Conservatives

The White House is challenging Republican members of Congress this week as Congress starts up again to offer constructive criticism of Obama's plans that they disagree with instead of just complaining about it and being negative. The Conservatives are beating the Obama presidancy up and he and his office are calling for advice and working together.

Latin America

Obama took a trip through Latin America, meeting with the leaders of countries like Venezuela and Cuba in hopes of opening up space for more talk and deal making in the future. A lot of Republicans in Congress and elsewhere feel that Obama was too friendly with Cuba's president Chavez.

nuclear weapons.

Obama gave a speech in Europe today promoting his ideal nuclear free world. He said he realizes it may not happen in his lifetime but he's going to strive for it. He and his administration are working on a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that would help acheive a global ban on nuclear testing. He also said the US would retain its nuclear weapons as long as there were weapons in other countries, althought it would work to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons.

GM

The White House requested that the chairman of GM step down today because the company has plummeted so much. GM and Chrysler will be receiving more aid from the government soon but Obama says they need to justify their needs before the money will be handed over. Rick Wagoner has been chairman for six years. Along with his resignation the company plans to cut 47,000 jobs before the end of 2009. It's all very messy.

survey

A poll of CNN's said that 55% of people surveyed thought that Obama had taken on too much as he entered the oval office, addressing concerns with the economy, health care, bailouts and troop deployment. Obama simply responded that "the challenges we face are too large to ignore." The survey also said, however, that 58% percent of Americans thought that Obama's programs were right for the country.

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17,000 troops will be deployed to Afghanistan soon to join the 38,000 there after President Obama okayed the plan today. 8,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and 4,000 Army troops from Fort Lewis, Washington are expected to be the first to leave. 5,000 more are expected to follow some time soon. The troops are supposed to train Afghanistan groups and stop foreign armies from entering the country. They will mainly be stationed in the Southern part of the country by Pakistan.

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Obama is creating a task force to help loan out over 17 billion dollars to GM and Chrysler in federal loans. He's putting the problem into the hands of people who would be more likely to be able to solve it than he. The task force will be run by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, although its members will include people from 9 different departments, offices and councils. They are working with the car companies mostly on how they would repay the loans.

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The stimulus bill that Obama directed passed in the Senate yesterday with all of its modifications. The final bill was 787 billion dollars with about $120 for infrasturcture, over $100 billion for education, $30 billion for energy-related, 'green' jobs, $212 billion on tax cuts and $267 billion on food stamps and other unemployment benefits. Most people will get a $400 tax credit.
The passage of the bill is a major step for Obama because it shows that he is very much in control still. His honeymoon is not over and in fact, this might have extended it.

Also, the cabinet Obama appointed is making headway in other areas. Clinton is working with China, Japan, Russia, North Korea and South Korea on North Korea's nuclear program and on a peace treaty. She also wants to talk about economic recovery and the global warming trend with all of them.

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The 838 billion dollar version of the stimulus bill passed in the Senate. There were three Republican senators that voted for it, along with the Democrats. It's a good step for Obama because it shows that he still has support, even from the rival Republicans. Good Cheif Legislator work. He's also been working on the public's opinion with town hall meetings in a few states so far.

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Obama has decided to wait to withdraw troups from Iraq until he knows exactly what would happen if he did. He's asking the advice of two Pentagon officials. There are three plans to withdraw troups that they are considering, including one 16 week plan, one 19 week plan and one 23 week plan. Obama is acting very maturely as Commander in Cheif to make sure his decisions aren't too rash and too forward. He's also waiting on sending troups to Afghanistan. I think it's good to wait to make sure that he's doing the right thing. He's smart. But if he goes back too much on his word that he gave during his campaign he could lose a lot of support quickly. The 16 week plan goes best with his originial goals, but we'll just have to wait. :)

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ps// I do not think that Obama's 'honeymoon' is over like we watched in that video today. The book said a honeymoon is around 100 days, and it's been only around 3 weeks. He hasn't lost that much support already, especially because Democrats are still voting with him on legislation. The Stimulus package will be a huge step forward or a huge step back, but right now I don't think it's fair or legitimate to say that he's lost popularity and that his honeymoon is over. I think Obama is going to be a good president.

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Obama signed a bill yesterday to give healthcare to nearly 4 million children. The law raised cigarette taxes by 62% and raised the funding to approximately $60 billion. It passed in the house with a 290-135 vote and in the Senate with a 66-32 vote before it was signed by Obama. 9 Republicans in the Senate voted for it. The bill puts the country on the way to providing healthcare for everyone that needs it, something that most Republicans are against and call socialism, but which in reality is one of the most important things to have. If a country cannot provide care for its population, having the techniques to cure people does no good. If it does not reach the people why would we invest in it at all? I think the bill is a step in the right direction.

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Obama and Congress are working to cut pay raises and bonused given to CEO's and executives. The attention given to this even started when Obama found out about 18 million dollars in bonuses issued on Wall Street while the firms were tanking and using billions of US government dollars to help their companies. The government plans to put the dealing of bonuses more into the hands of shareholders than it had been before. I think it's good that they're thinking of additional ways to save money and the economy besides the economic stimulus package. They're mixing and matching.

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In this video Obama talks about many of his roles as president, including Commander in Cheif, Cheif Executive and Cheif Legislature. And about how people related to the Steelers endorsed him and that's why he was rooting for them. It was cool how he seemed like a real person but still actually talked about his plans in Iraq and Afghanistan (getting many troops out within a year) and working on the economic stimulus plan to cut earmarks and find a common ground between Democrats and Republicans so both can agree on the passage of the bill. He was acting like an anthropologist when he had a meeting soley with the Republican representatives to see what they thought about the bill - he isn't trying to change everything under their noses without their consent which in the end will work out much better than if he had. Which is pretty cool. Also he was being honest when he said it would take several months at least to get the economy out of the slump it's in so people can't expect everything to be fixed right away.

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Acting as the Chief Executive, Obama complained about the bonuses that Wall Street executives gave themselves this year amid the national economic crises. He said it was 'shameful' and he said he will promote responsibility during his term as president. I think that the message he's sending about responsibility and sharing the wealth is good because people are greedy, and even more so when everybody has less than normal. That the message to share is coming from the Chief Executive is a powerful thing.

Mock Congress.

I thought the Mock Congress was very effective. I learned a lot even though it was a little rough and I liked the debating over bills and stuff. I thought it would have been better if we had had more discussion time and time to defend our bills.

essays on articles.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/06/congress.convenes/index.html?iref=newssearch

This article talks about the 1st session of Congress, the top priority on their list - the economic stimulus bill, the refuted Senate seats and the reelection as Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

This article emcompasses everything we have addressed about Congress this semester. It addresses the Senators being elected, and some, who have to be chosen by the governer of their state because the elected senator resigned. It says Dick Cheney swore in the 34 new senators, a duty of the Vice President that we had discussed. Democrats hold 256 seats in the House of Representatives, a body we know to have 435 memebers, while in the Senate, a body with 100 seats, the article says there are 55 Democrats. The 1st bill presented to the Senate was about Economic Stimulus and we know it has to go through several committees and be agreed upon by the Senate, House and the President. We also know this bill will not be vetoed by the President because the article says Obama is pushing for it to be passed. The article also addresses the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, an incumbent who was reelected. We know about imcumbents having an advantage over their competition, and about the duties Pelosi will have as the Speaker. She will have control over the committees that members of the House will be a part of, and which bills, like the Economic Stimulus Package, will be directed to which committees. This article was very broad, but it was a good example of everything we've learned in class.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05withdraw.html?_r=1&scp=16&sq=congress&st=cse

This article is about legislation to prevent mining on public land. The rule was issued by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management. It is one of Congress' emergency powers.

This article is related to what we have studied in class because it addresses the passing of bills. We have talked about several ways a bill can be struck down - in a committee, the Rules Committee, on the floor of the House or Senate, and by the president. This is a new form of legislation we had not talked about, specifically for mineral development. It allows Congress it put a stop to mining if the body agrees it is dangerous, and it is a rule rather than a veto or a filibuster, other things that might halt legislation. The article also tells us that the rule came from a specific committee - the Interior Department.

Inauguration

The inaguration today was really cool. It was the first one I had seen. The crowds of people there were massive and amazing. I think somebody said like 3 million people? The glass around the podium was really thick and impressive although it didn't even cover their heads.
Obama's speech was very heavy and I thought he was promising the country and the world a lot in it. He has been put on a very high pedestal since the election and I think people are expecting him to save the world. I know his election is definitely a positive thing for the country but I'm sure it will take a while for the effects to be seen and I believe people are expecting pretty much instant gratification. He's kind of like a god to some people. I know he'll have power and I know he has ambition that will help him stay strong but I'm kind of expecting him to fall flat in the first few months - at least in peoples' eyes.
Anything and everything in politics takes time but I don't think people are thinking about that and I think Obama might have forgotten just how long things can take by the aspirations he mentioned in his speech.
It was very empowering though.

Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith goes to Washington was actually an okay movie in the end. It was cool to see how a filibuster works, as well as a political machine. I would never have imagined that a machine could have that much power. It was ridiculous. I learned a lot about the senate and how much pork means to Senators because they want to get reelected. Also it was cool that they incorporated all of the educational information into the normal movie, like what a bill encompasses and stuff.

Pork II.

This article didn't necessarily praise pork completely - it had some negative things to say - but essentially it said it was a good thing. The authors seemed to think that pork was a bribe for the congressmen to help restore the ecomony as much as it was to benefit districts. They said Senators and Congressmen would not pass neede legislation like raising taxes unless they benefitted from it in someway to get reelected, which is where the pork comes in. It seemed legit.

Pork.

I had never really thought about the positive or negative aspects of pork-barrelling and ear-marking, so this article was interesting.
I was suprised that not much money was spent on universities - especially public ones. The whole reason an institution would be 'public' would be to receive funds from the government.
I want to see what an earmark would look like on a bill because I'm not really sure. It almost sounds like it's a completely different piece of legislation, just made for little secions of the country, like individual counties or something.

Congress Schedule

The article was kind of interesting but he just kind of rambled a lot. It was cool to see how much a Representative does and I bet a Senator does even more. Other than the schedules where he laid out everything he did I didn't think it was all that beneficial. But you know. It was cool.

Gerrymandering.

The game was interesting but I think fairly pointless because a lot of procatutions are taken against gerrymandering and all you really needed to do was get the numbers right and the rest would fall into place. I can see what thought goes into recreating districts though. Kind of.

Michael Bennet

Michael Bennet is the superintendent of Denver Public Schools and Governer Bill Ritter has chosen him to replace Ken Salazar in the United States senate. He's never held an elected position before although he worked in politics before he became superintendant. He's a democrat.
People are suprised Ritter picked Bennet over the more well known John Hickenlooper, Denver's mayor, who had Bennet's job before him because no one knows exactly how he will behave in the Senate- casting votes on issues, etc. He has been described as very intelligent and an independent thinker, so it might work out alright. We'll just have to wait and see.