From Political Rival to Top Cabinet Position.

It is all but official that New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will become the next Secretary of State under the incoming Obama-Biden Administration. Clinton, who is seen by many as the leading rival of Obama within the Democratic Party, now is taking a huge step over political stubbornness and is accepting a position. Although highly coveted, this position will take her away from the political stage which she has grown to love. Many have argued that the Democratic Party is currently split in two. One group being the strong supporters of Obama who are among all age groups within the party, but with a large majority being those under the age of 45.  While group two are strong supporters of Clinton. The demographic makeup for Clinton supporters are those more mature in age and more women tend to support Clinton.  Supporters of both Obama and Clinton have been mixed in their reviews of this next phase in the Clinton/Obama saga. It seems that the majority of not only Democrats, but Americans as a whole, view Clinton’s rise to the head of the State Department as a good choice.

However, there are some who are very skeptical of this rumored pick. There are some Obama supporters who were very angered by the campaign run by Clinton during the primary season and did not wish to see her attaining a top level position in the Obama Administration. While they understand the reasoning that Obama is picking a “Team of Rivals,” they feel with Clinton at the helm of the State Department she will slowly but surely begin to create her own foreign policies and will push back against the orders from the Oval Office as much as she will follow those orders. With Clinton being married to former President Bill Clinton, his foundation donor lists being in question during the primary season, there are some who would question Hillary’s motivation while working with those international officials who have been major financial backers of her husband.  Then you have those supporters of Clinton who are excited to see their preferred presidential candidate rising to a high level position and they wonder if this choice was all but political. With Clinton being the top rival of Obama’s supporters, many have been quietly murmuring that this choice removes her from the political scene, and that all Obama is doing with the creation of his “Team of Rivals” is to ensure that he is the only leader within his party. They feel this move is to ensure that Clinton remains a strong supporter of Obama’s and is unable to create any new whirlwind that she may decide to run again during the 2012 election (this is of course contingent on the fact that Clinton remains Secretary of State for Obama’s entire first term).

One must also consider what will be the role of a Vice President Biden, who was during the general election, a strength for Obama in terms of foreign policy. Now with Clinton at the head of the State Department, what will this mean to Biden who has vowed to be an integral part of the foreign policy strategies as the issues may arise. This however seems to be far from reality with Clinton in control of the State Department. One thing is clear about Clinton, and that is simple, she is a leader and if she is taking the post at the State Dept. it will have been made clear that she will run the department without much input from Biden unless the orders come from the Oval Office.

Who really knows what this decision will actually mean to President-Elect Obama or Senator Clinton. It is certain that from the outset this seems to be a positive joint venture and will bring the celebrity cabinet that Obama desires.

Who will replace tonight’s winners in the Senate?

Joe Biden might win two elections tonight. One for the vice-presidency, and the other for his Senate seat, which he has already won tonight.

Some of the name’s floating around for Barack Obama’s Senate seat are Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of Jesse Jackson, Rahm Emanuel, an already influential leader in the House, Jean Schakowsky also from the House, longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, and former congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth.

Joe Biden’s replacement could be just a temporary one until his son Beau Biden could run for the Senate seat himself in 2010.

As for Senator John McCain, the Democratic Governor in Arizona, Janet Napolitano, has the option to appoint anyone she wants as long as they are a Republican. So, she could not appoint herself.

Another twist in all of this: If current Alaskan Senator and convicted felon Ted Stevens wins his Senate seat and is ousted by the Senate leadership, Governor Sarah Palin could be appointed to Senator Palin. You Betcha!

Update, 11/5/08: Let me make this clear. The only way Governor Palin can be Senator Palin is if she resigns her spot as Governor of Alaska and then the new Governor, who would be Sean Parnell, would then appoint Palin to the Senate spot.

The American Dream Deferred

The American Dream Deferred

“America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal - to discover and maintain liberty among men. “-Woodrow Wilson

It has been many years since the time of American Dreams realized. It would seem, since the birth of this great nation, that we the people have forgotten to realize the vision. A vision , that sculpted the mountain of the American way and made the U.S. the pinnacle of the World. Founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, and justice for all, we have throughout history contradicted the very principles that made us who we are. We as America have been the wind that has carried democracy, natural rights, and freedom throughout the valleys of the world, yet we deny many who are our fellow the natural right for well being.

Today’s America has matured from the days of slavery, denial of women’s rights, civil rights for all Americans, and public discriminatory racism to childish bickering of democrats versus republicans, conservatives versus liberals, and patriots and terrorism. When will the debauchery in America end. When will our greed and selfishness be replaced with Americanism and selflessness. People elect their representatives for irrational views than for the commonwealth of people and our nation. Our country bled the blood of countrymen for rights of freedom of religion but dictated politicians to the code of “Christianity”. Our spite of our fellow man and self interest blind our founding principles of the American way. The American dream.

Somehow we as a people have tarnished the glorious western light of liberty with pettiness and and foreign bullying. We arrogantly borrow from countries whose governmental ideologies differ from one another and then shove democracy in to nations whose culture and religion that conflicts with our concepts. The American Dream has evolved into the nightmare from the west, who dictates and forces our religion and democratic ideologies on the very difference that we cherish as America. How have we stray so far from home. Why do we roam for fear and force instead of exploration and innovation. We have allowed our fear to distort our vision of the world and manipulated Christianity to justify the cause.

It is that clouded judgment that has somehow made Christianity a qualification to be a real American. In a country founded on the bases of freedom of religion, we have become a nation that persecutes and isolate those whose religious preference differs from our own. In today’s world, we fight the crusade against Muslim nations and label it the war on terror so we can have a clear conscience. when we go to bed at night. Subsequently. we have become the very terrorist we despise and seek out. Not to point fingers but, it seems since Conservative Republicans took office eight years ago, hate, fear, and deception has been the fuel that drove our military into the heart of Muslim nations to wage war with and idea.

From observation of this nation’s past decade, one notion is true the American dream has been lost, abandoned for hate, diminished by fear and discouraged by deception. When will she return, when lady America grace American shores with her glory. It is not certain the time nor the hour, but merely determined by the minds and hearts of the American People who dream the dream of dreams.- William R. Gilbert, Jr.

Wake Up America

Why America? Why?

What are we fighting for in Iraq?

What are we trying to win?

What are we trying to accomplish?

What are we winning?

Where is the honor in fighting in Iraq when we invaded on false pretenses?

What is the mission we are trying to accomplish?

We used the names and the lives who were lost on 9/11 in vain to validate a dishonorable war in

Iraq.

What are We doing America?

Why have we lost sight of our true American Ways?

When will America act like America and have the unity that makes us the “United” States?

We all must be able to compromise on our views,feelings, and opinions in order to do good for the Whole.

“He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it. “- Confucius

We as a Nation must grow together as one. Since the days of our founding fathers we have been

the light of the world’s horizon and to ensure that our light shines into the future collectively as

one we must resound the voices of liberty across the world.

Wake Up America.

- William Gilbert, Jr.

Joe Biden is the Veep

So Much for the Text message…

At this time, 12:45 A.M. CNN has confirmed that Joe Biden is the Vice President selection of Barack Obama.

Why Joe Biden should be Obama’s VP

Since we learned that Senator Barack Obama was the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States, I’ve been racking my brain trying to settle on the perfect running mate for him this fall. The fact is that I nearly drove myself absolutely mad trying to do this, undoubtedly because there exists a seemingly bottomless well of honorable and capable Democrats (and some Republicans/Independents) from which Barack Obama can fill the VP slot on his ticket.

I batted around between 10-15 names, with each successive name sounding every bit as appealing as the previous one (albeit, often for different reasons). However, no potential Obama running mate seemed more perfect for the ticket to me than my favorite Senator and original pick for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden. His name was the first to be batted around, but I considered advocating his inclusion on the ticket to be pointless since he has already made it clear that he’s not interested. I realized, though, that his apparent disinterest in being on the ticket doesn’t make him any less of a brilliant choice for VP.

If it’s political experience that you think Obama’s running mate should have, take into consideration that Biden has about 35 years worth of experience in the US Senate. If you’d like Obama’s VP to have Foreign Policy expertise, Biden has that, too. He’s the current chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. During the debates, no other candidate displayed a greater wealth of knowledge on every important issue facing America (and the world) today than Joe Biden. He has a career that should be applauded, and has cultivated an image as a straight-talker and, for lack of a better term, a “tough guy.” How many other elected officials could tell a story like this?

Read more

What Does Iowa Mean? A Closer Look

I’ve been going over CNN’s entrance polls for the Iowa caucus, and there are a few interesting things that I’ve discovered.

Firstly, as expected, first time caucus goers voted overwhelmingly for Obama at 41%. In addition, voters aged 17-29 voted for Obama at 57%. Clearly, young Americans are fans of the extremely charismatic senator.

Hillary’s results, when viewed by age, are very revealing, though not surprising. She only won in the 65 and older age group, and she got less and less votes in each younger age group with only 11% in the 17-29 age group. What this shows is that the people supporting her are the people who remember Bill, and who want to see Bill back. The youth, who either don’t remember the Clinton years very well, or weren’t involved in politics at that time, can see the real Hillary, and just don’t like her. Read more

Tues. January 1st Live Podcast: Episode 21

• Praise for Biden on Pakistan,
• Hillary cackles about her being mistrusted on This Week,
  
• a little bit of Ron Paul thrown in,
  
• and ending with completely biased Iowa predictions!

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or listen here

Co-hosted by Dan Solis, Jeff Pritchard, Johnny Camacho, and Connell Wise.

Iowa Caucus Predictions:

Dan: Clinton, Edwards, Obama

Jeff: Obama, Edwards, Clinton

Johnny: Edwards, Clinton, Biden

Connell: Obama, Edwards, Clinton

Who is right? And who will win bragging rights for an entire 5 days!

Expect the Unexpected

The 2008 Campaign season kicked off obscenely early, and from the very beginning everyone thought they knew how it would pan out. Rudy and McCain would duke it out for the Republican nomination, and Hillary would have a cakewalk to the Dem nod, right? Read more

Why Joe Biden should be the next President

Among those in the current field of Democrats vying to become the next President of the United States are:

1. Barack Obama, a rising star in the party renowned for his inspiring rags-to-riches story and ability to electrify audiences all over the country with his charisma and oratorical prowess.
2. Hillary Clinton, a tough-talking former first lady who happens to be a capable politician in her own right.
3. John Edwards, a popular former senator who has done a good job labeling himself the populist candidate in the race whilst fiercely going after his two fellow poll leaders. His pro-labor, pro-universal health care views make him appealing to a large number of Democrats.

These 3 candidates alone provide most Democrats the opportunity to vote for someone whose views are very similar, if not in direct lockstep with their own. While it’s great that we have a diverse field, a huge drawback is that we as voters sometimes forget or ignore, with help from our media, that we have 4 more choices who are possibly every bit as, if not more, qualified and able to be President. These choices are Bill Richardson, Joseph Biden, Christopher Dodd, and Dennis Kucinich. Read more

Tues. November 20th Live Podcast: Is Joe Biden Right?

Barack Obama’s 4 point lead over Hillary…But the margin of error is, uh, 4 points!

“Joe Biden is right” says all 2008 frontrunners.

A new Sal Mohamed ad is uncovered from the internet’s darkest and deepest corner AKA the soul of Johnny Camacho.

Co-hosted by Danny Solis, Johnny Camacho, Jeffrey Pritchard, Tommy Senecal, and Jordana Stearns.

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