Week #7, Blog #3

At 10:40pm on 10/19/08 Fox News has shown that the top five issues for teh week are:

1. Powell endorses Obama

This morning former Secretary of State under President Bush annouced that he was endorsing former Secretary of State Colin Powell to be the next President of the United States. I think that this was a possible blow to the McCain camp who might have been expecting his endorsement to help McCain with the African American community. I have not heard anyone yet who has said that this endorsement is going to change their vote in the November 4th General Election. This endorsement might have an impact on McCain if he wins the Presidency and his international relations abroad because Powell is highly respected through-out the world.

2. 111th Congress = More Democrats.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi this week has announced that she is expecting to increase her Democratic majority in the House by fifty members. This means that the House will hold 285 seats in the 111th Congress when it convenes in January. I agree with Fox News in casting a negative light on this idea. This invariably means more taxes, more government, and more of the same tax and spend policies that we have seen out of Democratic Congresses and administrations in the past.

In the House of Representatives the leadership can virtually ensure passage of legislation because they have the right to call a vote on any matter of their choosing. Typically rank and file members vote however the leadership of your respective party is pushing you to vote.

In the Senate the magic number is sixty. It is very unlikely that the Democrats will get sixty seats in this next Congress but at least 55-58 is possible by even conservative estimates. In the Senate, sixty votes are required to cut off debate and therefore more legislation forward. Without the sixty vote supermajority you are not guaranteed to get anything passed by the upper chamber.

Several comments have been made that a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President will not help our current economic situation at all.

3. Bush already in transition phase.

This week the Bush administration has announced that they are beginning to prepare a transition stage for either a McCain or Obama Presidency.

I believe that this is good idea considering that the race is still fairly close and we can not have a gap in coverage in January 2009. This is a positive move that demonstrates that President Bush is still looking out for our national security even though he is a lame-duck President for three more months.

4. 2nd Economic Stimulus Unlikely this Congress.

Leaders on both sides of the asile in Congress have signled that there will not be enough time to generate and pass a second economic stimulus package this Congress. This includes not only tax breaks, additional unemployment benefits, extension of government sponsored health insurance, and other governmentally funded assistance programs.

This will be hard for many families to do without this assistance espically as they are beginning a new career because they were laid-off from their previous jobns. The Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program is not going to have enough money this year to help pay for home heating oil for low-income Americans this winter. This includes senior citizens and children who will suffer. I believe that this is a sad state of affairs but the government can't do everything for you. You have to help yourself sometimes instead of always expecting help from others.

On the other hand, look at our federal budget deficit. We have to start somewhere and maybe this is the best place to start.

5. McCain says Election is being bought.

Senator John McCain has indictated that he feels that the $605 million that Senator Barack Obama has raised for this White House run just goes to show that the election is being bought.

Obama is the first post-Watergate President to decline the public financing option of $84 million. He has now raised more than seven times that amount and we still have three months left to go.

"I'm saying it's laying a predicate for the future that can be very dangerous," McCain said on "FOX News Sunday." "History shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal.

I believe that many people here in West Virginia believe that this statement is true. We are not materialistic people as a whole and therefore the money and the glamour are not important to us. I think that Barack and McCain should have had the same amount of money to finance the General Election and therefore there would have been an equal playing field and the American public can decide who the next President should be instead of who has the most money in the bank account.