Youth Politics

The Democratic convention continues today. I will be tuning in to Mark Warner (former governor of my state, Virginia) and Hillary Rodham Clinton. What Clinton says today could change the votes of many who still have strong support for Hillary, and she could potentially reunite the party so that it may take on the Republican powerhouse. Will she succeed? We’ll find out soon enough! Expect an update from me afterwards.

I wanted to post something else earlier, but all of my writing got deleted. I’m too peeved at that fact to retype it again right now so I’ll hold that off for a bit later.

I could not help but notice all of the tears that the cameras were showing to us. Truly these people felt touched, as the speech seemed to sink in with people. People could relate to what she was saying and that is what made it so powerful. Still though, the camera would sometimes point to particular people who would stare in boredom. That’s to be expected if there is built up resentment amongst some Democrats towards Barack.

I did notice the younger crowd a lot more this time, and it seemed like there were quite a few at the convention. This is good. We need more and more youths to get excited or at least motivated into participating politically. What better way to do so than at a convention?

I was going to give a link to Fox news’ coverage of Michelle Obama’s speech, but it isn’t up yet. So, here’s some reading for those who missed the speech.

I want to also comment on Ted Kennedy’s speech. It was a great speech. He comes back from fighting brain cancer, tells everyone he’s going and boy did he show us what he’s made of. This guy is resilient and resolute about getting Obama into the seat of the White House and the crowd went ballistic when he told the crowd, “the dream lives on”. If you missed that speech you can read Fox’s news coverage here.

Tomorrow is Hillary Clinton’s turn. I’m definitely not going to miss it.

As I’m writing this, the Democratic convention is being broadcasted on local media channels with commentary as well as a pure live feed. I have a few thoughts as the commentary ensues and the speeches continue.

There’s some concern and some disconcern about the Hillary supporters. I’ve already stated how I feel about that, and this day isn’t going to convince a single one of them to support Obama. Actually this is a rather boring day for the convention aside from Michelle Obama’s speech. Even then, she will be proving to the world (or at least, Democrats) that she’s ready to be a first lady. People have had their doubts about her. We will she what she says soon enough.

The Democrats have a nice edge here, having their convention go first. They get to call the shots first, and that has its advantages. I was listening to the radio about how some Democratic Congressmen are starting to show their conservative roots. Maybe the Democrats will be able to appeal to conservatives this time around, especially in the southern states who have not voted Democrat since the 60′s. We’ll of course, see what happens there as well.

I’m interested in knowing how much of the youth support is attending the convention and if youths are even paying attention to the convention. Polls seem to suggest that the youth vote is primarily backing Obama, but are these significant numbers? Again it’s not easy to see who is in attendance amongst the crowd.

More updates to come as I watch the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I am starting to get sick and tired of the Hillary supporters. Yes, I’m going to be ranting in just a minute. But these people really need to get a clue.

Here are the facts. Obama and Hillary have almost the same ideologies and always have. There is little difference between the two candidates as far as positions go. Thus, it shouldn’t matter too much that Obama won over Hillary. Supporters will get roughly the same view points anyway. So why are Hillary supporters saying that the Democrats have lost their vote?

Are they crazy? Why would the Democrats have lost your vote unless you don’t believe in anything that even Hillary had to offer? Does it possibly mean that you were voting for her for no reason? Or because she is a woman? You idiots, Hillary lost. Get over it. The difference between her and Obama is negligible at best. And now you might vote for McCain? McCain is much different from Hillary in many ways. Does her not being on the ticket really convince you to switch political spectrums? This is one of the, if not the stupidest reason to ever vote for the other side of what you believe in. Again, this is assuming you were in line with the Democrats in the first place. If you were not… then why were you supporting Hillary at all?

Now, if your vote will now go to an independent candidate who you feel fits the bill better, that’s fine. But to complete switch party lines? That is extremely idiotic and shows me how you handle politics: with negligence. Oh no a woman won’t be in the top seat at the White House. Big deal. Maybe next time. Crybabies…

Hillary Clinton will be backing Obama 100 percent of the way. She will be speaking at the convention. And hopefully she can convince the Hillary supporters to stop whining and start looking at the issues. Hillary does not want the Democratic party to lose this election, and if you do not want to see them lose, then you need to back up Obama. Plain and simple. You’re not doing the party any favors by voting for McCain.

McCain supporters should be extremely glad that there exists this kind of turmoil on the Democratic side. It proves one thing, that the Democrats just can’t keep it together. They are not unified. The littlest issues tear them apart. This is and will continue to be a huge advantage for the Republicans, and may be the sole factor that keeps them in control of the White House. If there is one thing I can say about the Republican camp is that they are a strong and unified party. They rise with the party, and they fall with the party. But they do it together. Can the Democrats say the same?

I have a few thoughts now that Obama has officially announced his vice-presidential running mate. First of all, Biden does complement Obama well, seeing as a lot of the criticism towards him is that he lacks experience, especially in certain areas such as foreign policy and defense issues. Second of all, Biden is quite the old-timer in Congress, even more so than McCain. He’s going to fill a lot of the gaps that Obama had on his own.

It’s not all well and good, however. There are drawbacks to picking Biden. First of all, the Hillary supporters are stubborn. Some have decided that the Democrats have lost their vote. This is either a) excellent, or b) extremely stupid, depending on where the vote decides to go. If it goes towards an independent candidate or one of the smaller parties, then this I think is an excellent way to express that difference in opinion. If the vote instead goes for McCain, then I really need to question that person’s loyalty to the party. McCain is much different from Hillary than Obama is. In fact, Obama and Hillary have almost no ideological differences between them. Why would you switch parties over something as stupid as Hillary not being in the top seat? That makes no sense. However, it is still a cause for concern amongst the Democrats.

The other drawback is based around the campaign’s motto, which is change. Biden is far, far from change. Biden has been serving in Congress for most of his life, and this guy is 66. To say that McCain is too old now or that he doesn’t represent change is a much harder argument to make now. Before we can drastic differences, but now it seems that some of those changes have been patched up. While yes his candidacy would bring a lot of change considering the political shift, it would not bring too much fundamental change unless Biden goes with the flow on Obama’s every decision. Nevertheless expect Republicans to use this on a new line of attack. This decision does help into getting the older voters on board though.

Biden has been very critical of both Obama and Hillary in the past. Picking him then I think is a strength if he really wants to show that he wants to bring accountability into the White House. Think about it, with his Vice President as his main critic, he has the ability to receive an additional line of feedback concerning ideas and policies that other presidents simply did not have except from advisors. Imagine if Cheney questioned Bush’s every move. Would Bush still have been able to get away with all that he did if that was the case? I honestly don’t know. I would assume no, but I could be wrong. Biden is obviously not going to be bashing Obama at this point, so you can expect Biden to be fighting for his cause.

Is Joe Biden going to help Obama’s candidacy? Time will tell. I’m not sure what the Republican reaction to this is, but rest assured the pick will be highly criticized and bashed from whatever angles they can find. What I’m really looking forward to though, is McCain’s pick for vice-president. Then we can truly measure up both campaigns and then begin the speculation process once again as to which campaign looks to be the stronger one going into the election.

Best of luck to both Obama and Biden. They’ll need it.