The results are in...now what?

In sort of a piggyback to my last post, and the issue of women's suffrage, I came across this image in my search for responses to the outcome of the election. Being from a conservative state following the win of Obama was quite an experience, I witnessed some things via facebook and twitter posts that one would hope this country had overcome. This image may not be as blatantly hateful as some of the more choice posts by my fellow Kentuckians, and it probably is backing a more liberal message, but it really got me to think about the hate mongering that an election spurs on. This elephant clearly representing Mitt Romney, and his feelings toward woman's rights being expressed during the campaign for the presidency, and then the subsequent outcome of those ideals on the way the election progressed. It seems to be stating that due to Romney's very conservative ideas on the way that women should be treated had a negative effect on the way that women voters acted in the poll booth. I think this image is successful in bringing up this topic, and poking fun at the matter. It is easy to read the message, and clearly is a reaction to the outcome of the 2012 election. I think that in some cases people overreact to the new people, or the remainder of people, in office can come across as uninformed and influenced mostly by spur of the moment emotions and reactions. This image is effective for me because of its lack of overly emotional hate filled ideas.

Why don't we cherish this...right?

Reflecting on the recent election and the general lack of enthusiasm as some of my peers for going out right away  voting it makes me think about why we as American's don't exercise this right  and cherish the ability that we have to make the decision about who becomes our president. Especially as a woman, which seems to tie in with this cartoon and the fact that the image speaks to woman's suffrage and how hard our predecessors worked to be able to vote, all I can think is why do we take for granted this priviledge. I travelled to China over this summer and was acutely made aware of the political suppression that the Chinese suffer, it was taboo to even bring up politics in a public environment. It made me rethink the things Americans take for granted and how much we overlook how important each and every one of our votes count. We have the mentality that if we don't live in a swing state that our votes are not significant enough to make it matter rather or not we vote, but I think that if it was important enough for there to have been a movement in order for each and everyone of us to vote then why don't we make it our civic duty each election to make our voice known? I don't know the voting stories of many of my peers, but I was elated to go into that booth and then on top of it all I got a sticker!!!

Election Night in The Johnson House

During the last election I was in a dorm room at my University with a roommate who had very different political views than myself, this year however I was safely ensconced at home with my loving family bubble of support surrounding me. I was, however, just as nervous about this election's outcome as the last. I watched the NBC coverage of the states being called in, and up until around 10:00 I wasn't convinced that it wasn't going to be a clear winner.  Brian Williams stuck out in my mind as being perfectly bipartisan, and one particular moment, and the relevancy of twitter updates really stayed with me. During the coverage the theme of reading of twitter updates was something that was very different from the last election and the coverage of it that I remember, it was interesting to have a play by play of other people's reactions to the race as well as my own reaction to compare it to. I think that one particular twitter comment, and the reaction of Brian Williams was quite hilarious, however not exactly relevant to the political situation, but Donald Trump was certainly put in his place. It is astounding to me that this nation has become so fixated on what celebrity's are doing, thinking, and saying that we now have something as useless as twitter to keep up with their lives. This has become such an issue that the twitter accounts of celebrities become relevant to the coverage of the election of the President of the United States. While it is interesting sometimes to know what other people's opinions of the happenings of election night are, I don't believe twitter updates need to be a part of national coverage. Although I must say that it is always nice to see how negative comments made by celebrities can have a greater effect now than perhaps four years ago.

candidates in my living room

The living room candidate is a website we were recently made aware of in my political history class. It allows visitors to view for free the campaign commercials of presidential candidates from the very first TV ads to today's advertisements. One particular ad that caught my eye was from the successful campaign of Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1992. This ad is listed under the title "Milwaukee" and focuses on everyday people and their common complaint of how the Bush administration has overlooked their lives and their incomes for the past four years. I think that this ad is successful in that it brings the issues right to your door, these are everyday people, or so they are portrayed to be, it allows the viewer to watch the commercials and think to themselves "I am just like this person". If the people in this commercial were any indication of the the rest of the country, then we were in a lot of trouble. By showing the people that every viewer at home could relate to, and showing that Clinton and Gore sympathized with these people and would strive for a better economic future for them, it made people want to rally around this future that is promised by a new direction that Clinton would bring to office. I think that it may be successful in targeting this area, but it does leave a lot of gaps in the constituency, ones that I'm sure other ads filled.

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1992

Is This Real Life?

Surely nobody on the Romney/Ryan campaign team would have been proud of this Ohio rally attendant's choice in attire, and I'm sure it isn't a piece of clothing that they have endorsed, but I am still absolutely appalled by this image. one would hope that in this day in age the merit of a political official would be based upon the good or bad deeds he or she has accomplished while in office, and not by the color of their skin. I don't care which political party you affiliate yourself with, a joke this offensive should be appalling to anyone. If you don';t like the current president that is your own opinion, and as an American we are all entitled to our own opinions, but we didn't have the civil rights movement as a joke, and the color of our president's skin, something which should be celebrated, shouldn't become a joke either.

Will my Kids be Able to Afford Higher Education?

Growing up in my household not going to college was never an option, and in America it is forced upon children from an early age that those with a college education will have better opportunities for careers and livelihoods. These days however it is becoming increasingly difficult for college students to be able to afford their education, with many students coming out of college over 100,000$ in debt. On top of that the job market is not what it was in my parent's day, and those of us with a college education are lucky to find jobs that would have been considered in high demand 20 years ago. As a person who is about to graduate from college in less than a year, with a degree in art no less, it scares me to death to think about the opportunities I might not have in the future. With the ever increasing federal loan rates, not to mention outlandish private loan rates, it is frightening to think about the many children who may not get the opportunity to even attend college in the future. While this cartoon was clearly made by a non GOP party member, focusing on the believe by many liberals that the GOP is trying to cut funding for higher education in order to bring down national debt, it still brings to the forefront the fear of many high school graduates thinking about pursuing a college education. How in the world am I supposed to be able to afford my college education without being a 7 foot tall basketball star? 

I Wonder What Will Happen to Snuffaluffagus.

A highlight of the presidential debate this year was when Mitt Romney, in trying to make light the cutting of funding for PBS, made the mistake of targeting Big Bird in his argument. While I think the onslaught of political cartoons at his expense have been a bit much, it was merely a bad joke, I was pretty appalled when this subject of sesame street was brought up in the presidential debate. What I wanted from this debate was a chance to really learn the facts of the candidate's platforms, what I got was a chance for Mitt Romney to make himself more likeable and Obama to stick with the same facts of his entire campaign. This political cartoon is one that I found particularly interesting, as it brings back Romney's earlier flop concerning the recorded private fundraiser and his attack of the 47% of America that he believes to be freeloading off of the government. It also pulls into play the issues of outsourcing, and how many jobs America has lost to cheaper labor across seas. While I don't think that Romeny really thought before he went after Big Bird it is clear that Americans have latched onto this statement against a figure of most of our childhoods and run wild with it, this is certainly not the first cartoon I have seen dealing with the beloved feathery giant and his impending pink slip. I think in a time like this it is more important for our presidential candidates to honestly stand behind their platform, as opposed to cracking jokes about a children's character.