Known as the “Eco-Model” as well as a lobbyist/activist for the Green movement, Summer Rayne Oakes speaks about Obama’s leadership at the Green Inaugural Ball.
by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) gave a press conference on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee concerning the current state of three Senate races.
Schumer pointed out that the Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman in Minnesota is the closest race in that state’s history, with 206 votes currently separating the two candidates. He also pointed out that the state law requires a recount when races are this close, and said that both candidates should let the officials do their jobs. An “impartial recount must go forward,” said Schumer, criticizing the attacks and intimidation tactics that the right wing was using. He referred to a story that claimed 32 votes had been locked in a car overnight was “completely fabricated by the right-wing.”
In Alaska, the absentee and questionable ballots that are being counted have put Democratic candidate Mark Begich ahead of Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Although Schumer said he would not make any predictions, he was “cautiously optimistic” that Begich would win.
In Georgia, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ala.) defeated Democratic candidate Jim Martin but got less than 50% of the popular vote. Under the state law in Georgia, this will require a runoff election between the two candidates. Schumer said he was pleased with the outcome and was hopeful Martin would win in the runoff, and concluded “We’ve added enough Democrats to the Senate to bring change to the American people.”
Jim Lehrer, anchor for PBS’s The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, opened the Center for U.S. Global Engagement’s “Impact ‘08″ discussion. He began with the idea that the recent election sent a message from the American people that they want Washington to “run the government competently, not politically.” Before beginning the discussion with Paul Begala, the senior transition advisor and counselor to President Bill Clinton, and Michael Gerson, chief speechwriter for George W. Bush, Lehrer outlined the impending influences on the new Obama administration. He said that, in order of importance, President-Elect Obama’s transition period will be dominated by reality, spirituality, and ideology. Because ideology is last on this list, Lehrer said that it “was totally irrelevant to most voters.”
Begala responded to Lehrer’s first question about how the transition from Bush to Obama is going so far with a “so far so good”. Because of Obama’s “broad, methodical transition team”, Begala believes the president-elect is demonstrating how his administration will be run as president. He also advocated a “bipartisan foreign policy” and diversity of ideology, background, and partisanship within Obama’s Administration. Gerson agreed, and supported a strong foreign policy team that is “not ideologically the same” as each other.
Globally, both men expressed no doubts that President Obama will have “no choice but to engage internationally”, unlike most presidents who focus on domestic issues during their first terms, Begala said. Gerson stated that although there will be a “tremendous conflict of priorities”, America cannot afford to back off the international commitments that will ensure safety and health to countries that may harbor anti-American sentiments.
As far as America’s image abroad is concerned, Gerson believes that as President, Obama will be given a “chance to start over” by supporting the promises he made during his campaign. Begala echoed these sentiments by highlighting the $2 billion educational fund that Obama spoke about for education around the globe and saying that he “must follow through.”
The discussion ended on a very positive note with both men speaking about the optimism witnessed during this time of economic crisis and the two wars that America is involved in. “The great leaders in our culture are always optimistic,” said Begala, who also extended that that same optimism runs “very deep in the bones of Obama.” Gerson continued that “this is a moment where there’s a reason for optimism,” with the election of an African-American into the White House. Lehrer concluded with pride, in that these two representatives of two very different parties were using the same words of optimism and pride.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discussed her new book “Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership” at Georgetown University. She said that unlike previous presidents, President-Elect Obama is going to “inherit the entire emergency room and patient #1 is the economy.” Dr. Albright advised that Obama find a set of balances for all sorts of policies that the Bush administration has allowed to fall to extremes. She advised balance of credit lending in America, and of the government’s involvement in other financial institutions. Albright also talked about a multilateral foreign policy that would make North Korea abandon their nuclear program, stop Iran from expanding theirs, begin to withdraw troops from Iraq, and end genocide in Darfur and the civil war in the Congo. She warned that America must “be patient,” however, and that Obama has a lot more on his plate than many realize.
Co-Director of the Campaign for America’s Future Robert Borosage says that moderates are getting in line with liberals more and more. (2:06)
Robert Borosage, Co-Director of the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF), said the 2008 election is proof that the U.S. is now a “center-left nation” at a news conference by the CAF today. He backed up his point by saying that on core issues like the economy, foreign policy, and social issues, “Moderates increasingly stand with liberals.”
Borosage praised the Obama campaign, saying they had “rewrote the book” on how campaigns are run. He went on to say that Obama had devoted more funds to its ground game than any previous presidential election. Borosage also said Obama’s campaign had greater contact with voters utilizing all aspects of media than McCain’s. He concluded his remarks adding that Obama’s campaign was “far more effective” than McCain’s in the last 72 hours before the election.
Stan Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Stan Greenberg said that the 2008 presidential election amounted to “essentially a 10-point swing from the 2004 election.” He added that the increased voter turnout among minorities and young people has created a “new alignment” electorally.
Greenberg also claimed than Obama also did better among many existing groups in 2008 than Kerry did in 2004. According to his research, white younger non-college women voted 28 points higher for Obama than they did for Kerry in 2004. He said that the under 30 electorate voted Democrat 26 points higher in 2008, and moderates voted Democrat 20 points higher than in 2004. In regard to the economic debate, Greenberg said, “Republicans lost.” He said that they “joined the argument and made the case for the status quo,” which led to voters preferring the Democrats on the issue.
Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr. speaks about the motivation of young voters that inspired them to take to the streets and celebrate their democracy. (1:53)
On Tuesday, young voters showed that their generation is “moving from revolutionary to solutionary,” said Hip Hop Caucus President, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr. at the Campus Progress event discussing youth voter turnout. Also in attendance was Kat Barr, Political Outreach Director for Rock the Vote; Amanda Carpenter, National Political Reporter for Townhall.com; and David Madland, Director of the American Worker Project for the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The panel discussed the major issues for youth voters such as the economy and the war in Iraq, as well as how to keep the youth civically engaged.
The panelists all agreed that this was a “fundamentally progressive election,” and Madland said that this generation is ideologically more progressive than any generation before them. Yearwood compared the election to the Civil Rights Movement because he said that “it became a movement” itself. To keep youth involvement high and in order to “make government transparent,” he said all American citizens must become civic teachers to the up and coming generations. The Campus Progress event concluded with the thought that Kat Barr began with, that regardless of future youth involvement, it must be said that in this election,”young people made the difference.”
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research held a panel discussion to present and analyze the results of the 2008 election.
There were significant differences in the manner that some demographics voted. Women favored Obama by large margins while men did not. Unmarried voters favored Obama overwhelmingly, while married voters barely favored McCain. The religious gap was also significant, as weekly churchgoers favored McCain and voters who never attended church favored Obama by a huge margin.
Democrats participated at a higher rate than Republicans during the primaries and general election, said Michael Barone, a fellow at AEI. “What really shaped the last 40 days of the election was the financial crisis,” said Barone. “When you look at the…average of polling Barack Obama passes John McCain on September 18th and is never behind after that.”
The panel also discussed the future of the GOP. The current Republican strategy will not increase the base, said David Frum, a fellow at AEI and former special assistant to President George W. Bush. He pointed to evidence showing that extremely poor Whites, college-educated Whites and Latinos where growing increasingly Democratic.
There will be “A strong argument within the Republican party that there is nothing wrong with our message,” said Frum. He further stated that Republicans will try to continue saying their message, only they will say it louder.
“I think this would be a very wrong wrong way to think,” said Frum, “this is not going to be helpful and this is not going to work. The great question over the near term Republican future is do they figure that out now or do they figure that out in 2013…or 2017? It took the Democrats three presidential terms to figure out that the days of the New Deal and the Great Society were behind them…the more successful you have been with a particular political formula the longer it can take to realize it has reached its sell-past date.”
“Hunger is not a partisan issue, but very much a political issue,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) The Alliance to End Hunger hosted a conference and released an exit poll from Tuesday that looked specifically at hunger issues. Senator Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Rep. McGovern both spoke on overcoming the global hunger crisis. Sen. Lugar contextualized the problem by saying that “our diplomatic efforts to maintain peace will be far more difficult wherever food shortages contribute to extremism and conflict.” McGovern spoke of a letter intended for President-Elect Obama that advocated the appointment of a “hunger czar” that would coordinate and cooperate between different agencies to minimize food shortages and hunger.
