Age and the Presidency

Guess what happened in 1936:

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini create the Rome-Berlin Axis

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First issue of Life magazine

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Hoover Dam was constructed

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The first NFL Draft

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The birth of John McCain
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Only two presidents have every been elected after their 66th birthday. William Henry Harrison (68) and Ronald Reagan (68). Harrison died after serving less then one month in office and there was speculation about Reagan’s health during his tenure. They has been reports that Reagan may have developed symptoms of Alzheimer’s during his term. That seems to be refuted in this NY Times piece. Either way, his health was always an issue that the press held over him.

Here’s where I’m going with this: If John McCain is elected President, he will be the oldest elected President in US history. Just as a reference point, he is only one year older than the Dalai Lama. Yeah, and he looks old.

I’m not trying to take cheap shots at McCain. He has more foreign policy experience than anyone left, and was tortured for like 5 straight years. So we know he’s tough. He seems like a solid option for the country. All I’m saying is that I know about 10 people over the age of 70. All of them go to bed around 7. They eat breakfast around 5am, eat lunch at 10, then they wrap up supper before 5. If they make it through Wheel of Fortune it’s a good thing. Heck, I’m 26 and go to sleep around 10. Shouldn’t the leader of the Free World be a tad bit younger?

With McCain, it will be VERY important that he chooses a strong running mate. VPs are usually afterthoughts. Heck, Bush #1 even won being drug down by Dan Qualye. Speaking of Qualye, get a load of this:

“W. Bush called on Quayle to be his running mate in the general election. Quayle was chosen to appeal to a younger generation of Americans and his good looks were praised by Senator John McCain, who said "I can't believe a guy that handsome wouldn't have some impact."

Hmmm…so I guess we can look for McCain to have a uber young, VP. So my prediction is Senator Lindsey Graham . He’s young, Southern Baptist, (to help the Evangelical vote), and has a super cheesy picture. He was also an adamant supporter of "comprehensive immigration reform" and of the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill of 2006. So there’s my best guess. Hopefully whoever his VP is will be the Tom Brady to McCain’s Drew Bledsoe. If McCain announces his running mate as Dennis Kucinich, I’m officially voting for Hillary Clinton.

Major Trouble in Kenya

In 2000, election results in Florida resonated across the country. Everyone had a different opinion on the balloting. Some called it voter fraud, some called for multiple recounts, a variety of stuff. But in the end, we had some protests, a Supreme Court case, and that was that. To be honest, most of America probably didn’t even care if Bush or Gore won. Even if you don’t agree with the decision to award Florida to Bush, everything was pretty much handled civilly (aside from some verbal cheap shots).

This is not the case in Kenya. From a CNN piece that is linked later in this post:

“One of the most stable nations in East Africa descended further into chaos Monday after a disputed election triggered violence that has killed at least 124 people.”

“They were protesting the government's announcement Sunday that voters had re-elected President Mwai Kibaki with 51.3 percent of the vote, compared with 48.7 percent for Raila Odinga, the opposition leader. International election monitors have alleged voting irregularities.”

"The Kenyan people are right now in a state of mourning," Odinga told CNN. "They are mourning the loss of democracy."
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Businesses in Nairobi were shut down and a government ban on live television broadcasts imposed Sunday was still in place as Kibaki struggled to cope with the fallout from the vote.

If you have time read both of the stories below. One is from CNN, which is quoted above, the other from Fox News. Both shed light on a terrible situation. I hate the media a lot, but its nice to live in a country where media outlets can openly hold the government accountable. I mean, the Kenyan imposed a ban on live television.

*This next statement assumes a lot, so if I’m off base, please forgive me.

In the US, I think we tend to be VERY apathetic, many times to a fault. What would it take in the US for us to protest something to the point of death? If Kenyans truly believe Democracy is being taken from them, shouldn’t they be applauded for taking a stand? (I know some of this is pure ethnic violence which is awful, I’m just commenting on broad terms) If the current president rigged the entire election, the Kenyan people should revolt and get him out of office. Aren’t these the situations that the US needs to help in? If we can legislate reform in Iraq, we should help figure out if the current Kenyan government is circumventing the will of its people.

Full stories here:

CNN Story

Fox News Story

The Importance of Florida: Romney, McCain

As an amateur (simpleton) political commentator, this has been a fantastic presidential race to see how the nation as a whole responds to events external to itself. What I mean, is that we are a nation that loves frontrunners. We don’t vote for candidates that we simply believe in; we vote for a candidate that we sort of like and that has the best chance of winning.

With Romney and McCain establishing themselves as frontrunners, the Salt Lake Tribune wrote a price on the importance of Florida to the Republican race. They commented that:

“Tuesday's primary, coming only a week before the tsunami of states voting Feb. 5, could give a major boost to either John McCain or Mitt Romney, who appear to be the duo battling it out for their party's nomination….The Sunshine State's primary offers the best opportunity for either McCain or Romney to take the spotlight going into the 22-state contest on Feb. 5, a day with more than 1,000 Republican delegates at stake in a contest where 1,191 are needed to get the nomination.”

What this is implying is simple: 22 states vote on Super Tuesday. Right now, there are still tons of votes scattered around for Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul, and Mike Huckabee. So instead of those voters continuing to vote first their “first choice”, many of them will switch their vote to either McCain or Romney. The reason is simple: Don’t throw your vote away. Vote for the best remaining candidate that shares most of your views on the issues. This drives me crazy. Why should we do this?

For example, in early November the leading candidates in the Tennessee Republican primary were Fred Thompson and Giuliani. Well, you know what happened there. Thompson is out and Giuliani appears to have “strategized” himself completely out of the race. (Somebody needs to write a book about that decision by the way). So we as Tennesseans have been limited to who we can/should vote for by a number of states, some that have vast different concerns then we do. Let’s assume for a minute that Tennessee’s primary was earlier in the year. If Thompson could have won this state, that would have propelled his national status and contributions to his campaign.

Hopefully somebody smarter than me can explain a simple question I have. Why aren’t all primaries held on the same day? Wouldn’t this be a fairer representation of the nation’s true opinions? Like I mentioned earlier, Giuliani was leading national polls early in the race. What changed about his policies? Nothing. Romney or McCain haven’t been THAT impressive. The reason he is losing is because he’s been out of the spotlight for 3 months.
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Our next president shouldn’t be decided by strategies or budget allocation. All candidates should run national campaigns until March, then let us all vote at the same time.

Clinton and Obama: First comes love…

I love perfect timing. To kill time at work, I was reading this story:

Bill Clinton: Race, gender key in S.C.

It included this great quote from Bill Clinton:

Voting for president along racial and gender lines "is understandable because people are proud when someone who they identify with emerges for the first time," the former president told a Charleston audience while campaigning for his wife.

He was basically said, black voters are voting for Obama simply because he’s black. (It also kinda implied that women would vote for Hillary because she's a woman) Nice. I’m sure that didn’t offend anybody. Sorry to have to tell you this, but only white males aren't superficial in their decision making process. Read the full story at some point, it’s filled with bickering between both candidates. It really shows how Obama is running against both Clintons.

Now, at the EXACT same time that I was reading this story, I got an campaign email from Michelle Obama, “the wife”, with the subject line: What We Didn’t Expect.

I’ll let her explain in her own words:

“In the past week or two, another candidate's spouse has been getting an awful lot of attention.

We knew getting into this race that Barack would be competing with Senator Clinton and President Clinton at the same time.

We expected that Bill Clinton would tout his record from the nineties and talk about Hillary's role in his past success. That's a fair approach and a challenge we are prepared to face.

What we didn't expect, at least not from our fellow Democrats, are the win-at-all-costs tactics we've seen recently. We didn't expect misleading accusations that willfully distort Barack's record.

Barack Obama isn't relying on a former President of the United States to campaign for him.”

I love it; this race is officially REALLY interesting to me.

GTKTPRFP - Who Wants My Help?

I got a personal call today from a supporter of Barack Obama. The volunteer’s name was Liz and she encouraged me to vote for Barack, let me know that early voting was underway, and invited me to visit Barack Obama’s Tennessee headquarters here in Nashville. She also asked how I would be interested in helping the campaign. I don’t think I’m going to help him, but it was an incredible show of his push into TN. Two thumbs up for the nice lady Liz and for Obama’s campaign in general.

On another note, I got an email from Rudolph Giuliani’s campaign today. It was an endorsement written by a Hollywood celebrity. It was from Jon Voight. Yeah, that Jon Voight. Who in their right mind got this email and thought: “You know what, I was leaning toward Mitt Romney, but this shakes EVERYTHING up.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Jon Voight. His range in portraying FDR in Pearl Harbor to Larry Zoolander is one for the history books.
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He’s a likable guy (Well except to Angelina Jolie. Yeah I watch E!, back off), but who cares who this guy votes for? Two thumbs down for random irrelevant political endorsements. (Mine included)

Open Invitation - Ron Paul

Good evening friends. Sorry about the inconsistant posts. My job wanted me to work 65 hours last week. That wasn't condusive to blogging. If somebody wants to bankroll this project so I can sit at home, please let me know.

Anyway, here is a last minute invitation to join me tomorrow. In my last entry, I mentioned that I was offering my full services to all high-profile candidates. Well I have gotten two responses. One was from a McCain representative asking what I wanted to do. I'm working on that response.

The next politico event takes place tomorrow. I got a generic invitation to see Ron Paul's TN campaign headquarters. It opens tomorrow and they are having an open house. Below is the press release. I am going somewhere between noon and 1. If anybody wants to join, please give me a call. 615/975-5103

Dear Friends,
Our momentum is good. The local media is now very interested in our efforts. Your presence at our grand opening will be an opportunity to generate even more interest.

Please come tomorrow, Tuesday at noon and show your support for Ron Paul. If you can make it, please do. Here is our press release. Television channels 2 (ABC), 5 (CBS) and FOX 17 will be there, as well as WLAC radio and Belmont Vision Radio station. After the speeches, We are open till 8 PM for supporters to come in and train on how to help "get out the vote". So if you can only come late in the day, please come. Here's the map link: Paul TN Headquarters

See you Tuesday,
Cheryl

GTKTPRFP - Who Wants My Help? (Seriousness Level: Severe)

I've been swamped at work and I'm sorry for the lack of candidate bios. I've been keeping up with everything and look forward to addressing the rest of them after tonight's New Hampshire primary. I decided to create a little experiment today. I registered with the campaign websites of all 9 remaining high-profile candidates.

Obama
Clinton
Edwards
Huckabee
Romney
McCain
Giuliani
Thompson
Paul

I basically gave them my info and volunteered to help with all of their campaigns. Some wanted very detailed information about me; skills, experience. Others just wanted my contact info. I'm curious to see which campaign contacts me first. I mean, I got a uber-quick THANK YOU email from all of them for signing up. I wonder who will be the first to call or email personally to see if I really could be of service. Let's just say my ego will give super bonus points if a campaign calls me.

I am up for grab candidates, come get me.

The Caucus for Iowa (Seriousness Level: Guarded)

Well the Iowa caucus is tomorrow and I've yet to address a lot of the candidates. So I'm beginning a marathon session of candidate intros.

I've decided to ignore Biden and Richardson, et al. until they decide the nation that they have a chance. As a side, I really like Biden's real world experience. Agenda/politics aside, he would probably have the least learning curve of any of the candidates. He would be a safe, solid choice.

I'm looking at unleashing the following over the next 24 hours:

Clinton
Obama
Edwards
Huckabee
McCain
Giuliani

Since most of these are sorta frontrunners, I should have time to revisit them later.

It looks as though Obama and Huckabee are the odds on favorite to win Iowa. If you're bored and want to read about the race, here is the best source I've found specifically for Iowa:

Des Moines Register - Iowa Caucuses '08

Michael Moore vs. Hillary Clinton (Serisousness Level: Low)

I've only seen two of Michael Moore's movies. Both controversial, both interesting: Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine . I walked away from both thinking he likes to shake things up and doesn't care who he infuriates. I personally disagree with a lot of the stuff he does, but he has a knack for making powerful, sometimes misleading documentaries. Even though he took some shots at Bill Clinton, I always assumed he would heavy endorse a Democratic candidate for President. But today I read this story and have decided that I'm glad people like MM are around. He shares most of the same views as Dennis Kucinich, but said he was running assuming he would lose. He called Sen. Obama unelectable, and dropped this bomb on Clinton: "nothing has disappointed me more than the disastrous, premeditated vote by Sen. Hillary Clinton to send us to war in Iraq — Do you want a president who is so easily misled?"

I guess it’s easy to throw stones. We need people to do this in politics from time to time, so we as a country don't follow our leadership blindly; because patriotism is misused a lot. But I wish these vocal slingshots would offer more solutions instead of just picking people off.