Health care reform realization

Trent and Friedenberg 2008 argue that political campaigns not only makes political leaders to make face to face promises to the electorate but also holds the leaders accountable for the promises made. Are all promises made during political campaigns honored?
If there is any promise that has characterized the American politics for almost a century, it is the health care promise. Yes, health care. Just mentioning it causes shivers down politician's spines. It has made even the most eloquent and charismatic politicians to helplesslly stare in the air. It has made youthful, energetic politicians in the oval office to grow old within a week of their service. It has caused nightmares to both American politicians and the general public.
President Obama, like his fore leaders, promised Americans the health care plan that includes the public option. At this moment as I write, I can confirm and affirm that if there is any American president that has come so close to making health care promise a reality, he is president Obama. On November 07, 2009, the House of Representatives passed the health care reform bill that includes the public option. Watch House speaker Nancy Pelosi announce the passage of the bill on;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCCkJZBtcVg
Even though the bill has not gone through the Senate yet, it seems likely that if the language in the bill is worked on, the bill that has been a nightmare to many Americans for almost a century will finally become a reality. Among the contentious issues in the bill is abortion. Many Americans are oppossed to a health care bill that covers abortion. However, quite a number of Americans are focused on "the public option" aspect of the bill as its major strength.
Shall president Obama write another page of history, on top of being the first minority president, by making health care reform bill a reality? Time shall tell.

Palin Writes a Book.............

Sarah Palin writes a book. The moment we have all been waiting for. Who doesn’t want to read about like as a hockey mom or riding a moose to work. Okay fine I admit I am being a little cynical, but really what makes her think she has the right to write a book? If nothing else Sarah Palin has a great publicity team. She came out of nowhere in 2008 to run as the Vice Presidential candidate for a very popular candidate. Whatever you believe as the reason she was in the race at all, getting the Hillary voters, or what have you, it doesn’t matter now. She is making a name for herself anyway she can, usually in the headlines for some seemingly odd stunt. Sarah Palin’s book tour has been set for the fall and winter season. Some odd stops are on the list too. She seems to be missing a lot of major cities that most book tours would fall to for a successful book tour. Thought perhaps she is trying to mend some broken fences with stops in Iowa as one previous poster had mentioned she may have upset a few people with her outrageous speaking fee.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/11/sarah_palins_book_tour_going_o.html

Obama's Announcement Speech & Rhetorical Situations

In class yesterday, we continued our discussion on "rhetorical situation" and political speeches. I went on youtube and found a video of one of President Obama's speech highlights. It didn't say what speech it was, I am assuming it was an announcement speech of running for the candidacy. Before diving into the components of his speech, I have to first say that Obama is an amazing speaker. The entire time he is calm, and comfortable speaking to the people. If there wasn't a podium in front of him, he could have as well been speaking at the dinner table with his friends and family.

In reference to his outstanding public speaking, combined with the elements of exigence, audience and constraints, works in Obama's favor of delivering a good speech.

In the video clips, Obama speaks about hope for the future in America. He acknowledges that there are problems that need to be dealt with, awhile ensuring that the audience knows that he will take care of them. He indirectly supports his exigence by implying that he will do a better job than the previous president, and that he is the best person for it.

Obama does a good job addressing the audience. He speaks in a way that appeals to almost everyone. He elaborates on the basics of what America stands for (that nobody form any party can argue against) and stresses bringing back county unity.

He deals with his constraints well because like we discussed in class, he is generally vague. He attempts to gain the support of everyone, and I believe he was successful in getting attention from a lot of people.

Even if you are democrat, republican, independent, or whatever, I think the consensus would be that Obama delivered this speech in an effective manner.

Historical significance of elections

In political campaign communication class I learned that elections serves various functions. Among them is legitigimizing leaders to govern. But most importantly, we must realize that election campaigns have symbolic funcions too. They add to our memory of the electoral process and thus give proof that the system is a good one. This in its sense leads to the historical component of the election campaigns. For instance, on November 4th, 2009 the American electoral clock read one year of president Obama's reign in office. On that day, the president gave a brief speech, which could be found on this link; http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/nov4video
The president's speech touched on various issues, including when and where he began his presidential campaign. He also reminded Americans of his campaign them of "change." Furthemore, he acknowledged the role of Political Action Committees, like Organizing for America, which has been instrumental in the campaign for health care reforms. The president did not forget to acknowledge the efforts of Americans who volunteered their time and efforts to campaign for him either.
The video fulfills the historical component of election campaigns, in that it reminds Americans of the election year, the time and energy that they put into the election, and the promises that were made and needs to be fulfilled. This acts as a reinforcement to the electoral process, and therefore, makes Americans to guard there democracy jealously.

Voter backlash

With the recent elections two republicans gained a spot. Republicans win in New Jersey and Virginia mark a troubling turn for President Obama. With the recent backlash over the economy and the government taking a role in people's lives a backlash can be seen. Voter's have spoken and they are definently not happy with the way things are going.

"What this is tonight, this victory here tonight, is a warning shot, and it says to the moderate Democrats in the House that they ought to think twice about continuing to pursue the policies of this White House and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi," said Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor.

Both sides are pushing these new votes strongly. Republicans are using it as a source of leverage over the Democrates and the democrates are trying to re-gather themselves. Tim Kaine democratic governor out of Virgina said "We have really had a run of wins and we got used to winning and that makes it tough, "We have to give credit where credit is due they ran a great campaign."

The recent changes can be alarming to democrates but it is still very early in Obamas term. Things could quickly shift back into their ballpark. When asked about the elections the White House brushed off the results by saying the president did not watch the elections and had no further comment. In all reality I am sure he was pushing for the victory.

Maybe these changes will spark some movement and changes. A little competition never hurt anyone and that might be exactly what D.C. needs to make progress. It is very interesting to look at how quickly a country can change their views and opinions. Who knows? In a few weeks the democrates could be on top of the world once again.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/03/gop-gains-hurt-obama-capital-agenda/

Obama's Approval

When Obama was running for president and even when he was elected people across the country were excited and eager to see what he would do in his first term. Now months into his election the excitment is slowing. It is common to see presidents lose approval as their term continuous. What is interesting about Obama's case is the fact that people were expecting him to have a longer "honeymoon" than usual. The reasons that his approval rating is falling are very evident. Many people don't see the economy recovering and others don't agree with the healthcare plans. Even on shows such as SNL they have cited the fact that the president has done "nothing" in office. Even though this is not true Obama hasn't done many of the things he promised early on. I believe that America is made up of people that have the "what have you done for me lately" mentality. We expect changes and results. The problem is the changes are slower than usual. I think he still needs time but it is interesting to see support for presidents fall so quickly. Not to long ago he could do no wrong. Like I said this is common for many presidetns. Once their initial pass into office slows down the support is harder to earn. It will be interesting to see if Obama can keep his approval up.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/06/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5219269.shtml