Obama’s 100 Days

Interesting video on Obama’s first 100 days, hosted by Michael Tomasky.

President Obama!!!

After staying up till around 4am last night to watch Barack Obama’s inauguration, I had the pleasure today of dissecting his inagural address with my winter camp class at school. Many commentators have noted that while the pomp and ceremony of inauguration day was conservative and traditional, Obama’s speech was anything but. Not only was it a repudiation of the Bush administration, but it was a call to arms on a number of issues, and spoke not only to the American people but to the world.

Weighing in at just under 3000 words, the speech set out the problems material and immaterial that America (read “the World”) faces. After some “spirit of inauguration” fluff (forefathers, Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sanh, Great America) it then went on to deal with four main issues. The economic section understandably reaffirmed a commitment to the free market, while calling for “a new foundation for growth” through national infrastructure programmes, a route Obama believes could steer the US away from recession. Yet as well as this building scheme Obama  asserted that we will “harness the sun and the winds and the soil” in a strong message of green growth through what could be his largest green economy programme- non-gasoline cars.

The foreign policy section started with a clear repudiation of Bush’s use of torture in Guantanamo Bay. In one of the most memorable lines Obama spoke “we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals”, going on to say these ideals “light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake”. He committed to pulling out of Iraq and finding peace in Afghanistan.

The West vs. Muslim World” section contained another memorable line- “to those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to uncleanch your fist” (it’s worth noting here that, for the first time in a Presidential address, Obama made reference to “non-believers” in this patchwork heritage/inclusivity section- good stuff!) Obama also mentioned the “poor nations”, a nod toward 3rd world aid. He backed up this whole section from the outset with a strong power passage- “we will work tirelessly…nor will we waver…our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you”.

The final message of the speech came in the “ask not what your country can do for you” section. Obama reaffirmed JFK’s message of citizenship- “selflessness…courage…willingness”, references to New Orleans and 9/11. In a moving section he spoke “Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them amy be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honest, courage and fair play, tolerance and curisity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true.”

All in all it was a great speech, lacking that killer line as many have noted, but solidly positive, emphasising things I support and repudiating so much of what Bush has done to hurt the world. Well done Barack!

President Barack Obama

Rhetoric is, by its very nature, so often overblown. So when one hears that Obama’s rise is the dawning of a new era, that his victory is historic and history making, and that the politics of fear have finally been replaced by the politics of hope, it is easy to get caught up in the rapture, and the hysteria. Yet the simple fact is that this victory means so much to so many, black and white, men and women, Americans and non-Americans. The capacity for belief and optimism, after years of mistrust and dismay resulting from the actions of George W Bush et al., truly should fill us all with hope. Whether future policies will fulfill the lofty expectations created by today’s events, whether actions will replace rhetoric, we do not yet know. But for certain, we can be happy in a new direction…let’s face it, after 8 years of Bush things could only get better…

Congratulations to all Americans and to Barack Hussein Obama!

Post-Election Without The Emotion

Ok now some more serious looking at the election results, without the wishy-washy “I love Obama and I’m so happy” stuff (though I do and I am).

In the electoral college things went precisely as I predicted, with Obama picking up 338 college votes. This means that…ahem…yes?…whats that?? Ok so there are still three states to call…Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina. The only other prediction in my poll came from Tim, who went for 356. So he’d need another 18 electoral votes. Given that Missouri, Indian and North Carolina have 11, 11, and 15 votes, any one of three, if not more, would technically put Tim closer to the magic number. Hmmm.

In the Senate the Democrats made convincing gains, if not quite reaching the magic number of 60 seats that they’d hoped to. Unbelievably in the state of Alaska disgraced Republican senator Ted Stevens is winning slightly with 81% of precincts reporting, which just goes to show how idiotic a majority of Alaskans are. In the other tight races it really could go either way. At the moment the NY Times puts the total at 56-40 with 4 undecided, but if the Alaskan situations remains the same the final total could be 58-42. In Minnesota Al Franken looks like he’s lost by a mere few hundred votes, mainly due to the involvement of a third party candidate.

In the House the Democrats gained 18, to put there total at 252 to the Republicans 171, with 12 undecided.

Ok and thats enough stats.

The Final Countdown- Obama vs McCain

I thought it was about time that the blog mentioned Barack. I started reading his book (the one about his dad) before lending it to the Head of English at Baemoon, and unfortunately haven’t seen it since. I also had a teacher class on the US Election, and one teacher asked me if I’d heard of the “Bradley Effect” and if I’d vote for a black man. I said I’d vote for him twice.

Only four days to go! In the spirit of election fun, please guess the percentage of the popular vote each candidate will get, as well as the electoral college votes the winner will end up with! The closest guesses- left as a comment to this post- will win a host of prizes. (PS I haven’t at all stolen this idea from the Guardian)

For a fun way to calculate the electoral college total, visit www.270towin.com