The Election

Last night, our nation reelected President Obama.  [FUN FACT: this is the first time we've had three two term presidents since Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe]

Before writing this post, I thought a lot about how I wanted to comment on the election, and decided to make a wish list of things I hope President Obama accomplishes during his second term. There has been a lot of negativity and polarization in the media, my Facebook and Twitter feeds, and in conversations with my friends lately, so I want to take a more forward looking approach.  

At the end of Obama's second term, in 2016, I hope...

-I will have graduated from Lehigh and had many job offers because the economy is robust and companies are hiring again.  

-that "Obamacare" has not been put into place, but that a solution to the problems that currently exist in healthcare is found.  

-that our troops are safely out of Iraq and Afghanistan and that the nations have stable, safe, and fair governments established.  

-that gay marriage is legal and there is a significant culture change that is accepting of those who are gay.  

-America is on it's way to becoming energy independent and generating more environmentally friendly forms of energy. 

-that politicians, especially ones on the national level, recognize that they are serving the American people, not just looking out for themselves and their campaign contributors.  

-that government regulations do not cripple businesses. 

-that Americans move away from the partisanship and divisiveness perpetuated by the media. 

I know that these are not realistic goals, nor are they all ones that will be priorities for our leaders.  However, this is my wish list for America, and I hope that more progress can be made in the next four years than in the past four.  

"The 80s want their Foreign Policy Back"-the third debate

So this is the first post on my new blog, and I guess I should preface it with saying that I really don't know where this may end up.  I am going to write about whatever interests me and I think is worth writing about, and hopefully it interests my readers and they find it worthwhile too.  

On that note, the final debate of the season was last night.  Between Big Bird and binders full of women, this year has certainly had some colorful debates.  Last night seemed to be the true champion, however.  

I was very interested to hear both candidate's opinions on foreign policy, because I have not supported Obama's and am concerned about Romney's lack of experience in the area.  

While the first half hour was filled with the two essentially agreeing with each other, Romney managed to connect foreign policy to the economy and discuss his five points on how to fix the economy.  While his experience in the private sector is a plus over Obama's inexperience and it is part of his strategy to dwell on that fact, I wish he could have actually stayed on the topic at hand.  

Romney's five points

Another major qualm I had about the debate was both candidate's responses to pulling the troops out of Afghanistan.  Romney maintained that all troops will be out by 2014, but chose to focus on Pakistan in his response rather than how to ensure Afghanistan's success as a free, sovereign nation.  While Pakistan will be a factor in Afghanistan's future, it will by no means determine it, just like New York's economy is a factor in but does not determine New Jersey's economy.  Obama said, 

"there's no reason why Americans should die when Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country.Now, that transition's -- has to take place in a responsible fashion. We've been there a long time, and we've got to make sure that we and our coalition partners are pulling out responsibly and giving Afghans the capabilities that they need.  But what I think the American people recognize is after a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building here at home" 

While I certainly agree that there is "nation-building" needed here at home, we should not leave Afghanistan without a functioning and stable government and the infrastructure to let it's people be independent and successful.   

Any discussion of last night's debate would be lacking if it did not mention the most popular zinger of the night (while my personal favorite was the "80's want their foreign policy back") of:

"You -- you mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets -- (laughter) -- because the nature of our military's changed."

Quotes from 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/23/us/politics/20121023-third-presidential-debate-obama-romney.html?ref=politics&ref=politics#/?annotation=5722d654a