The Current Online

by BRYAN GENTRY

Obama makes history – Audio

Obama family after acceptance speech in Chicago, Nov. 4 (Phil Velasquez/MCT Campus)

After a grueling 21-month campaign, Barack Obama was elected the first African-American president of the United States of America.

The history making election was a landslide victory for Obama who acquired 338 Electoral College votes, to John McCain’s 163.

As 44^th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama will inherit wars overseas and a failing economy.

“For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” Obama said.

“I love it,” Longview student Demeon Tuck said. “We made history!”

Obama’s victory is a result of strategic wins in multiple swing states. Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada were key states for George W. Bush in 2004, but contributed greatly to Obama’s victory this year.

“It was long but it turned out good,” student Erica Bran said.

On a larger scale, Obama’s victory was due to a coalition of voters. For example, the Obama Campaign’s ability to relate to young voters was important.

Unity was something both candidates focused on.

“And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn,” Obama said, “I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.”

In Phoenix, John McCain stressed the same unity in his concession speech.

“I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences,” McCain said.

Election night was huge for Democrats in Missouri as well. Emanuel Cleaver, Chris Koster, and Clint Zweifel were victors in the Democratic Party who were present for the Biden rally at Longview’s Recreation Center. Democrat Jay Nixon defeated Republican Kenny Hulshof for governor of Missouri. Only one Republican gained a major victory at a state level in Missouri: Peter Kinder defeated Sam Page for lieutenant governor.

CANDIDATE DOES HIS BEST TO SWING VOTE

by Bryan Gentry and Steven Anderson

Slideshow in Power Point
Audio

Joe Biden speaks at Longview’s Recreation Center (Jordan Lee/The Current).

Democratic Vice President elect Joe Biden rallied liberals and persuaded moderates at a last minute rally at Longview Community College Recreation Center one day before the national election.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II

Biden was accompanied by his wife Dr. Jill Biden, Senator Claire McCaskill, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, and state candidates Sam Page for lieutenant governor, Chris Koster for attorney general, and Clint Zweifel for treasurer.

“What a great way to start the week in eastern Jackson County,” said McCaskill as she introduced Jill Biden who then introduced her husband.

As the crowd chanted “Joe, Joe, Joe!” Biden took the stage and made the Obama-Biden message clear, “Change is on the way!”

“We are on the cusp of a new brand of American leadership, because that’s what we need,” Biden exclaimed to the crowd of about 1250. “We have the opportunity to change our circumstances and change them we will!”

Biden reminded the audience that education is an important platform for Democrats this year.

He said, “Any country that outeducates the U.S. can outcompete the U.S., and we cannot allow that to happen.”

Jill Biden spoke about Longview's national reputation (Jordan Lee/The Current).

Although the college did not endorse the visit due to its non-partisan status as a public institution, there was an implied connection. Jill Biden’s tie to community colleges is well known. Being an English professor at the Stanton/Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical & Community College, Jill Biden talked about her belief in a strong education in America.

She congratulated Longview on being the first community college named a College of the Year in 2001 by TIME Magazine/The Princeton Review.

When Joe Biden took the stage, he alluded to his wife’s statement congratulating Longview President Fred Grogan, “Number one is pretty darn good, man. You’ve got the best students in America.”

Biden went on to say, “What a beautiful, beautiful campus.”

Democrats in attendance spoke powerfully about the Nov. 4 election. McCaskill praised Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as a running mate and attacked the GOP candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin.

McCaskill

McCaskill said, “In that process, [I believe] Barack Obama showed the kind of judgment we need as the President of the United States of America. Barack Obama chose the very best person… And, well, let’s just say John McCain didn’t.”

Biden talked about the changes needed in creating new jobs and better health care. He said Americans should respect those who serve in the military, but they also have to find other ways to serve the nation.

“When this election is over,” he said, “we have to unite this country. A country divided cannot lead the world. We need Republicans in the Congress to join us.”

Biden ended his remarks with a campaign slogan, “It’s our time. It’s America’s time to take back this country!”

Those in attendance were extremely excited about the visit.

“He’s a good guy,” Longview student Bonard Chery. “He has a good plan for everybody. Everybody needs a good job and better education. We all need change!”

The event did not come without some opposition. The rally raised concerns from faculty for a few reasons.

Longview’s chairman of the division of social sciences, Dr. Elliott Schimmel, a self-proclaimed Democrat, is one who opposed the Biden rally.

“I know that other institutions around the nation do this, but it just seems academic institutions should not be tied to partisan purposes,” Schimmel said, “especially during a time when classes are being held.”

“What about parking [problems]?” math instructor Suzanne Smith asked. “I don’t think this is fair to our students and teachers to allow this at such late notice.”

Humanities Chair Grahn, right (Jordan Lee/The Current)

However, humanities chair Diana Grahn smiled as she left the rally, “It was interesting that Jill Biden had informed Joe Biden about our College of the Year status which recognized our efforts in writing across the curriculum.”

Melissa Nitti, regional press secretary for the Obama-Biden campaign, said that Lee’s Summit, a swing area that went Republican in the last two elections, was picked for the rally to bring the Democrats’ message to the undecided in this locale.

The gymnasium was rented by the campaign, and the event was totally under the management of the Democratic Party. No college arrangement, except for parking considerations, was involved.

by MEGAN REINSCH

Did everyone get the memo? With record voter turnout, our 44^th president has been decided. We live in a nation of majority rule, and before the last poll closed Tuesday night Mr. Barack Obama was declared the next president by a landslide.

Only 270 electoral votes are needed to take the presidency, and my last glance at the television screen before bed told me that Obama was nearing 350. Even when McCain conceded in his respectful but proud speech, his supporters held on desperately, clinging to the fact that only 50 percent of the votes had been tallied. The Obama crowd began their celebration; however, the minute the Associate Press labeled him the new chief.

Tears, I’m sure, were shed on both sides. Obama fans will be singing victory for weeks and months to come. Staunch Democrats are delighted that the Republican dynasty has once more been disrupted. Republicans will be picking themselves up from the floor, bracing themselves for the nation to turn upside down.  The religious fanatics in the crowd are already crying, “The end is coming.” And yet, before Florida has officially been recounted for the fourth time, our nation is as disconnected as pre-911!

Obama and Biden want change. McCain and Palin believed that all too often the government is the problem when it should be part of the solution. But here’s my query, if our nation is based on the precept of “of the people, for the people, by the people” where then should all those changes and solutions begin?

Perhaps with the people?

Yet, I can guarantee that people will be grumbling for months and, let’s be blunt, for the next four years that their candidate didn’t get into office. Don’t hold it against me, but I couldn’t care less. I pulled myself out of bed at 6 a.m. to cast my ballot. And, no, my nominee did not pull through; but I will not join the ranks of the whiners.

I am first and foremost an American. I stand behind our leaders, our military and our system. That system that I so devotedly serve says that majority rules and minority is simply respected. My frustration remains with the fact that people will not move on.  I have the freedom to vote which I dutifully exercised. The outcome may not suit my wishes, but it does not mean that my voice in this nation has been silenced. Every one of us retains the right to be heard. And if it is change we so dearly desire, then why have we already fallen back to our old habits?

We elect these politicians and then completely dump the responsibility of running this country entirely in their laps. Just because the national ballots will be stored for another four years doesn’t mean our duty gets to sit on a dusty shelf too.

Let’s, for once in our national legacy, prove our America to be in a united state. I may not have voted for Obama, but I promise I will stand behind him. I will disagree with half the things he does; it’d be the same story even if my man McCain was in office. There is no GOP’s guy or the Democratic Party’s man anymore. We have a new elected president of the United States of America. Guess what? That means Obama is my president too.

So when will we actually dismount our proverbial high horses and begin to string this nation back together like we keep talking about? The Kennedy era adage may be cliché and passé to some, but rather than ignoring it maybe we each should seriously ponder, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”

by MICHAEL BARTLETT

Joe Biden’s rally organizers were so feverishly set on pleasing everyone, had there been a large cannibal population in the Longview area the audience may have been served human flesh.

The rally opened with music blaring over the speakers from a wide variety of genres. Kanye West’s song “Touch the Sky” headlined and was played many times. Angels and Airwaves’s”The Adventure” represented the alternative audience, Rascal Flatts’ “Life is a Highway” represented the pop/country crowd and Aretha Franklin’s “Freedom” gave a soulful feel.

Around 9 a.m. the music mercifully stopped, allowing for an opening prayer. But much like how the music wasn’t music for music’s sake, the prayer was a tool to squeeze votes out of an area that has a large Republican demographic. The prayer included wishes for a democratic victory. “All religions drink from the same cup,” said preacher Tom Haley. He then concluded with “shalom, salaam, peace, and amen.”

The act was meant to come off as a uniting gesture toward all religions and voters. Rather it came off as a cheap way to win over voters who may be of one of those various religious persuasions.

This also should raise questions about separation of church and state. Religion has been banned from requirement at public schools and government in general. So why does it always turn up in campaign rallies? Voters are voting for politicians not pastors, and oftentimes it comes off as if they are trying too hard.