She’s Still Here

Keith Olbermann put it so well.  I love this video below about Palin’s numerous “exclusive” interviews with the media, her wavering commitment to the presidency or the unpredictability of life, and her continuing love for Hilary.

The Untold Story

The post on the Trinity Bloggers website made me look at the topic of race relations after the election through a slightly different lens.  I’ve only been living in this New England, blue state for about five years, but I already feel pleasantly removed from the pervasive line of thought in the south.  However, I must admit before I continue much further that I was impressed and a bit proud that Florida went for Obama in this election.  Florida is a peculiar state.  It’s so large, and the center, more rural, portion of the state thinks a great deal differently than the more densely populated and more affluent coastal areas.  That being said, the though briefly crossed my mind about the hatred some white people may express after the election.  Because my world is so different now, the thought was only brief.  I had mostly positive feelings about the race relations of the whole country.

The anger over the result of the election is of course not sequestered to the Bible belt.  One story cites specific examples in Georgia but emphasizes that there is anger across the country “from California to Maine.” As if we traveled back in time, people are burning crosses, committing vandalism, and even being violent toward each other.  Some have completely lost their faith in America’s likelihood to keep the racial barrier around the white house.  Some think the country is absolutely doomed under Obama’s leadership.  Even some people in Europe have made callous remarks and expressed negativity over Obama’s election.

Another interesting aspect of this overall topic is that stories about it are difficult to locate.  Other than the mainstream story I linked above, everything else I found to support this issue of anger was on less than legitimate sources.  I don’t think the lack of information about the issue is due to the racism being isolated and unremarkable.  I think, in part, the media doesn’t want to report on it because it may feed the fire that hasn’t gotten out of control and also because it would affect the overall outlook on the historical election.  People need to feel positive now for a lot of reasons, and stories like this put worry into the heart of many people, like me.

Lame Duck Media

What’s Obama doing, how is he going about, what’s already wrong with it, and what will he possibly do wrong once in office?

Those are the stories of interest to the media lately.  First of all, whom is he appointing to certain positions?  A CNN page shows the key cabinet position and the list of people being considered for them. Clinton, of course, is supposedly on the “short list” for Secretary of State, along with John Kerry and Susan Rice.  Rice appears for consideration for several positions.  Even Caroline Kennedy is listed as a possibility for appointment to the UN.  I have some doubts as to how valid this kind of news is.  Clinton of course was in the news substantially when Obama was about to pick a VP.  Biden was on his list as well.  However, who’s to say that these people are really the ones he is considering.  In this case, the media is creating a story before there is a story.  This process has two results.  Say Clinton is picked for Secretary of the State.  If so, the public will feel special as if they were in the know before he made his choice.  If not, the public will feel surprised, not with the media but with Obama.  Much like they did when Clinton was not picked as his running mate.  Certain people were rooting for a decision that no one was 100% sure he was considering.

Another story gaining popularity is his process for filling posts, specifically the application. According to news sources, the application is a seven-page, 63 item questionnaire that “leaves no stone unturned.”  Obama is, as the media tells it, being careful not to bring anyone into his inner circle who has baggage, unpleasant connections, family issues, or any semblance of a past really.  The what’s-already-wrong-it issue is the other story cropping up regarding the number of women he is “considering” for these key positions. Women’s groups are concerned. Because early teams released by Obama tend to be male-dominated, he is now asking NOW to send suggestions for qualified female candidates.

The last item the media is bringing up is the hypothetical pondering what-could-go-wrong issue.  In a now common comparison to Kennedy, a story has hatched about potential mistakes Obama could make in such a troubled economy for a country that is fighting two wars.  Because the media has no firm idea of such a mistake for a new president, they have talked of Kennedy’s Cuba invasion when first in office.  Then, just for added dramatic effect, they talked of mistakes from other leaders who have come before Obama.  The main issue I am having with a lot of these stories is that they are making news of events that haven yet occurred.  The big history-making event has been announced in every possible format.  Now, I feel as though there is a lame-duck time for the media as well as the presidency.  What do they have to report on until the Inauguration?

In Four or Eight Years

In four years, the world will completely change. Yes, that statement is absolutely cliché, but I sincerely hope it’s true. The memories of Bush will begin to fade as more and more people remember what it feels like to respect and look forward to hearing from the President. The idea that an African American man can lead the nation will not feel as radical anymore. What Obama does in the White House will be exceedingly more interesting than his skin color. And, race relations will improve, I hope.

That being said, in four years, campaigns and the candidates will appear very different than in the past. Every political strategist will analyze the perfection behind Obama’s campaign and try to copy it. One defining element of his campaign was the high-tech nature of it. Two months before the nation knew how successful his technological one-up on McCain would prove, CNN (of course) had an article on its website.

Marrying creative marketing techniques with state-of-the-art technology, Obama has taken the voter identification process to lengths nobody could have anticipated just four years ago.

By choosing to announce his vice presidential running mate using text-messaging, Obama’s campaign obtained the e-mail addresses, cell phone numbers and text addresses of untold millions of likely voters. The campaign still won’t say how many voters they’ve added to their database, but you can bet these folks will receive periodic campaign updates, requests for donations and reminders to vote on November 4.

McCain’s campaign was simply out of touch with this element, thereby accentuating his age. Republican or Democrat- people want a president who can connect with them in many different forms. The Democratic team during this election went above and beyond a great website. It created an iPhone application. Aside from the expected feature of providing the latest news and events regarding the Obama campaign, it organized phone numbers and contacts by state. The battleground states appeared at the top of the list while predictably blue states were at the bottom. The numbers could also be compiled into an anonymous list so users could compare their call progress to others without showing confidential contact information. And, using the phone’s GPS, the application showed the nearest Obama headquarters. McCain had nothing on this level.

In keeping with the idea of communicating with the nation in this way, Obama launched a website for the administration. At change.gov, people can view his and Biden’s profile and background, learn about the transition to power, read blogs, see a list of upcoming events, and keep current with ongoing news regarding the administration.

So, in thinking about the next four years and what the 2012 election would look like, I would not be surprised to see Palin rear her styled head once more. Websites are already up reaching out for support for her candidacy (some have been up since October). Also, Hilary Clinton may not be out of the question either. I sincerely hope that Obama slides into a second term without a great deal of effort. The thought leads me into thinking about four to eight years. Technology will change everything about campaigning. Obama’s campaign broke ground with ideas campaigns eight years ago couldn’t yet imagine. The type of candidates will change as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Michelle Obama become more visible after her husband’s two terms. After all, she has a law degree from Harvard. Women and minorities would throw their hats into the ring, and at that time it wouldn’t make history. In four to eight years, nothing about the presidential election will look the same. People would question it if four white men were spread across both tickets. People would say it doesn’t represent America.

South Park has a Point…. really.

I think we can all agree on the fact that Barack Obama had to be the perfect candidate in order to achieve what he did as an African American. He had to be 125%, and he couldn’t disappoint; he couldn’t even slip up for a moment. Essentially he had to be a superhuman. An unfair set of standards were set for him, and to the nation’s surprise he exceeded them. Now, some Obama supporters may indeed think that everything will be better and change immediately because he was elected. This train of thought brings me to South Park. The clip below is long, but it’s worth it. It sums up the sense of hope, enthusiasm, and optimism held in the hearts of some Obama supporters. In classic South Park style, it’s really over the top.

What I find interesting about this episode is that both McCain and Obama teamed up to steal the hope diamond, in other words, America’s most valuable hope. True, it’s ridiculous and dark, and also true, some of the more humorous parts are the suicidal tendencies of the McCain supporters. However, one article points out that South Park, though a seemingly insignificant cartoon, has a great deal of cultural and social relevance. I can site many other instances where South Park has pointed toward something going on in the headlines of America’s papers; however, this post is not about the show.

Obama said before he was elected that he was not a perfect person and that he would not be a perfect president. I hope that America understands that. We’ve spent the last few days on a high of belief and hope. However, Obama cannot continue to meet these impossible standards. This segment from a recent editorial summarizes this idea of absolute perfection.

At a recent charity dinner, a rare moment in the campaign when the two US presidential candidates traded self-deprecating jokes rather than insults, Barack Obama denied he was born in a manger. He revealed he came from Krypton and had been sent by his father Jor-El, to save planet Earth. The joke contained a serious thought: the Democrat was acknowledging that after the worst US presidency in living memory, the world’s expectations of an Obama administration were so inflated as to beg failure.

How could he not disappoint with such enormous expectations from the nation? In the aftermath of the election, I’ve been watching the media watch his every move. What would the chosen one do next? I’ve have been a supporter of Obama since the primaries, and I couldn’t be happier that we have elected him. However, a part of me knows he’ll make a mistake somewhere along the way, maybe soon. I’m okay with that. We elect humans, not machines. However, I am curious how the nation and the world will react to a flawed Obama.

Where did all the voters go?

After a great deal of anticipation over record turnout, the numbers don’t quite add up after Election Day. According to David Paul Kuhn, the turnout for 2008 was roughly the same as 2004.

Between 60.7 percent and 61.7 percent of the 208.3 million eligible voters cast ballots this year, compared with 60.6 percent of those eligible in 2004, according to a voting analysis by American University political scientist Curtis Gans, an authority on voter turnout.

One website has the final tally, which shows little difference between this election turnout and the last. Speaking with some of the voters on Election Night, I heard the same thing over and over again myself- that the lines weren’t as long as they expected. The article says that one possibility is that Republican vote declined and the Democratic vote increased, therefore creating nearly a wash.

One possibility is that Republican voters didn’t believe in McCain and didn’t want to come out to support him- similar to the way the Democrats felt about Kerry in 2004. Another possibility is that people felt that Obama had the race clinched and didn’t want to brave the reportedly long lines. I have to admit that I am more than a little disappointed that the numbers weren’t as high as the media built them up to be; however, the end result was great for the country. Are we hearing different voices instead of simply more of them? Optimistically speaking, new voters may have come out for the first time while others stayed away, creating an entirely new outlook for the country. The real question is whether the lack of turnout was a result of the hyped up anticipation for the turnout. Did people think their voice counted less because so many would vote?

The Palin After-Effect

Is it safe for the Palin truth to come out?  Fox News has run with a story dragging out all of her weaknesses, specifically in her knowledge and frame of reference.  I don’t know if their agenda is to save face for McCain, but they are no longer concerned about her future.  My theory is that they realize what a huge liability she was for the GOP, and they want to aid in the two identities of McCain and Palin being severed from each other.  I know these clips are everywhere, but I have put them here below.

Other little tidbits have surfaced as well.  One story is the actual price tag on her wardrobe, which dressed more than her, but her family as well. Some of the clothes have gone missing.  Weren’t some of them supposed to go to charity? And, let’s all just take a moment to absorb the absurdity over the Africa question.  Is it a country or a continent?

Now, she’s returned back home and talks about 2012 being years away- yes it’s four. She states no intentions of running at that time.  Can we believe her?  Well, if she does run, she will certainly feel differently about journalism, about which she took another chance to speak on her resounding disappointment.  Something I initially wondered is when the Palin stories would die down (and can I stay under the bed until they do).  However, I now see how important it is for them to continue floating around, at least for now.  Her future truly is up in the air, and the possibility of her resurfacing in a major election is unsettling to a lot of Americans.

11:00 p.m.

At eleven o’clock, everyone let out the breath they were holding. At eleven o’clock, they threw confetti in the air. At eleven o’clock, we knew the world had changed forever, for the better. The early part of the night was nerve-wracking as MSNBC, CNN, and CBS all reported slightly different numbers and clung to their phraseology of too soon to tell and too close to call. Even now, Missouri and North Carolina have yet to be colored blue or red. Between eight and nine o’clock, people sat on the edge of their seats as they watched the country turn colors at the Rockefeller center. After ten, things became quiet. Obama supporters were still full of anxiety as we suspected the middle portion of the country would go to McCain. However, a minute past eleven, CNN projected Barack Obama to be the president elect. And for the first time in a long time, I actually enjoyed McCain. His concession speech was honorable and respectful. Then, America waited to hear from the man they so believed in. Perhaps he didn’t want to take the stage too soon; maybe he needed to collect himself over missing his grandmother, or possibly he just needed a moment with his family. In any case, his acceptance speech was worth the wait. He epitomized the hope, change, and renewed faith people had in this country because of him. I still have chills.

Slate writes about the “pleasant shock” that the media was conservative in announcing the results. Clearly, memories of 2000 still haunt the networks. They were smooth and sober as the results streamed in. CNN did however attempt to fill the gaps in time with holographic interviews that looked just this side of cheesy. Slate called it another demonstration of CNN’s inability to keep step with state-of-the-art technology. However, the media was calm when the projection came in shortly after eleven. Slate said, “At the conclusion of Obama’s speech, most anchors left their golden throats silent and let the crowd noise in Chicago tell the story.”

I know that we’re not yet talking about race, but I really believed last night that his election has changed the face of race relations in our country. Jesse Jackson cried, and where I was standing (in front of a huge projector showing CNN), African Americans hugged me and everyone else said, “We did it together.” A story with Yahoo News, which features quotes from Jackson, puts is best:

One surprise apparent in the earliest primaries in which parties chose their nominees was the support Obama attracted among whites voters.

At the same time, black voters were integral to Obama’s success, swinging a number of states in his favour. And Obama went out of his way to embrace black voters and their concerns, most notably in a high-profile speech on race in March.

Those factors deal a blow to black skepticism about their role in politics and a lingering sense of disenfranchisement.

“The first thing Obama’s presidency means for black people is, at least momentarily, a sense of full citizenship,” said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a political science professor at Princeton University.

Now, of course, the American population has had a good night’s rest, and the next day’s headlines were full of news of what awaited our new president. Election coverage immediately turned to aftermath coverage. And, the news is what will Obama do, what does he have to do, and who will he appoint to serve with him. His transition team includes John Podesta (former Clinton chief of staff), longtime advisor, Valerie Jarret, and Pete Rouse, Obama’s senate chief of staff. But, before we get to the real meat of Obama’s transition to the presidency, we should look back through one of the expected montages.

Bias Exposed

A recent article from newsbusters looks at media bias. The article by Tim Graham examines another article from Politico writers Harris and VandeHei about the media’s handling of McCain. He disagrees strongly with Harris and VandeHei that the media is central and detached when covering the election. Graham cites examples such as the way the media has glossed over the radical Rev. Wright. Additionally, he talks about the ridiculous claim that reporters do not allow their ideologies to control them when it comes to telling the story. Graham says the personal feelings of journalist are most evident when they analyze debates. Harris reported on the VP debate that Biden faired much, much better in the square off.

Graham also argued against their claim of being primarily interested in momentum, meaning they would not likely report on the candidate who is behind.  However, he pulls a segment from Harris and VandeHei’s piece below:

A couple weeks back, Politico managing editor Bill Nichols sent out a note to the campaign team urging people to cough up more story ideas that took a skeptical look at the campaign tactics and policy proposals of the Democrat, who is likely to be president three months from now. As it happened, the response was a trickle.

He argues that this represents reporters still clinging to their personal views when reporting stories.  Are reporters more in love with Obama?  Are they more put off by McCain’s negative campaigning than Obama’s?  Are they following Palin around to find out what gaffe will next happen?  In my opinion bias does exist, but usually it is in a controlled manner.  However, in this case, we have one candidate who is extraordinarily similar to a president with a plummeting approval rating, and we have another who is great on camera and could be the first African American president.  I am not defending bias, but I can understand how one candidate would be more story-worthy.

Is Funny Enough?

One endorsement that McCain would have been happy to do without was the one from Dick Cheney. The announcement was put out by the Obama campaign.

I’d like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn’t come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington’s biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney’s support.

But here’s my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain’s going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?

This didn’t make the week any smoother for the underdog. In response and competition to Obama’s successful infomercial where he appeared, as always, poised, intelligent, competent, and perhaps even presidential, McCain found a way to get some airtime as well. He appeared on Saturday Night Live, and he was actually funny. Of course, some may say that he wasn’t funny; he was ridiculous. See the clip below:

Is funny enough though? Funny can’t repair the disaster of his campaign. Funny can’t change his VP pick, and funny won’t erase the endorsement from the only Republican less likeable than Bush. But, at least he has the sense to go out with a bang.