Obama's State of the Union Speech

Obama's State of the Union Speech addressed many topics that have been effecting Americans all over for a while now. These topics are certainly an important issue as well. Obama mentions education, immigration, economy, and manufacturing. Some things that were stated about education that stuck out was merit pay for teachers and allowing those who are 18 being able to drop out. The Dream act which has been suggested for immigration would allow the illegal immigrants to obtain a legal status, also to undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, if they join the military or attend college. What I pinpointed during Obama's speech about economy was him saying "every penny should go towards lowering tax" it seems a  bit exaggerated and many American have been waiting for taxes to go down. 

American exceptionalism was expressed through mentioning the single mother, Jackie, who got laid off but went to community college, which was paid in full for her, granted her a degree which helped her land a better and highly advanced job. Also when Obama drops the late, Steve Job's achievements. Steve Jobs, an American that started here in our homeland, moved on to bigger and better things and is now a world wide company, which granted many Americans with jobs. With car companies too, Chrysler created jobs for over 100000 Americans. Obama continues American exceptionalism with proposing the idea of rewarding american companies with tax cuts.

One bipartisan trade agreement I picked up on was that American businesses being powerful enough to sell all over the world which would cause the exports of the US to double. Along with expanding oil and drilling. Partisan differences was brought up when advises a ban on insider trading by members of the congress. Obama also sums up some of the work his presidency achieved which was to rack up support. 

Mitch Daniel's response was quite negative toward Obama, mostly he shows his doubt in Obama. He says that Obama created the national debit to raise even higher that the economy has worsen, unemployment rate has sky rocketed and that we are all still suffering. 

Overall, the address struck a positive chord from myself. I believe that Obama had a reassuring, goal oriented  and motivating speech. I received a persevering tone from the president which makes me hopeful for our Nation's future if he is reelected.

Huntsman drops out of race

Jon Huntsman drops out of GOP race, endorses Mitt Romney
Kasie Hunt and Philip Elliott
January 16, 2012

 This past Monday, just a few days after placing third in the New Hampshire primaries, Huntsman decided to call it quits. While campaigning in South Carolina, Huntsman's funds depleted greatly and did not have enough for any type of modern campaigning methods. Although Huntsman may not have had enough funds for the campaign, his resume highly qualified him as a contender. Under his resume was businessman, diplomat, governor, veteran of four presidential administrations, an expert on China and foreign trade. All this did not matter though, because he was not well advocated. He also had a late start, this was because he was in China during the time candidates announced that they were running in the Republican primaries. As Huntsman was announcing his action, he mentioned Mitt Romney. He believes Romney is the best equipped candidate to beat Obama. Even though they have had some bad moments, Huntsman still endorses Romney.

Candy's Summary of Interview with Perry

Candy's post game analysis
January 15, 2012
Candy Crowley

Crowley starts the segment out with mentioning the video that has been leaked of the marines urinating on dead bodies. She proceeds to ask Perry's view on it and how the marines would be punished if he was president. Perry's response was that what the marines did was a mistake and should not be deemed as a criminal act. They deserve to be punished but not charged as criminals because they are young and people make mistakes. When Perry talks about his campaign he mentions that you can't win them all but feels confident about South Carolina. Perry said that he received many phone calls stating that South Carolina wants him to run, which made him return to the race. He continues to say that he will be entering in Florida's primary regardless of his position in South Carolina's primary. It is evident that Perry is assured that he still has a chance to win the primaries because he is a true "conservative".

This Week
George Stephanopolis
January 15, 2012

  On "This Week", George Stephanopolis interviewed Stephen Colbert about his possible campaign in the South Carolina primaries. Stephen Colbert made an announcement on his show about running, handed over his Super PACs to friend John Stewart, and has caused a good deal of questioning in the media. Polls show that Stephen Colbert has 5% interest in South Carolina, which is more than John Huntsman actually. To clarify the current situation, George wished to interview Colbert about his plans in South Carolina. Colbert expressed that he had not decided on a campaign, but rather wanted to be in an exploratory committee, where he could explore South Carolina and decide if there was a hunger for Stephen Colbert. George, with much hostility, reminded Colbert that South Carolina does not allow write-ins on the ballots, and therefore him running would be impossible. Colbert was taken aback by this restriction on freedom, and said that he hoped the Republican party would be more welcoming than the Democratic party was in 2008. George reminded the audience that Colbert ran for President as a Democrat in 2008, and says that such flip-flopping to the Republican side would not be tolerated by voters. When asked various who would be his VP, Colbert said that maybe he would be his own VP, even if according to the Constitution they must be from two different states. George then showed a hostile ad about Mitt Romney as a serial killer that was made by Colbert/Stewart's super PACs and certainly crossed the line of acceptability In the end. this entire charade of Colbert running for President is humorous, and hopefully all of the country is able to see the irony in it. Colbert's persona as a fundamentalist Republican, in actuality, is contrary to all his actual beliefs. Therefore seeing him at interviews patronizing George Stephanopolis about how corporations are people, and that he agrees with all of the Supreme Court's decisions, is very comical.

Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich talk about Military Record

January 7, 2012
New Hampshire Republican Debate: Ron Paul Spars With Newt Gingrich Over Military Record
  During the New Hampshire Republican debate it is brought up that Ron Paul called Gingrich a "chicken hawk". Newt Gingrich first words are "Dr.Paul makes a lot of comments, it's apart of his style." This says to me that Gingrich believes that Ron Paul has a lot of remarks to make, which mostly are exaggerated or completely made up. Gingrich then goes through his military record, starting from when he was a young boy. His father served 27 years which forced him to constantly move around the world. Since 1979 Newt has spent 32 years working with the army. This opens up a side story about veterans and how Newt will re-open a hospital in New Hampshire so a veteran would not have to travel all the way to Boston and mentions some other benefits. Ron Paul's response is that he is trying to stop wars but at least he went when he was called up. It seems as if he does not really respect those who were deferred. Gingrich's retort is that he did not ask for a deferment and that he was married with a child at the time. Ron Paul catches the last remark with saying that he went to war, married with two kids. Paul is trying to make the audience perceive Gingrich as a person who will not be there when needed (like how he did not  go to war) and in times of need he will back out.

Mitt Romney Defends his fortune

Romney defends his millions
Phillip Rucker
January 6, 2012

   During a campaign even on Friday, a middle class American asks Romney if he will make tax cuts that will benefit Americans like herself ,“I’m a middle-class American like a lot of people here and we’re all hurting – we really are,” she said. “It’s a little hard for me because I know you’re a multi-millionaire. I read that you have four houses. Would you be willing to give up some of that so that we middle Americans could get some tax cuts?" The first thing Romney says is that he does not have four house, but can help the middle by giving tax cuts to them and creating "good jobs." In response to a popular idea to increase taxes on the higher class, Romney gave the people a quote from Margaret Thatcher which says, "Sooner or later you run out of other people's money." Which Romney suggests that taxing higher class people is not the real answer, and eventually they'll lose all their money.  Romney tries to appeal to the middle class by mentioning he will create jobs. Romney needs to win New Hampshire to gain an advantage on other candidates, but he needs to appeal to the middle class. Other candidates can continue to use negative ads to take away middle class support away from him.

New Hampshire Primary Overview

Update on the New Hampshire Primary
Jan Crawford, Nancy Cordes and Jim Axelford
January 6, 2012

 Political correspondent Jan Crawford sits with Nancy Cordes and Jim Axelford to discuss the latest on the campaign trail. They also discuss where the GOP candidates are standing and where they are headed. They began by discussing how Mitt Romney is being attacked on all sides because of his commanding lead in the polls of the New Hampshire Primary. But even as Romney isbeing attacked, he just brushes off the criticism and prepares for the North Carolina Primary. Jan Crawford explains that he is doing so well because he has spent so much time in New Hampshire, that he is able to now dedicate time to campaign in North Carolina. He also now has Senator John McCain helping his campaign, who has once won New Hampshire over in 2008. Romney is more than 20 points ahead in New Hampshire, which is why he has moved to South Carolina. His biggest issues are aimed towards jobs and the economy, and his main motive to win seems to be by attacking President Barrack Obama. Rick Santorum on the other hand is trying to broaden his approval beyond Iowa by telling voters he will bring jobs to America. He says "I don't know how many jobs we will create, but we WILL create jobs". Thursday got a bit interesting when Santorum got in an arguement with voters about gay marriage. Newt Gingrinch has completely changed his strategy in this race as to attack the candidates, in both viscious and personal ways. This means he has abandoned his pledge to run in a positive matter. His main targets include Romney and Ron Paul. He has for months said that negative attacks will only help President Obama, but look at him now.

Huntsman Interview before New Hampshire Primary

Huntsman: We'll exceed expectations

Interview by John King
January 5, 2012

  Before the New Hampshire primaries, Jon Huntsman is interviewed by John King. It is clear that Huntsman did not put much effort on Iowa and directed all his attention to the New Hampshire primaries. King also mentions things Jon has said about Mitt Romney in the past and questions his further views on  Romney . In the past, Jon has said things like, "Americans can't trust him (Mitt Romney)", "He changes his position", "conservatives can't trust him" and so on. King brings the polls to Jon's attention, which shows that Mitt Romney has many more votes, which shows that many voters do in fact trust Mitt Romney. Huntsman retorts with saying that you can't focus on just some polls and that many voters are still undecided. Huntsman proves that Romney is a flip-flopper due to the fact that he ran as a liberal for senate, moderate for governor, and is now running as a conservative for President. Huntsman also says Romney gave no stances about the economy and trade. Huntsman is making the negatives on Romney more widely known and he is not the only Republican running for primary doing this. On many occasions others have pinpointed Romney as a flip-flopper but it is unclear that Americans believe this or have heard these arguments because Romney still has a good amount of votes.

Perry called quits! Just kidding....

Perry’s Political Obituary Has Not Yet Been Written
Ross Ramsey
January 5, 2012

Although Perry lost in Iowa, he is optimistic and is looking forward for the other primaries. On the night of the results in Iowa, Perry said that he was going to assess his future in the primaries. When Perry said that, everyone thought that he dropped out of the race, but he tweeted a couple days later saying, "And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State ... Here we come, South Carolina!!!” Perry is optimistic and believes he still has a chance in states that have "real primaries." He  is focusing his attention in South Carolina and briefly stopping by New Hampshire. This basicallyshow that Perry can come back and most likely to create an upset, since he has had stronger support and was considered at top nominee. The author takes a approach that shows that Perry has a chance to succeed, since he only has to target Romney, and the other candidates has fatal flaws that can ruin their campaign. In a political arena, candidates have one more thorn in their side since Perry did not give up in the race.  Even if Perry does not win the race, he might take a majority of Santorum's votes, who is a fellow conservative, so Santorum and other candidates have to distinguish themselves from Perry.

John Dickerson loves Santorum....

Romney Takes Iowa, but Santorum Really Won
John Dickerson
January 4, 2012

Addressing the Iowa caucus, Dickerson states that Romney and Santorum were tied at 25% with Paul right behind with 21%. Despite the Iowa caucus results, John Dickerson is convinced that Santorum was the real winner in the causcus. This article primarily focuses on the caucus results and the progression towards New Hampshire. Dickerson continues to say that the 25% percent of Mitt Romney as the electable candidate's win is no comparison to the combined effect of the conviction candidates, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, which would be 46%. Dickerson also briefly talks about Newt Gingrich whose reputation was ravaged by Romney and his million-dollar negative ads. This argument by Dickerson is then continued with how Santorum must hope the money comes in for his campaigns in New Hampshire, where Romney has a strong organization and plenty of money. It is obvious that the editor of this article has an extremely biased opinion and is rooting for Santorum to swoop in and take the wins.

What to know about Santorum

5 things to know about Rick Santorum
Meg Heckman
January 4, 2012

 Even though GOP candidate Rick Santorum was a governor of Pennsylvania and a member of the house of representatives, not many local people seem to know much about his time in office and him as a person. This is especially daunting because of his high amount of votes in Iowa. It is expected that he will also do well in New Hampshire but this will be tough because he is not as established in the Granite State as he was in Iowa after campaigning there for so long. Many people don't know that following his stint in politics, he worked as a lawyer and even did a small amount of work for Fox News from time to time. It may also help him in New Hampshire to have a campaign director who is a native and can help him relate to the voters before January 10th. Santorum is also more openly conservative than Mitt Romney on social issues, which Romney chooses not to speak about, and fiscal issues for the country. He also had a tough time getting recognized on Google because of a decade old comment where he likened gay marriage to bestiality and incest. If he could reach the national level this could hurt him because President Obama has recently supported gay marriage and this would help him with that demographic. The Heckman spoke optimistically about Santorum's future in New Hampshire as his schedule develops to include more speeches in big public venues.

What's Obama doing?

After Iowa, Obama Campaign Sharpens 2 Negative Portrayals of Romney
Helen Cooper and Mark Landler
January 4, 2012

 Cooper and Landler give readers the perspective on the results of the Iowa race from Obama's campaign. Obama's campaign has already started to target Romney with new ads that criticize his flip flopping and that he is a "protector of Wall Street." They stated that although Romney won a close race in Iowa, the results about him are the same that he is a "weak front runner" and still is. The Obama campaign is already preparing if Romney wins the election. The one problem is how they can portray him, there's many possibilities, but the Obama campaign needs to create a portrayal that will not portray him as a moderate. This shows that Democrats are keeping a close eye on the campaign and are preparing for any situation. Although Obama is working on the problems of this country, his campaign is making sure that will be president for another term.

Santorum's debut with David Gregory

Rick Santorum's Meet the Press interview
David Gregory
January 1, 2012

 David Gregory decided to interview Rick Santorum after jumped in the polls in Iowa. Santorum has spent more time in Iowa than any other candidate, visiting all 99 counties in a pick up truck due to limited money and staff. Not too long ago Santorum was at 5% and people were wondering when he would drop out. Gregory asks Santorum why no one has endorsed him yet, even though he's been serving Washington D.C. for 20 years. Santorum answers this question by saying that he didn't ask anyone to endorse him because he had really low percentages up until recently. He isn't doing this to get endorsements, he wants to change what's going on in D.C. Gregory started talking about Santorum's new ad saying that he's "rock solid on values issues," which lately Santorum has been accusing Romney of not doing. Santorum has been saying that Romney is a liberal Massachusetts moderate, when only four years ago he was saying something completely different. Santorum supported Romney in the Republican primaries in 2008, he even said that "Romney would always stand up for conservative issues and principles." Gregory asked Santorum what has changed, and Santorum said that he only said this when comparing Romney to McCain. It seems as if Gregory was  trying to catch Santorum slip up or find something bad about him by throwing these difficult questions at him, but Santorum held his post and had very good responses.