Obama and NASCAR
A lot has been said about Barack Obama failing to connect with white, male voters.
In an apparent attempt to connect to these voters, the Obama camp thought about sposoring a NASCAR Cup car! Negations, however, failed and Obama did not become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing’s No. 49 Toyota, Sprint Cup car. Apparently the driver is a huge Republican. Oops.
If Obama had landed the No. 49 Toyota, would more people have voted for him? Is this an effective way to reach white male voters? Would it be more appropriate, or effective, for John McCain to sponsor a NASCAR Cup car?
btw – Whats more of a sport, NASCAR or cheerleading?
Vetting the Veep
Lately, there has been a lot of discussion about who Barack Obama and John McCain will select for their respective running mates. A woman? black person? latino? Southerner? military experience? Who will it be?
The office of the Vice President is, however, one with little responsibility or power. Whereas in a high school, the Assistant Principal has several assigned duties (discipline, grade levels, etc…), the Vice President only has two assigned duties. Funny enough though, both of these Constitutional duties are quite ceremonial. (We discuss these two duties in detail in our Executive Branch Unit.)
So first of all, the job of VP isn’t that powerful or glorious.
However the trick is, to become Vice President you have to be elected. What makes this very interesting is that everyone who runs for VP is closely scrutinized. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people will begin to separately dig through the past of the potential Vice Presidents. They’ll be looking for dirt. Anything that will sell a newspaper or make TV ratings go up. A nanny who’s an illegal immigrant, a video of a rude comment, or (best of all) an extra-marital affair – anything.
What both campaigns are doing now is called ‘vetting.’
The campaigns will look through the past, through all the dirt, of the people who may potentially be their Vice President. This means giving all sorts of personal information out to the Obama or McCain campaigns. I imagine that some people are giving some really juicy information out!
Why, however, you would want to go through a process like this, just to become a figure-head with little to no real responsibility, amazes me. In fact, some potential running mates have already bailed.
The New York Times has a good, up to date, analysis of the race to be Vice President. I think this particular page will be worth checking on a regular basis.
We’ll talk soon about how much the selection of a running mate actually makes a difference in the election.
Update: As of July 12th, Clinton is still on Obama’s ‘short list’ for VP running mates.
Update: Some vetting rumors may actually be a ruse!
An Introduction to blogging
The internet provides a world of information and possibilities in the education realm. It can be, however, over whelming. Many bloggers spend hours ranting about their cats, their options on random subjects, and all sorts of other things that very few people care about.
What then, is the purpose of an educators blog? Why add one more blog out there to the ‘pipes and tubes’ of the internet?
This blog will (hopefully) be useful, engaging, and slightly entertaining. Specifically, it will:
Provide students and parents with access to static classroom data like PowerPoints, home work assignments, extra credit assignments, YouTube links, Podcasts, a forum for current affairs, parent communication, Senior announcements, and the ability to contact students via RSS and SMS txt messaging.
We’ll see how this experiment works!
Stephen Colbert v. George Will
Goerge Will is a strong advocate of a ‘laisse-faire’ economic policy. He believes that less regulation of the economy makes the economy stronger, people richer, and the world a better place. This ‘hands-off’ policy believes that the market place (the economy) will fix itself over time even if, at times, it slows down or certain prices get high, etc…
Stephen Colbert appears to agree with him, however, he mocks some of his ideas by comparing them to Scientology!
What would a person like George Will suggest we do about current gas prices that are so incredibly high?
I’m not sure if George Will is a member of any particular political party. But if he was, what party do you think he’d be a member of? What ideas of his don’t fit into that particular party?
Also, I can’t figure out when Colbert is serious or not…
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!