Election2012: The Invented Patois

Election season is full of anger, snide remarks, and arguments. But looking back, it's fun to see some of the most humorous things that were said. Invented words and sayings are some of my favorites.

We talked about numbers. I was told that I was part of the 99% back in 2011. But now in 2012, I'm apparently in the 47%. So, does that mean that next year I'll end up being in the 1%?! Sounds good to me...

Last summer we were concerned about hitting the "debt ceiling." Now we're worried about falling off the "fiscal cliff." How did we get toward the ceiling last year? Can we use that to keep us from falling off the cliff this year?

In the medical care debate we have RomneyCare vs. ObamaCare. No offense, but I wouldn't want either one of them bringing me chicken noodle soup. I want DoctorCare or MommyCare, if we're just being honest and making up sayings for what we want when we're sick!

The candidates made up words to describe each others' policies during the campaign. Obama described Romney's tax ideas as "Romney Hood"--Robin Hood in reverse. To me, Romney Hood sounds like a form of knighthood: the level to which all businessmen aspire.

A few weeks ago, Obama also mentioned "Romnesia:" the condition Romney's supporters must have had if they really forgot Romney's voting record. Romnesia sounds like a country:

"Once upon a time, in a far away land called "Romnesia," there was a King named Mitt. King Mitt had the six largest castles in all of Romnesia and the Knights of Romneyhood defended their ivory towers with a ferocity rivaled by none." I will leave you to imagine the ending of that story. Hint: the dragon called "Obama" and 51% of the peasants go after King Mitt, so he escapes to one of his other castles, where he will look longingly out the window for four years until the next election comes and gives him the kiss that turns him back into a candidate.

Romney came up with "Obamaloney," referring to Obama's rhetoric. Now, I'm not a connoisseur or anything, but I'm not sure an obamaloney and mayo sandwich would be very good; not to mention making meat like that is illegal in most states.

According to a lot of news networks, this race was "razor tight." What is razor tight? I am not the only one who asked this question. Stephen Colbert did, too:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Humor is the best way to feel good, especially after an election as venomous as the one we just had. No matter what side you were on, please feel free to laugh at all of this. I know I did!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

"No Party Lines"

I know that many of you reading this have already made up your minds about who you're going to vote for in the presidential election. I was, however, thinking about the candidates' plans and this is what I've come up with: they both want the same things, they just want to take different routes to get there.

"5 Point Plans" and "6 Point Plans" have become a core part of this election. Here's what both candidates' plans look like:

Mitt Romney
1. Energy: Achieve energy independence by using the resources we have on this continent.
2. Trade: Have "trade that works for America" by making sure that other countries don't cheat when they trade.
3. Education: Better schools (public schools, colleges, and skills training).
4. Economics: Cut the deficit.
5. Small Business: "Champion small business" by lowering taxes on small businesses and the middle class, as well as getting rid of "Obamacare" and "replacing it with "real healthcare reform."

Barack Obama
1. Jobs: Create jobs in America by changing trade barriers.
2. Taxes: Change the code to cut the deficit.
3. Nation-Building: Rebuild at home and stop the wars.
4. Energy: Invest in American energy.
5. Education: Have more college graduates.
6. Healthcare: More access and lower costs.

So, if we take these plans and combine them, here's what it looks like (Red = Romney, Blue = Obama, Purple = Both):
Energy: Invest in the resources we have on our continent.
Education: Better schools, especially higher education institutions.
Economics: Cut the deficit.
Nation-Building: Lower taxes to champion small business so we can rebuild here at home.
Trade: Have trade that works for America by changing the trade barriers.
Healthcare: There is no overlap on this. Not sure why, since "Obamacare" is essentially "Romneycare," but in these plans, there is no common ground except for the fact that both candidates think they have the best answer for our healthcare problem.

By looking at this, it seems like both candidates want the same things. Back when the United States was founded, the president was the candidate who got the most votes and the vice president was the candidate who got the second most votes. I know that this isn't going to happen now because we have running mates, but it sure shows a willingness to cross party lines once the election is over to get things done.

In the last couple of days, both candidates have been flying the "there-are-no-party-lines" flag. If there are really no party lines, then come together. Stop airing the attack ads. Appear together at a function to help the victims of Sandy.

I'm not saying that these candidates are equal in how they're going to run the country. I'm saying that they need to acknowledge the validity of the other candidate's platform, though. They are literally saying they want the same thing on 5 out of 6 of the points on their "Plans."

I am very aware that there are a bunch of social issues that are not on these plans on which they disagree by immense amounts, but they're not talking about those. Sure, every now and again Obama mentions the repeal of DADT and getting to "marry who you love," but that's not what he's running on. This is a very economic-minded election and their plans both reflect that.

I think if Sandy has taught us anything, it's that we never know what's going to happen tomorrow. Cross party lines. If you have friends or family who are die-hard supporters of the "other" candidate, have dinner with them and talk about good things. We're not all that different from each other.

Take this weekend to get out there and make that last push for your candidate; but make the push for your candidate, not against the other candidate.

Stay safe, stay strong.

"Be the change you wish to be in the world." --Gandhi

Face-to-Face campaigning is the most effective. Here is my "Face-to-" campaign photo.
Share your "Face" campaign photo to complete the cycle.

Politicians Just Want to Help

I've been working on the Obama campaign for about a month now. It has been one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had! Most of the times when I go into the campaign office, there is such a high level of excitement and hope. The people who work there, myself included, are so sure that President Obama is going to continue to help the people of the United States!

I don't, however, like all parts of the campaign. Some of it is so negative! The campaign ads are infuriating. I can't believe that the Obama campaign put one out earlier this week about Big Bird! The fact that he is spending campaign money on Romney's silly comment instead of telling us what he is going to do to continue to work with the American people is very frustrating to me.

Getting frustrated at the same time you believe so strongly in something makes only one thing look like the solution: getting involved! I don't have a degree in political science or anything related to economics or anything, but I would really like to get more involved in local issues because I would like to help people get what they need and help make the world a better place, and what better place to start than your own community?

Thinking about why I want to get more involved in politics made me think about the reasons the politicians we already have got involved in politics in the first place. Every congressman, congresswoman, judge, president, governor, etc. that I can think of has told us that they got involved because they wanted to help people and lead our communities in the "correct" direction. While we don't all agree on which direction is the "correct" direction, we're all in this for the same reason: to help people. Seeing the campaign ads that tell us what a horrible person the "other guy" in the race is, is incredibly sad to me because if you look at the other person for who they are, he or she is in this for the same reason you are.

Take today to appreciate the people around you for who they are, even if they don't agree with you, especially if they don't agree with you! I have people in my own family and inner circle of friends who are die-hard conservatives. I don't agree with most of their views, but I understand why they have them and why they think those views are valid. There is no reason that I should tell them they're wrong or they should tell me that I'm wrong in my own views. We all have our own views on a bunch of different issues, but at the end of the day, we can all unite in the fact that we want the best for ourselves and our children.

Have a great weekend!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Romney's Secret Video

Oh, Mitt. This video may be another thread pulled in your undoing. Why, in this age of technology and social media, would you say something controversial to the 1% that you assume is going to stay in that room? Nothing that happens in ________ stays in ________ anymore, no matter where that place is.

I enjoyed Obama's response on the Letterman Show last night. It is the president's responsibility to be the president of the country, not just the 47% who vote for him. In my opinion, it's almost more important to work with the citizens who do not agree with him, than the ones who do. I mean, although I am reveling in the fact that Romney keeps metaphorically shooting himself in the foot, he almost has a  case in saying that there are people who are going to vote for Obama just because he's Obama and their minds will not be changed by anything he says. But, that doesn't mean he shouldn't reach out to them. Working with the opposing side is almost always more important than catering to the people you already know are on your side. You need to keep your allies happy, don't misunderstand, but they will stay by your side while you work on bringing people on the other side around.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! I will--I'm headed off to see Natalie Portman speak at the Obama for America's Ohio Women Vote 2012 Summit (that name is too long)! I'll update throughout the day on twitter and facebook, so if you want to follow the Summit, that's great. If not, I'll let you know how it went tomorrow... :)

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

What a Weekend!

Wow! We had a fantastic Labor Day weekend! Hope all of you did, too, and took a break from your labor....lol Anyway...

On Sunday, we got our engagement photos taken by our friend, Bailey. She lives in Hazard, so we hardly ever get to see her! It was so good to hang out with her again, and I can't wait to see how the photos turned out! We had her over to our place after the photo shoot to watch the UofL-UK game (Go Cards!!!) and made burgers and talked. Good times. Then she took us to hang out with her family in Cincinnati to watch the Labor Day fireworks! It was great! The fireworks were gorgeous and we met some people who actually live here, so maybe Josh and I will start having a social life soon! :)

Yesterday, Josh and I hosted our first official party at our new apartment! We had our families over and made tacos and had a great time! Lots of food, games, and laughing. We both miss our families, so it was really good to have all of us together.

In the news over the weekend...well, to be honest, I haven't watched it in two days! I did watch Mitt Romney's speech in Cincinnati on Saturday (and took notes so I could remember what I wanted to say for this post!). He started off by saying that Obama is 0-23M in jobs. He also brought up five ways he plans on creating 12M jobs.
1. Focus on using American resources--"our oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and renewables."
2. "Make trade work for us." He was talking about how Obama isn't hard enough on trade quality control.
3. In education, he wants to focus on teaching our students "skills to succeed" and he wants to get rid of unions.
4. Cut the deficit to get a balanced budget.
5. "Champion small business" by lowering small business taxes.

He also mentioned getting rid of Obamacare; said that Obama's campaign is really focusing on the divisiveness of the issues between parties and that "America was built on unity" so we need to go back to that.

So. Here are my takes on what he said:

While I understand that 23M people are out of work, the population of the U.S. is 311,591,917, which means that if we are going to assume that if 23 million people are unemployed, the rest are employed, Obama is 288,591,917 to 23,000,000. I thought that was a really good way to present the issue, though, to make Obama look bad, for people who aren't going to actually think that statement through.

In terms of the five point plan, I'm just going to go really quick, point by point. This post is already pretty long, and I want to keep people coming back, so I'll do a quick rundown and then if in a future post I feel like going more in depth on one or more of the points, I will.

1. Please don't ruin the beautiful natural parts of our country by putting more oil lines through and continuing to dig for coal! It's time we take charge of our global environmental future by moving toward all renewable resources! Let's go with wind farms and electric cars, instead of encroaching on endangered species' habitats so we can continue our disgusting, polluting habits! *Note: I have a 2000 VW Golf--it's not a hybrid; I know it isn't good for the environment; it's what I can afford.

2. I don't know enough about this to really have a substantiated argument either way.

3. I actually agree with Romney on this one, instead of Obama. I think merit-based pay is the way to go in education. I have no idea what the rest of Romney's education ideas are, so I can't completely agree with his educational policy, but on getting rid of unions, I'm with him.

4. Yes, we should cut the deficit, but he didn't say how he is planning on doing that.

5. I definitely don't know enough about small businesses and taxes to comment on this. 

You already know what I think about getting rid of Obamacare. 

I really think it would be great for both candidates for them to agree to quit the attack ads. I agree that Obama has some really crappy attack ads, but Romney does, too. I would feel more comfortable voting for someone who spent their ad money telling us what they are going to do for us, not what the other candidate is not going to do.

Before I post this I just want to give a quick shout-out to my high school peer Oksana Masters who, with her rowing partner, took bronze in the mixed double sculls at the London Paralympics 2012 this weekend! You are amazing! This is the Team USA link about her.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."--Gandhi