Inauguration Security

It is already being marked on the calendar of practically every American. January 20th, 2008. Inauguration Day. The day where an African American becomes the next President of the United States or the day where George W. Bush is no longer president. I guess you can look at it either way, depending on how much you love Obama or how much you hate Bush.

However, the most important person in America on January 20th, 2008 will not be Obama, instead it will be........Cathy Lanier.

Wait? Huh? You are definitely wondering who the hell Cathy Lanier is.

Cathy Lanier is the Police Chief in the District of Columbia. She will be responsible for making sure President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States without anything happening to him.

Let's face it. We may have elected an African American to become the next president, but there is still racism in our country. There are still people out there who absolutely hate Blacks and are livid over the fact that one will be their next president. This racism, as well as the fact that terrorists are still a powerful force, are the two main reasons why there is going to be the most security ever to patrol an event on Inauguration Day.

It will be the responsibility of Lanier to make sure her city is patrolled by as many officers as possible. Yes, the secret service and other people in Obama's administration will play a large role in making sure Obama is sworn in without any trouble, but Lanier is in charge of the city. Therefore, it is her responsibility to make sure nothing goes wrong.

The precautions that are being taken for Inauguration Day are amazing. According to CNN, "Precautions will range from the routine — magnetometers like those used at airports — to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols."

The fact that a sniper will be able to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away is pretty cool. Actually, it's amazing. This alone will make me think twice if I were one of those idiots planning on doing something to harm the 44th President.

Lanier is in charge of all 5,265 surveillance cameras in Washington D.C., and all of those cameras will be fed into a multi-agency command center.

In conclusion, the man of the day on January 20th will be Barack Obama, but the WO-man of the day will be Police Chief Cathy Lanier.

Pick Me, Pick Me!!

I know you want to be a part of the Obama administration. Well, you might want to think twice about it, because you are going to have to reveal every single thing about yourself.

An application to join Obama’s staff was released on Thursday and it includes questions such as, “Briefly describe the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the course of your career,” and “If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an e-mail, text message or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect if it were made public, please describe.”

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I would not want to disclose all the instant messages I have sent over the years. I am sure that sometime over the last five years, I have said something stupid that I would definitely regret.

In an age where technology has escalated dramatically and is a huge part of our lives today, Obama is making sure that no one he chooses has abused it.

When you first see the application, one of two things runs through your mind. First of all, you could be thinking Obama is a genius and a hard-ass and will make sure that no one enters his administration that doesn’t deserve to be there….or you could be thinking Obama is crazy for trying to invade people’s lives to an extent that is completely unnecessary.

I am going to go with the first option. Being the first African American president, as well as entering the oval office during one of the worst periods in American history, Obama cannot afford to make any mistakes. Hiring someone that has a sketchy past and did something that would hurt Obama’s credibility would be disastrous.

An example of surrounding yourself with the wrong people and paying the price would be George W. Bush’s presidency. If you saw the movie “W,” you saw the idiots that Bush surrounded himself with.

Bush is actually pretty smart and was capable of holding a position high up, but he killed any chance he had of succeeding by surrounding himself with absolute morons. The only person Bush had on his staff that knew what he was doing was Colin Powell. Powell was adamantly against the war from day one, but he was outnumbered by the morons.

Because of the poor guidance given to him, Bush became one of the worst presidents ever. Now, Obama wants to make sure he doesn’t follow in the footsteps of Bush, so he is making sure that everyone on his staff is right for the job and will help him succeed.

Although this application exposes a lot about you and invades your privacy, it’s necessary in order to make sure the next four years aren’t like the last eight.

In conclusion, I tip my hat off to you, Mr. Obama. Congratulations on being someone that cares about our country succeeding and will go to extreme lengths to ensure America’ success.

President Obama

Congratulations to Barack Obama for becoming the 44th President of the United States. He not only defeated John McCain, but he did it in a fashion that showed how liked he was across the country. With some states still needing to be finished counting, Obama has a commaning lead in the electoral vote and an overwhelming lead in the popular vote. Currently, Obama is up by approximately 6 million votes.

It was only a few months ago during the primaries when Barack Obama was running behind John Edwards and Hillary Clinton in the polls. Clinton was expected to not only win the Democratic nomination but do it in a landslide. However, Obama put up a fight against Clinton and then put up a fight in the general election against McCain. It was Obama's unwillingness to get knocked down and not give up that helped Obama become our President-elect.

One could say the tough battle Obama faced in the primary against Clinton really toughened him up. He worked hard in every aspect of the campaign, especially fundraising.

If it wasn't for Obama's incredible fundraising, we wouldn't be celebrating the 1st African American president. But thanks to Obama's campaign fundraisers, he was able to raise a record amount of money. This money was used for two main things that helped the campaign: Advertising and Ground Forces.

One item that had been talked about for a few weeks, especially among Democrats, was the Bradley Effect. Obama had huge leads in the polls, and even led in some traditionally red states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. Political experts were saying to be wary of these leads that Obama has, especially in the red states, because once people actually get to the polls, it will be hard for them to vote for an African American.

I guess it was all talk because Obama won all those states I mentioned above, assuming he holds the lead he has now in North Carolina. We can finally put the Bradley Effect to rest and celebrate the fact that our country is not as racist as we thought.

This is an amazing day for the people of the United States, because a democrat will take the oath for the oval office in January and the Democratic Party will have a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

More importantly, our country has elected an African American as President of the U.S. It's amazing to see what our country has gone through the past 100 years and where we stand today.

CONGRATULATIONS BARACK OBAMA!

Obama Rally in Missouri

A source on the ground in Missouri has told me that Barack Obama will be holding a rally in Columbia, Missouri on Thursday. This information has not been released to the media or the public, so those readers of the "Press Box" are the first to find out.

The rally will take place in the Mizzou Stadium, home of the Missouri Tigers.....I wonder if Heisman hopeful Chase Daniel will throw a pass to Barack Obama at the rally. Now that would be a fun thing to watch.

Missouri is a pivotal state in this election that not many people are talking about. According to my source in Missouri, no candidate has won the presidency without winning Missouri, except for in 1914. Woodrow Wilson was the lucky one to win without Missouri.

Barack Obama could easily win the election without Missouri because of his popularity in the other battleground states, but if John McCain loses Missouri, he can watch his hopes of becoming the next President of the U.S. go straight out the window.

Two polls right now have the candidates in a tight race. In one poll, Barack Obama has a 1 point lead and in the other, John McCain has a 1 point lead.

This rally could be pivotal in swaying the undecided voters in Missouri. A good speech by Obama could mean winning the state of Missouri.

We are only 8 days away until we find out who will be our next president. On that note, GET OUT TO VOTE! Do not assume that Obama will win your state just because he is ahead. Polls don't mean anything. Actual votes do!


Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

The Undecided Voter

It is a rare endangered species for 45 months and then with about three months before the election, it creates offspring in the form of attention-seeking animals, which dominate the political world. This specie is the undecided voter. Apparently, the undecided voter has been sent from the election heavens to decide this presidential election. However, political experts and the media are making too much of the undecided voter, because in actuality, the undecided voter most likely has made up his or her mind.

If you watched the last presidential debate on Wednesday night, you definitely know who ‘Joe the Plumber is.’ Even if you didn’t watch the debate, you have to have been locked up in a cage to have not heard anything about him. His name isn’t important, especially since his name isn’t even Joe…it’s Samuel. What is important is the candidate Joe is going to vote for. Right now, he is still undecided which puts him into the category of an undecided voter. Joe the Plumber is one of the people in our world who goes to bed every night not knowing who they are going to vote for.

The undecided voter has been a focus of the election, especially in the debates and polls. Some examples of it being on display is on CNN’s debate coverage with the line at the bottom of the screen that is based on positive or negative feedback from Ohio uncommitted voters, as well as the town hall format for the second debate where every audience member was supposedly undecided. There is also have the post-debate coverage from every station where they get together a group of these undecided voters and ask them if they have suddenly decided who to vote for after the past debate, as well as the polls released right after the debate where the people questioned are those infamous undecided voters.

It’s very hard to understand how someone can be 17 days away from the election and still not know who he or she is going to vote for, but the fact of the matter is that 8% of our nation, according to a recent LA Times poll, is undecided.

However, Barack Obama and John McCain may be wasting their precious time and money trying to sway the undecided voters. The poll put out by the LA Times may say that 8% of our nation is undecided, but Bertram Gawronski, PhD, of the University of Western Ontario, believes the voters just may not know that their decision has been made. "It's not that people are lying to the pollsters, it's that they may not consciously recognize the automatic associations that influence their decisions," said Gawronski.

An example of someone who says he is an undecided voter but when he talks about the issues and what he thinks about both candidates is the aforementioned ‘Joe the Plumber.’ He was interviewed after the debate and said he disagrees with Obama’s tax policy and feels McCain did the best job during the debate. Then, CNN came out with a story today saying McCain has invited Joe to campaign with him. If all of this evidence isn’t enough to sway you to believe Joe has already made his mind, then I don’t know what will.

So while Obama and McCain are spending money on ads being played in swing states and their time in these states, they really should be spending their time getting the 40-45% of the population that is their base to vote. If they spend their resources getting voters to the polls and getting people to register, they would be in much better shape.

So, when you turn on the television tonight or anytime in the next two weeks before the election, don’t be fooled when the media and political experts talk about the undecided voter and how critical he is to either candidate winning the election, because in reality, the undecided voter isn’t as undecided as he is made out to be. In conclusion, the undecided voter will rule the media for the next few weeks but after November 4th, it will become just another endangered specie until 2012.

Debate #1

The first debate is in the past, which means it's time for the Press Box to offer its opinion on one of the most historical debates ever. If you weren't aware, the debate took place on the campus of Ole Miss in Mississippi which is extremely significant because of the racism that existed only 40 years ago.

Anyways, back to the actual debate. I predicted a few days ago that this debate would be a tie. One would figure McCain would get the edge going in because it was a debate on foreign policy; however, with the current economy, I knew the economy would get discussed which means an edge towards Obama.

This is exactly what I think happened. Barack Obama sounded much more comfortable talking about the economy than John McCain, but McCain sounded better when discussing foreign policy.

First, let's discuss the economy part of the debate. Two things that Obama needed to do during this part of the debate were to hammer McCain for being so out of touch and secondly, ensure the American people that the economy will improve. He definitely did the first part, but I wasn't sold on the second. McCain didn't have any memorable moment from the economy part, so I give the edge to Obama.

Now, let's talk about foreign policy. Obama did a great job reminding Americans that he was the one that opposed the Iraq war from the start. Obama did one thing during this portion of the debate that was memorable...At one point in the debate, there was a question about foreign policy that Obama couldn't defend so he borrowed Joe Biden's biographic credibility. If you took any political science class, you would know that if you don't have the credibility yourself, then borrow it.

One man that doesn't need to borrow any biographic credibility when it comes to foreign policy is John McCain. He won the foreign policy debate because of two key moments...The first moment came when he was discussing Afghanistan. He hammered Obama for being a head of a co-committee and not going to Afghanistan. I completely agreed with McCain during this part of the debate. Obama should have gone to Afghanistan so he could have first hand knowledge of the subject at hand. Secondly, McCain had the clear edge when he discussed Israel. He kept repeating the fact that he wants to protect Israel. I have watched a lot of Obama speeches and am yet to hear any discussion about Israel. Interestingly enough, I don't know many Jewish people that are bringing this up. Anyways, the edge goes to McCain on the foreign policy part of the debate.

There were a couple comical moments in the debate that stuck out in my mind. The first one came during the economy discussion when Obama was attacking McCain for saying ten days ago that the fundamentals of the economy are sound. Right afterwards, moderator Jim Lehrer told Obama to look at McCain when he was talking, and McCain jokingly said "Are you afraid I couldn't hear him?" Well, actually John...I think he was afraid you couldn't hear him. I mean you are getting pretty old there pal.

Secondly, one can't forget the story McCain gave about the bracelet he was given by a mother who made him promise his son's death wasn't in vain, to which Obama exclaimed that he was given a bracelet as well. I listened to this part on the radio and when I heard McCain's story, I actually felt for him...but that was shortlived because Obama stomped on McCain's parade.

It is now time to get ready for Thursday's debate that will pit Joe Biden in one corner and Sarah Palin in the other. My prediction on this one: Palin will sound very convincing and strong but there will be a few moments where she doesn't know what she is talking about which is why I will give Joe Biden the edge.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.

McCain Puts Campaign on Hold

In one of the biggest political moves I have seen in a while, John McCain decided to suspend his campaign while he heads to Washington D.C. to deal with the economic crisis. I am not quite sure what he thinks he will be able to help with considering he has been campaigning this whole time so he can't possibly have a plan to get us out of this current funk. Yet, he is still putting his campaign on hold so he can help.

I'm sorry but I don't believe any of that for one second. There is no way McCain is doing this because he is some good person and is doing it in good conscience. After McCain's selection of Sarah Palin, his popularity went up dramatically and he started taking the lead in polls. Well, that little phase has since worn down, meaning that it is Obama's time to shine with the economy in shambles. It is well-known that a Democrat is better at helping the economy, while a Republican is better at dealing with foreign policy issues. Therefore, it makes complete sense that with Obama starting to take the lead in many polls that McCain would do something as drastic as this.

McCain and Obama were both in Washington D.C. today to meet with President Bush. Hmmm, I wonder what McCain and Obama could have possibly said that actually helped Congress and the President reach a deal. Maybe, McCain said "Guys, how about we just ask Sarah? She is pretty good at this kind of stuff. She helped save me from having to go a retirement home. Maybe she can help save the economy. I mean come on, she can see Russia from her backyard!" I am guessing Obama responded by saying, "John, just stop talking. You really aren't helping. Oh, by the way, are you still on for our debate tomorrow or are you going to bail out of that just like you bailed out of your campaign?"

Speaking of which, I am guessing John McCain and Barack Obama both show up in Mississippi tomorrow to debate about foreign policy, considering it would be foolish of McCain to not show up, especially since a bailout agreement has been reached. I am also going to predict that there is no clear winner tomorrow and that the next debate will be the one that wins over the undecided voters. I will be back this weekend to give my impressions on the debate.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.