[ Posted Thursday, June 14th, 2012 – 16:48 UTC ]
Obama is positioning himself as the candidate in the race who tells the truth to the American public, and contrasting himself with Romney's unsupportable spin. Obama should keep up this pressure, and sprinkle every speech he makes with such "this is not political spin" statements. It is an effective rhetorical tool for him to use, and I would encourage his re-election team to use it as frequently as possible. Sooner or later, the media may even take notice.
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[ Posted Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 – 15:41 UTC ]
Where are the grand messages of the campaigns? Being held in reserve for the post-convention season, perhaps? That's at least an understandable answer, but ultimately not a very satisfying one. Neither Obama nor Romney has yet clearly articulated what their big ideas are for the next four years, and both of them are missing the chance to pound their message into the American psyche for the next two or three months.
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[ Posted Monday, June 4th, 2012 – 12:54 UTC ]
May was not all that exceptional a month for Barack Obama, poll-wise. Both approval and disapproval rates were up slightly, but not significantly. It is a bit odd to have both numbers increase within the same month, but this is mostly due to the fact that the numbers themselves are so close to being even (statistically, this does odd things right around the point where they perfectly balance).
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[ Posted Friday, June 1st, 2012 – 15:21 UTC ]
Pete Hoekstra (Republican Senate wannabe) has a new idea -- let's make the government bigger, and add a new layer of bureaucracy! Of course, this would normally be sacrilege for a Republican to suggest, but on this issue, he's making an exception. The issue? Presidential birth certificates. No, seriously, this is a guy who used to be in Congress (and is running again), not some egomaniac from New York City.
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[ Posted Thursday, May 31st, 2012 – 16:48 UTC ]
It's hard to predict the outcome of the race, and it's equally hard to say "what it all means" in the grand scheme of things. The winning side will, no doubt, claim the victory as some sort of national mandate to push their agenda, but the outcome may be of limited importance no matter who prevails.
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[ Posted Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 – 15:57 UTC ]
Maybe this election will be remembered as the "It's the jobs, stupid" election, who knows? It certainly is the central issue the public cares about, and it certainly seems to be the subject that the campaigns are fighting most viciously on the airwaves. This is probably as it should be, a presidential campaign waged on the "Number One" issue in the political realm. But Mitt Romney, it seems, wants to use one yardstick for his own jobs record and another for Barack Obama's. Stunningly, he is attempting to use both at the same time, hoping nobody will notice.
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[ Posted Friday, May 25th, 2012 – 17:12 UTC ]
Liberals are apparently being mean to the Supreme Court, which (as we all know) Republicans would never in a million years think of doing... (pause for extended laughing fit)... (wipes eyes)... seriously, you guys just crack me up sometimes.
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[ Posted Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 – 18:00 UTC ]
At times it feels to rank-and-file teachers like the wealth and power of the entire nation is aligned against them. For me personally, May 7, 2012 was one of those times.
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[ Posted Monday, May 21st, 2012 – 15:56 UTC ]
In a few weeks, California will hold its primary election. Not much news will be made, since the two major parties' presidential candidates are already known. But this election will be different for Californians in a major way. Because when the general election rolls around in November, there will likely be no third parties on the ballot for voters to choose from. Furthermore, in some races, there may be only one party represented on the general election ballot.
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[ Posted Friday, May 18th, 2012 – 16:17 UTC ]
Music history aside, it was a somewhat eclectic week in politics. The House -- in one of their rare moments when they actually meet and attempt to get something done -- passed a bunch of bills which have exactly zero chance of becoming law. Well, at least they had fun, right? Republicans were doing their usual clown routine out on the campaign trail, including questioning Obama's commitment to America and (once again) his birth certificate.
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