State of the Union

President Obama made his State of the Union address this past Tuesday and he highlighted many points and made specific actions to these plans which really struck a positive chord with me. His plans for the economy and education especially were appealing. There were many direct suggestions to make the economy better. One suggestion was to give tax exempts to corporations and companies who have their foundation/base in the United States rather than overseas. This would create more jobs in the U.S. and therefore make the economy better. Another point brought up was that when immigrants come to study in the United States and after they earn their degree, the U.S. sends them right back where they came from without realizing that these people can definitely benefit the economy and add to it. Obama suggested that these people be led on a path to citizenship because they really should be staying here and helping the country. I thought these two direct blueprints for shaping the economy were very drawn out and specific in what should be done.

For education, Obama said that teachers in schools should not be laid off without reason. If there are good teachers who can help students learn, then keep them and the government should make it a point to keep the good ones and weed out the bad ones and to also reward the really good teachers for aiding the people who will be our future. The restriction on when students can drop out will not be effective in my opinion because there is no point in forcing students to learn and study when they don't have the will power. The tuition rate increasing was a problem that was brought up and one of the best quotes President Obama said was "Higher education can’t be a luxury – it’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."  I think this is completely true and I agree. College tuition is something that every family worries about especially when the rates are going up through the roof at this point. Some plans laid out were to extend the tuition tax credit, so middle class families will benefit and to increase the number of work study jobs on campus to get students to pay their way through college also. The main plan was to get colleges to lower their tuition rates or make plans to have students graduate faster and with less money and if these colleges do not comply, then they will lose the taxpayer funding little by little. I thought this was a very effective way in trying to appeal to colleges and universities to also be involved in the effort to make higher education more of an option to students everywhere.

All of these plans are good, but Congress has to be able to listen to these plans and actually present them in their sessions. They need to make a step toward improving certain aspects of our country such as economy and education, and with President Obama's suggestions, they can make a fresh start. 

Perry had a good run..

Date: January 19, 2012

Topic: Rick Perry Drops Out Of 2012 Presidential Race Ahead Of South Carolina Primary

 

Rick Perry formally announced his withdrawal from the presidential race two days before the South Carolina primary. It seems as though it was a decision at the last minute. As he addressed the people in a press conference in North Charleston, he also endorsed Gingrich for the presidential candidate for the Republican Party. There was obviously no surprise there. Perry and Gingrich have been “frenemies” throughout this whole election and people have remarked that they share most of the same views. Perry believes that Gingrich can “transform this country”. Gingrich seemed very grateful at his endorsement. Perry also said that he loved America, but the corruption of this country is because of politics. Perry had a good run at the beginning. He was who everyone was talking about last summer and he could have made it farther is he only did not make some bad moves along the way. It was still surprising to see him standing after those bad moves, but there comes a time when you know it is too late to do anything to sway the voters back. Perry realized this and made a good move of dropping out instead of waiting till all his money would be gone. Romney said that Perry was a good man and that he made a great contribution to his state as well as his country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/rick-perry-drops-out-2012-_n_1214032.html

Evangelical votes important to everyone

Date: January 15, 2012

By Deborah Charles

Topic: Churchgoers little influenced by Santorum endorsement

Santorum has gotten an endorsement from conservative Christian leaders just in time for the South Carolina primary. Although he has gotten this endorsement, it does not seem to have an effect on the Christians and evangelicals in the state. Santorum, who is a Catholic, was very close to a tie with Romney in South Carolina because of his beliefs and how they correlated with the people of Iowa. This wasn’t the case in New Hampshire where not as many people are religiously aligned. The problem is that all of the Republican candidates are counting the evangelical vote, but the evangelicals vote for the person who best shows what can be done with the policies that the candidate has suggested to cater to their desires. Romney, although he is competing for the evangelical vote, is also attracting the business wing of the party for support as well. Santorum is not attacking Romney at the moment, but Romney’s supporters are attacking Santorum. This is “ the make it or break it” primary and many candidates are going to reevaluate their campaign if they are not in the top of the South Carolina primary. Money is drying up in the candidates and soon only the candidates who have the support and financial stability will be the only ones left..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/15/us-usa-campaign-idUSTRE80E0OO20120115

AH! super PACs are taking over politics!

FOX News Sunday: Panel Plus

January 15, 2012

Brit Hume, Kirsten Powers, Bill Kristol, and Juan Williams talk about how super PACs are dominating how politics turn out.  Recent ads by super PACs that are in support of Gingrich have run nasty things that are inaccurate about Romney and Gingrich supposedly is telling them to take the stuff that is untrue out. Is he only doing that because he doesn’t want his reputation to get even worse? He is friends with Rick Tyler that is running the super PAC, so they could be working together, but according to Hume, that is against the law. Or is Gingrich purely concerned with not having a bad reputation because of his super PAC. Powers talks about how super PACs allow the candidate to have some sort of attacks on other candidates without being blamed for it themselves. She sees them as “destructive” and says that they don’t really add to the debate. Democrats complain about it now, but when the time comes, they are going to rely on the super PACs as well. Kristol believes that super PACs were not the “best thing that happened in politics”. He assumed that super PACs would make things turn out differently in the primaries, but from what it is at this point, it seems that the person who raises the most money and wins the first few primaries (Romney in this case), will end up being the Republican candidate. He assumed that because super PACs can contribute as much money as they want to, that the candidates who don’t have as much, such as Gingrich and Santorum, will end up getting higher up. This was not the case however. Williams questions whether this is purely democratic, but also refutes this by establishing that contributing money is free speech. super PACs seem like they have a very big impact on how things turn out and the rich primarily make the super PACs. The rich have a big influence on politics and this can be for the good or it could possibly corrupt political leaders into doing whatever the rich say so they can keep on running, but having to do them favors after. 

Even if Romney will be elected and has a lot of money backing him, is it anything compared to what Obama will have for the general election anyway? Let’s take this one step at a time.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1392761563001/panel-plus-115

Oh man..not another libertarian!

Date: January 12, 2012

By Deborah Charles 

Topic: Libertarian Ron Paul is dilemma for Republicans

Ron Paul’s libertarian views have become a problem with the Republican Party.  They love Paul and many of his views, but some of his foreign policy views are out of this world and the average person would not vote for him. Sure, he’s got a strong support base, but will that win him the nominee for the presidential election? This is Paul’s third time running for president and over the other two times, he has gained the support to build up a great system. The Republican Party is worried that if Paul does not win the Republican primary, that he will run for the Independent Party instead which would cause so much chaos. There are some who say that if Paul does not win the primary, then a lot of his supporters especially the youth would not vote for any other Republican candidate for the presidential election. There are others that say the votes that would maybe go to a Republican candidate would end up going to Paul which divides the votes up and Barack Obama will end up being president again which is not what the Republican Party wants at all, but what can they do? People say that Paul will end up being second place to Romney and therefore get a speaking role at the convention and perhaps the nominee if it may be Romney or someone else will give him a role in something. But we’re getting a little too ahead of ourselves. The third state primary hasn’t even been done and we’re already predicting what is to be done after the election..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/us-usa-campaign-paul-idUSTRE80B25J20120113

Funny Guy Colbert all in for South Carolina

Date: January 13^th

By Lily Kuo

Topic: Stephen Colbert: Exploring run for president of USA of South Carolina

Stephen Colbert, the comedian who hosts the late night show “The Colbert Report”, is now running in the primary in his own state of South Carolina. He apparently wants to run for the “President of the United States of South Carolina which is a very interesting title to have. On his show, he has the personality of a big time conservative news anchor. The way he could be a candidate for the primary and register so late is that he could be a write-in candidate. Colbert was the head of a super PAC called Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow and he transferred it to Jon Stewart. This way he would not be violating the law that did not allow candidates to manage political action committees. He formed that super PAC last year to make fun of how there are so many contradictions in the laws that allow corporations to give an unlimited amount of money. A poll showed that Colbert was  ahead of Jon Huntsman, who has been last place, but came in third at the New Hampshire primary. He’s probably the only other alternative to Mitt Romney at this point, since everyone ends up voting for him just because he seems the most sane in this election. Colbert said “Clearly my fellow South Caroliniacs see me as the only Mitternative”, using his comedic talents to persuade voters to vote him instead of Romney. The South Carolina primary is only a week away, so America will see what happens with Colbert soon..

http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/2012/01/13/stephen-colbert-exploring-run-for-president-of-usa-of-south-carolina/

McCain and Romney- enemies to friends?

CBS Face the Nation

January 8, 2012

The recent episode of Face the Nation on CBS featured John McCain and his view on Mitt Romney whom he recently endorsed. McCain and Romney were both candidates in the Republican primary in 2008 and needless to say, they were pretty intense towards each other. Romney claimed back in 2008 that McCain was spreading lies about him and how his tax rates have shot up in Massachusetts. Romney said back then that he wouldn’t be McCain’s vice president either.  McCain said that after he was declared the nominee of the Republican Party, Romney was in full support of him and did a lot for his campaign. I guess McCain owed Romney and so he endorsed him.  Mc Cain believes that Romney is the best qualified for the Republican nominee and that he admires him and his family. He says that they have many of the same values and principles. Rick Santorum, however, said that John McCain “ does not know what torture is” pertaining to the interrogation techniques used in Bush’s administration but not in the Obama’s administration. McCain laughed it off and disregarded what Santorum said. McCain says that he will endorse whomever is the candidate chosen to represent the Republican Party in the election. I found it interesting that McCain and Romney who were practically enemies four years ago have come to great terms on behalf of their party. Party affiliations really shape people who are in higher governmental offices and it really has deep ties. McCain said that even though they lashed at each other and there were heated arguments, all of this was done to advance the Republican Party. It seems like everything is done for the Republican Party so even if candidates have insulted to each other to point where they don’t even remember what point they were trying to make, they still would rather have the Republican Party in office rather than the Democratic Party. McCain and Romney are a prime example of this and so was Bush and Reagan, as McCain had brought up as an example of how this has happened before. People who are loyal to the party are willing to do anything for the betterment of their party.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7394338n&tag=contentMain;contentBody