My Day with President Obama

July 10th, 2012, President Obama Campaigns at Johnson Hall 

at Kirkwood Community College 

in Cedar Rapids, IA

This is a log of the day, as experienced by an Amateur Blog writer.

9:26am - I wave my co-workers adieu as I head out of the office, on my way to meet the President of the United States of America. The excitement coursing through me so violently that I forget to tie my shoes. Lucky for me, the Army Corp of Engineers had been notified 5 months prior and promptly set up a trip free environment for me to pass through.

9:47am - The line to this event is longer then Romney's shot to win his home state. My brother and his significant other have been holding my spot for almost an hour. After some condescending back and forth to save face with the people that I was budging in front of, we grab some buttons and snap a picture of the bomb sniffing dog that was screening the bands equipment. Luckily for the band, named "Reefer Ganja Chillums", the dog was a victim of over specialization and had not received his grant for developing it's drug sniffing job skills.

11:14am - Met a very nice gentleman who, based on signage on his shirt, was either named Phil, or Tsa Trainee. He offered to lighten my load as a passed through a metal detector. Sure, I felt safe once I was inside, but after I left the party everyone outside knew I was not packing.

12:05pm - The first guest speakers begin. Including an opening benediction and an awkward moment during the pledge of allegiance when nerves got the better of the speaker, causing him to skip a line. He then attempted to explain to the crowd that this was as embarrassing as one of those dreams where you arrive at school wearing no pants. It got even more uncomfortable when several people from the audience tried to cheer him up by offering him their pants.

12:51pm - The heavens parted, the angel choir sang, the oceans rise began to slow, and for one brief moment, democrats and republicans held hands with all the children of the world and joined the President in a message of peace.

12:51.001pm - The moment passes

12:53pm - President Barrack Obama addresses the wild crowd of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

12:54pm - Blah blah blah Tax Cuts, blah blah blah I'm not Romney, blah blah blah war in Iraq, blah blah blah really, I'm not Romney, blah blah blah education, blah blah blah seriously though, I'm not Romney. 

   <On a serious note, he spoke about the momentum Iowa gave him back in the '08 primaries, and tried to bring back some of the emotion from the historic '08 election to try and fire up the crowd. No real new ideas where shared, a few jabs at Romney but nothing over the top. He mostly hit home the need to keep taxes low on the middle class but not rolling back government programs when the wealthiest Americans can pay a little more. Overall a pretty generic stump speech.>

1:38pm - In an attempt to illustrate his tax proposal, Obama declared that the 2% of people closest to the exit had to wait for the other 98% to leave, to show how the many can benefit at the sacrifice of the few. Unfortunately (or true to form depending on your political persuasion) the 2% stood their ground, not allowing anyone to pass through the only exit. I used my cunning to shimmy out a window that went directly into Canada, however, my Brother and his girlfriend are still at the event awaiting the 2% to play out their fair share... of Obama's demonstration.

2:26pm - After picking up some lunch and a quick visit to my wife, I return to work. I find it a poor escape from the elation and exhilaration that I feel from the days events. After having a taste of living life with my good buddy Obama, life without him seems a bit dimmer, and less satisfying. I ate a steak dinner, and it just didn't have it's savory taste, I took my dogs on a walk, and it just didn't have the relaxing effect it normally does, I made love to my wife, and it just didn't have the satisfying spark that I've now come to know, after having spent a day, with President Barrack Obama.

Thank you Big Bang Theory

During one of my many ritualistic web surfs, an interesting article caught my eye under Google's Sci/Tech section, specifically the name Higgs Boson. Almost unknowingly I clicked to read up on Wednesday's discovery of what many are calling the "God" partial that acts more like a wave. A few sentences into the article it hit me, I actually knew what this was all about! How you ask? Because I watch the Big Bang Theory.

Mind you, I have no idea what this new discovery from the Large Hadron Collider all means, nor do I believe that this changes any real aspect of my life. But, I can acknowledge that this is a big deal. My interest also caused me to read not one, but several articles about this amazing revelation. If this show can assist in stirring up interest in a middle aged computer geek, I can only hope there are some younger people that this could act as the inspiration to learn as much as possible about physics and the universe we live in. Maybe in a few decades we'll be hearing a laureate speech about how that zany Leonard and Sheldon inspired them so many years ago.

Until such a time, I would like to thank Chuck Lorre and the fantastic writers and actors of Big Bang, for I now know that; 

Hydrogen or "H" + (pigs minus pea) + Bow + General Zod trapped in the phantom ZONE + Pear + Tickle = Higgs Boson Particle!

How could you not get that? It's all there.

Veepstakes

After a series of Google searches of gathering everyone’s opinions on who Mitt will pick from a torrent of names being tossed into the proverbial hat, from a portly New Jersey Executive to a controversial Arizona Gubernatorial, I began to ask myself, by what criteria are these names being judged? Is it how they look next to a candidate in a photo op? How easily their names follow one another on a banner? I decided to delve a little bit into what a presidential candidate looks for in a running mate.

To start off with, let’s establish a few necessary criteria. Since you are letting people know who you would have take over your job should something bad happen, the first and foremost requirement should be their capacity to do the job. This typically translates to someone with political or some form of executive experience. Looking at the list of VP candidates over the past several decades, the last one of them did not have an elected official position on their resume was Sargent Shriver, George McGovern’s VP choice in a failed campaign against Richard Nixon in ’72., and even he held several Government oriented positions such as ambassador and Director of the OEO.  The other duh obvious is to choose a candidate that is well vetted and not containing any ‘bombshells’ such as Spiro Agnew’s Money problems or perhaps even Sarah Palin’s Grandchild out of wedlock that can create easy fodder against one’s ticket.

The obvious out of the way, and assuming all is well with the above criteria, I would consider the Vice President to have the capacity to do one of three things;

1.) Carry their home state: The best example of this in recent times was Bill Clinton’s pick of Al Gore. Clinton, knowing that we could hold New England and the west coast well enough just with the (D) at the end of his name, so he took the battle to some of the lighter shaded red states with an additional southern democrat. And in ‘92 it proved very smart. Aided with a softening of Bush Sr. support from Ross Perot, The Bush/Gore ticket not only carried their home states of Arkansas and Tennessee, but also swung several surrounding, typically republican carried states as well. Perot having less of an impact in ’96 swung a couple back, but the southern impact still help carry Clinton to easy wins in both his elections.

If Mitt chose Portman from Ohio, or Rubio from Florida, or just about anyone from a decent sized swing state, this is probably a factor in his mentality.

2.) Shore up your weaknesses: Barrack Obama by many people was too young and too inexperienced to do the job, and even though he preached a message of hope and change from a relative outsider. He still took this very traditional route in choosing a career politician with decades of political experience as his running mate. Obviously not dissolving the argument again Barrack, but can you imagine the field day Republicans would have had if Barrack had gone with another youthful outsider like Edwards? The Biden pick definitely helped placate some of the concerns that Barrack just had no idea what he was getting into. Meanwhile, Edwards countered the old tired ‘Washington insider’ look that Kerry was trying to shed in a counter to a Bush Dynasty with Cheney puppet master image they were pushing against.

If we see Mitt as an outsider businessman, this thought mentality would lead us to a more established politician, perhaps with a strong military background. Or, perhaps he’ll be trying to address Obama’s push for Latino support has him concerned. A Gov. McDonnell or Representative Hunter from California could carry some military experience, or perhaps a Gov. Martinez for the latter.

3.) Rock Star: Typically the least successful of these three, when you need to make a splash with someone carrying a single resonating message or just to grab some attention to begin with. Imagine any one of the long shot candidates practically waving their arms in the air crying "Look at me! Look at me!". When your opponent seems to have such a good stride that you can’t seem to hold the people’s attention long enough to try and sway their vote. Geraldine Ferraro in ’84 or a Sarah Palin in’08 fit this bill well.

After this statement, you better believe I’d be scared if Mitt went with a Chris Christie or anyone who adds little more than controversy to his ticket.

Who do I think he will pick? Marco Rubio is almost too good to pass up. In his 2010 election bid, he ran an almost purely anti-Obama campaign citing the infamous hug between Crist and Obama. So despite having an ex-Republican run as an independent, Rubio won the state handedly. His Hispanic Background disarms much of the push Obama has been doing recently to woo their vote. He could also put Arizona and Nevada much more into play for the same reason, Though I hate having to lean on race as a reason to vote for anyone. Ultimately, I think this guy is fired up and ready to be a real weapon for the Romney camp.

So who is my pick after all this cogitating? In a perfect world I would like to see him pick Bobby Jindal. His reaction to Katrina shows him to be a no-nonsense type of leader. He could also use this experience to bring up Obama’s leadership during the work done by states in handling this crisis. His Indian roots could disarm some of the anti-immigrant fuel that Obama’s had recently. And aside from his reaction speech to Obama’s '09 State of the Union he is very well spoken. He could help firm up some support in southern states and maybe even give a sliver of an edge to Romney in Florida thanks to his handling of the BP oil spill.

Video: Jindal leaning into the Administration over their support of BP Oil Spill response. It was appearances like this that introduced me to Governor Jindel years ago, and I like what I saw.