election stuff -- looking at both sides
so, out of curriosity, i decided to check out both McCain's and Obama's websites. just to compare and contrast, and really convince myself about how much i like obama (which is a lot.)
first thing i noticed was how different their websites looked. obama's reminded me of a mac, and mccain's reminded me of a newspaper. well, that goes with their demographic pretty well, i'd say.
obama's i found pretty easy to navigate and read -- with unobstrusive, artsy icon, arial font, and easy link to the information i wanted.
mccain's was more difficult. it's very loud, with large photographs to head each issue, and times new roman font. the photographs struck me as being very republican too.
also, the issues highlighted on each webpage, were rather different and seemed to cater to each man's demographic:
obama:
well, first there's his "blueprint for change" that you can download and read (mccain has nothing like this...even though he keeps saying he's going to change things too!)
then, there's
- civil rights (a very liberal issue)
- defense
- disabilities (again, i think exclussive to the democrats.)
- economy
- education
- energy and environment
- ethics
- faith (something that i tend to associate with the republicans, but that i'm glad he is recognizing as an issue for everybody.)
- family
- fiscal
- foreign policy
- healthcare
- homeland security
- immigration
- iraq
- poverty
- rural (obama seems to stress the issue of family farms and their future -- something that i support, but again is very liberal.)
- service
- seniors & social security
- technology
- urban policy
- veterans
- women (something that also seems to be a huge factor is this election...)
obama seems to have something for everyone and with this website, i think he might do quite well with the swing voters, if they visit the site.
also, obama's site has them in alphabetical order -- making them easy to access, you can go right to the one you're interested in, without having to search through the others...
mccain's seemed a little more....well, see for yourself:
- the economy
- energy
- national security
- heatlh care
- iraq
- climate change (not something obama has...)
- veterans
- immigration
- education
- 2nd amendment (talk about republican!)
- judicial philosophy
- technology
- fighting crime (with a big picture of a police badge!)
- natural heritage (obama just has energy and environment, which i think covers it...)
- agricultural policies
- the sanctitiy of life (aka abortion vs pro-life)
- space program
- ethics reform
mccain's site seems to list them in order of importance, making it hard to find what issue you're looking for (if you're wanting to study one in particular, which i did.) also, the wording of his issues is so different. i mean, "the sanctity of life" come on! while obama's seems to be aimed at everyone, mccain's just seems to be aimed at your typical republican and evangelical and "good ol' boy."
for my purposes, i looked at each candidate's stance on education (being a teacher and all.) and i liked obama's the best...
mccain's sounded okay at first, until i started to argue with it and realized i pretty disagreed with his "choice" opinion. yes, parents should have the choice to send their child wherever they want...but instead of that, why don't we go fix the problem at its root? why don't we improve all the school districts, so that choice won't have to be something we have to resort to? why not make sure all the schools are up to standards and have the best teachers and materials and conditions...not to mention teacher-to-student ratio?
mccain doesn't even seem to think about this, he talks mostly about budget spending and other things that won't fix a thing. plus, he still seems to be in favor of standardized tests (something that, being a hampshire student, i whole-heatedly detest.) also, his page on education wasn't very detailed.
obama's blew me away. it was easy to read (the font helped) and he laid his ideas down clearly and concisely, with language that was easy to understand. he talked about improving all the schools as well as improving the way we teach our teachers, recruit them, retain them, and pay them! (yes, we need to be higher paid and appreciated!) if teaching is more appealing, perhaps we can increase that student-to-teacher ratio that is so important...and either reduce class sizes or increase the number of teachers in the classroom. also, he does not like standardized tests, but recognizes the fact that we do have to hold our schools up to some kind of standard. so he's all for reforming those "achievement" tests to make them better! yay! (i can't help it.) plus! i could click and read a pdf or his full plan for education! something he's got mccain beat on. obama already has a whole bunch of plans laid our and ready to go....whether or not he actually puts them into action if and when he becomes president is another question.
so...after my perusal of the websites, i have come to the conclusion that i'm going to vote for obama (which i sort of already knew, but it just reinforced it and i thought i'd see what mccain is all about.) i emplore you to go ahead and take a look at the webistes yourself.
now, i read a 20 questions and answers thing on palin, is there one on biden? cuz i'd really like to find out where he stands too.
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first thing i noticed was how different their websites looked. obama's reminded me of a mac, and mccain's reminded me of a newspaper. well, that goes with their demographic pretty well, i'd say.
obama's i found pretty easy to navigate and read -- with unobstrusive, artsy icon, arial font, and easy link to the information i wanted.
mccain's was more difficult. it's very loud, with large photographs to head each issue, and times new roman font. the photographs struck me as being very republican too.
also, the issues highlighted on each webpage, were rather different and seemed to cater to each man's demographic:
obama:
well, first there's his "blueprint for change" that you can download and read (mccain has nothing like this...even though he keeps saying he's going to change things too!)
then, there's
- civil rights (a very liberal issue)
- defense
- disabilities (again, i think exclussive to the democrats.)
- economy
- education
- energy and environment
- ethics
- faith (something that i tend to associate with the republicans, but that i'm glad he is recognizing as an issue for everybody.)
- family
- fiscal
- foreign policy
- healthcare
- homeland security
- immigration
- iraq
- poverty
- rural (obama seems to stress the issue of family farms and their future -- something that i support, but again is very liberal.)
- service
- seniors & social security
- technology
- urban policy
- veterans
- women (something that also seems to be a huge factor is this election...)
obama seems to have something for everyone and with this website, i think he might do quite well with the swing voters, if they visit the site.
also, obama's site has them in alphabetical order -- making them easy to access, you can go right to the one you're interested in, without having to search through the others...
mccain's seemed a little more....well, see for yourself:
- the economy
- energy
- national security
- heatlh care
- iraq
- climate change (not something obama has...)
- veterans
- immigration
- education
- 2nd amendment (talk about republican!)
- judicial philosophy
- technology
- fighting crime (with a big picture of a police badge!)
- natural heritage (obama just has energy and environment, which i think covers it...)
- agricultural policies
- the sanctitiy of life (aka abortion vs pro-life)
- space program
- ethics reform
mccain's site seems to list them in order of importance, making it hard to find what issue you're looking for (if you're wanting to study one in particular, which i did.) also, the wording of his issues is so different. i mean, "the sanctity of life" come on! while obama's seems to be aimed at everyone, mccain's just seems to be aimed at your typical republican and evangelical and "good ol' boy."
for my purposes, i looked at each candidate's stance on education (being a teacher and all.) and i liked obama's the best...
mccain's sounded okay at first, until i started to argue with it and realized i pretty disagreed with his "choice" opinion. yes, parents should have the choice to send their child wherever they want...but instead of that, why don't we go fix the problem at its root? why don't we improve all the school districts, so that choice won't have to be something we have to resort to? why not make sure all the schools are up to standards and have the best teachers and materials and conditions...not to mention teacher-to-student ratio?
mccain doesn't even seem to think about this, he talks mostly about budget spending and other things that won't fix a thing. plus, he still seems to be in favor of standardized tests (something that, being a hampshire student, i whole-heatedly detest.) also, his page on education wasn't very detailed.
obama's blew me away. it was easy to read (the font helped) and he laid his ideas down clearly and concisely, with language that was easy to understand. he talked about improving all the schools as well as improving the way we teach our teachers, recruit them, retain them, and pay them! (yes, we need to be higher paid and appreciated!) if teaching is more appealing, perhaps we can increase that student-to-teacher ratio that is so important...and either reduce class sizes or increase the number of teachers in the classroom. also, he does not like standardized tests, but recognizes the fact that we do have to hold our schools up to some kind of standard. so he's all for reforming those "achievement" tests to make them better! yay! (i can't help it.) plus! i could click and read a pdf or his full plan for education! something he's got mccain beat on. obama already has a whole bunch of plans laid our and ready to go....whether or not he actually puts them into action if and when he becomes president is another question.
so...after my perusal of the websites, i have come to the conclusion that i'm going to vote for obama (which i sort of already knew, but it just reinforced it and i thought i'd see what mccain is all about.) i emplore you to go ahead and take a look at the webistes yourself.
now, i read a 20 questions and answers thing on palin, is there one on biden? cuz i'd really like to find out where he stands too.
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