Map and count reflects the final results of the 2008 Presidential Election. On a special note – the second photo reflects the results of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Nebraska along with Maine are the only two states that tally electoral votes on a proportional basis. Obama won Maine’s 2nd Congressional District and it’s one electoral vote.
- Obama / Biden – 365 (53% popular vote total)
- McCain / Palin – 173 (46% popular vote total)
To all of you who joined with us these past nine weeks on “The VOTE”, thank you so much for your input – we particularly appreciated all of the teacher comments. The dialog was exciting for us. For those seniors who posted their podcasts, articles, and questions – great job! You kept us all informed. It is now up to all of us, students and teachers alike, to continue to watch and read, and to participate in this democracy, by holding the new administration accountable for their actions in leading the United States of America. Democracy is a participatory event – EVERY DAY – Not just Election day.
On this last edition of the “The VOTE” we have two podcasts. Go to New York Times – Election Results while you listen. Podcasts coincides with photo of map in room 112, located at the top of this post.
Special Note the podcast does not work in Firefox browser.
Podcast #1– Is a standard 5:00 podcast on the Electoral Results from November 4. It was created by – Angelina Mosher, Charity Wilde, and Mr. Wood.
Podcast #2– Is more indepth (14:59) and is the focus of this weeks extra credit question. Podcast #2 is Corey Swanson’s interpretation of the results on Nov 4. I think you’ll find it enlightening. We hope that you choose to listen to each and comment one more time on our blog. Thanks!
News Article – The Australian – Why Barack Obama’s Win Matters to the World
Question – Your question for podcast two is four part. Listen to Corey’s evaluation of the outcome of the election. Identify three things that he notes swung the election to Barack Obama. State his postion and provide your thoughts on each of the three. Number 4, read the news article selection and answer the following question. How do you see a Barack Obama presidency differing from that of George Bush in regards to foreign policy, and what impact will it have on the world?
Any posts on this final edition of “The VOTE” must be made by 7:00 PM on Saturday November 15. Posts can count up to twenty-five points extra credit.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It was a pleasure following your coverage of the election and the issues at stake during this most historic election. Keep up the great work and I look forward to continued coverage of these important issues that face our nation and society. Great job!
*extra credit*
I first have to say that this is an excellent way to wrap up the vote. The podcast is amazing.
The first thing that Corey said swung this election to Obama was that Obama equals change. Americans are sick of the way this country has been run the past eight years and they are ready for a change. John McCain on the other hand equals OLD. I mean his policies and ideas are old. McCain is focusing on the same old stuff like capitalism and deregulation. Sounds like George W. Bush. Obama is focusing on newer issues, younger issues, such as green energy, education, and health care.
A few things Corey mentioned were: Iraq, Education, Health Care, and Energy.
Iraq- Corey said that the Iraq war “is fading on the conscience of Americans”. That Americans are ready to quit fighting this war and tired of hearing about the increasing death tolls and increasing debt. Frankly, Americans are tired of the direction this war is going and they are ready to be done with it. I think that Corey is right on this issue. I do truly believe that people are ready to be done with this war. From personal experience American families are ready to quit fighting this war. For every soldier that is sent to fight in the war their family and friends are fighting it too. I think that because Obama plans to end this war as fast as he can and is ready to begin withdrawing troops he won this issue.
Education- Corey said that on Obama’s website he had pages and pages of ideas and plans to help lower costs of education and to help create more scholarships. John McCain’s page only had five paragraphs. Barack Obama won 2/3 of the under 30 voters probably because of this issue. I think that addressing education helped Obama win over an enormous amount of young voters. Education and its cost is a huge issue among young people. Obama appealed to the young people more than McCain did because McCain didn’t really act like he was too concerned about the rising college costs and the limited scholarship opportunities. So I agree with Corey on this issue as well, Obama did win on this issue.
Health Care- Corey stated that John McCain’s bill on health care was what is called a “DOA Bill”- Dead On Arrival Bill- which means it would’ve died on the floor and would’ve never passed. As for Obama’s plans they are believed to be more effective and efficient. Obama plans to create a National Health Care Exchange which will help those who cannot afford health care find just as good of health care that he and John McCain will receive. There are an estimated 47 million Americans with out health care. I am pretty sure that Barack Obama wins this issue too. People are looking for someone who is going to change things and make them better, so they are not going to vote for John McCain if his bill on health care was a DOA.
Energy- Corey told us that John McCain is still hooked on the “Clean Coal” program which only reduces carbon emissions. John McCain did not think or talk about finding new methods of energy or even using renewable resources. Barack Obama is looking to diversify energy. By diversifying energy he means to invest in different places and different types of energy that way if one fails we do not lose all of our ways to obtain and utilize energy. Barack Obama also focuses on renewable resources and steering away from our dependency on oil. I would go with Obama on this issue as well. I would go with Obama because I do think it is very important to get out of the oil “rut” and branch out to find more efficient ways of energy. In the words of Sarah Palin, “Drill baby, Drill”, that does not work for me.
Article:
I think that Barack Obama’s presidency will be way different from President Bush. I don’t think you will even be able to compare the two of them because Obama’s will be off the charts compared to Bush. Barack Obama is all about our “global community”. Obama wants to meet with other leaders, other people and really listen to their point of views and hear their prospective of things. George W. Bush on the other hand was all about isolating us and giving other countries ultimatums such as “you are either with us, or you are not”. To me that is not right at all, if other countries don’t want to get involved in a war, no matter what their reasons are, they should not feel as though they have to. Bush was not about listening to the “global community” and not for meeting and talking, and of course the most important part, listening. I truly believe that the whole world is excited for Barack Obama to be president because they see that he will bring change. He will not only bring change to the US but also to the rest of our global community. Barack Obama has a huge task ahead of him but I believe if we watch him, support him, and most importantly hold him accountable, he will be one of the best things that has happened to this country since the year 1776.
25 PTS EXTRA – You have certainly done your homework and more! You’ve obviously listened closely to Corey’s comments – your quotes indicate that. Your opinions are valid. The comments about the article insightful. Autumn this is just about as thorough of a job as is possible. Well done!
Some of the main reasons that Obama was elected for presidency an that Corey mentioned in his podcast include how different he is from all our past presidents.
The Trickle down affect doesn’t work and he realizes this. I think it is good that he is for strengthening the middle class because when the middle class prospers so does the rest of the country. It puts fuel into the system and it goes to full speed.
Also Iraq is a main issue. People lost their thirst to be in Iraq and since Barack Obama wants to take us out more people want to vote for him.
As for energy I think people had trouble voting for McCain because wants to work on clean coal and nuclear energy. Clean coal is not a renewable energy source and nuclear energy is not safe yet. I think that Barack Obama’s presidency will be much more affective and prosperous than George W. Bush’s primarily because Obama wants to focus more on the middle class. I feel because of this the economy will strengthen. He also realizes how bad deregulation can be and I trust he will reinstate the rules that kept them functioning properly for so long.
Also Bush did not interact very much with other countries and by leaving Iraq and focusing more on Al-Qaida relations with the Middle East and Europe will improve.
5 PTS EXTRA CREDIT – Tyler I don’t disagree with your insights…however, I don’t see much evidence that you worked within the context of the podcast. As for the foreign policy article. One sentence is not much of an insight. Still, thanks for posting – you’re capable of more intense scrutiny.
Three things that Corey said won the election for Barack Obama the youth, his openness, and his promise for change.
Obama had one other group that would vote for him no matter what besides blacks, young people. Voters 18 to 29 voted for Obama nearly 3 to 1. Obama is young, making him more relatable than old-as-dirt McCain. Americans are tired of a government that doesn’t listen to them, and Obama is promising more than ever to listen. People liked the idea of a president that would sit down and talk with other nations, and hear all sides of an issue before making a decision. The biggest thing that helped Obama was change. He was not a Bush clone, he wanted out of the Iraq war, he wanted…well, just about everything Americans had been clamoring for in the last 4 years. It’s no surprise that people flocked to him when the economy went downhill.
Obama will be different from Bush on foreign policy in several ways. For one, he wont be as black and white when deciding who our allies and enemies are. Bush basically said “either your with us or against us”, which somehow made France our enemy. Obama is also going to adopt more isolationist policies, focusing on problems here in the U.S. first. He will be more apt to go and talk with other world leaders rather than waving aircraft carriers in their face. I think that more people will respect him globally, Bush looked and acted like an idiot, but Obama looks very presidential. Of course, being black is going to help tremendously in foreign relations, especially in Africa.
12 PTS EXTRA – Kelly, I’ve no doubt you listened to Corey’s podcast. You’ve hit on three of his more prevalent. Usually you don’t toss around generalizations. You lay out the facts and methodically take apart the issue. Lets take youth…is it more than age? Is it ideas as well? Youth certainly jump on the Sarah Palin bandwagon and I think she’s about the same age as Obama. Might it be more? You hit the promise of change and the openness – but I’m so used to you digging in and quoting the source. As for International changes – you’re consistent all the way through – although I don’t think that Obama will be an isolationist. All n all – It’s always good to have your insights on the blog…but I like them when they go deeper. This would b good for most people
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