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Oct
20
Gird Your Loins, Says Biden
Filed Under Barack Obama, Election 2008 | 5 Comments
Americans must ready themselves for a serious international test, if Barack Obama is elected, said Sen. Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate.
Says Biden, warning of some coming “international incident:”
“It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
What do you think the test will be?
1) 9/11 or Pearl Harbor -style sneak attack against the United States?
2) Russia initiating Cold War II, complete with a kung fu Putin and sidekick lion cub?
3) Attack against Israel?
4) OPEC oil embargo a la the 1970s, complete with gas lines and shortages?
5) Rwanda / Congo style mass chaos and violence after the US pulls out of Iraq?
6) All of the above?
Sep
19
In Your Face Campaigning
Filed Under Barack Obama, Election 2008 | 3 Comments
Get ready for a new form of political campaign this fall — a street-level, in-your-face confrontation from neighbors and others who want to convert the non-believers.
Barack Obama: I want you to argue with them and get into their face.
Sounds appealing, doesn’t it?
Says Barack Obama: ”I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”
Arguments and face-to-face confrontations — I’m not sure that is the key to winning over new supporters. Maybe a softer approach will do wonders for getting people involved and convincing them to change their positions? We’ve had too many years of people yelling, bumper stickers filled with hate and other examples of our baser side on display in an attempt to win over converts.
What we need in politics is less in-your-face bitter partisan battles and more common sense from both sides. What about a little more love? How about a hug, instead of an argument?
I’m willing to listen to most anyone’s viewpoint and might even be persuaded, as long as you are not going to yell and get into my face.
Sep
11
States that have mandated insurance coverage have watched their programs fail as younger and healthier people — usually making lower wages than their older co-workers — resist signing up for expensive health insurance coverage because they can’t afford the premiums needed to subsize the health needs of the aging baby boomers.
Barack Obama says he can avoid the problem by increasing taxes to make up for revenue that might not be obtained from youthful American workers — ages 19 to 34 — who’ll balk at huge premiums when they’re just starting to work, but whose money is needed to pay for the medical care of retired Baby Boomers.
Writes the AP about the health insurance cost increases facing Americans just starting their careers:
Health insurance protects people from the cost of an illness or accident by spreading the expense to all of a plan’s participants. If Obama’s model is to work, he will need to entice younger, healthier people to buy insurance so they will offset the expenses generated by those who are sicker.
At the state level, the guarantee mandate has often had the opposite effect.
“They’re very price sensitive. They’re healthy. They think they’re invincible and getting them to buy coverage is a challenge. If it’s expensive, they’ll walk away,” said Mary Lehnhard, a senior vice president at Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, a trade group.
The guarantee mandate faltered in states that did not do enough to get healthy, younger people to buy coverage, said Kenneth Thorpe, a health care analyst at Emory University.
“They didn’t put up new money,” Thorpe said. “So, basically, the people who joined were people who had trouble getting coverage and were therefore sick. What Obama is doing is getting a broader cross-section of people enrolled because he’s putting a lot of federal money into it.”
I like the idea of everyone having health insurance.
I just don’t know if there’s going to be an efficient way to do it that preserves our cutting edge medical advances since almost every government program — from immigration (an American citizen’s brother’s application for an immigrant visa filed in 1986 is just being processed today), to welfare (people are sometimes lined up outside of the trustee’s office before dawn on cold winter mornings freezing while waiting for the office to open), to Social Security Disability (many denials, needing to hire an attorney to appeal), to just getting a passport (one reporter waited 5 months for his passport card), requires people to wait, then wait some more.
Sep
9
It’s all about biography and swing states
Filed Under Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin | 2 Comments
The presidential election isn’t that far away and for now, the candidates seem to be all about telling their stories and reaching out to swing states as the race between McCain and Obama tightens.
My personal opinions on the presidential race as it stands.
The GOP wasn’t that excited when it was just McCain, but the addition of Sarah Palin has energized the party since she exhibits conservate values. The more the left writes letters to the editor and talks about her five kids and how women with kids can’t work, the more excited the right will become because they see such criticism to be hypocritical and something that can sway undecided voters to their side. Having a solid conservative also makes the right feel more confident that McCain won’t do something wishy-washy.
Barack Obama is going for the swing states and electoral college votes. He’s visited Michigan in an effort to win the hearts and minds of voters in that state where the economy has gone south. Obama has also made efforts in Indiana — a traditionally solid red state that looks like it will reelect its Republican governor Mitch Daniels by a solid margin. Obama has also set his efforts on Wisconsin and New Hampshire — they went with the Democrats in the 2004 presidential election. Obama offices have opened up in Montana and North Dakota, as well as in Indiana. The plan to win the states that went blue in 2004 and win some red states to gain the electorial college advantage.
It’s an interesting political season now that the polls have tightened up and the candidates are taking risks — McCain with his pick of Sarah Palin and Obama’s red state strategy.
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