(3rd) Occasional U.S. news media round-up on presidential race
Who’s running the campaign?
They’re helping Obama make the day-to-day decisions about his campaign, they’re the team known as his brain trust. They’re all profiled in another long, informative Rolling Stone article offering a close-up look inside the Democratic Party Presidential nominee’s campaign (”Obama’s Brain Trust” by Tim Dickinson, July 10, 2008)
Talking about Iran and a couple of other things
Last week when Iran officials sent out saber-rattling photos of test launches of their missiles, the U.S. media immediately asked Obama for his reaction. See summary and seven-minute video of Obama’s response here (”Obama’s Iran TV Show Tour: More Diplomacy” The Huffington Post, July 9, 2008).
What is “outrage activism” and why is it so popular now?
Activist and Presidential race blogger Al Giordano harshly criticizes the “outrage activism” now so popular in the U.S. (”The Sky Didn’t Fall” The Field, July 10, 2008).
Getting out of Iraq
In yesterday’s New York Times, Obama wrote an op-ed about his proposed timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq (”My Plan for Iraq” by Barack Obama, July 14, 2008).
You can please some of the people…*
In the past couple of weeks, Obama drew a lot of criticism from supporters and critics alike for some recent policy decisions. In this commentary piece from the Oxford University Press blog, a political science scholar offers his views on Obama’s new “flip flopping” (”The Anti-Intellectual Candidates” by Elvin Lim, July 14, 2008).
English only not a good thing
We should have every child speaking more than one language, Obama said during a campaign speech last week.
“It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here. They all speak English, they speak French, they speak German, and then we go over to Europe and all we can say is Merci beaucoup.”
The Democratic Party nominee won a laugh but he was serious. Watch short short video here.
“Yes We Can” global style
Featuring one hundred people, and twenty-three languages, this video below offers tribute to Obama’s famous Yes We Can speech and to the original, megahit tribute video by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas:
(See here for previous round-up)
Political Doublespeak Made Hilarious
Actually, the title of this new book is Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak Through Philosophy and Jokes is Political Doublespeak Made Easy. But the authors also know how to make their readers (and listeners) laugh. The writers are Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. And, as at least one out of every two reviewers say of the book, it’s certainly timely.
In the video below from Dow Jones’ MarketWatch (www.marketwatch.com), the two Harvard grads in philosophy talk about the practice of political doublespeak and offer some examples of the age old practice from the leading candidates in the present U.S. presidential race. Hillary, Obama and Romney all come under some critical assessment, with the Romney punchline being especially funny.
Lawrence Lessig: arguing for Obama
Lawrence Lessig is, without a shadow of doubt, one of the good guys when it comes to fighting to preserve the democratic process in the U.S.
As to bio, currently he is a professor at Stanford Law School. Previously he was a professor at Harvard Law School. He is the creator of Creative Commons. Scientific American named him as one of America’s top 50 visionaries. He also has written four books, and he is a columnist for Wired magazine. So when he speaks, a lot of people listen.
Recently, he spoke via a video on Youtube (below) on why he is supporting the Democratic Party Presidential candidate Barack Obama. The talk is titled “20 minutes or so about why I am 4Barack.”
Will Democratic Party Super Delegates spoil the broth for voters?
As it appears that the Democratic Party could be headed for its first brokered convention since 1952 (see here), news headlines about the key role of the party’s Super Delegates are mushrooming. Why? It could be they, rather than primary voters, who decide whether Obama or Hillary becomes the party’s nominee.
One of the best articles I spotted this morning about this is Primary Colors Revealed: Delegate Soup and American Politics by Rob Creekmore (Feb 4, 2008) on themsj.com. It’s a concise description of what Super Delegates are, how they came to be, and how they can disenfranchise voters.
The article begins with a punch to the solar plexus:
“Barack Obama. Winner of 34 primary delegates to Hillary’s 21. Champion of 63 caucus delegates over Hillary’s 47. Still losing to Hillary. So what’s behind the fuzzy math that the Associated Press is using to claim that Hillary is in the lead? They’re called Super Delegates, they’re not bound by primary or caucus elections, and they will account for a full 20% of the vote at the upcoming DNC convention.”
For a statement today by Barack Obama himself on the Super Delegate issue, go to The Huffington Post here.
Want to see an Iowan in its natural habitat? Here’s one
He’s columnist David Yepsen of Iowa’s Des Moines Register. And for those who aren’t political junkies (USA), this interview with TV talk show host Charlie Rose may be largely gobbledygook. But for those who do take an interest in the internal workings of the U.S. presidential primary season, the drilling down into detail done here may be of interest. The interview also is timely (for the next eight hours or so, at least) given that the Iowa caucuses are being held today.
Rose and Yepsen talk about Democratic candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, and who’s saying what, who’s listening and how Iowans may be responding. There is also some discussion about the leading Republican candidates, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and the Iowa surprise, Mike Huckabee. (I found this video on HuffingtonPost.com)
