Foreign and Military Policy

As the results of the attacks of the World Trade Center were taken place, military and foreign policy may have been viewed quite differently from before. A result to this was Bush’s immediate answer of going into war. During his presidency he forced to make a decision, he chose to enter in to war. Along with this declaration of war which congress did not actually do, it was the president who declared war. The power to declare war from congress has slowly deteriorated due to the increase influence and power the president has. Anyway, foreign and military policy has been shaping for the past 2 terms Bush has been in office. As his presidency starts to wind down, people begin to see our foreign and military policy as a weakening strength of the U.S. As more and more troops die in Iraq and Afghanistan many people’s view of the war has gone down. People are beginning to want a change with the policy. Due to the increase of price on oil, gas prices has sky rocketed as a result of the war.
My stance on all of this is that we need to fix our foreign and military policy yes. And that starts off with sending our troops home. Our veterans need there rest, they have been working tirelessly. I know some may disagree with me but in order to improve our foreign and military policy we need to strengthen first our domestic policy. We need to organize and fix the problems here before we go trying to police the world by bring democracy to the world. As an Obama supporter, we need to have trust in that Iraq will continue to do well without us breathing down there necks. They will bring democracy by letting them establish it on their own. Though in the increase of patriotism here at our nation, we need to be able to let other countries become more independent, without our help constantly. The power of the president has increased for the past years; I believe congress should begin to take more action in the foreign and military policy.
Other ways our society has changed due to the focus of the war in our nation is the amount of hate against terrorism. People are in constant fear now. With the “random” screening tests in airports, security has toughened. In my opinion, America is only working on fear itself. We are in constant fear of something to happen so we always have be the first one to strike so we don’t get the surprise.
As our nation needs an improvement on foreign policy so does the president change within the next year. With the end of the primary season, we have two presidential candidates hoping to better our foreign and military policy from both ends of the spectrum. We can only sit and wait as we vote on the next president in hopes in reducing the fear, the gas prices, and warlike activity. Here is a political cartoon I found online that I found it quite important.

http://themoderatevoice.com/category/entertainment/cartoons/
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/922

Iowa's Upside

The results of the Iowa caucus on the democratic side had proven a huge change in the running for the democratic nominee. Obama’s 9 percent differential had proven his push to be the best candidate. Although this may have set up for the idea that this run was going to be one-sided after a crucial win for Obama with Hillary falling back as third, or dead last compared among the main contenders. The article I read states that

“One thing is likely after the caucus. The field wills still be wide open
for the Feb. 5 primaries” (LA Times).

Many polls have shown entering the New Hampshire Primary that Obama was still going have that 10 pt lead over Hillary. As a result, the polls were proven wrong as Clinton wins with a 2 percent differential over Obama. This portrays that there is still an open field for the battle for the best candidate on the democratic side. Obama’s win in Iowa caused Hillary to tackle this race on a different approach and surprisingly she found herself on top. In my opinion this battle is far from over. As Hillary captivates the blue collar voters, and Obama sways the young-ones, either candidate needs to dig deeper in order to pull an edge over the other. In the upcoming primary at South Carolina, it will be interesting to see how each front runner candidates tackle this state by accentuating their advantages or by even going further. For example, Obama hopes to captivate the African-American vote being the under-dog as many are still wooed by Bill Clinton influencing their vote. I think Obama in long run will have the edge needed to become the Democratic Nominee because his drawing of the younger vote will soon help to his advantage because his domino effect will influence first comers to vote in his favor. Through this overall battle Iowa, some say is irrelevant, in fact it is because of how it starts off this whole process. We are ensured for a battle royal in the nearing caucuses and primaries.

Works Cited: LA Times Jan 6 , 2008 Sunday Edition

Polarizing Express

The article I found in LA Times dealt with how people are beginning to see Hillary Clinton. People have been poking fun at Hillary. Is it the way she is running he campaign? One remark was about how she is going to run this country was about, “

If you’re more sartorially oriented, grab the ‘No Way in Hellary’ shirt,
tastefully emblazoned with a red sketch of Clinton flicking out her forked
tongue” (Klein).

Some people are beginning to believe that her way is wrong now, relating her to a devil. If you follow her, its like following the devil, made by some critics. On the other side of the spectrum on that same place where they were selling those shirts there were ones that

“declares you a member of ‘Team Hillary’, complete with a membership logo etched
in a calming, light-blue script” (Klein).

By looking at this, there is a sense of a polarizing effect now. No one is beginning to stay in the gray area or lean Hillary or not lean Hillary. As the caucuses draw near people’s view on certain candidates are starting to blossom. You can’t just stay in the middle hoping that you’ll decide the best candidate when time comes. According to the last five USA Today/Gallup polls she

“has a 50.4% favorable rating and a 46.6% unfavorable rating compared to Obama’s
53.8% favorable and 30.2% unfavorable” (Klein).

With Hillary, it’s actually questionable now on if she should become the next president or the best possible democratic candidate for president. In my opinion, in the long run the polarizing effect on her is going to hurt her in the future because you don’t have all or some just leaning to one side. She has about half and half leaning against her and with her. She needs to do something drastic in order for her relieve this polarizing effect because Obama has caught up with her in polls. I believe right now, Obama has the upper hand now going as the underdog.

Works Cited: LA Times (The Polarizing Express by Ezra Klein)

Trekking to see Oprah – oh, and Obama

Obama has been trying desperately to get people’s attention. Guess what? Oprah is the answer. Oprah and Obama led a tour in Iowa hoping to gain support for the caucuses coming in January. Oprah tries to convince the people that Obama is the best candidate for president saying,

“I came here because I deeply believe in America…Let’s dream America anew again by
supporting Barrack Obama” (Roug and Mehta).

She explains that Obama is the best solution to the problem in America. They both believed that by doing this they can gain support of the people in Iowa, to benefit Obama in the caucus in January to help him recover the numbers he is losing according to polls. Although the rallies were believed to be a success some people still believed that it wasn’t enough. Some people believed that he needed to wait his turn considering how young his political profile was. One person said,

“just because Oprah is campaigning is not going to persuade my vote, same as
Barbara Streisand campaigning for Hillary…you can’t do things because a
celebrity says so” (Rough and Mehta).

She was seen as a person trying to flower up Obama, a person who desperately needs some support to catch up wtih Hillary.
I found this article interesting because some people believed that Obama was effective in having Oprah come along with him to campaign in Iowa, especially for the reason of gaining more supporters to help him the democratic caucus at Iowa in January. I personally thought it was effective to have Oprah with him, even with the joke that was made about having Oprah being the vice president for Obama as president. She helped people realize that he is the one. She made remarks about Hillary, to saying that she’s not asking people what to think but to think that Obama is the best candidate, and I personally agree too. Although some argue that he has very little experience, but I believe we need a change, maybe a new direction. Although some believe that this campaign was saw as Obama shadowing Oprah, she has helped people see what Obama truly stands for.

Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth

There are still gaps between economic classes today as well of equality amongst Americans. The article states that,

“this class divide was predicted long ago, and nobody wanted to listen” (Gates).

The rich is still getting rich and the poor is getting poorer. I believe that we need another war on poverty in order to tackle on this issue. I don’t think it should be one of the major issues to consider about it but its up there because it does affect the country as a whole. Poverty is an issue that affects many citizens. If it doesn’t get resolved, the immediate money they receive will become a waste because they aren’t making anything out of their lives other than just doing drugs. It addresses the fact that there is a huge problem with poverty amongst black families. It states that "the gap between the black middle class and underlcass is not evident through the ending of discrimination. People who are well grounded come from families who actually live in a house and own it. People who are trapped in a tenancy tend to not have a “sense of ownership in their future and their society” (Gates). The civil rights movement won’t come into play until they find out the root of this problem of the cause of black suffering.
In my opinion I find it weird when I read the article because it said that politicans will not put forth programs aimed at the problems of poor blacks while their turnout remains so low. I actually kind of agree that ownership of property helps determine a person’s success. Without a stable roof, finding balance in one’s life can be quite hard.

Works Cited: NY Times: "Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth" by Henry Louis Gates Jr

Obama's campaign has a new wrinkle

Obama to many people might be a new face considering his short term political profile. Some might say that he has very little experience in politics making him not the best nominee for president. Obama plans to gain the support of the seniors by abolishing the income tax of seniors who’s income is less than 50,000. He hopes to gain a little more support with this proposal. Although, despite Hillary’s lead amongst seniors, Obama is slowly gaining the lead of the seniors through his proposal. One commentator says that seniors as prone to be open to political change as young college students do. Obama does in fact have a lead against Hillary in polls with college students. His youth is sometimes a burden to his campaigning because of how people think of how inexperienced he his. Despite that fact, he is doubling his polls within seniors as he inevitably starts to target issues more like social security affecting the older crowd. One Polls puts it, "

In Iowa, an October Hawkeye Poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers found Obama
garnering support from 24% of those over 60, nearly double his August
showing” (Hook).

I believe Obama has the right intentions to help him gain a better stand on issues hoping to hook the seniors. Hillary, although still ahead of him for support of seniors, is winding down because I believe he actually is trying to win and target those big issues. His young political profile may not show true wisdom but I believe his maturity is evident within his campaigning.

Works Cited: LA Times "Obama's campaign has a new wrinkle" by Janet Hook

Abortion isn’t a religious issue or is it?

Does religion truly plays a role in abortion? Does it really state in the Christian Bible that abortion is bad? These are questions that are brought up as an opposition to the GOP presidential candidates. Many religious Christians believe that it breaks the fifth commandment, “Thou shall not kill”. Some made parallels amongst the Jewish people killed by the Germans during the Holocaust. It says that it’s different, that was actually killing persons compared to fetuses. Some people believe that killing fetuses does not measure up to killing persons, argued by the Evangelicals. Evangelicals according to polls,

“about 10% of evangelicals allow for abortion in the case of rape or incest”
(Wills).

The Catholic Church did not make a stand about abortion to prior to recent years. This causes a way that there not scriptural evidence saying that abortion is truly wrong and is killing someone. The author argues that,

“even popes have said that the question of abortion is a matter of natural law,
to be decided by natural reason, well the pope is not the arbiter of natural
law, natural reason is” (Wills).

This discredits other ways that it should be affiliated religiously. There is no sense of it being based on misconception that pro-life advocates or acts out of religious conviction. These have been a staple argument that still goes on in our world.
In my opinion, I personally am against abortion but only when it is truly needed such as a rape. I believe that once the egg is fertilized, there is life so when a woman is undergoing abortion, they are a killing a human life. In some cases rape is an outcome that does happen. Abortion should be last resort. If I was the father of the child, and the woman who is giving birth to my son at a young age should not have an abortion. There should be other alternatives such as adoption because saving a life would be the better scenario for me but this does not necessarily mean I am all with force against abortion. I don’t like it but it should be a choice if really needed. Now about the author, in a sense I disagree with him because I believe it does have a religious connection. Anything that is produced by humans that has living such as a fertilized egg becoming a baby is life. If someone were to have that abortion, it would be killing that life. God created this life and humans so I do believe that it has some religious connections. I found it weird how the Catholic Church actually took a stand on this in recent years and how that some popes acknowledge that this is based on natural reason. In a sense I agree with that statement because I am not fully against abortion, treated as a last resort. In my understanding, abortion is a hard topic to argue about because you will always have someone either one way, both, a little, etc.

works cited: LA Times: “Abortion isn’t a religious issue” by Garry Wills (Opinions).