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Is America Ready? |
The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
Saeed Minhas
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/31/2008 3:59 PM
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There is a suspicion in the air that would Barrack Obama make it to white House or is America ready for a colored president, a favorite pastime for many Pakistani these days and the impression received a backing as soon as I landed at the Dulles airport, just outside the Washington DC—the capitol of America.
Unusually the immigration staff was not hostile may be because I ended up with a colored officer but when my luggage was found missing, a lady staffer of airline, who pretentiously white and did not want to heed to my requests or my narration of missing baggage, just wrote me off like nothing and started dealing with the next in line and upon my protests mischievously called the airport security or may be her chief officer over her wireless device complaining them that the passenger is being rude to her and interfering ...
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Does State have a Responsibility towards Vulnerables |
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The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
Saeed Minhas
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/31/2008 12:54 PM
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I was passing through various streets in Toledo, Ohio and wondering what is the authenticity of the pollsters and newspapers in this country where all the pollsters and newspaper's editorial boards have declared the elections almost over two week prior to elections. Because what I was finding amongst the voters here in Toledo, Ohio is totally different from what I have been reading about the state of Ohio changing colors from republicans red to Democrats blue or some put it mildly as light blue, which meant leaning towards democrats.
John Shousher, an activist with whom I spent some time in the Muslim suburbs was living in the Ohio for last 30 odd years and was quite active with the local congresswoman Marcy Kaptur's campaign but still do not want to be associated with the campaign overtly like any other American. Why was it because h ...
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The Long Run |
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ChinaBeat
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By Gregg Fields on
10/24/2008 11:56 AM
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The eager crowd roars, the piped music soars -- and the Beijing Marathon begins.
The sight of thousands of runners from around the world bobbing off Tiananmen Square and arching toward the Forbidden City was undoubtedly impressive. I happen to be teaching at Tsinghua University, at the International Center for Journalists’ Global Business Journalism program, and hundreds of Tsinghua students showed up to run.
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The event concludes |
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The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
LIVE! Blog from "McCain vs. Obama: Why the World is Watching"
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/23/2008 7:55 PM
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The panel discussion concludes ... darn, I had a question! It seemed really short to me, how about to everyone else?
Guests have literally begun swarming Foukara ... mics in his face, etc. I guess he is pretty high profile!
So in the end ...
While the panelists -- good objective journalists they are -- did not outwardly take sides, the message seemed clear to me that from a global perspective, Obama is favored. The world is watching because this election has the capability to fundamentally change the United States' standing in the world.
We'll see in just 12 short days.
For now, I'm off to join the packed house for wine and h'ourderves.
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The U.S. finally "gets it" |
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The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
LIVE! Blog from "McCain vs. Obama: Why the World is Watching"
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/23/2008 7:33 PM
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On to audience comments and Q &A ...
An audience member says if Obama is elected, it will signal to the world that the U.S. finally "gets it."
Foukara responds, mentioning the importance of the point made in last weekend's Meet the Press ... when former Secretary of State Colin Powell mentioned how disheartened he was by McCain's response to a supporter who expressed fear over Obama being an Arab. (McCain responded, "no Ma'am, he is a decent man, he is a Christian.")
Powell's response: So what if he is an Arab? What is so wrong with that? Powell says this is the real issue ... America's inherent values.
Foukara agrees, saying this underlying view of Arabs is a fundamental component of this election, and why the rest of the world (Middle East in particular) perceive America the way they do. While this issue -- McCain's response ...
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What makes voter turnout high around the world? |
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The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
LIVE! Blog from "McCain vs. Obama: Why the World is Watching"
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/23/2008 7:25 PM
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Briseno says he is surprised by the lack of excitement about the election here in the U.S. There are "no posters" in the streets, he says. The tone is much more quiet, he observes.
As a very involved, self diagnosed elections junkie, I immediately think .. "huh?" To me, this election has stirred the passions of those who swore they would never care.
Just a few weeks ago, I was in Central VA talking to voters about the election. One particular voter's story really struck me - a long-time Republican who called herself apathetic ... who is now heavily involved in the Obama campaign.
Stories like hers are not unique - on both sides of the aisle. While we may not have posters, the passion is furious from my vantage point.
We'll see soon about voter turnout. Already they are projecting record numbers for early voting, youth voting, etc.
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Bradley Effect |
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The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
LIVE! Blog from "McCain vs. Obama: Why the World is Watching"
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/23/2008 7:20 PM
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Foukara discusses the Bradley effect in greater detail ...
Voters are unwilling to express their true opinion of Obama, he says, adding that he thinks people actually go out of their way to lie to pollsters. "To the extent that they lie, just excludes the possibility of political correctness," he stated.
We may not see the Bradley effect to the extent we saw it in 1982 -- we've come a long way since then -- but there could still be white Americans lying about their position ... the threat to Obama is still there, Foukara concludes.
But Lee says so many new voters have registered, that every "Bradley" vote is countered by a new vote. Interesting ...
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Media coverage of the election |
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The Election 2008 Visiting Journalists Program
LIVE! Blog from "McCain vs. Obama: Why the World is Watching"
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By The International Center for Journalists on
10/23/2008 7:11 PM
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Alex says McCain began suffering from the "pile on" effect after he began doing badly about a month ago, referring to the outpouring of negative media coverage of McCain in recent days and weeks.
The panel talks about blogging (woo hoo!) ... and whether this digital revolution has this changed the tenor of the election.
Alex says people's perceptions really depend on what blogs they go to (Limbaugh vs Drudge vs. Huffington post, etc.). What blogs do, he says, is just really solidify people's position on each side ... tell you what you want to hear.
BUT ... blogs get their news from somewhere, too, Lee points out ... Thus, people who read blogs are still getting their news from major outlets, just once removed.
Panelists mention the Saturday Night Live effect -- Alex points out that more people ...
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