• This political cartoon is one of the more humorous ones I have seen recently though it shows a very tragic scene of a starred guy’s house burning down. The meaning behind the cartoon is also very good and clear, which is good because it automatically makes sense to everyone and thus connects to a lot more people’s brains. The simplicity with which the cartoon shows the probable peril which our economy may suffer before Obama even comes into office. This peril is very well understood by many as well as our economy continues to spiral downwards towards a dangerously low level.
• I believe that the economy will get much, much worse as time goes on and it will continue to suffer even as Obama comes into office. It will only get better, however, once the new administration comes up with some recovery legislation to really get some of our economy’s core institutions. Once our economy has a firm base to grow on, only then will our economy finally be able to restabilize itself. So I do think the cartoon does a good job of simplifying the current situation, but I think that Obama and his buddies will reach the house as construction workers, not firemen.

• This political cartoon was made after the week of Thnksgiving and this is quite obvious from the captions used in this cartoon. There is no real visual symbolism in this cartoon but it does use some effective captions to send forth its message. Some background knowledge helpful in interpreting this cartoon would include the fact that President-elect Barack Obama is currently finishing up his cabinet positions by appointing whoever he sees fit for the job. To the dismay of some of America's more liberal thinkers, however, Obama has appointed very centrist members into the cabinet and he has even appointed some of Bush's advisors into the cabinet.
• In the cartoon, as Obama is looking around in the refrigerator he asks his wife, Michelle Obama, whether there are any more leftovers left from their Thanksgiving turkey. Michelle then makes the cartoon's important phrase where she wants to know if by "turkey leftovers" Barack means some of Bush's leftover advisers. She doesn't seem like she wants any of Bush's buds back in the White House making more trouble. This line helps to express the message of the cartoon and the thoughts of many Americans as Obama was announcing his cabinet positions one-by-one.
• I would also agree with this statement as I also feel like Barack should have picked some more liberal people for his presidential cabinet. However, I would also like to note that president's can't really be too radical and must remain centrist to consider the majority of American's interests. Oh well, let's hope Barack Obama makes the best of it to get this wild economy back on track.
  

• This is a political cartoon from Thanksgiving week-end and it shows Bush trying to pardon a sentient turkey as tradition. This turkey was most likely chosen out of all the turkeys becuse of his intelligence. Unfortunately the turkey is too smart and is actually making suggestions to the president. The turkey's words symbolise the words of much of the American public as this turkey wants his pardon signed by President-elect Obama as well. Though the turkey is not meant to be an image of an average American, his words definitely reflect the wishes of many Americans as Bush is currently hated by many.
• I believe that Obama is doing a good job in getting ready to start his work as president by making some early appointments. And though the turkey wants direct action from the Obaam administration, his wishes reflect my own in that I want Bush out of here, and Obama in as soon as possible. Let's hope Bush screw anything else up in his last month in office, especially not the tukey pardon.
  

Volunteering- Post 3

• Finally came my last day with Obama's Strike Force, also known as the OSF, as I went out to do some good-old phone-banking. So as I went out on a late October morning I was surprised to find no packets with maps and brochures waiting for me as I expected. Instead there were a few cell phones and slightly different checklists with things like "Left Message" instead of "Not Home." The phones we used were all exactly alike and we spent a good 3 hours calling people and calling people and calling people. This got extremely repetitive, extremely fast; much faster than my experience as a canvasser. But at least I got to sit with some friends to do the phone-banking and make fun of our mistakes... it would have been much more tiresome without friends for company.

• Speaking of my canvassing experience, here is a very happy picture of me going to one special house(it was the last one on my checklist) to change people's minds and get them to vote for Obama!

• And finally, here I am showing off my packet, with the brochures out and in front of me. We were expected to give a brochure to every person we talked to and leave a brochure at every unavailable person's doorsstep, thus we got about 100 of these per packet.

Volunteering- Post 2

• The next Saturday was the 4th of October and I went to the campaign office this day also to volunteer as a canvasser.However they first assigned me to be the guy handing out packets to other volunteer canvassers. This was a much different experience as I spent about an hour talking to all kinds of people, trying to get them a packet nearest to their residences. We also had to check them off a list and write down their phone numbers and districts. After the hour was up it was our turn to go out and canvass.
  
• This time we got a good packet of about 50 houses with around 65 or so people. We were going to be going to a neighborhood in Reston this time so we had to drive a good 15 minutes to get to the right street. We then stopped and got all of our papers together. It was around 10:30 by the time we got there and my friend and I decided to go out and canvass cooperatively around the neighborhood. The actual canvassing took about 3 hours to complete and I was pretty hungry by then so we decided to just quit on the last couple houses. Out of all the houses there were, again, not too many people to actually answer the door as we got about 15 people to open their doors to talk to us. The others were either not home or just decided to ignore us. We only got one rude person who got really pissed off at us asking his opinion on the election. So once we were done, we again counted up the checks and turned our packet in, each heading back to our own houses.
  

Week 6-Election Post

• This will be my final Election Post... as we are in the final few days of the election! So as this is the final post I will giving some final ideas and predictions of who the winner of this election will actually be. So for the presidential race I cuurently believe the winner, after Election Day November 4th, 2008, to be... Barack Obama. Okay there's really no need to doubt my support of Barack Obama this late in the game as I have constantly said that I support, even going and supporting his campaigning effort at my local election station. However, my prediction goes beyond mere support, it actually goes to the national polls, the current economic situation on the personal level, and it also goes to the opponent John McCain's tactics. Senator Barack Obama has done a masterful job of showing just how much change he can bring to the president. Yes, that disgustingly overused word "change." But, as most Obama supporters will say, I truly believe he will be the man to bring the change to the White House. Recent polls are showing that Obama has an 11-point lead over McCain(Gallup.com) and results are showing that Obama has a lead on the early vote count. Now we are a couple of days away from the election so there is no doubt in my mind that Obama will win. It'll be close but Obama's got this one.
  
• As for the other current offices up for election I will also try to predict the winners. In the Senate election there is absolutely no contest in that Warner will absolutely crush Gilmore with at least a 20 % lead. Current polls are showing around a 30% lead for Warner so I trust he'll win it easily(RasmussenReports.com). And in the 10th and 11th District House Races, I believe that the Democrats have a distinct advantage in that both of these districts are slowly turning Democratic as more and more liberals and minorities are moving in. I have not heard much from either of these races' candidates but I would like to say that I personally believe the Republican Frank Wolf to beat Democrat Judy Feder in the 10th, but I would say Democrat Gerry Connolly will triumph over Republican Keith Fimian for the 11th this election. Wolf's win will probably be due to his familiarity with the people and for his more organized appearance to me over Judy Feder's somewhat missing publicity. However the increasing Democratic population will most likely change at least one seat, which I believe will mean a win for Connolly.
  

Volunteering- Post 1

• More than a month ago, me and a couple friends decided to go out and volunteer for the local office in support of Barack Obama. It was a sunny, Saturday morning on the 20th of September and we went over to the office, after losing our way for some reason, to see what work they would give us. We ended up getting a canvassing packet and going over to a nearby Herndon neighborhood to ring doorbells and ask people questions about who they would support in the coming election. We were also carrying Voter Registration Forms in case anyone we talked wasn't registered.
• So after we went through the packet, which took us two and a half hours or so, we then went back to give a tally sheet to the office official at the campaigning office. In the end we were somewhat disappointed that out of the 50 houses we went to, only about 15 actually answered, most of them already being Obama supporters. Though it wasn't too bad being out there in the nice weather with friends.
  

Current Event- Post 5

• The last presidential debate took place two Wednesdays ago with the focus being on the economy, a very important issue especially due to the economic crisis currently taking place around the world. This debate led to both candidates further outlining their own respective economic plans, including the changes they are going to make with taxes and spending policies. Two secondary issues included the recent allegations of Barack Obama’s supposed relations with a former terrorist and the negative ads that are currently aired.
• I thought the debate was much livelier than the other two, partly because the questions and layout was better, and partly because the two candidates seemed better prepared to take on the other. John McCain was largely believed to have been in the lead throughout the first half, continuously taking shots at Obama’s plans on the economy, but Obama took over during the second half as McCain slowed down. The debate was conducted in a closer and more personal format, leading to much more direct debate this time around. However, McCain made quite a few enemies during the second half of the debate as he started sneering and showed his much publicized anger issues live.
  
• Another one of the major issues during the debate was the argument on both candidates' use of negative advertisements. McCain blamed Obama’s failure to accept the further conduct of town hall meetings while Obama said that McCain used “100 %” negative ads in his latest airings. I believe negative ads to now be an established part of the American campaigning process, though in these ads there also needs to be some specific information from the candidate on his plans for change, otherwise they would be of no use to me information-wise.
  
  

Week 5-Election Post

• In this year's presidential election for the United States there appear to be a few states deemed swing states, also known as battleground states, whose desicion on the next president are up for grabs. The states I will be talking specifically are my own state of Virginia and the hotly contested state of Ohio. Virginia is a swing state because of the newly created rift between the voting patterns of the northern, more-democratic region of the state and the southern, more republican regions. As the Northern Virginian counties have advanced in value and importance to the business world and have had influxes of minorities, the voting patterns of the area have continuously leaned toward the liberal point of view. Southern Virginia, however, has retained it's older, conservative views. Ohio is a swing state this election becuase of the same reasons it was an important state last election, it's large and diverse population. The diversity of the population has caused the voting patterns of the state to vary widely from county to county.
• I believe that Virginia will vote Democratic because of the increasing population of the north, which I think will swing enough votes for Obama to make Virginia a democratic win. For Ohio I also believe that Obama will win due to the diverse population of the state and how it has many diverse regions. Due to the diversity and various ideologies of it's people, I believe it will be won by Obama due to his appeal to Americans right now. Also, polls currently show that both states are in Obama's hands right now as Obama has around a 7% lead in both states, according to the averages of RealClearPolitics.com.
  

Current Event- Post 4

• This week my article was from the Washington Post again and was titled “GOP Head Compares Obama to Bin Laden." In this article I read about the head of Virginia's GOP and the words he used to relate Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden. Jeffrey M. Frederick, the head of VA's GOP, specifically said how both Obama and Bin Laden have friends who bombed the Pentago, referring to a man Obama once knew, Bill Ayers.
  
• To me this accusation seems to be little more than a petty attack at the Democrats and it really has no chance of causing the slightest influence on even the semi-intelligent voters out there. However, the fact that GOP leaders are going around spewing lies only has a negative effect on people’s view of the Republicans. These insults are stupid and pathetic attempts at skewing people’s views in the favor of the Republicans and they help no one, only managing to dirty the respect others have for the American campaigning process. Obama did well in addressing boos from his supporters in one of his recent meetings as being unnecessary and that he would rather have people just go out and vote.
  

Week 4-Election Post

• Today I analyzed some of the polling data related to the current presidential election in the United States, specifically looking at the Gallup Poll and the Daily Kos Tracking Poll. Having analyzed these two polls it can be clearly seen that both of these two polls show that Barack Obama is ahead of John McCain by a good 5% lead in the Gallup, while the Daily Kos shows a 10% lead for Obama. Both of these results are as of yesterday and they both show that the lead is pretty good and over the margin of error. So unless the polls are very inaccurately calculated, the people change their minds, or the candidates change their tactics, it looks like Obama would win if Election Day was tomorrow.
• Meanwhile these same polls show similar and different results in the Senate as the Gallup Poll shows that the Democrats have a lead in the Congress by 6% as of October 12th, while the Daily Kos shows a much larger lead of 13% for the Democrats as of yesterday. These results also show a country favoring the Democrats these days as people are hungry for a change in the government's administration.
• These polls also seem to me to show very accurate results which gauge the country as currently running in the liberal direction. However, I do believe that the Daily Kos may be a little skewed in its polling somehow as the lead seems to me to be a tad too democratic, but maybe that's just me. Polls are, I believe, an important part of the election process as they show the progress the candidates are making in converting random voters to their political ideology. However, I do believe that exit polls are a little too influential to be used on Election Day as they probably would change some weaker-minded people's minds.
  

Current Event- Post 3

• An article last week entitled “Obama Takes 6-Point Lead in Ohio” from The Washington Post showed recent poll results and outlined the fact that Barack Obama is in fact gaining a lead on John McCain. This lead has been most importantly seen in the key, battleground states, but has also taken the national polls as well.The surge of support for the Democratic candidate is expected, however, as Obama really is the man with a plan for change in our failing country. If Obama keeps this surge of favor for himself for another three weeks he may come out of this election a president.
  
• McCain’s lack of real plan for change in the economic area of the election is really looking like a disadvantage. As I saw going through my fellow classmates blogs I noticed that many people believe that the economic crisis really is the most important issue in this election. If McCain loses out on the most important issue he better do an amazing job at everything else if he wants to win, but unfortunately for him, the polls show that he isn't doing too amazingly well at anything in particular.
  

Week 3-Election Post

• While the presidential election is certainly the most-talked about event in politics these days there are also many other local and state elections going on right now, including the Virginia Seat in the Senate Election. The two candidates for this election are Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Jim Gilmore. Both are former governors of Virginia, Mark Warner being the most recent having left office in 2006. Mark Warner became the Democratic candidate largely uncontested, while Jim Gilmore had considerable contest from Tom Davis until the convention selected Gilmore.
• Energy has been a major topic of this election as well, with Warner siding with the firm belief in funding research for alternative energy sources and Gilmore favoring offshore drilling. This issue has been extremely important due to the once-rising price of gasoline, though now the lower price of gasoline barrels has caused a lowered focus on the immediate effect of continued reliance on foreign oil. Recent polls from pollsters such as Public Policy Polling, Survey USA, and Rasmussen Reports have shown Warner to currently have a 24-27 % lead on Gilmore.
  

Current Event- Post 2

• The Senate easily passed the new and improved bailout plan. This is the same plan that the House failed this last Monday evening, with the addition of $108 billion tax break for businesses and families and an increase in federal insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 for bank deposits, of course. The bill was passed by a 74-25 vote for the bill on the night of the first of October. But the House vote coming up on the third will be the true test of the bill’s real connection with the public. President Bush has already warned the House of Representatives of the possible economic downturn that could result from a second failure of the bill, thus pressuring them to pass the bill successfully.
• This bill seems like a temporary halt for the continuously falling economy, and I believe it’s better than nothing. It does give the government incredible power in reviving the housing market, but in doing so it helps deter the coming of another real depression. However, this should only be counted as the beginning to a solution and not a fully-realized success, as the government needs to work during the temporary stabilization to try and find a real solution that would help get us out of this mucky situation. But for now let’s just hope the bill passes in the House of Representatives.
  
  

Week 2- Election Post

• To me the most important issue of the 2008 election happens to be the unstable economy and it's effect on everyone. This economic crisis is getting worse and worse every day. Though the government is trying to amend the situation with a $700 billion bailout plan, even it's having difficulties having just failed to pass in the House of Representatives. This is a very critical issue because the economy is the very foundation upon which people live their good lives. The economy's recent struggles have led to everyone's downfall, as many people are now in debt, some even having to foreclose their houses.
• As for the performance of the candidates during the debates, I believed them to be pretty much equal. Barack Obama and John McCain both performed well in the presidential debate, each holding on by performing very well in their respective strengths, and also hanging on to the issues they are weak on. Thus, I thought the debate was a stalemate. However, the electronic media, in this case the television, showed Obama as being a more charismatic and likable character, whereas McCain looked very old. All in all, I thought Obama did a better job because he was a much better speaker and so he got his ideas out in a much clearer way.
  

Current Event-Post 1

• I am addressing the recent news that Senator John McCain is bailing out of the Friday election in order to broker a solution to our most recent financial troubles. The news of one of our presidential candidates jumping out of a debate during the last few weeks before the election struck me as somewhat odd. Even though he is trying to fix our "financial situation," he should try and be a little more focused on his campaign for the presidency instead. Anyways, he was reported to not have done much at the brokering anyways. McCain seems to be a bit disorganized at the moment as he attended the bipartisan White House meeting which took place as soon as he got back from the brokering as well. He wasn't speaking much, and when he did he was shaky, or so I've heard.
• Even though McCain may be ahead in the polls concerning the foreign policies in question during these presidential elections, Barack Obama seems to be the one who is continuously rising in the polls for the economic issues. Here, McCain needs to pick up the pace, as economy is a very important issue at the moment and if McCain continues on his current trend, he may lose on the very important topic of economic reform. And anyways, when does he plan to reschedule that debate for... Obama's getting tired waiting for him! Or is that his ultimate plan, hmmmmm...
  

Week 1- Election Post

• Looking at the current status of the election, I would say that I'm leaning towards a more liberal standpoint and currently support the Democratic candidate for president, Barack Obama. This is because I feel more liberal on various topics and also think that Obama would bring real change to the way the American government is currently run. I feel like Obama's young age and little experience would most likely help this drive for change because of the fresh, new ideology he would come with and the uncorruptedness with which he could run things in Washington. John McCain, on th other hand, views things from an older standpoint, which is not really helpful at this time when real fresh ideas are needed to revive America.
• Obama's standpoint on the issues of Iraq and Energy are also very critical to my support for him. Obama has rallied against the Iraq War from the very beginning as Bush was threatening Hussein to get out of Iraq. I also believed the Iraq War to be the wrong approach to a very fragile situation. The current situation also needs to be resolved as quickly as possible with a gradual and efficient exit from the country of Iraq. This would be better in the long run and could also allow for America to help the Iraqi people take care of their own country. Energy, however, may be an even more important issue as it affects everyone, especially due to the rising cost of fuel which leads to the general rise in price of all products and services.Obama supports a plan to become independent from other imports of energy to allow for America to produce more of it's own energy and research alternate sources of energy as well. A lowering in the cost of living in the United States would help all Americans and could also help re-stabilize the economy.