Debate This, Ole Miss Entries (General Issues)

What a Woman!
After having watched Senator Hilary Clinton's DNC speech last night and reading it repeatedly today, I can not help but remain impressed by her eloquence and passion for her supporters to in turn give their support to Senator Barack Obama. And she couldn't be more right when she stated that "This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win."

In her speech she talked about our nation's current crisis concerning job loss, houses gone, falling wages, and rising prices, all of which are major concerns for affecting our middle and lower class. And for McCain to believe that 47 million people without health insurance is not a crisis is disturbing at the least. No good shepard would dare leave any one of his flock lost in the darkest of the woods to be devoured and no president should let any of his people suffer without feeling it a crisis worth ending. In the words of Sen. Clinton "No way. No how. No McCain."

And say what you may about Sen. Clinton (which there have been some pretty nasty things said) but on that stage, she showed us through the powerful emotions and the impact of her words that she is a true leader and if she believes in Obama, we should listen. Paving the way for a new era, she and Sen. Obama have both given our nation's children the reason to believe that any child regardless of sex and race can one day be president of THIS America.

A belief found in her closing statements as she said "That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great - and no ceiling too high - for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other."
Posted by Andrew M. Scott 8/27/2008 09:36:00 PM

"The Next President" the energy crisis
Major note before I begin! If you have not read "The Next President," spoiler alert: it's mostly pro Obama!

So unless you've been living under a rock for the past "8 years" you've probably noticed our gas prices have sky rocketed. Under Holbrooke's Foreign Affairs section of "The Next President" he covers this issue in great deal concerning our use of petrodollars. Of course under the Bush administration there has been little urgency to create more efficient alternative energy sources. Not only is this an economical crisis for our country but an environmental one as well.

Currently, both the US and China are the world's major polluters. Holbrooke writes that in a recent trip to china, he brought up the issue of climate friendly technology with senior Chinese officials, who showed interest. Initially there is serious work to be done on both parts to make this happen and China's scepticism of us trying to hold them back is a problem, but that's why we need a strong leader to initiate a successful start to such plans. That's why we need 'the next president'.
Posted by Andrew M. Scott 9/01/2008 11:48:00 AM

America's SPR & Obama
With energy consumption being a key issue with this year's election, Obama has started putting together his own plans to focus on an untaped idea that would prove benificial.

Called an exchange, the plan would help lower the price of oil for consumers, increase the amount of oil in America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increase energy security, and leave taxpayers paying less and being better set at about $1 billion.

The U.S. created the SPR in 1975, after the Arab oil embargo to protect against oil supply disruptions. The SPR's drawdown capability of 4.4 million barrels of oil per day greatly passes the daily production capacity of Iran, Iraq or Venezuela. So the benifits even out.

Being run by the Energy Department who will allogate pricing, "swaps" that help energy security, refiners and consumers should be a routine part of managing the SPR.
With both the House and Senate having considerered legislation to create such a swap, Obama has now adopted the idea as part of his energy plan.
Posted by Andrew M. Scott 9/13/2008 09:54:00 PM

Slinging Dirt
It happens every four years. No matter who the candidate, the issues, or the credibility of the accusations, it always happens. Campaigns get tense and some times it resorts to "slinging dirt" at the other candidate.

To quote The New York Times, "After back-to-back attack ads by Mr. McCain, including one that misleadingly accused Mr. Obama of endorsing sex education for kindergarten students, the Obama campaign is planning to sharpen attacks on Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin in an effort to counter Mr. McCain’s attempt to present himself as the candidate of change with his choice of Ms. Palin."

McCain, as the instigator of this unfortunate but sadly predictable change in ad campaigns also proded Obama's campaign for saying that Palin is a pig. Leaving the media to frenzy on it, any person with common sense could see that it was a reference to the McCain platform and not Palin.

It's sad to think these ads about pigs and insults are from a candidate who promised to avoid negative campaigning.

But unfornately, even Obama slipped in one of his latest ads, claiming McCain repeatedly cut funding for schools, when McCain had actually voted three times to increase education spending.

If this type of campaign distortion continues, the "dirt" may get so "muddy" we will not know who to trust anymore.
Posted by Andrew M. Scott 9/13/2008 11:19:00 AM