Here’s to second chances, I guess. Congressional approval ratings reached record lows this year, according to a September Gallup poll. Widespread ambivalence toward President Barack Obama’s first term in office dominated American political discussion from 2009 until the 2012 elections, affirmed by job approval ratings that hung around 48 to Read More…
Something about Vice President Joe Biden’s snarky smirks in his debate against Paul Ryan tells me he wouldn’t work too well with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. And something about Mitt Romney’s twist of the hokey and the debonair tells me he wouldn’t appreciate Biden’s quaint quirkiness. There’s been more Read More…
There was lots of talk during Monday night’s presidential debate about jobs. Ironically, the topic of the debate was foreign policy, but that’s not important — this is American politics we’re talking about here. Mostly, the talk about jobs was focused on China — jobs going overseas to China, China Read More…
Seriously. Can the state Legislature please just figure it out? With about 30 weeks of time for legislative action in 2012, you’d think California’s representatives in Sacramento could get a few things done. But you’d be wrong. This year’s official voter information guide is almost 150 pages long. No, it Read More…
I went to dinner with a few friends the other night. It was two nights after the presidential debate in Denver – the debate where President Obama looked lethargic, uninspiring and uncharacteristically submissive. I don’t know if it was because of the almost universally agreed-upon results of the debate, but Read More…
It’s taken me a while to process what happened on Sept. 11 in Benghazi, Libya. I first heard about it from a friend in my dorm room just before a 2 p.m. class. I saw the headlines about the violence and the storming of the embassies, about the months-old anti-Islamic Read More…
Please, just cut it with the drama. The political drama, I mean. Cut the smart remarks, the inconsequential press releases, the irrelevant speeches, the waste-my-time-and-yours political “debate” that resembles Jerry Springer more than honest and meaningful discourse. Just quit it with the petty political theater. Last week, a video surfaced Read More…
The other day, I was asked for the sixth time if I was registered to vote. I’ve been grilled by volunteers at the table at Sproul Plaza, volunteers under Sather Gate, volunteers in front of Dwinelle and Wheeler Halls, volunteers attending my Undergraduate Political Science Association meeting and, alas, still Read More…
