Government Rant

The unbelievable has happened, what will Jesse Jackson, Louis Farakan, and Al Sharpton do now. An African American has been elected as President of the United States of America, by the people of this great country. The citizens of the United States have dealt a blow to racisim so powerful that they were citizens of other countries crying in the streets. A day in the history of the world’s most powerful nation, a day that will forever change the way we think and the way we are thought of. Is this a good thing or not? 

Barack Obama Has Been Elected The 44th President Of The United States of America!

This is a headline that many thought they would never see in their lifetime, yet here it is and now I cannot wait to see what happens. I am sure there are speculations flying around about Obama’s ability to lead the country, his intention on keeping his campaign promises and his religious beliefs which will all be questioned. Well the answer to these and a number of other inquiries will be that “only time will tell” and he will need to be given the opportunity to get things done before he is questioned. 

I am not sure at this time exactly how it is I feel about our new Presidents relegious beliefs and it will be very interesting to find out, it will also be interesting to see how and what will be said, written, and broadcast about this. He is also faced with a very slow economy, high gas and food prices, and the rapidly rising unemployment rate. There will be many things the Barack Obama can be judged on, I only hope that we as a country will a the very least….Give him the chance to be succesful.

I suspect that in the coming months we will see some response from our churches,our politicians and other gate keepers so to speak. But no matter what, who, or when Barack Obama is questioned….only time will tell us the answers.

Government Rant

Government Rants

Ready for an Online Presidential Debate? 

Political blog Huffington Post, online portal Yahoo and Slate Magazine have announced they are to host a pioneering series of online-only debates between presidential hopefuls early next fall. They will only cover Democratic and Republican candidates.

There will reportedly be two debates: one for Democratic candidates, one for Republicans, reportedly sometime after Labor Day, moderated by PBS host Charlie Rose. The initiative was triggered by the successful model applied earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, when bloggers and citizen journalists have been able to cover the event.

Somewhat similarly, these presidential debates will feature real-time questions sent in by the online audience, as well as viewer questions uploaded on video. The Democratic debate will feature opening remarks by DNC chair Howard Dean. The actual host of the debate of the three organizers will be, as expected, Yahoo Inc. However, the video will also appear on the Slate and Huffington Post Web sites.

Until now, only those physically present at debates had the opportunity to ask questions, and that was a matter of going through security and being screened beforehand, apart from other hassles. The new concept will make candidates much more accessible, even though, of course, the questions will be filtered.

“We intend for these debates to be a groundbreaking mix of old and new traditions in politics,” said Charlie Rose. “2008 will be a momentous year for the electoral process in America, thanks in large part to technology and politics connecting like never before. I am proud to host the first ever online only debate, which will reach and engage the voting audience in a whole new way.”

“With presidential candidates announcing online and with campaign ads and fundraising increasingly online, presidential campaigns are moving to the Internet at breakneck speed. Online debates are the inevitable next step,” said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. She was the brains behind the whole idea, as she called up Slate editor Jacob Weisberg and PBS host Charlie Rose with the proposition.

“We are thrilled to be joining with Internet pioneers Yahoo! and Slate to host the first online presidential debates, and to have Charlie Rose as our moderator. These debates represent a further merging of new media technology and politics, and are a great opportunity to bring more people into the political process, and engage the new generation of young voters who spend so much of their time – and get so much of their information – online.”

“The 2008 campaign is going to unfold on the Web in a way no previous election ever has,” said Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate.

“We hope these first online debates will be a breakthrough, both in terms of technology and political communication. The candidates will be able to have a real discussion in real time — but without having to be in the same place. We think the Internet can bring the same kind of immediacy to presidential debates that it has to other aspects of the political process.”

Meanwhile, YouTube, the world’s most popular video-sharing site, has signed up both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as rivals such as Republicans Mitt Romney and John McCain, to launch their own Web channels.

The contenders “all have a different appreciation for the Web than they even did in 2004,” said Cyrus Krohn, director of Yahoo’s election strategy, per Reuters. “In the past, candidates or consultants were just trying to hold off on the Internet as long as possible,” he said. “This is a medium that can’t be ignored any longer.”

Government Rant

Government Rants