Obama's Weekly Address

Obama will have weekly radio addresses, which apparently, will also appear on Youtube. Here is the first one. I'm glad he's doing it, but frankly, it's not all that impressive. I want him talk regularly, but also to show us charts, explain situations, and tell us what he's going to do. I also think he should address the nation from television each week in addition to Youtube because most Americans, particularly those who voted against him, watch television way more than Youtube. I think that if he went on television once a week, it would help Americans get to know him. FoxNews is always talking about how "we don't know the real Obama, I'm so scared" yada yada yada. Well, if he's on TV every week, I think that'd help convince some remaining skeptics.

I don't just want him to talk to America when we're in crisis, I want him to talk regularly, explaining health care, social security, Iraq, and any other major policy issues. I know what the government is doing to make America a better place. I want examples. How is he making the government more efficient? How is he cracking down on corruption? I want a report every week on how things are going.

I know that governments, as well as everybody, has a tendency to evaluate themselves with bias. That's inevitable, but I want more communication between government and people. The news organizations will criticize and look for bias and report what they can find, so I don't think these government reports will come without critique.

Anyway, I'm being very demanding. But I'd really like to know what's going on.

UNC vs Kentucky

UNC lead by double figures four minutes into the game and never looked back. Unfortunately, they didn't really look forward either. After the 10 minute mark, both teams played sloppily, and basically to a draw, but UNC was already up by about 20 at that point. I felt that the UNC energy level sharply declined once a comfortable lead was established, and then they played down to the level of their opponent. I think that a lot of this may have to do with Tyler Hansbrough missing. He is so intense that I just can't see UNC slacking off like that with him on the floor. I'm not saying that UNC should have tried to pummel Kentucky, but they should have tried to play a clean, well-executed game. The incredible hussle and pizzazz of the first 10 minutes was amazing. Even Wayne Ellington was playing passionate defense and had a steal. Then it all sorta fizzled out.

By the way, Will Graves and Ed Davis were great. Deon Thompson had a great first half. I hope Tyler Zeller recovers quickly.

Obama's First Foreign Policy Decision

During his acceptance speech, Obama said he was finally going to get his daughters a puppy. Since one daughter has allergies, they need a hypoallergenic dog. Peru has stepped up and offered the Obamas their own national breed of dog, the Peruvian Hairless Dog, a favorite of the Incas. They have already given it to the US Embassy in Lima.

Now Obama has a choice: accept the dog and win millions of hearts in Peru, or find a way of saing "thanks, but no thanks."

Awkward...

Photo from NY Times

Labels and Politics

From Laugh Lines:

How bad must the G.O.P. feel right about now? It portrayed Obama as a socialist, a communist, a Muslin, and a friend of terrorists, and the majority of American voters said, “Y’know, we’re O.K. with that, as long as he’s not a Republican.” – Jerry Smith

Maher v Huckabee

Mike Huckabee had Bill Maher on his show recently to discuss Maher's film Religulous. It's a lively discussion.

Obama, Japan

The town of Obama, Japan, goes nuts celebrating its namesake's victory in the 2008 election. Tourism in the town is up 20% since the town linked itself to the candidate.

People all over the world are happy about the election result. Here is a related story about the reactions from all over the world:

Mr. Obama “brings the narrative that everyone wants to return to — that America is the land of extraordinary opportunity and possibility, where miracles happen.”

Myron Rolle

Here is an inspiring story about Myron Rolle, a defensive back for Florida State who is pre-med and competing for a Rhodes Scholarship. He is considered one of the best players on the Florida State team. He finished his undergraduate degree in two and a half years and is currently doing graduate work in public administration while continuing football. Wow.

A look at Mike Huckabee

I think I'm going to start making some predictions here on my blog. This is highly dangerous since it's sure to make me look like an idiot, but I do that anyway, so I might as well forge ahead. I'll tag all of my prediction posts "prediction" so that in the future it'll be easy to look back and see how wrong I am.

So let's get started. Mike Huckabee is my pick for the 2012 Republican candidate. This video is a little biased in its sample selection, but overall, he seems to be a decent person. He thinks a lot of things that I disagree with, but he thinks for himself and comes to his own conclusions, which is something I admire, and frankly, is pretty uncommon. He's very charismatic. He has a heart. He'll stay in the public eye with his television program on FoxNews. And I think he'll end up running again and being the 2012 Republican nominee for president.

Now whoever made this video has put in some side commentary between clips, so just ignore those and focus mostly on what Huckabee says.

I should also add that in making this prediction, I really have no idea what I'm talking about. There are certainly other governors and politicians who will run who I haven't even heard of, and someone could quickly rise and surprise everyone (like Obama did between 2004-2008). But even a broken clock is right twice a day, so I'll let these predictions stand. And while I'm at it, I should add that I think Bobby Jindal, the current governor of Lousisiana, will also run.

Post-Election Free time

This is exactly how I feel post-election:

I guess I still check fivethirtyeight.com anyway, just in case.

I love you, America

I remember how I believed the country would right itself during the 2004 election. That election left me stunned. I began to worry that there was so much corruption abounding that Democrats might not experience a fair election ever again. I simply couldn't believe they had lost. I figured that somehow, someway, the election must have been stolen. I didn't want to believe Americans could be capable of such an eggregious election decision. I was completely embarrassed.

Following the mid-term 2006 elections, I was actually shocked that the Democrats won seats. I know, that result was projected, but still, I figured that there would be chicanery and at best, they would make no progress. I began to realize that perhaps the electoral system wasn't completely rigged after all. This result gave me some hope about 2008. Maybe some Americans were waking up.

And now, my hope has been pretty durn-tootin' well restored. I know that Obama only won by a few percentage points as far as the popular vote is concerned. Really, the overall number of people voting differently from the 2004 election is pretty small, but just enough to make a huge difference. I know there is still a lot to be done, and I'll blog about that later, but I was getting a little teary eyed watching the acceptance speech. Beautiful.

And Heel yea! NC is blue!