Obama's Debate Notes

I was sent these images in an email about the debate.  I am not sure where they came from and who made them, but I am probably right in assuming that these are not the actual debate notes from Barack Obama.  There have been many discussions of Obama and his behavior and lack of energy at the first debate in Denver.  I feel like Obama wasn't really present at the debate, that he seemed tired, distracted, and not mentally or emotionally prepared.  These two images were created by somebody in response to his behavior that we witnessed at the debates.  They are reminiscent of notes that are taken in a high school or middle school class.  "Obama's notes" start out as being present with topics to discuss, and like Obama was in real life, there is a slow decline with his attention to the debate topics.  There are doodles, little jokes, responses to things that Romney said.... they reflect somebody who is bored and just writing train of thought.  These drawings are similar to political cartoons, in that you it is really up to the viewer to interpret them how they want and they are poking fun at the political candidates.  I think that these really do make fun of not just Obama, but also the moderator Jim Lehrer, as well as Romney.  I think they are really funny!  I would be curious to see both Obama and Romney's notes from the actual debate.  I wonder if they look anything like these do!

Roll Tide. I mean...

Well it would appear Wednesday night when America thought they were watching the first 2012 Presidential  debate, that they were actually just watching a repeat of the Alabama vs. LSU BCS National Championship game.  You know the one, right?  The game in which Alabama STOMPED LSU.  The game that everybody was talking about for weeks and that evolved into a bipartisan debate among the nation.  The game in which LSU didn't even really show up to play, resulting in a final score of Alabama, 21 and LSU, 0.  I am sure y'all know which game I am talking about about because it was a huge event on tv and they replayed in on Wednesday night instead of the Presidential debate.  ROLL TIDE ROLL!  I am a huge Alabama fan, y'all.  

Just to clarify, in case anyone didn't note my sarcasm in the paragraph above, they didn't actually show the Alabama vs. LSU BCS National Championship game on Wednesday night.  All of the major networks were actually, in fact, showing the first Presidential debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama.  But I could not help but feel like I was watching the BCS-NC game with Romney as Alabama and Obama as LSU because let's be honest, Obama didn't really show up to play.  

Did anybody else think that Obama was completely off of his game?  Say what you want you silly democrats and republicans, blame it on the altitude and that Obama wasn't able to think clearly with the lack of oxygen, or that this is just how he is without being able to read a speech off of a teleprompter.  Whatever the reason and no matter what your party, we all have to admit that Obama didn't really show up for the debate last night.  Perhaps it is because he is the President of the United States and wasn't able to lock himself up in a mansion for weeks to prepare (coughRomneycough), but either way everyone is saying that Romney "won" the debate.  This idea of Romney having won the debate is exemplified in the picture to the right of a poll done by CBS News.  They asked uncommitted voters to rate which candidate cares more about their individual needs and problems.  Both candidates made a positive jump, with a 33% increase in people saying that they thought Romney cared more about their needs after watching the debate and a 16% increase saying the same for Obama.  

I think that Romney did well in the debate.  He used a lot of statistics and facts, although they may not all be 100% true, and had many specific examples of people that he has met along the campaign trail.  These examples of specific conversations he had made him seem like a charismatic candidate, one that really does care about your personal needs because he remembers the small people along the way.  Romney was well spoken and carried himself like a man who is prepared to be president.  He was attentive to Obama when Obama was speaking and persistently made eye contact with the president.  He responded to Obama's remarks and questions with specific examples of what he is going to do and how he plans on doing those things if he is elected.  Again, not all of the statements that he made were 100% correct or perhaps truthful, but to the uncommitted voters watching the debate, Romney knew what he was talking about.  How else could you explain a 33% jump in the poll above?

Obama on the other hand was again, off his game.  He just gave a poor performance.  I personally feel like he responded to Romney's questions and remarks with emotion instead of facts.  He had a tendency to harp on certain statements instead of addressing the topic at hand, which made him come across as unknowledgeable and unprepared.  Obama's story about the school teacher he met in Las Vegas seemed like a meager attempt to try and say to Romney, "Well hey, I have met people along the campaign trail too, so maybe I should mention them like you...".  Obama rarely made eye contact with Romney and had a tendency to look everywhere but at his opponent when Romney was speaking.  He just came across as somebody who was worn down and not completely prepared for the battle.  No matter the circumstances behind his poor performance, I know that his advisors will be hounding him and thoroughly preparing him for the next debate.  I can bet that Obama will come out swinging in the second presidential debate.  

     

No matter who won or lost, both candidates lied and twisted statistics and facts, made faces at comments made by the other, and repeatedly talked over the moderator.  They were both trying to one up each other and get the last word in and while this was not the dirtiest of the presidential debates, they certainly got some snide comments and jabs at each other in there.  Both Obama and Romney tried to present themselves as the best candidate while simultaneously putting the other one down.  But does it really matter?  The people who liked Obama before the debate certainly liked him after and the people who liked Romney before, definitely liked him after.  It has taken me a couple of days to really process what each candidate said and the performances of both.  I wanted to be able to write this blog without having my political affiliations sway my argument in this blog.  I think it is naive for a person to vote on a president based on what they hear in the debates because both candidates lied and facts were incorrect.  I think that it is important for people to research what the candidates are for and against, what they stand on and how voting for one candidate over the other will personally affect you.  No matter which way your state swings, it is still your right to vote and it is important to do so.  So vote.  Register, apply for an absentee ballot, whatever it is you have to do to make sure you can vote in this election.  VOTE.   

After the battle on stage Wednesday night, didn't y'all just love the gathering of the families on stage?  They just have to remind America that they are family men and that no matter what personal politics are, democrats and republicans really can be friends!

       

There are a lot of boxers out there...

The video link below was sent to me in an email today and I wanted to just share it quickly.  It is from what appears to be a Danish tv/internet broadcast that comments on social issues and the issue in this video is President Obama.  The clip shows Obama meeting with several leaders from countries all over the world and constantly using the descriptor for these countries as boxers who punch above their weight in international fairs.  It also shows him doing the same thing but saying that the countries are strong and close allies.  I am not sure if it is a coincidence that he is using the same terms repeatedly, just bad speech writing by his staff, or just really good film editing, but either way it is embarrassing.  Perhaps it is time for some new speech writers, Mr. President?

Saturday Night Live Political Skits

Political spoofs have been a part of media culture for ages and nobody does it better than the cast members of Saturday Night Live.  Every Saturday, without fail, they have a skit that is devoted to mocking the politicians of the United States, as well as other countries.  Even in SNL’s first season, the cast was performing political skits.  The premiere season in 1976 had Chevy Chase acting scenes as a clumsy presidential candidate Gerald Ford.  Chase later said in interviews that he wanted Jimmy Carter to beat Ford in the presidential election, which is part of the reason why he mocked Ford on the show.  Ford may have been one of the first, but he is certainly not the last politician to be mocked on SNL.  Nobody is off limits and everybody from President Obama to Hosni Mubarak is fair game for the political skits. 

The question that I want to know is how do these political skits affect voters?  Are uneducated or undecided voters swayed by the way the cast members portray these politicians?  If that is the case, perhaps the Democrats have an unfair advantage.  SNL is known for having a strongly Democrat cast, if not entirely made up of Democrats and they have a tendency to poke fun at Republicans in their skits.  Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin on SNL has become immortalized and people are still talking about this impression, years after Fey retired from SNL.  Her impression of Palin was mentioned as recently as last Sunday night at the 2012 Emmy Awards.  

But that does not mean that the writers of SNL only make fun of Republicans.  During the 2011 SNL season when Obama’s ratings were really low, there were repeated skits mocking our president.  Fred Armisen portrayed Obama in scenes and mocked the way he spoke and his mannerisms, portraying Obama as almost an idiot who didn’t really know what he was doing in office.  The portrayals and skits about Obama are not the harshest and most straightforward criticisms of the President, but one can tell there is some underlying frustration with the President in such skits.

Just this Saturday, Seth Meyers did a segment on the weekly skit “Weekend Update” called “What Are You Doing” that was directed at Obama.  In the skit, Meyers pointedly asked Obama what he was doing in his political campaign after the president made the comment “You can’t change Washington from the inside, you can only change it from the outside.”  Meyers was asking Obama why he was putting his foot in his mouth, especially when Romney had made Obama look better by making himself look stupid that same week.  Meyers described Obama as “the criminal who gets away with murder and then starts sending the cops puzzles to figure it out”.  The skit was also critical of Romney, but it is an example of how the cast members and writers of SNL will poke fun at members of all parties.  A link to the video is below.      

These examples bring me back to my previous question of how these skits affect the voters and public opinions of the politicians they make fun of.  I believe that there are many people that draw conclusions about politicians and can even be swayed as to whom to vote for from information they receive from popular culture.  The majority of the views expressed are biased and Hollywood is known for being mainly composed of democrats, perhaps leading the younger generation, who are strongly influenced by these people, to vote democrat.  SNL cast member Kate McKinnon references this idea of the cool and popular Hollywood stars supporting Obama this past week when she portrays Ann Romney and says that as a republican, the only famous people she gets to meet are Jon Voigt, while the Obamas, as democrats, get to hang out with Jay-Z and Beyonce (video link below).  Celebrities, like Chelsea Handler on her late night television show, use their fame as a platform for expressing their opinions and promoting certain political candidates.  When she calls her viewers who vote or support Romney idiots and helping to ruin our country, she is influencing the minds of those who have not decided on who to vote for yet.  When a popular actor like Ryan Gosling is pictured wearing an Obama t-shirt, his political opinions are expressed and influence those who admire him.  If you watched Chelsea Handler's show or loved Ryan Gosling and you see who they are voting for, want to be cool like them, and you are undecided, you would probably vote for Obama after remarks like that. 

Because Americans are so engrossed with celebrities and popular culture, the politicians that are supported by the rich and the famous have a huge advantage.  They have a huge influence on voters.  Young voters may think that it is “cool” to vote for one candidate over another simply because a certain celebrity that they admire promotes that candidate.  Obviously celebrities have every right to express their views as to which politician they support, but sometimes they take it a little too far.  They should understand that they are in the public eye and that their biased views are going to be heard by a lot of people and to remember that when they express their opinions.  When they make harsh comments about one politician over another, they are making a strong statement that is going to be heard and read by millions of people and that statement is going to have consequences.  I am not saying that I don’t think celebrities should be allowed to express their opinion or that people like the cast members of SNL should not do political skits.  No matter if it is a democrat or a republican that is being promoted or being mocked, it is in my opinion that Hollywood needs to be a little less biased and perhaps promote voting in general, not matter who it is for.  Remind everyone to vote because it is a right that not all people have and that many people fought just for us to have this right.  They should spend more time stressing the importance of voting, than promoting their political opinions    

SNL Weekend Update- Ann Romney

SNL Weekend Update- Obama

Les Miserables

So I know that what I am about to post is not necessarily related to politics, but in a way it is.  I just saw this movie clip that is all about the making of the new Les Miserables movie and I had to share it with somebody, so I am sharing it on my blog!  The story IS related to politics because it takes place in France before and during the June Rebellion, also known as the Paris Uprising in 1832.  The musical is based off of Victor Huge's novel Les Miserables, which is very famous and well known.  It is a great literary example of taking a historical event and writing a novel based off of it.  It follows many different characters around, including a young man named Marius who is a student and also apart of the Paris Uprising in 1832.  This uprising was a rebellion by the Parisian Republicans, a group that was largely composed of students, who were fighting against the monarchy.  Many of the scenes take place on a barricade that has been set by the students and members of the rebellion to protect themselves against the monarchy and their soldiers.  

I am so incredibly excited for this movie!  I love musicals and I think this movie looks like it is incredibly well made.  Just wanted to share with y'all! Enjoy!

War

In class on Monday we discussed a television show from the 1960s that aired in Poland.  It was on tv during the Cold War and huge reason for this tv show was to influence the way the Polish viewed the Russians.  The government wanted to remind the Polish that even though the Russians may be invading their country and attempting to enforce their rules, at one point in time, they were the ones who saved Poland.  They were the liberators and that was important for people in Poland remember, especially as the Russians starting becoming the invaders.

The class discussion got me thinking on the importance of images.  Not necessarily propaganda images, but images of war.  I think that many times, as Americans, we separate ourselves from the brutality and the ugliness of war.  The Civil War in the 1800s was the last time we had a war on our soil, with the exception of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  I have grown up in a generation who has known war, but only from a distance.  And as long as I keep the news turned off and limit what I look at in magazines and on the internet, I do not have to be reminded of the horrible things that are going on.  I can remain ignorant to it.  I think that this is wrong.  I think that we need to be continually reminded of war.  We need to be reminded of what the men and women of the armed services are fighting for, even if we do not agree with it.  I think that many Americans have become desensitized to the violence of war because of movies and video games, but I can only hope that the actual images from battle seem to shock us back into reality.  I think it is important for us to see these images because it makes it real and it helps us to understand the sacrifices people are making.  It reminds us that not everyone has it easy and we are very fortunate to live in the country that we do.

Whenever I see an armed service man or woman, like in the airport, I make it a point to thank them for their service.  I cannot even begin to imagine the horrors that they have seen and I will forever be grateful for the sacrifices they have made to protect me.

I think that Americans need to educate themselves on war and they can start by looking at the images from it.  Only when we have a complete understand of war and what it is we are fighting for, can we make a decision as to whether we think it is right or wrong; as to whether we not we think it is something worth fighting for.

    

Facebook

My newsfeed on my Facebook has been going crazy these last couple weeks with comments, statuses, picture postings, etc about politics and the election.  Basically anything and everything that has to do with the election is being broadcasted by my friends on my newsfeed.  It is funny to me that Facebook has really evolved into a public forum for people to post their opinions on political and social issues.  It is no longer a place just for people to connect and post pictures and updates on their lives; it has become a means of social activism, a soapbox for everyone to share their views with their Facebook friends.  You name it, one of my friends on Facebook has probably posted a status about it.  To be honest, it gets quite annoying to be constantly inundated with uneducated (majority of the time, at least) opinions about politicians, political views and statements, essentially anything that relates to the election.  But it is their right to be able to post whatever they want on Facebook... that is freedom of speech for you!  No matter what your views or how much knowledge or lack of knowledge you may have on a subject, it is your right as an American to be able to post as much as you want on Facebook about said views and beliefs.  It is just my opinion that typically these posts are written by people who are not educated on the topic and are speaking simply from a place of emotion and using words that they may have heard their parents say or something that they read online. 

A perfect example would be my roommate from my sophomore year of college.  During the 2008 election, she was all for Obama and his preachings about change and new hope.  She did not know anything about his political views or what it makes a Democrat or a Republican, but she saw people talking about how great Obama was on different social media websites like Twitter and Facebook and she was suddenly a Democrat and a huge supporter of Obama.  And then one day, her dad saw one of her Facebook statuses about Obama and the great changes he was going to be making for this country and was not pleased with his daughters uneducated Facebook statuses.  Her father is a Republican and is educated on political issues and needless to say, he put my roommate in her place and educated her about what Obama's election would mean for his company and how it would effect her personally.  She instantly changed her views and became super anti-Obama.  She voted for McCain in the 2008 election.  Four years later, I can't help but wonder who her vote will go to?

  

I feel like this is a classic case of how Facebook has become a way for people, who do not really know much about politics, to rant and rave about their political opinions.  There are, of course, people on Facebook who ARE educated about politics and the government, but I feel like they are not really the ones posting their views.  It is the people who hear something on TV or see another Facebook post that seems educated and correct in it's political statement and these people, in turn, feel like they need to post it as well to prove that they are politically savvy.   Those people who understand politics rarely post, in my opinion, because they don't want to get into a long diatribe over Facebook with the idiots who pretend to know what is going on.  It may be a harsh opinion, but it is mine.

Facebook has also become a perfect way for political parties to sway and get the vote from the younger generation who are using Facebook.  I think a huge reason why my roommate became all about Obama in 2008 was because she was constantly seeing the posts about him and thought, "Wow, he must be a great candidate if so many people are posting information about him!".  I have "liked" both the Obama and Romney pages of Facebook in order to see what they are posting about and it is a constant stream of pictures and short quotes from the politicians, all trying to win the favor of the younger voters.  Below is a chart that I have found that illustrates how the different parties use social network sites.  It seems to be pretty much even across the board as to who uses these websites more.  All parties are using social networks to their advantage and it appears to be working.