US - Executive appointments and other issues 2012

Plenty of issues have arisen over the Summer and over the Autumn. With brevity in mind (and before I forget them), examples to consider for the Summer exam:

 1. The likely appoinment of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defence - there is controversy reported here about something he apparently said in 1998. Further discussion of these appointments is here.

 2. Hilary Clinton being replaced by former Presidential candidate John Kerry as Secretary of Defence. BBC report is here. Both of which are likely to be controversial, especially because of the highly-charged partisan Congress. Keep an eye on the Congressional Standing committees in this area in due course.

 3. After the tragedy of the Connecticut Elementary School shooting, Obama has called for more gun control. He has appointed Vice-President Joe Biden (who knows his way around Congress) to lead the initiative, as reported here in the NY Times.

 4. Somewhat predictably Pressure Groups such as the NRA have reacted with a response which does not demand an increase gun control, by erm, recommending armed police officers in every school. Good for questions about Pressure groups.

 5. The Economist's Lexington columnist has some very interesting things to say about gun control, the Second Amendment and public opinion here. The short version being that not a lot will change, sadly.

6. While the results of the US Presidential election are clear, the likelihood of increased partisan politics and a lacklustre Congress are probably increased. Good stuff here in the Economist (although there is so much out there you could read).

 7. The problems for Republicans are many, and Andrew Sullivan (always interesting but not without his bias) has a great article here.

 8. The end of 2012 also saw 5 US states legalise Marijuana, which has implications for State vs Federal power (it's still illegal under Federal law). See here and here for BBC articles.

 9. The US Supreme Court will be looking at gay marriage in 2013, which may well have profound implications.

10. There are proposals to reform the rules governing Filibusters in Congress - at present, the mere threat of one causes gridlock. The proposals essentially require the filibuster to start before a cloture vote is called - derailing the legislative process.  Further information here from the Huffington post.

[Picture Credit - The Economist]

Plenty of issues to chew on

Over the course of the Summer there have been plenty of developments in politics which would be really useful for G&P students taking exams in 2013 to mention.

In no particular order (and I will add links once I have got them) the Coalition government has seen its House of Lords reform plan falter in Parliament, putting the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrat relationship under strain. The putative reform of the Welfare system has come under scrutiny from 70 organisations linked in some way to Ian Duncan Smith's plan to replace the numerous benefits with one single benefit. Heathrow expansion has seen some attention too, with some mutterings within the Conservative Party that a 3rd runway is needed. This puts the Coalition (and not to mention some in the Tory party) under strain, especially since both parties said that they would stop any Heathrow expansion.

In the US, the Republicans have had their Party Convention and proclaimed Mitt to be their Presidential candidate for 2012. Of note is the importance of the Tea Party wing, especially because Paul Ryan is the choice for VP. He is very much carrying the flame for that group with his plan to reduce government spending by cutting welfare and increasing spending on defence. The Republicans did have a problem too with various miss-judged comments about rape and abortion, all of which goes to illustrate that some in the party have a hard-line when it comes to the hot-button topic of abortion.

President and Democratic-nominee Barack Obama has made his speech to the faithful and tried to energise his campaign. The polls currently are close, and the unemployment numbers that came out the following day were disappointing. According to some pundits, his successful re-election will depend on how well the economy is doing and how warmly average floating voters respond to Mitt Romney. The situation for both at present is "not good" for either candidate.

Positive analysis for Obama here from the Daily Beast. Less positive from Mark Mardell here. Decide for yourself with Obama's speech:
or former Democratic President Bill Clinton's:
Mitt Romney's speech in full is here:
Republican supporter and former Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea Clint Eastwood's speech here:
In the mean-time here is a poll of polls from the Huffington Post:

Task for IT lesson

In the lesson you will be given an A4 sheet with questions and tasks on it. Make sure your name is at the top, and hand it in at the end of the lesson. In order to complete the tasks you will need information from various web-sites.

• The Bill of Rights and other Amendments - use this page and this one  

• Powers of the States - use this web-site to find the Senator. Which Presidential candidate the different states supported in the 2008 race can be found here. If you are in need of inspiration when trying to choose the state, you can find a list of states here (you'll also find a map here too).

• And finally - Use this web-site to find out how much you know already about the US system (you'll need shockwave installed - the page should do it automatically). Some of the questions may require a quick internet search. This ,this , this , and this set of pages may be useful too. The first person to finish with full marks wins a prize.

Florida Primary

A quick post to update my graph of the Republican race; commentators including The Economist are pretty certain Mitt Romney is going to win. Exact figures can be found here at the Wikipedia page, or here at the BBC news page, or they helpfully give a media digest here

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The Economist's Democracy in America blog has a useful analysis of all this:

Although Mr Romney’s win in Florida has put him back on track for the nomination, it does hold some worrying portents for the general election. Independent voters, who could not take part in the primary, seem to have been put off by the nasty tenor of the campaigning. The proportion of them who take a dim view of Mr Romney has risen in recent days. Moreover, the turnout among Republicans was lower than in 2008, itself a year in which the party was quite dispirited. To have prevailed in a big, swing state like Florida is an enormous boost for Mr Romney, but Mr Obama will find some solace in the results as well.

US Presidential Race 2012

The race for the White House continues with its ups and downs. As I like a good graph, I thought I would create one to show the race for the White House. It is a bit complex, but an easy way to check how the comparative fortunes of the Republican candidates continue. I have put up the approval rating of President Obama on there too as a point of comparison. Technically the approve / disapprove rating of the leader of the free world does not equate to the support by Republican voters for their candidates to be Presidential nominee, but I think it looks interesting.

It was created in Smartboard and so the scale is not exact. However it will help to whet your appetite in time for the results of the Florida primary; will Romney beat Newt?

Enjoy.