BO = Barack Obama (fyi)

***We do not need to watch people walk into the room. I’ve successfully wasted 15 minutes of my day. Thank you, NBC.

9:16pm – Is BO finally gonna talk now? Seriously, this clapping is ridiculous. And what are people yelling at him?

9:17pm – The crowd loves his wife too. Of course, more clapping. I’ve been thinking about the economy so much, I’ve forgotten about all of the other problems this country faces…

9:18pm – Hell yeah, we will rebuild. We’d better. And if we’re not stronger, I’m moving to Costa Rica.

9:20pm – This country is built on paradoxes/contradictions. What a shame. I like the fact that BO is laying out our irresponsibility – as a nation. DAMN THAT CLAPPING.

9:22pm – Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. If he hadn’t done anything, things could be worse. I don’t necessarily agree with everything in that economic recovery stimulus thingy, but it’s better than nothing.

9:25pm – Quick shot at John McCain. He’s chillin’ of course.

9:25pm – “Nobody messes with Joe.” Oh my gosh, BO is crazy.

9:26pm – I appreciate the recovery.gov website. I need to know where my money is being spent.

9:28pm – We can’t move too quickly; we need to think before we act. Moving quickly is what got us into Iraq.

9:30pm – Everyone likes the “holding banks accountable” idea. Hooray! Everyone jumped up. Looks like everyone is getting a workout now. No one likes a selfish CEO. BO needs to regulate those jerks.

9:32pm – BO has his eye on the prize: govern with a sense of responsibility. It’s not about helping banks, it’s about helping people.

9:34pm – I wonder how long it will take for confidence to return to the American people. Yes – let’s get rid of the old, rusted ways of doing things. We need to find innovative solutions to problems that repeat themselves over and over again.

9:36pm – Our problems will take care of themselves? Perhaps, but it can’t hurt to nudge things along a bit. Sitting back and allowing things to get worse is not an option. I won’t stand for that.

9:38pm – Energy, health care and education. The big three.

9:39pm – Maybe I’m not patriotic or whatever, but why does America have to lead in everything? What happened to collaboration? China is head of us with this; Germany is ahead of us with that… let’s work with them – not against them. China still needs to straighten up with their human rights violations, but we can work with them on that topic too.

9:41pm – More efficient cars and trucks in America? Hahaha… Jeremy Clarkson is probably cracking up right now.  Some countries make cars better than we do. We should be kicking ourselves for half-assing our job on a product we invented.

9:45pm – America is, by far, the most unhealthy country in this freaking world. Not only are we unhealthy, we have a shitty health care system. What the hell?

9:46pm – Hooray for my education! Will BO forgive my student loans? I still owe him about $65k. Whoever isn’t clapping about the promise for American children is a huge jerk. What kind of person doesn’t want the best education possible for American children? They should be stoned.

9:48pm – Okay, my favorite comment of the night: “Being a high school drop out is not only quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country.” F yeah, BO.

9:51pm – I’m so glad my parents took care of me when I was growing up. I had a father who always checked my homework (he was a fan of my math homework… until 11th grade – then he didn’t understand what I was doing anymore). My stepmom just made sure my homework was done. They were always hounding me about my schoolwork. It really sucked at the time, but after 6 years of undergrad + grad school, I’m thankful for the nagging. I probably wouldn’t be where I am now without it.

9:55pm – HOORAY! I have a check in the mail! I’m gonna need that money to pay for my student loans. Damn.

9:56pm – The budget includes the actual cost of the wars… Finally.

9:58pm – I don’t support the wars we’re fighting, but I damn well support those men and women who are over there fighting it.

10:00pm – “Living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer. It makes us stronger.” Amen, BO.

10:02pm – The seats in that room are mad cramped. I feel bad for those people in the balcony seats.

10:06pm – That girl is completely blinged out (sorry – I’m starting to lose focus).

10:08pm – …and he’s done. He ended on a very strong note. I was just about to comment about how sermon-y he was starting to sound.Very Obama-y.

***I’m listening to the commentary now.

10:11pm – the first part of the speech was definitely a “report card”. It has only been a month, and BO has been nonstopping with action.

10:13pm – The economy will get worse before it gets better. Fo’ sho’.

***Okay, okay, who are we kidding. I can’t keep listening to this. I’ll read the paper tomorrow.

veeps.

8:58pm – I’m giving this live blogging thing a try. I’ve never done this before, so I hope it’s somewhat fulfilling. Or at least amusing. I hope Sarah doesn’t sound like a computer.

9:00pm – Wow. 9pm on the nose. Haha, Sarah is special.

9:01pm – Peter is in St. Louis right now. He’s probably not at the debate. Oh well. Gwen’s jacket hurts my eyes and my brain. It’s weird.

9:02pm – Is that Tina Fey? HAHAHA “Hey, can I call you Joe?” HAHAHA

9:03pm – Wow. Gwen is starting with the hard questions… yikes.

9:04pm – Joe has such structure in his speech. He’s easy to understand.

9:05pm – Crap. I forgot the question. I can’t tell if Sarah is answering the question… I got hooked on the soccer game reference. Sarah has structure in her sentences too. Fantastic.

9:06pm – Shrinking the gap against polarization… Okay. Got it. Joe has friends, cool.

9:08pm – Sarah is kinda rocking it. OH – first “maverick” reference. Too bad I’m not into any drinking games.

9:09pm – Oh damn. Gwen bashed them down. Neither of them answered the question.

“Darn right”, Sarah? wtf. Honestly, people shouldn’t have taken those risky loans from those predatory lendors. Everyone is at fault, but Sarah and Joe can’t say that. People don’t like that.

Joe’s answer was good. Sarah NEEDS to stop saying “darn right”.

9:14pm – OH MY GOSH – Joe and Sarah with these numbers. I DON’T CARE THAT JOHN VOTED FOR SOMETHING 477 TIMES. I just don’t care. AHHHHHH – Sarah. She’s not talking to Gwen. She’s not talking to Joe. She’s talking to ME.

9:18pm – Sarah has details now. Joe is coming back – hahaha – bridge to nowhere reference. Booya.

9:21pm – Yes, everyone needs to slow down. Neither Barack nor John will be able to do anything they’re telling us immediately. It takes (a lot of) time.

9:22pm – WHO CARES ABOUT ALASKA? She didn’t answer the question. Haha. OH MY GOSH, what a terrible answer. That’s totally a lie. John can’t do everything he’s promised immediately.

9:26pm – Mortgage lenders are “rearing their heads”. Yes.

Umm… Sarah’s not answering any questions. Joe is answering questions.

9:29pm – I’m not into digging up Alaska (or oil) and killing the polar bears and baby seals so douche bags in LA can drive Hummers.

9:30pm – Sarah doesn’t know about climate change. I don’t care that she’s from Alaska. She’s not answering the question again. Sure we shouldn’t be dependent on foreign oil, but I want to decrease our dependency on oil altogether.

Joe starts out by answering the question. Why can’t Sarah do that? Alternative energy sources is key. Can we please stop killing the environment? I don’t like Sarah’s answer about this.

9:36pm – Joe needs to stop number dropping. I do not care.

Uh oh, we’re into homosexuality now. I’m liking Joe’s answer for this. Equal rights. I won’t go into the marriage thing.

Sarah. Just stop. I don’t care about your friends. I mean, at least she’s tolerant – that’s good.

9:39pm – HA. I’m glad Gwen is somewhat regulating this debate. This Iraq stuff reminds me of Vietnam. We had to win in Vietnam too, right?

9:42pm – I hate war. I really, really do. It makes my heart hurt. We can’t be in war forever.

9:47pm – Hold on… Osama lives in Pakistan?! Really? Why didn’t I know that?

Hahaha, remember that SNL digital short? (And I raaaaaan, I ran so far away…) I have that song stuck in my head right now.

I wish Sarah would stop name dropping. I wish Joe would stop number dropping. I guess I can’t win.

9:51pm – HOLY DAMN – Joe brought up the Spain thing. John totally screwed up in that interview about Latin America and Spain.

By the way, I’m not 100% paying attention anymore. I’m at maybe 80% now. Sarah isn’t as amusing as I want her to be, which is good. She’s not doing a bad job at all. This is a mostly valid debate. Except when Joe Biden talks about himself in 3rd person. That’s lame. Why don’t debates have commercials? I’m tired of sitting here.

9:56pm – Intervention with nuclear weapons. And Sarah isn’t answering the question.

9:59pm – I can’t hear the debate because my cousin and aunt are fighting about toothpaste. My cousin can’t use a lot of toothpaste because it makes her gag. That’s kinda disgusting.

10:01pm – Is this really going on for another hour? I can’t watch anymore. I’ll try for another 30 minutes.

10:03pm – Oh, it’s over at 10:30pm. Good. Now my aunt and cousin are arguing about waking up early.

10:12pm – OH MY GOSH, I missed everything. Family arguing, friend crisis, etc. I will listen from now on.

10:21pm – Wow. Joe is intense. He’s been through a lot in his life – a lot of sorrow. I have a hard time taking Sarah seriously after her crazy interviews. I’m sorry.

PLEASE STOP CALLING JOHN A MAVERICK. I sooo hate that word.

10:24pm – Good question, Gwen. Good answer, Joe. Sarah didn’t change her mind – she let things pass. She doesn’t compromise either.

10:29pm – Hahaha Sarah. She’s a fighter. She’s fighting for our freedoms. I can absolutely tell she memorized her closing statement. Joe is much more positive – he’s not using those fighting words. I’m glad we’re ending with his statement.

10:34pm – I’ve never watched an entire debate. Hooray for me. This wasn’t as interesting as expected, but I’m very, very glad Sarah did her thing and didn’t fall apart.

———–

Hilarious

I still haven’t decided who I’m voting for, but this website is simply amazing.

Barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com

Oh Hillary…

First of all, I am not a political person at all.

***Side note: Although I went to a school of public policy, I was the probably one of the few students who didn’t get some kind of sick enjoyment from American politics. I was okay with that.

I vote. I’m not a huge fan of labeling myself, so I don’t consider myself a Democrat or a Republican. I don’t vote for a specific party. I vote for the individual who will best run this country and do what I want them to do.

Second, I still haven’t decided who I will vote for to be the next President. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have to make that decision until November 4, 2008.

———

So yeah, I finally watched Hillary’s speech last night. On the whole, it was good. I felt inspired to vote for Barack. I felt more proud to be an American. I felt like my vote for the democratic party would be THE vote needed to get Barack into the White House on January 20, 2009… What a feeling.

But I just want to point out a few parts that stood out in my mind:

1. 12:09 minutes – Hillary goes into a blurb about “What if a Democrat had been President for the past 40 years…”

We made tremendous progress during the 90s under a Democratic President, with a flourishing economy, and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world. Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we had a Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years – on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Imagine how far we could’ve come, how much we could’ve achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.

First she mentions the past 40 years, then she goes into the past seven. I’m not really sure what one time period has to do with the other (there have been 3 Democratic Presidents in the past 40 years), but whatever. I’ll refer to the past 7 years… I don’t want to be a downer, but I’m not really sure the nation would’ve come incredibly far with a Democratic President and a Republican Congress (from the 104th-109th Congress; except for 107th, which was mixed). I definitely haven’t seen much action in the past 7 years on matters other than national security and defense.

I just want a government that will make some kind of positive change in American society.

2. 20:15 minutes – Hillary talks about her woman-ness. I kinda liked this part:

You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable.

Hell yeah, it’s pretty remarkable. Hillary has said and done some really crazy stuff, but she definitely has paved the way for women in politics. I guess I can be proud of that.

3. 21:24 minutes – Good advice from Mrs. Clinton:

Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.

Spoken just like a good mom. I think I’ll take her advice. Again, Hillary is kinda crazy, but I admire her persistence.

4. 24:40 minutes -

Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.

I couldn’t agree more. If Democrats really want to take the White House away from Republicans, Hillary and Barack supporters really need to unite and take some serious action.