Hawks Eye Post #2

“In Debate Republican Contenders Attack Obama”

Summery: All the Republican challengers verbally attacks Obama in this debate; but, Mitt Romney gets most of the attention and questions from the audience. In addition Texas Governor Rick Perry has not been doing so well in his debates and the polls are slipping. When asked about his plan, Perry did not seem ready or have a well thought out plan. Romney pointed out that he disagreed with “Obama’s actions to shore up General Motors and Chrysler,” even though he was very successful in doing so and most of the federal money was paid back. Romney claims that if he is elected he will work with “good” democrats to lead this country out of the economic crisis. Minnesota Rep. Bachmann also had something to say about Obama’s leadership. Bachmann believes that Obama wants medicare to collapse because he is pushing everyone into the health overhaul “Obamacare,” passed by the congressional Democrats in 2010. In addition to these Republican Contenders, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania was also criticizing parts of Obama’s administration. Obama fought back in the general election battleground of Pennsylvania.

Analysis: This debate was centered around what Obama was doing wrong, these Republican Candidates are not following the rule in Chris Matthew's book Hardball, “Keep Your Enemies In Front of You.” This chapter talks about how it is better to keep your friends close but enemies closer. Matthews writes on how to be a good politician you must shake hands and easily talk with your enemies. In addition keeping your enemies close might help you down the line, if they end up working for you it makes you look trust worthy and open-minded. The Republican Candidates did not follow this rule, they continued to go after Obama in this debate in order to make themselves look better.

Read more about this debate go here :

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/11/141253672/republican-contenders-go-after-obama-in-debate

Go here to watch a video on this debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87fuzCmn_YU&feature=fvst

Presidential Election: Perry Attacks Romney

Summary: A recent video was released showing Rick Perry attacking Mitt Romney for being the inspiration for President Obama’s health care reform as well as him flip flopping his all of his statements. The overall message portrayed in this video is that Mitt Romney is not suitable for the White House. A website was unveiled where viewers could take a quiz about Mr. Romney, and each question is given two opposing answers, claiming that Mr. Romney said both of them. The video ends with Mr. Romney saying, “There are a lot of reasons not to elect me,” and then a clip of Mr. Obama saying, “he’s right.” The Romney campaign described Mr. Perry as a “desperate candidate” and gave examples of the problems with him since he entered the race.

Analysis: With the video of Rick Perry undermining Mitt Romney, he is trying to make it known that Mr. Romney is not the ideal candidate to run our country. The video contained video clips of Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama and they were distorted in a way that portrayed Mr. Romney very negatively. The Romney campaign fought back against Mr. Perry by discussing nineteen examples of what they called Mr. Perry’s “problem with the truth” since entering the race. It is obvious why Mr. Perry is so concerned with Mr. Romney because polls have shown that their numbers are getting closer in the race. This was the right way to handle this situation because instead of just letting Mr. Perry talk bad about him, Mr. Romney decided to do exactly what Mr. Perry did by addressing the problems with him as well. He is using the lesson from Hardball “hang a lantern on your problems” because what everyone is seeing as a disadvantage to him, he is using it to his advantage by going back and giving examples of why Mr. Perry is not fit for the race either.

Article: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/perry-video-attacks-romney-on-health-care/?ref=politics

One Term, Or Two? Obama Faces Season of Doubt

Just 13 months away from the 2012 election, President Obama currently is facing a surge of doubt regarding his re-electability. In response to the poll that suggests that 55% of Americans doubt that he will be elected again (along with a 41% approval rating), the President remarks, “I’m used to being an underdog.” If the election were held today, President Obama would beat Paul and Perry, but he would be tied with former Governor Mitt Romney. However, Presidential approval reflects conditions, and most Presidents have a point in their office when their ratings plummet. If the sink occurs in the beginning of the Presidency, the candidate tends to win reelection, but unfortunately for President Obama, the candidate generally has a weaker chance of recovery if he slips closer to reelection time. Both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were able to make comebacks after they saw their lowest approval ratings toward beginning of their presidencies. Similarly, George W. Bush’s approval ratings slipped in the spring of 2003, but he had enough time to recover. His father, however, was elected in 1988 and hit his slump in the summer of 1992 (just before reelection time), allowing Clinton to win the election. This trend does not look hopeful for President Obama, especially with the state of the nation as it is and right in the midst of GOP nominating conventions. Despite these ominous signs, President Obama can only lose if the Republicans can find the right person to beat him.

Despite his growing disapproval, President Obama is still attempting to use politics to his advantage to win the 2012 election. By calling himself an “underdog”, Mr. Obama is using the political tactic of lowballing. Both his supporters and his opponents will subconsciously be less expecting him to be triumphant in the election, but President Obama is expecting to win the election, making his victory more significant because of his initial title of the “underdog.” In Chris Matthew’s Hardball, he remarks that presidents like to complete a term when the economy is moving upwards. Obama has attempted to do so by implementing the American Jobs Act, and time will tell if this will be the deciding factor in the economy’s improvement. However, only the citizens of the United States can determine if Obama has done enough good for the nation to be elected once again in 2012.

These are the approval ratings of these six presidents in the fall of their third year in office.

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/07/141078659/one-term-or-two-obama-faces-season-of-doubt

Republicans rewriting state election laws in ways that could hurt Democrats

Summary: The Democratic leaders are upset with the Republican leaders who are trying to make it harder for everyone to vote. The Republicans are trying to pass new laws – which would require proof of a valid photo ID at the voting booths. A certain percentage of the Democratic Party does not have valid government-issued photo ID. This would reduce the amount of qualified democratic voters; which could potentially have a toll on the outcome of the election.

Analysis: This is unfair because the percentage of democrats whom do not have valid photo identification cannot afford it. The Republicans claim that they are trying to “prevent voter fraud and make elections more fair”. However, there doesn’t seem to be many cases of and fact of voter fraud to support their objective. This is a good example of how one party is trying to get ahead of the other party.

Tim Pawlenty Publicly Endorses Mitt Romney

As the presidential race for the Republican candidate continues, it’s becoming more obvious who is on whose side. Tim Pawlenty recently dropped out of the presidential race after a third-place showing in Iowa’s straw poll last month. Instead of completely giving up on the election, he is now giving his full support to the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Pawlenty explained that Romney is the ideal candidate for the Republican Party with his private sector experience, as well has his policy experience. The only problem is convincing voters that Romney’s health care plan differs from Obama’s. Pawlenty assured everyone that Romney is definitely repealing Obamacare. He also wants to fix social security rather than completely abolishing it like Rick Perry had talked about doing. Pawlenty now has no desire to be a part of the ticket as vice presidential nominee. Since he has now publicly endorsed Romney, his main focus now is to help Mitt win the race.

Article: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/09/12/pawlenty-endorses-romney-president

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8dNTKny0Z0

Analysis:

Since Tim Pawlenty has dropped out of the presidential race, he is now publicly endorsing Mitt Romney. This is a good example of Chris Matthews’ lesson in Hardball about alliances. Both of these people can benefit from each other in the future by working together now. This was a good decision for Tim Pawlenty to make because he didn’t feel that he was fit for the job of the presidency, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to stay involved in the election. Since he was running in the presidential race himself, people now know his name and know who he is. This is good for Governor Romney because he will most likely be getting support from those who were on Tim Pawlenty’s side. This decision of Tim Pawlenty was not only a good decision for himself, but it is good for Mitt Romney as well.

Article: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/09/12/pawlenty-endorses-romney-president

Picture: http://cbsboston.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/romneypawlenty.jpg?w=300

Perry, Social Security, and the Press

Although the title of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s book – “Fed Up!” – reflects his views on Social Security, his recent comments on ways to improve the system have caused him a great amount of media scrutiny. In his novel, Governor Perry compares the Social Security system to a Ponzi scheme, just like he did in the recent GOP debate at the Reagan Library. Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, critiques Governor Perry’s words by saying that even if his accusations on Social Security are true, the retired senior citizens in South Florida (the location of the recent debate) would not want to hear that the system would be completely reconfigured. Governor Perry has recently stated that Social Security can be fixed if Americans come together and fix it for the long haul, whereas he called it a “failure” in his book. Anticipating the counterattacks he knew he would receive after his book’s publication, Perry writes: “Now, if you say Social Security is a failure, as I have just done, you will inherit the wind of political scorn.” Perry is certainly undergoing the wind of political scorn, but not for his opposing viewpoints – instead, his opponents are attacking him for these two seemingly contradictory ideas. Perry continues to face accusations about the inconsistency in his statements.

The optimism Governor Perry showed towards fixing Social Security appears to counter his critiques of the system as a “Ponzi scheme.” However, his two statements can show that even though he sees the problems the country is facing, he can successfully tackle the issues. Although he believes the system to be in ruins, he believes he can fix it. “The press is the enemy” is Chris Matthews’ Hardball tactic that Governor Perry is forced to learn the hard way. Finding inconsistencies in presidential nominees’ campaigns is what the press thrives on, and they have found something incompatible in Perry’s campaign. What Perry must now do is answer this “shot” by ridicule the accusation by reiterating his doubts about Social Security along with his plan for improving it. This would also position himself away from Democrats in a way that would gain him Republican votes, instead of allowing this situation to cost him the Republican nomination.

No Democratic Candidates in This Year's Louisiana Elections

On Thursday September 8th, it appeared that there would be no Democratic candidates in the Louisiana State Primary on October 22^nd. According the report, there have been less and less Democrats running in the statewide elections. Louisiana is one of the last of the Southern States to “resist the Republican tide”. Louisiana Senator, David Vitter’s explanation of the wave of Republicans is the “corruption and cronyism” of the Democrat’s ‘courthouse crowd’”. This summer the amount of Democratic representatives dropped below the 50^th percentile. Caroline Fayard (D) decided this year, that she would not run for Louisiana secretary of state, but not because of the current status of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

For there not to be any Democrats running in the statewide elections, means that there is not really an equal competition on who will win seats in the legislature. If there is at least 1 Democrat in the legislative then the entire state of Louisiana will have more of a say, whether they are Democrat or not. The main reason why we have a Democrat representative and a Republican representative in elections such as the Presidential election, is so that every single person can have their ideas heard. It would be difficult for such things as the "Pathways of Action" to happen without both parties looking to run for an office.

Pawlenty Endorses Romney for President

As the presidential race for the Republican candidate continues, it’s becoming more obvious who is on whose side. Tim Pawlenty recently dropped out of the presidential race after a third-place showing in Iowa’s straw poll last month. Instead of completely giving up on the election, he is now giving his full support to the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Pawlenty explained that Romney is the ideal candidate for the Republican Party with his private sector experience, as well has his policy experience. The only problem is convincing voters that Romney’s health care plan differs from Obama’s. Pawlenty assured everyone that Romney is definitely repealing Obamacare. He also wants to fix social security rather than completely abolishing it like Rick Perry had talked about doing. Pawlenty now has no desire to be a part of the ticket as vice presidential nominee. Since he has now publicly endorsed Romney, his main focus now is to help Mitt win the race.

Article: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/09/12/pawlenty-endorses-romney-president

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8dNTKny0Z0

Pawlenty Supports Romney

After dropping out of the presidential race last month, Tim Pawlenty said that he would most likely endorse one of his former rivals. This week he stuck to his word and announced his endorsement of GOP candidate, Mitt Romney. Now that Mr. Pawlenty is the co-chair of Mr.Romney's campaign, most of his loyal supporters and contributors have followed, and are now supporting Mr. Romney's campaign. This move has the potential to get Mr. Romney back up in the polls, considering the dip he took as Rick Perry announced his candidacy. This pairing up did not come as a surprise to most though considering the similarities between Mr. Romney and Mr. Pawlenty's political views. Even though in 2007 Mr.Pawlenty strongly supported John Mccain against Mr. Romney and also started the term "Obamneycare" to criticize Mr. Romney's Massachutes Plan concerning healthcare, the two apparently have settled their differences and are now working together.
Mr. Romney makes a nice play by making Mr. Pawlenty his co-chair. By doing this he is not only gaining some much needed support from all those who supported Mr. Pawlenty, but he is also keeping his enemies close. With Mr. Pawlenty out of the race, he posed less of a threat to Mr. Romney's campaign, but if Mr. Pawlenty would have sided with Rick Perry history could have repeated itself and hurt Mr. Romney's campaign. By having Mr. Pawlenty on his side, he has the upper hand. He's taken a man who at first criticized him and made him into a supporter. This will show Mr. Pawlenty's followers that their leader's criticisms were maybe a little less concrete then once thought. Mr. Romney has also now positioned himself away from the tea party and more in the realm of a more mainstream republican party, unlike his closest opponent Rick Perry. On the other side of this is, could Tim Pawlenty be positioning himself for a vice presidency bid from Mr. Romney?