2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the editor
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Editorials
Obama support echoed by student body, platform
Next Tuesday's Ohio primary will prove to be a decisive event in determining our country's future. Already, Miami University students have demonstrated their belief in Senator Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) ability to lead America in a better direction-this was attested to by the overwhelming turnout and energy at last week's Obama rally led by Kal Penn and Nick Cannon, as well as by the scores of students who have volunteered their time to the campaign in order to help bring about real and meaningful change.
We agree that Obama's policy platform is a critical component to his campaign for president. Because the senator has outlined detailed and far-sighted policy proposals-ones which this brief letter could not begin to fully explain-we urge students to look at his Web site for a comprehensive breakdown of his platform. We are confident that his pragmatic and forward looking proposals to healthcare, education, the economy and foreign affairs will pave the way for a more just, prosperous and safe America.
After graduating from college, Obama spent the formative years of his early career as a community organizer in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. This experience has given him unique, grassroots level insight into the problems afflicting our inner cities. Moreover, Obama has proven his ability to bridge partisan divides at both the state and national levels. In the Illinois State Senate he reached across the aisle to gain much needed bipartisan support for campaign finance laws and tax credits for the working poor. Additionally, Obama's judgment on the war in Iraq, perhaps the most critical foreign policy issue of our time, reveals the wisdom and foresight needed in our next commander in chief. In the United States Senate, Obama has actively engaged with leaders of both parties to craft-to name but a few items-innovative and pragmatic immigration legislation, a cooperative threat reduction bill and a government transparency bill.
However, along with policy platforms and experience, it is equally important to honestly assess the leadership qualities of a presidential candidate. It is true that lofty prose must be backed by realistic and meaningful policies-Obama has done this in the past and will continue to do this in the future. His ability to inspire belief in the higher ends of his policies, however, is the true mark of his leadership potential. The past eight years have demonstrated the dangers of a polarizing president, and the negative impact that this has had on his foreign and domestic agenda. Obama's character, vision, voice and ideals will provide him with a means of implementing his policies, and of redirecting America's course for the better.
Hundreds of Miami students have already lent their support to Obama's cause. We urge students to take the time to fill out and return an absentee ballot, to vote early or to punch a ballot at their polling location on March 4. Only with strong student support can Obama gain the Democratic nomination and become the transformational president our country needs.
Michael Bain
Butch Frey
Paul Strubing
The Executive Board
Miami Students for Barack Obama
pstrubing@studentsforbarackobama.com
McCain candidacy does not represent conservatives
It seems the near universal response to the Ohio Republican party's decision to cancel the Republican debate before the primary response is "yawn, who cares?" And why should anyone when the neck-and-neck primary race between Democrats Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is so much more interesting. The sensationalism of the Democratic race has caused the media to lapse in its obligation to report all sides of a story and little mention is there of the possibility of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) being denied 1,191 delegates and forcing the nomination of the Republican candidate to the delegates at a brokered convention. It seems more likely to me that the Ohio Republican Party, instead of standing for the values the Republican party is supposed to represent, is laying on its back and doing all it can to help McCain become the nominee. I vociferously contest the notion that Chris Berry is quoted as supporting in last Tuesday's letter to the editor (Feb. 22, "Obama support blind, future partisan problems") that "the cancellation of the Ohio GOP debate … is a very good thing for the party as a whole because this now means that we have a candidate in McCain that the party can rally around."
The problem with this is that the party that will be rallying around McCain is a party full of only moderate and liberal Republicans. The Miami Student also ran an article on Tuesday from The Bowling Green Daily News (Feb. 19, "Republicans debate popularity of McCain") from a week ago concerning McCain's appearance at Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), which is a vivid portrayal of McCain's lack of support among conservative voters. Despite his rhetoric of "unifying the party," McCain offered no olive branch to conservatives there, speaking only vaguely of broad conservative principles. On the issues where McCain differed with conservatives his attitude was "I'm right, you're wrong, but I'm not going to make an issue of it in this campaign, so let's forget about it."
Far from unifying the party, McCain's candidacy only creates an opening for third parties such as the Constitution and Libertarian parties, and the possibility of stay-at-home conservatives on Election Day. The Ohio GOP could have helped breathe life into the Republican campaign by allowing McCain to debate Mike Huckabee, putting the differences McCain has with conservatives right out front and in the open so that all Republicans can make a true judgment on whether McCain is the best candidate between the two to represent the party and carry it to victory in November.
Matthew Hebebrand
Hebebrmj@muohio.edu
Next Tuesday's Ohio primary will prove to be a decisive event in determining our country's future. Already, Miami University students have demonstrated their belief in Senator Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) ability to lead America in a better direction-this was attested to by the overwhelming turnout and energy at last week's Obama rally led by Kal Penn and Nick Cannon, as well as by the scores of students who have volunteered their time to the campaign in order to help bring about real and meaningful change.
We agree that Obama's policy platform is a critical component to his campaign for president. Because the senator has outlined detailed and far-sighted policy proposals-ones which this brief letter could not begin to fully explain-we urge students to look at his Web site for a comprehensive breakdown of his platform. We are confident that his pragmatic and forward looking proposals to healthcare, education, the economy and foreign affairs will pave the way for a more just, prosperous and safe America.
After graduating from college, Obama spent the formative years of his early career as a community organizer in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. This experience has given him unique, grassroots level insight into the problems afflicting our inner cities. Moreover, Obama has proven his ability to bridge partisan divides at both the state and national levels. In the Illinois State Senate he reached across the aisle to gain much needed bipartisan support for campaign finance laws and tax credits for the working poor. Additionally, Obama's judgment on the war in Iraq, perhaps the most critical foreign policy issue of our time, reveals the wisdom and foresight needed in our next commander in chief. In the United States Senate, Obama has actively engaged with leaders of both parties to craft-to name but a few items-innovative and pragmatic immigration legislation, a cooperative threat reduction bill and a government transparency bill.
However, along with policy platforms and experience, it is equally important to honestly assess the leadership qualities of a presidential candidate. It is true that lofty prose must be backed by realistic and meaningful policies-Obama has done this in the past and will continue to do this in the future. His ability to inspire belief in the higher ends of his policies, however, is the true mark of his leadership potential. The past eight years have demonstrated the dangers of a polarizing president, and the negative impact that this has had on his foreign and domestic agenda. Obama's character, vision, voice and ideals will provide him with a means of implementing his policies, and of redirecting America's course for the better.
Hundreds of Miami students have already lent their support to Obama's cause. We urge students to take the time to fill out and return an absentee ballot, to vote early or to punch a ballot at their polling location on March 4. Only with strong student support can Obama gain the Democratic nomination and become the transformational president our country needs.
Michael Bain
Butch Frey
Paul Strubing
The Executive Board
Miami Students for Barack Obama
pstrubing@studentsforbarackobama.com
McCain candidacy does not represent conservatives
It seems the near universal response to the Ohio Republican party's decision to cancel the Republican debate before the primary response is "yawn, who cares?" And why should anyone when the neck-and-neck primary race between Democrats Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is so much more interesting. The sensationalism of the Democratic race has caused the media to lapse in its obligation to report all sides of a story and little mention is there of the possibility of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) being denied 1,191 delegates and forcing the nomination of the Republican candidate to the delegates at a brokered convention. It seems more likely to me that the Ohio Republican Party, instead of standing for the values the Republican party is supposed to represent, is laying on its back and doing all it can to help McCain become the nominee. I vociferously contest the notion that Chris Berry is quoted as supporting in last Tuesday's letter to the editor (Feb. 22, "Obama support blind, future partisan problems") that "the cancellation of the Ohio GOP debate … is a very good thing for the party as a whole because this now means that we have a candidate in McCain that the party can rally around."
The problem with this is that the party that will be rallying around McCain is a party full of only moderate and liberal Republicans. The Miami Student also ran an article on Tuesday from The Bowling Green Daily News (Feb. 19, "Republicans debate popularity of McCain") from a week ago concerning McCain's appearance at Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), which is a vivid portrayal of McCain's lack of support among conservative voters. Despite his rhetoric of "unifying the party," McCain offered no olive branch to conservatives there, speaking only vaguely of broad conservative principles. On the issues where McCain differed with conservatives his attitude was "I'm right, you're wrong, but I'm not going to make an issue of it in this campaign, so let's forget about it."
Far from unifying the party, McCain's candidacy only creates an opening for third parties such as the Constitution and Libertarian parties, and the possibility of stay-at-home conservatives on Election Day. The Ohio GOP could have helped breathe life into the Republican campaign by allowing McCain to debate Mike Huckabee, putting the differences McCain has with conservatives right out front and in the open so that all Republicans can make a true judgment on whether McCain is the best candidate between the two to represent the party and carry it to victory in November.
Matthew Hebebrand
Hebebrmj@muohio.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Alex
posted 3/03/08 @ 3:35 AM EST
Finally, the question regarding media bias against Senator Hillary Clinton has been raised, by some! It is painfully blatant. No matter what Senator Hillary Clinton says or does, the media spins it into a negative and plays it over and over. (Continued…)
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