3 posts tagged “barak obama”

I had to write this for a class on Politics and Civil Rights. We were supposed to write "observations" and not "opinions," but as I go to an art school where gen eds are geared toward border-line retards, I figured I'd just been an asshole about it.

Vice-Presidential Debates 2008:  Observations
The Vice Presidential Debates of 2008 were sure to be momentous.  Unlike previous elections, the VP debates gained more attention than ever before, due to the unlikely choosing of the young, inexperienced, female Sarah Palin as Republican VP candidate in an election people are choosing to make a battle of sexism vs. racism.  When pitched against Joe Biden, a talented debater with even more senate experience than Palin’s running-mate, John McCain, millions of Americans tuned in to see what would happen – if Palin’s charisma could compensate for her previous slip-ups with the media.
 
The debates, and the after effects, ended up being largely uninteresting – like the rest of Palin’s time in the spotlight, her supporters were charmed by her inadequacy, and chalked up her ignoring of debate rules in deferring questions and changing subjects as her being stubborn and independently minded. At best, Palin’s performance could be described as unprepared.  “When Gwen Ifill asked a question Palin did not have a notecard answer for--whether she agreed with Vice President Cheney's egregiously overreaching interpretation of the constitutional role of the vice president--the answer was ladled up straight from the Palin linguistic smorgasbord”  (Hirshman). 
 
 I had been looking forward to the debates just as much as anyone else hungry for the downfall of Sarah Palin.  But it’s pretty hard to define a “downfall” when the competitor disregards rules and regulations completely, despite the fact that both the Republican and Democratic camps agreed on a less challenging debate platform for the vice presidential nominees.  Palin at one point blatant stated, “I may not answer the questions the way that either the moderator or you [Joe Biden] want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people” (Times), the pinnacle of her image as a straight-talking fellow American rather than a conventional politician.  Forget the fact that Palin has plenty of time to talk straight to the American people on her own time at rallies, during interviews, etc. – one must cover one’s own ass if she plans on winning, especially when she has no idea how to do anything but spew lines off note cards about energy plans and health care and tax reform. 
 
Palin gets credit where it’s due – she didn’t make herself look like a complete idiot, and her outfit was fit for the red carpet, and apparently to many reputable news sources, that’s enough to make you the declared winner.  What I find disheartening is that many who praise her for her charm on camera are obviously not listening to what she’s actually saying; she actually winked while talking about her track record of reform.  It may have been cute when talking about moose hunting and beauty pageants, but not when trying to set your muddled past straight to the American people.  That’s just plain fishy.
 
I personally find it astonishing and sickening that people are scratching their heads over who the winner of the debate could possibly be, when if this had been a debate team competition in high school, Palin would have been obliterated by her coaches for appearing uninformed about both the subject matter of the debate and disrespectful of the format and the rules.  Perhaps it’s a testament to American audiences – an attractive woman is always more entertaining to watch than a white-haired man getting choked up about his son-away-at-war, but when the attractive woman isn’t parading around stage in a bikini and a crown and is instead trying to argue why she deserves to be a heartbeat away from running the country, one must stop and wonder if this country is even worth saving in the first place.
 
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Works Cited
Hirshman, Linda. "Sarah Palin, Mean Girl." The Nation. 3 Oct. 2008..
Times. "Vice-Presidential Debate Transcripts." 2 Oct. 2008. New York Times. .

I've had a lot of trouble knowing where to lend my support for this election, mostly due to hype and media coverage. It's been obvious to me that much of the negative air around Clinton is inspired by the stereotype of a power-hungry bitch, using her husband's career as a stepping stone -- this stereotype is propagated largely by the media and voters who fail to recognize the sexist slant ingrained into where we get our information. Obama I've had issues with because of his obvious marketing toward the youth and speeches that seem to pray on emotional appeal. At a glance, it's hard to see past the two Democrats' outer-images, and I refuse to have my vote swayed by either of these.

The Daily Kos has this in common with me. In her blog entry, she decides where to place her vote based on senate voting records, meticulously going through the Library of Congress's website and reading each one. If you don't feel like doing the same, she summarizes the key points quite well.

I suggest all undecided voters check this out.

To make it perfectly clear, I have not yet personally endorsed any candidate yet for the 2008 presidential election. The only candidate that I feel speaks my views is Mike Gravel, but he is the absolute least popular contender for the Democratic nomination. Being a Democrat myself, I've been trying to figure out whom I'd rather have in office -- Barak or Hillary -- but haven't devoted myself to either yet. I find it exciting that the top two contenders for the nom represent minority demographics that many people believe will never hold office in the United States. I find it even more interesting that, although black men constantly portrayed by the media as gang members and uneducated lowlifes, Obama undoubtedly gets the better press over Clinton.

Why do people hate Hillary so much? I've been trying to wrap my brain around it for months now, and, despite her supposed flaws, I have to believe that the bad press is 90% due to the media and society's interpretations of  something, not purely policy.

In a recent speech, Obama mentioned something that I think might contribute a lot to the media's distrust of Hillary: "I know it is tempting — after another presidency by a man named George Bush — to simply turn back the clock, and to build a bridge back to the 20th century,"

But perhaps this is exactly it. It's no debate that G. W. is unpopular, and it's not much of a question of whether or not he would have a career in politics were it not for daddy. And now that Obama mentions it, Hillary is much in the same position. Although she had a career and aspirations separate from her husband's (in fact, that is how they met), I also have little question as to whether or not she would have become senator were she not first First Lady. Much like Bush, her popularity without a doubt hinges on someone else's career.

Would she have accomplished much without her marriage to provide her with such connections? Who knows. But the point is that she definitely, undoubtedly has a career today because of it.

Maybe the idea of the family dynasty is what is subconsciously playing into many Democrats' lack of support for Hillary. After all, seeing as how our current president is in office largely due to his father, it doesn't seem out-of-line to question someone's experience if a former president is legally related to them.

But Bush still got into office with not nearly as much bad press as Hillary. I don't think it's unfair to cite sexism as a contributed to Hillary's poor media image. Women who pursue high positions are often dismissed as bitchy and power-hungry, and you'd have to be kidding if you said the negative media surrounding Hillary wasn't making her out to be just that.

But there is opposition to this: Well, if the media is being blatantly sexist, where's the racism against Obama?

This is where my point comes in -- perhaps Hillary is more succeptible to being labeled as power-hungry because of the similarity between the Bush dynasty and the Clinton dynasty. Both let two terms pass before the family re-entered the presidential scene. It's also easy to call a woman power-hungry when she's running for office as the wife of a former very successful president.

Would I vote for Hillary? I have no idea. I'm merely trying to differentiate bad press from sexist press and still waiting for Obama to say something to make me believe he has the experience necessary for being a president. The fact is, I like neither Clinton nor Obama, and am greatly disheartened to learn that the other, safer looking hopefuls Kucinich and Edwards have both dropped out. My lack of certainty with either of the candidates has led me to even start considering those on the Republican bench -- McCain has some solid ideas, I hear.

Since Michigan fucked itself out of the primaries, I didn't vote, and now I suppose I resign for the rest of the public to make the decision for me. Hopefully I'll have waded through this all by election day.