Obama's State of the Union Address

President Obama got much standing ovation from his audience during his State of the Union address. Obama was very energetic and passionate during his speech. He definitely tried to make his audience believe that is the right man to lead the nation. He brought up the problems that were there before he was elected and how they disappeared after he got into office. General Motors was facing many problems a couple of years ago but now they are fine and is doing very well in the market. Obama talked about how the US doesn't have to be afraid of Al Qaeda, Taliban and other threats, American troops are finally returning home after years of fighting away from the homeland, the Wall Street needs reform, taxation on business that takes their business out of the country, illegal media spreading around, college tuition, illegal immigration, and oil. His speech was full of hope but I don't know how far can he carry on the American's hope. Empty promises mean nothing and some things are out of the President's hand over a period of four years, so for him to give people so much hope is useless. Many people were standing and applauding for him during the right time, but do they truly believe his words or are they just standing and applauding to look good for their neighbors.

Gingrich is the forerunner in polls just a day before the South Carolina elections

Just a day before the South Carolina elections, Newt Gingrich managed to beat Mitt Romney in the polls. Newt Gingrich is the fore-runner for now. He managed to beat Romney by 6%, 32vs. 26%. His numbers show the success he had with the conservative voters in South Carolina. Romney is depending on Santorum's voters along with his. Romney might be able to surpass Gingrich if Santorum gets a good amount of votes, if not then it is a sure victory for Gingrich.
South Carolina is not the only thing that is in the candidates head, for Romney, Florida has been floating around. Ads for Romney has been running in Florida for weeks now, but Gingrich is somewhat behind, he has not looked toward Florida yet. The Florida election will be held on January 31st.

The result of the poll was a surprise. After all the news reports on Gingrich's past marriage, he still manages to bring in conservative voters. Romney has been the forerunner for awhile now, yet he is falling behind, especially for the South Carolina election. The South Carolina election has been forecasting Republican candidates for the general election all the way to the Reagan era, so he should have kept it strong, but he is growing weaker.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7395840n&tag=mncol;lst;1

SuperPACs' effects during elections

Candidates don't have to do much to hurt their opponents. The opponents can hurt themselves with their own past and their wrong actions but there is also something called SuperPACs. SuperPACS are allowed to receive millions of dollars and they can use that money to help the candidates very much. Gingrich dropped in the the polls early on because of advertisements that were bashing on him and it was all funded by SuperPACs. People fear SuperPACs because they feel it will bring about corruption since SuperPACs do whatever they can to help the candidate win without associating with them. Rick Santorum when asked about the association between him and his contributor, he refused to have association. SuperPACS funds varies, they see who they want to support and some put much money in their candidate. For instance, Mitt Romney may have had $350 million dollars while Rick Santorum only got $1 million dollar assistance.
If the SuperPACs are supposedly doing all the work, then what are the candidates doing? The SuperPACs are helping the candidates keep a good reputation, since the SuperPACs are doing all the bashing, then the candidates are not to be blamed. A question is raised though, so are American really voting for candidates because of their values or is it for the Superpacs values?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46018827#46018827

Candidates' debate before S.C.

The debate started with the spotlight on Gingrich, asking about his wives's issue. The question should have stomped Gingrich but he turned it around quite smoothly. He did not answer the question that was asked, instead he used it to lash back at the interviewer for starting a presidential debate with a personal question that should not be in the debate. It is surprising to see how people supported Gingrich lash back with standing ovation, because with the issue with his wives, it can make voters turn their back on him but still interested in what is going on. The audiences's standing ovation says that they support what he said, the presidential debate should not have started with such a question. He did not forget to add that the story his ex-wife gave to nightline was false news. Rick Santorum felt that the issue was relevant to the debate, it is a part of a candidate's life, and it helps people see who the candidates really are. Healthcare reforms came up and Rick Santorum did not beat around the bush, he talked about his opposition to Romney's healthcare plans. He also briefly compared the healthcare plan to Obamacare. Ron Paul feels that the money that are carelessly spent oversea should be used in healthcare. Later on, an audience asked about the candidates tax return, a subject that has been putting Romney in the hot seat and last night was no different.

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/01/20/cooper-podcast-thursday-site.cnn.html

Obama is stuck in the middle.

Hollywood threatens to withdraw funding for Barack Obama over SOPA
By Nick Allen
January 20,2012

Some of Hollywood top people were behind Obama's reelection until he said that Obama's stance on the anti-piracy bill does not fully align with their belief. Obama felt that the people proposing and working for the bill may have went too far, but the people in Hollywood don't think so. The people want Obama to be for the bill or at least be neutral to it all if he is for a helping hand from them. The directors and people in Hollywood have started to show their disappointment in the President, they have taken out their contribution to the Obama campaign. Nine million dollars was put into the Obama campaign by the people of Hollywood in 2008 and right now, there has been only four million dollars of contribution. Obama is stuck between his other supporters; the people in the technology world that are against SOPA and PIPA. It would be best if Obama can find a middle ground for both but it seems like it will unlikely for him to keep both sides of the bills on his side. One of the supporter of SOPA and PIPA expressed that the President is only looking out for himself, and how is he supposed to expect contribution from Hollywood if he is not looking for them. Despite negative opposition, there are still planned fundraisers for the President and his First Lady in Hollywood.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9028611/Hollywood-threatens-to-withdraw-funding-for-Barack-Obama-over-SOPA.html

Gingrich, Paul, Romney, Santorum

The four battle it out in a debate held in Charleston before the South Carolina caucus on Saturday. Mitt Romney has been the frontrunner in the polls but the numbers that will come out from the caucus on Saturday might change that. The polls that shows bad news for Romney, shows good news for Gingrich. The number shows how Gingrich is tying things up with Romney and he also got an edge from Perry dropping out. Rick Santorum has something to boast about, he can boast about how he won the Iowa caucus after this morning news of his victory in Iowa spread. Paul did well in Iowa and South Carolina but he did not do too well during a debate on Monday. All four candidates will get their limelight but in tonight's debate, people will be looking for Gingrich to continue hurting Romney while Romney tries to gain his name back.

Romney is facing some setbacks at the moment

Is Romney damaged?
By David Gergen,
January 19, 2012

Romney has been beaten by Gingrich in some polls because of Gingrich's fabulous performance on money and Romney's lost of words when talking about his taxes. Gingrich is in the lead in South Carolina. Rick Perry backing out of the race seems like a loss for Perry, but it will in turn affect Romney also. Perry has backed out but he will be endorsing Gingrich and this will put Romney on edge a bit. Romney also has to face the turn around results of the Iowa caucus. It was announced that he was the winner if the Iowa caucus, but reports have came out that says Rick Santorum was the winner. Facing all of these setbacks, he can not face another one, he must win South Carolina. For eight Presidential elections, the South Carolina's caucus has been there to foretell who will be the republican candidate for the general election. Numbers are slipping for Romney, and on a poll between him and Obama, Obama is 50% favorable as opposed to Romney's 45%. Things are looking bad for Romney but he is still in the lead for the republican nominee.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/opinion/gergen-romney/index.html