Politics

Hi Im posting this blog cause i’ve seen how many of us teens dont care about politics, and that needs to stop. Come on people we will be leading the country soon WAKE UP!
I wanna state some of the flaws of the country that might get you kids into action and make you interested.
Our country is suposed to be peaceful…thats bull. Can anyone really remember wen we werent at war. Im mean that is not acceptable.
Also the country is suposed to be free… tell me is it free that i can never get married because im gay. I think thats terrible. Arent i just as much of a person as any of you. Its pains me to think that other people i love cant marry either. I am 14 and i already no that ill never have a wedding day and that ill never be accepted into into many churches. Ill be discriminated against and i wont ever be a president. Because of the way i was born and the aspect of this country i wont have a full life.
Come on guys help me fight to change the country and the world. I am serious. Get up off your butts and let do something for everyone. Turn off the TV and get involved with your town and make a difference!
Best,
Justus Author Attanasio

As the primary season starts to wind down and appears more likely that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee, people keep speculating as to why Hillary Clinton has not yet opted out of the race.

She’s waiting until every state holds their primaries. She is hoping the DNC will allow the delegates from Florida and Michigan to be seated. She is banking on the superdelegates to boost her popularity in the party and her chances to become the nominee. Or does she have underlying motives?

A recent editorial in the Economist posed such a query. Some think Clinton is hoping to be asked to be Obama’s vice president. Others suspect that she is aspiring to be the next Senate Majority Leader if she garners enough good spirit within the Democratic Party.

But the longer she waits to resign from the presidential race, the more she could be hurting the Democratic Party in the long run. She could be fostering a divide within the party, with Clinton fans refusing to join with Obama supporters. She is also giving John McCain more time than the Democratic nominee to strategize for the general election.

Is she in this until the end just so she feels like she has not given up? Will she opt out in the name of party building? Or does she have another reason in mind to stay in the race for a while?

While the number of primaries remaining diminishes, we must wonder, when is Clinton going to pull the plug and what repercussions will that have?

Almost as popular as what candidates say themselves is who chooses to endorse them. This election, endorsements seem to be playing a huge part, as a different celebrity is coming out of the woodworks almost every week to pledge their support to a candidate.

For the teenage audience, the most memorable endorsement for this election was possibly Chuck Norris’s endorsement of former Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. In fact, Norris didn’t just pledge his support, but he threw his celebrity weight behind it. Norris appeared in a video advertisement for Huckabee, as well as television appearances with Huckabee. In the advertisement, Huckbee starts, “My plan to secure the border: two words – Chuck Norris.”

Huckabee and Norris go back and forth proclaiming facts about the others in the advertisement entitled “HuckChuckFacts.”  Playing off popular Chuck Norris lines, Huckabee states, “Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse; he tells America how it’s going to be.”

While Huckabee’s bid for president didn’t last, other celebrities’ endorsements have propelled the candidates further into the limelight.

Perhaps the first crucial endorsement for Obama was Oprah Winfrey’s, who also threw her celebrity weight behind the candidate and attended many rallies in Obama’s honor. Obama has racked up a number of influential endorsements in the political arena, as well. Some of the most notable ones included Ted Kennedy, Bill Richardson, and now John Edwards.

As more celebrities pick their horses for the 2008 race, we must consider, how important are these endorsements in shaping Americans’ opinions?

The dinner to honor the White House Press Corps featured more than the mainstream media journalists and commentators we’d expect to see at such a function. Earning much recognition, perhaps even more than Bush himself, was Amber Lee Ettinger, better known as Obama Girl.

Ettinger first proclaimed her “Crush on Obama” last June, and has been gracing political and YouTube junkies with her presence ever since.

Inspired by Obama Girl, other scantily-clad ladies have been declaring their support for various candidates. Not only that, they criticize each other, leaving the actual politics out of the picture.

Just when we thought the candidates’ attack ads were bad, now their supporters are attacking each other. Obama Girl has been tested by the Romney Girls, who made a video casting Obama Girl as a flip-flopper for being unsure if she supported the Illinois senator.

Have the campaigns become so politicized that now even their supporters feel the need to bash each other, saying nothing about the candidates themselves?

Obama Girl’s latest video features her as a superhero, defending the country against Clinton’s Baron Despair, who threatens to make it look like Hillary won the election in polling places around the country. Tune in to her YouTube page, BarelyPolitical, to find out if Super Obama Girl can save Obama’s campaign… or at least if she can deter the Romney Girls from ruining Obama’s chances by calling his fictional sweetheart a flip-flopper.