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Yadira Rodriguez

Obama wipes away tears while speaking to staff - Yahoo! News - 0 views

news.yahoo.com/staff-011154137--election.html

Barack Obama cries thanks

shared by Yadira Rodriguez on 09 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • , President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he thanks members of his campaign staff and volunteers.
  • talks about his work as a community organizer in Chicago
  • "amazing things" in their lives.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • emotional
  • s proud of the work they did
  • "had come full circle."
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBK2rfZt32g
  • Yadira Rodriguez on 09 Nov 12
     
    Obama's campaign posts a video of Barack Obama breaking into tears after thanking his campaign staff and volunteers. I do not think I have ever seen a president cry in public, what do you guys think?
  • Abby Schantz on 09 Nov 12
     
    it's interesting cause the last article I posted was about Romney tearing up when he was thanking his staff. I guess when people devote a full year of their life to getting you elected it's sorta a big deal and I could look at it either way - Romney has more of a reason cause he lost or Obama cause they helped him win. But I sort of think of it like how people often cry when they graduate from school or something - like the end of a journey
Sabrina Rosenfield

Romney and his Tax Returns : The New Yorker - 2 views

www.newyorker.com/...omney-and-his-tax-returns.html

romney tax tax returns

shared by Sabrina Rosenfield on 24 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Sabrina Rosenfield on 24 Sep 12
     
    This is an article about the release of Romney's tax returns for 2011, and whether or not he is being completely honest in saying that he paid 14.1% because he can go back later and get returns for his charitable donations. He argues that not doing so would discourage people from donating. I'm not sure about this quote, "As was widely noted, Romney has also said that he considers claiming every possible legal deduction an ethical test, with rather distinctive terms: if you pay any more than you really, really must, you have failed." I think that for many Americans, this is completely true, but for someone with such a high income, it seems unfair. But isn't fairness the same thing for everyone? What do you guys think?
  • ...7 more comments...
  • Savannah L on 25 Sep 12
     
    Yes, fairness means that everyone pays their fair share, which is a very republican ideal, which is why i am in favor of removing the exorbitant death taxes and in favor of the fair tax, which i feel like would point our country in a less socialistic direction, which, lets face it, since 2008 we have been plummeting rapidly towards socialism with ACA and greater government influence in our economy. Going back to the Romney quote you mentioned, I'm not sure what you really meant by "it seems unfair" Are you really suggesting that those who work harder than others should be punished with a larger tax? And keep in mind that he's talking about income tax, not money already sitting in the bank. So Romney worked for that money, and should not be punished for it. Taxes are punishments, and that sort of backwards tax structure is one exhibited by the USSR before it collapsed, mind you. Taking more from the rich is not "fair" . The term for it is socialism. If you want another historical example, look at Britain's economy when it implemented Adam Smith's lazziez faire economics (their economy grew exponentially, scientific developments were off the charts, relatively peaceful era) and then look at the France's economy shortly after when it implemented a more "fair" system in the 1800s-1900s, they constantly got decimated by economic struggles and went nowhere. And even if you still believe that the rich should pay more, consider this. The government's biggest problem is not a lack of revenue. We're spending 104% of our GDP. If you plan on paying taxes, which, by the way, our current government lets you be exempt if you decide to take a year off of your well-paying job to sit at home and 'discover' yourself, then you will already be 140,000$ in debt thanks to Obama's excessive spending. No, Bush did not "start it", Obama has added more debt than all of the presidents before him combined. Why do you think that it is "fair" for the harder workers in our s
  • Savannah L on 26 Sep 12
     
    ociety to have to pay more when they are the ones working harder? And, if anything, it makes me respect Romney more because he knows how to work the system to his (and America's) advantage. He, unlike Obama, has business experience and is fiscally responsible, so I respect him more for this, not less.
  • Danielle Polevoi on 28 Sep 12
     
    Yeah, I'm going to with Savannah on this one. I think the rules of tax should obviously apply to everyone, rich or not. I also think that getting tax deductions is part of the "taxing" process so why shouldn't everyone take advantage of that? Regardless of how much money someone has...
  • Sabrina Rosenfield on 30 Sep 12
     
    Savannah, I'm not suggesting that people should be punished for working hard. But how much money you make is not always an accurate representation of how hard someone works. And I'm not sure about what I think is "fair". Yes, everyone paying the same taxes would be fair in one way. But some people work extremely hard and still don't have a lot of money and still need help from the government. Some people make exorbitant amounts of money and don't work all that hard. Doesn't it seem fair for people who need help to be able to get it? That's what I'm suggesting. I'm not encouraging laziness or punishing people for hard work. As for what you said, "it makes me respect Romney more because he knows how to work the system to his (and America's) advantage", it seems to me that there are two parts of this. One is that he understand the system. That's a good thing. The other is that he knows how to manipulate it to appear as something that he is not. That's not a good thing.
  • Abby Schantz on 30 Sep 12
     
    In my opinion, I do not believe that taxes are a punishment. Taxes are something we, as American citizens, agree to pay to do our part in making sure that all of our opportunities are made possible (in building roads ect.) Maybe they are not used the best right now, that's opinion but as a generalization I don't think taxes should be considered a punishment. Also agreeing with Sabrina, I believe that someone who works multiple jobs and happens to be doing manual labour that pays minim wage is in many cases working equally as hard if not harder than a wealthy CEO working long days in the office. They are different types of work and the amount of money they make is no reflection of the amount of work they put into that job.
  • Savannah L on 01 Oct 12
     
    Abby, I still don't see how you consider taxes to not be a punishment. If you enjoy forking over your hard earned cash to those who didn't for whatever reason, then I congratulate you for being a socialist. The biggest problem in our government is not a lack of money, but a lack of structure, so why are you so focused on increasing revenue if it won't make a difference under a fiscally irresponsible president with no business experience whatever? I don't enjoy the fact that I will end up paying money to a government that is incapable of spending it and do not think that people should have an increase of taxes just for working hard. And Sabrina, this is federal income tax, not capital gains or inheritance tax, so it doesn't take into account money that one is already sitting on or based on investments. The way income tax works, you can have a mansion and 5 cars but take a year off to work on a painting from your well-paying job and legally file with an income of 0 and get food stamps. And back to your example of the CEO and the blue-collar worker, the CEO probably went to school and got a degree, which would make me consider him to have worked harder than the blue-collar worker who chose not to get a high school degree. Also, let's change the discussion about working "hard" to one about working "smart"? Comparing manual labor efforts to the intellectual efforts of others really isn't comparing apples to apples. We should be discussing productivity rather than effort. If someone studies really hard but fails a test, and someone studies more effectively (but less hard) yet receives a high grade, should the high score student be penalized and the poor performer subsidized? Linking this back to the economy, without CEOs, the minimum wage workers wouldn't even have jobs. There would be no company, therefore, no jobs. CEOs are perhaps burning fewer calories when they work, but that does not mean that they are less productive. Take out a minimum wage worker from a co
  • Sabrina Rosenfield on 01 Oct 12
     
    But about Romney's tax exemptions-that's not what happened. He purposely overpaid to match an earlier estimate that he made. He didn't claim all the exemptions that he could have. Maybe that wasn't clear in the article I posted, but here's a quote from another one: "We know, for instance, that Romney paid a rate of 14.1 percent on $13.7 million in income on his 2011 tax return, which he achieved by purposely overpaying. Though he was entitled to deduct $4 million in charitable contributions, Romney deducted only $2.25 million to keep his tax rate above 13 percent." Here's the link to that article: http://www.propublica.org/article/what-we-still-dont-know-about-mitt-romneys-taxes
  • Savannah L on 02 Oct 12
     
    Sabrina, Let's look at this another way. If Romney made $13.7M in 2011, and donated $4M of that to charity, and also paid 14.1% (or < 13%)... he, in effect, only kept 57% of his income. He gave 13-14% to the government, and another 30% to charities -- hardly reprehensible behavior? He is able to more effectively do "good" with his money by giving it freely to those he feels deserve it can those that can be good stewards of the money. Clearly the President has NOT been a good steward of funds, just look at Solyndra and Beacon Energy. I don't know about you, but I would rather my money go to charities close to my heart rather than sham entities that sit there and waste billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars, like Solyndra and Beacon. The tax system is not perfect at all but it does encourage behaviours that are beneficial to society. Why does it matter so much what Romney paid in taxes? Shouldn't we focus on what he gave away to others than to a fiscally irresponsible government?
  • Sami Perez on 04 Oct 12
     
    I agree that the actual numbers of what Romney paid in taxes is somewhat unimportant, but symbolically it represents an ethical value that I've noticed in Romney's policies and beliefs. The Urban School recently had a visitor, a professor of economy, who informed us that the president him/herself does not actually have that much control over the economy as it is determined mostly by the private sector of the market. The president can, however, influence the economy through tax policy, and if Governor Romney is unwilling to pay his contribution to the system, which, as Abby said, is what we do to insure that "all opportunities are made possible," he seems to be implying something about how much the upper class should be paying. I realize that is just an opinion, but if you don't agree I hope you can at least understand my belief that all individuals/families, rich or poor, deserve to at least get an opportunity to make their lives more successful. Although the government may not have the power to fix the economy and everything themselves, they can at least provide that opportunity for the American citizens. A hard laborer with minimum wage may be working hard not smart, but that does not mean they don't have the potential to work smart. I believe that as Americans we should make sure that they can fulfill that potential.
James Foster

Lucky Obama: The News Is Bad, But the Mood Is Good - 4 views

www.businessweek.com/...ws-is-bad-but-the-mood-is-good

obama campaign economy

shared by James Foster on 25 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • James Foster on 25 Sep 12
     
    President Obama's reelection campaign is catching a break: The economic news has been bad, but the public hasn't seemed to notice. On Thursday, for example, came news of unexpected weakness in leading economic indicators and jobless claims. This post represents a key problem facing the GOP, which is if Romney can't beat Obama in such a poor economy, than there is something really going wrong within the GOP considering that Romney was picked because he was the "best" choice. What do you guys think is wrong within the GOP and what should they do to fix it?
  • ...4 more comments...
  • Sabrina Rosenfield on 06 Oct 12
     
    The article says "Democrats are likely to look at the economy with rose-colored glasses because they want their candidate to win in November" which doesn't really address anything. If they believe that the economy is bad and that Obama isn't going to fix it, why are they going to vote for him? The article doesn't give any reasoning at all for why people would want to vote for Obama, just makes them seem crazy for wanting to do so. As for your questions, James, I think they did pick the best candidate at the time. I just think that Obama is a really remarkable politician and public speaker, whether you agree with him or not, and Romney can't compete with that. That, and many people really do believe that Obama is improving the economy.
  • Danielle Polevoi on 07 Oct 12
     
    I'm not seeing the true point of this article. I think the "rose-colored glasses" refer to people that will support Obama regardless of the campaign. I think that there are people who like what he has done and trust him so will vote for him regardless of the economic state right now...but is that hard to believe? Not really. He probably has some advantage from winning people's trust in the past 4 years.
  • Abby Schantz on 08 Oct 12
     
    Yeah I agree. I don't think the article went into enough detail with enough facts to convince me of anything. Of course people who support Obama and want him to win are going to see him in a better way then people supporting Romney. And I think depending which part of Obama you choose to focus on, there is a good and bad just like with the policies or actions of any other politician.
  • Savannah L on 09 Oct 12
     
    Sabrina, I disagree with you in just about nearly everything that you said. The economy is not getting better. He's put more long term damage on us than I thought imaginable 4 years ago. I don't think that he has helped our economy, and here is why: Yes, he did help save us from total collapse, but even then, it wasn't him, it was TARP, signed into law under Bush, which even permitted his actions as acceptable. Gas prices have raised by 1.30/gal and the amount of americans on food stamps has doubled. Sure, short-term unemployment is down from a couple of weeks ago, but the fact of the matter is that at this time in 2008 it was 13M, and it is now 22M. Yes, I understand that Obama has to deal with the Bush era's layover, but in 2016 he will have only improved this number slightly to 19M, not nearly enough to say that he is helping our economy. Under Obama, income inequality was greater than in 2008. Long term unemployment rates have doubled, which in my opinion, is a better indicater of long term well being. The big 5 made 48% of our GDP this year, compared to 32% in 2008, thanks to Dod Franklin. He's increasing middle class tax burden by about 3,000$ with the passing of Obamacare. ACA will increase our debt by 500M a year because it calls for 1T in funds, but only allows tax raises totalling half of that, causing our budget deficit to increase rapidly. At current rates, excluding the increases in deficit from ACA and others, in 2016 our spending will be 130% of our GDP, which is simply instable and can in no way be considered 'helpful' to our economy. Let's not forget the high intrest on our debt, so this number will only drastically increase in the long run. Some of you will be paying taxes by 2016, and as a taxpayer you will owe the government around 220K apeice, because at that point in time an even lower fraction of our population will be paying taxes than currently. I do not like Obama as a politician at
  • Savannah L on 10 Oct 12
     
    all. Also, I think that Romney much better as a debater, Obama stumbled through the entire debate and was unable to use statistics to his advantage, and I personally believe that an argument without statistics is a flop and as a result do not think that Obama is a good debater.
  • Sami Perez on 11 Oct 12
     
    Even though the article does not provide much proof, I think our debate here provides good evidence to this issue. Being in San Francisco, I know and have spoken with many people who seem very dedicated to Obama because of his persona, but are very ignorant to facts and news about our current national position. I think that Savannah's point is also valid, and can understand why many people would be on the GOP's side. Thus it is difficult to say one point should be more valid than the other, and these arguments amongst ourselves seem to prove why many still favor Obama and why many today favor the GOP.
Abby Schantz

Romney at Breakfast blames and claims after the campaign - 0 views

thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/...omney-reflects-on-the-campaign

romney claim blame campaign breakfast donors

shared by Abby Schantz on 08 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Abby Schantz on 08 Nov 12
     
    This article talks about a breakfast with all of Romney's largest donors and aides after the campaign. He have remarks which put blame and surprise on why he lost the election and actually got emotional as he gave his thanks to his campaign donors. I found this article really interesting because I always have wondered how a losing candidate goes back to life after spending a year on a presidential campaign.
  • Danielle Polevoi on 09 Nov 12
     
    I can not imagine it is easy especially after all the time and energy so many people put into his campaign. This quote stood out to me: "When he was finished, Mr. Romney lingered for a long time, shaking hands and delivering hugs. It seemed, those in the room said, like he did not want to leave. "He stayed until the last person left," said an attendee." I know Romney was criticized as "stiff" but it doesn't seem like this is the case. At the end of the day, I think both Obama and Romney are very smart and genuinely want to make America a better place.
  • Yadira Rodriguez on 09 Nov 12
     
    I mean it would be difficult to not be emotional after losing because Romney put a lot of time and effort to not lose. This whole campaign has been physically and emotionally exhausting, so for Romney to not be upset would be inappropriate and weird. Romney "faulted the Obama campaign for characterizing him as an enemy of women, singling out advertisements that claimed he opposed abortion in all cases and opposed contraception." I think saying this is ironic because I am sure that Romney as well characterized as an enemy of women, etc... I mean that is what campaigning is about. Finding the faults of the other candidates and exposing them.
Yadira Rodriguez

Florida pizza shop owner powerlifts Obama | The Ticket - Yahoo! News - 3 views

news.yahoo.com/...obama-195921467--election.html

Florida Pizza Shop Obama Lift

shared by Yadira Rodriguez on 11 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • unscripted stop
  • Van Duzer — a registered Republican who says he'll vote for Obama in November
  • unannounced visit that breathes life into sometimes dreary campaign travel.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • "But what we know is that the guy's just got a big heart along with big pecs. So we're very proud of him and we just want to say thank you for all the great work."
  • "I don't vote party line, I vote who I feel comfortable with, and I do feel extremely comfortable with him,"
  • also voted for Obama in 2008.
  • Yadira Rodriguez on 11 Sep 12
     
    This is about a man who power lifted Obama, I was just curious what people thought about this.Was it professional? Does it help Obama's image?
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Sabrina Rosenfield on 16 Sep 12
     
    I don't think that this will change anyone's opinion on Obama: Democrats will say that it makes him light-hearted, ready to make a joke, and able to connect with people. Republicans will say that it's unprofessional and inappropriate. Imagine the same thing happening to Mitt Romney.
  • Abby Schantz on 16 Sep 12
     
    Although this might not change many viewpoints I think it gives a really good impression for Obama. Being able to just stop into a random pizza place and joking around about the strength of a guy makes him seem like just a normal American guy. I think Van Duzer's quote in the article really made that point saying, "I don't vote party line, I vote who I feel comfortable with, and I do feel extremely comfortable with him." For some people feeling a connection and feel "comfortable" is really important. If Obama can make himself seem like the guy you could just hang out with I think that could potentially do a lot for his voters.
  • Danielle Polevoi on 16 Sep 12
     
    I agree that this makes Obama seem personable and "normal" which many people want to see in a candidate. I also think the nature of politics and presidents have changed throughout the years. Today, presidents seem more relatable and "down to earth" as they appear on talk shows and in magazines with their kids compared to how presidents were represented 50 years ago.
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