History

Today, we made history. Yes, a young, mixed guy is our president. That's awesome. However, I think the some other significance of this new presidency is being overlooked. 

Take a look at the White House Homepage. There is a presidential blog. Every cabinet member is listed front and center next to a list of what topics they are going to talk about at the first Oval Office meeting.

Obama posts on Twitter. Yesterday he told me to go help my community on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Then he gave me links with resources about how to find events in my area to help with. 

The days of not knowing what is going on in Washington- of secrets, scandals, Wall Street elite- those days are gone. Transparency is king. We, the people are fed up with being left out. We're done with cleaning up after the upper class's messes. We're pissed off, and we won't let it happen again. 

With today's tools- i.e. the Internet and social media- there is absolutely no reason for us to feel left out and helpless about our government again. The world is already changed. Two-way communication has just been made easier between the common person and the legislators. 

I have high hopes for this presidency, but no matter what happens, presidency will never be the same. We will no longer accept ignorance. We need to know who we can trust, and the only way to know that is through complete transparency. Thanks, Barack. 

I need to remember to post more. I am at the PRSSA meeting- Sam Sims is talking about social media. It's actually really interesting! I'm just glad they don't charge you for parking after 5...

Thought this was interesting. And true.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/didntsee

AARP

So I just watched Obama and McCain talk to the AARP on C-Span.
I think Obama did an excellent job sharing his ideas about healthcare and ensuring fiscal responsibilty with regards to the social security fund, and making members of congress accountable for their actions- seriously, he had some really great ideas. Everything he said made absolute sense.
Then McCain came on and said almost nothing. His speech was made up of nothing more than blurbs from his previous speech at the National Convention. He took ideas from the democrats and repeated them about ten times because he knew they would get applause. He masked plans that won't work under titles that sounded deceptively similar to Obama's ideas. He kept repeating "I know how it's done, and I will do it!" and "I've done it before!" and "We need to reach across the party lines!" without ever saying what his actual plans were.
I am (as usual) much more impressed with Obama's clear, direct, easy-to-understand and sensical speech. I am so fed up, though, with McCain's typical load of crap that won't change anything- and doesn't even make a good argument for his election. Yes he was a P.O.W. Yes he's done some good things for the country. Yes he's probably a real nice guy. But just because he's older and therefore more experienced doesn't mean he's the man for the job. Obama isn't old enough to have fought, so how is that a valid comparison? Obama WILL do great things for this country, and he's already told us how- and his plans will work. And he seems like a stand-up guy. Obama's my man, and I wish the rest of the country would be smart enough to see what I and so many Americans see in him.
I've watched as many political events and debates between the candidates as I can, and if you really watch them all the way through, you will start to see how much McCain's campaign lies and twists and pretends to make sense- and you will see that Obama actually DOES lay out his plans (contrary to popular belief) and that they will work! If baby boomers don't vote for him they're crazy- with McCain they would just be setting themselves- and their children- up for failure.

I decided to start this blog today because it's supposed to start raining soon so I figured it was a good day to do it. I know blogging has been around for years but I never did it because frankly, I thought it was stupid. I don't know why considering how much I love writing down my thoughts. Anyway, professors and employers have been asking whether I blog, and I took that as a cue that I should start. So here I go. I hope its enjoyable. I bet I'll get a kick out of it.