election 2008

Councilman Expounds on Election’s Signiﬁcance

Brian Karlovitz — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

John Liu, New York City Councilman (D-Queens), spoke in Rockefeller Hall on Saturday, warming another frigid Ithacan afternoon with hopeful talk of a new era in American politics.

The first Asian American legislator in the history of New York State, Liu currently chairs the New York City Council’s Transportation Committee, one of its most influential bodies. The committee oversees the city’s mass transportation agencies and facilities.

Liu discussed the 2008 elections in terms of voter mobilization, race and international impact. He emphasized the historic significance of Barack Obama’s successful campaign for the presidency.

Dartmouth Undergrad Defeats Incumbent in N.H. County Treasurer Election

The Associated Press — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:38:36 -0500

HAVERHILL, N.H. (AP) — A county treasurer who lost her bid for a fourth term last week to a 20-year-old Dartmouth College student from Montana blames her failed candidacy on "brainwashed college kids."

Republican Carol Elliott said students just voted for the Democratic ticket, which included Dartmouth junior Vanessa Sievers. Sievers won by nearly 600 votes out of 42,000 cast after targeting voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University through a $42 ad on the Web site Facebook.

"It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference," Elliott, 66, told the Valley News of Lebanon. She said she had little faith that Sievers will fulfill her duties adequately.

It’s Hip to Be a Patriot

Laura Temel — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Americans love to feel good about themselves. The exhaustive yearning to connect with our leadership, our ideals, and our capabilities has been a primary driver of American electoral and cultural politics, and is perhaps one of our country’s greatest narratives. In the face of domestic or foreign adversity, Americans thirst to rid themselves of national self-doubt and to unify around national pride, the eternal stimulant of the American people. Such a mentality seems quite apposite since last Tuesday’s election as our generation — Generation Y — now finds itself at the helm of a resurgence of the ultimate restorative device: patriotism.

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s … A Ban on Gay Marriage!

Ariela Rutkin-Becker — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Okay, so the mandatory intro is that last week millions of people celebrated Barack Obama’s victory. My former students in Egypt sent me emails saying, “Congratulations for the best election.” My partner, celebrating in New York City, was accosted on the street by a bawling man who proclaimed, “It was a vote by the people and their voice was heard — their voice was heard!”

And indeed the voice — and the celebration of millions of voices all over the world — was a raucous one. The significance of an Obama presidency can not be over-emphasized. But I can’t help thinking of what else the people voted for. The sound of those Californian voices who voted yes on Proposition 8 keep ringing in my head and drowning out the exuberant ones.

Mr. Obama Goes to Washington

Shaun Werbelow — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

If there was any cold blood, it was impossible to tell. This past Monday marked another step in the symbolic changing of the guard, as President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush welcomed President-Elect Barack Obama and First Lady to be Michelle Obama to the traditional tour of the White House. Although President Bush was the focus of continual criticism by Senator Obama, and despite President Bush’s publicly announced belief that Senator Clinton would be the Democratic nominee, both men were all smiles when they posed together outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This is Not a Post-Election Column

Andrea Girardin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Breathe easy, my comrades. You will not be forced to read about the dreaded E-word while pretending to pay attention in your Friday morning lecture. There will be no mention of Obama, McCain, Palin, or Biden, no mention of booths, or fraud, or turnout, or analysis — well, except those mentions.

All of you who survived the last week of campaign coverage without having an epileptic fit deserve a federal tax credit for therapy and Xanax.

I know the CNN “first polls close” ticker nearly took me out. I kept mistaking it for a countdown to the apocalypse.

But I made it through, baby.

And I voted. I voted in my first general election.

I Want My Gay Asian President NOW!

John-David Brown — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

By now we’re all aware that Change has swept the nation, but more importantly the last few weeks have brought great change in my life. I’m fully prepared to acknowledge the historic quality of the election, but I bombed my LSAT, I’m getting a job, and I’m moving to New York for a few years. America elected a black liberal president, and I lost my right to get married in my home state of California. I don’t know what is wreaking more havoc on my inner thighs — the LSAT or Prop 8. I’m not going to law school next year, and I’m not getting married. To be fair, I don’t have a promising candidate for husband at the moment, but I’d at least like to maintain the option of getting drunk in L.A. and marrying a call boy.

McCain’s Redemption

Elizabeth Manapsal — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:31:33 -0500

Though we here at Muckraking for Pennies are delighted to see Obama as the President-Elect, we hope that his massive electoral win will not go to his head. Many a ruler has fallen when his pride and arrogance gets to his head and we would hate to see the man who united the country last night succumb to such follies. But given his behavior up to this point, we have hope he will shift America in the right direction.

But in other news, McCain has already begun repairing his tarnished image, starting with his concession speech last night.

Profs Guess What Obama Will Do As President

Brendan Doyle — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Mere hours after Barack Obama’s victory, Cornell professors analyzed the policies and plans of the president-elect, converging in yesterday’s conference “Now that they’ve won, what will they do?” in Goldwin Smith.

Sponsored by the Cornell in Washington program and moderated by Cornell in Washington director Prof. Robert Hutchens, industrial and labor relations, the conference was the brainchild of Prof. Theodore Lowi, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions and a longtime collaborator of the Cornell in Washington program. Forward thinking: Prof. Richard Booth, city and regional planning, and Prof. Theodore Lowi, government, speak about Obama’s presidency yesterday in Goldwin Smith.

The View From Crawford, Tex.

Tony Manfred — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The soon to be former president, reduced to a punch line, an abstraction McCain ducked and Obama abused, slithers back to Crawford in tatters this January. Lost in the dust storm of Obama and his many millions of supporters stampeding toward Washington to reclaim a country they once loved is the departure of the bumbling Texan, our president, George W. Bush.

Finally, the end. Away with the destroyer of freedom and humility and the virtuous America. Be gone, creator of chaos and starvation and shame. The day is here at long last. The king is dead! Rejoice!

Yes We Did

Ted Hamilton — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country,” Michelle Obama said a few months back as she discussed her husband’s candidacy. The remark inspired a wave of outrage in the popular press. But after Tuesday night, I know just what she meant.

We’ve elected a black man as president of the United States. Go ahead, pinch yourself. From now on, the rules of the game have changed.

Who would have thought this moment could come so soon? Who would have thought that amidst the post-9/11 jingoism and chest-thumping we could elect someone with a name like Barack Hussein Obama? Who would have thought that after eight years of waterboarding, wiretaps and war the United States could do something to make the world proud?

Obama’s Gain is Our Own

Cody Gault — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

This past Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 11 p.m. EST, the land slid tectonically; a centuries-old structure of exclusion crumbled; and the global political landscape changed forever: Barack Obama was decisively elected President of the United States.

People around the world celebrated in caves, shanties, apartment buildings and castles alike. They hugged in cobblestone streets, they cheered in pubs, they cried together in crowds of people whom they didn’t know personally but with whom they shared the most personal of feelings: the once-elusive feeling of hope.

They looked on in admiration as Americans elected the first world leader.

We live in a world where bad mortgage lending practices in the United States can cause an 11 percent one-day drop on Japan’s stock exchange.

Obama Triumphs Over McCain to Win Presidency

The Associated Press — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:42:29 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) swept to victory as the nation's first black president last night in an Electoral College landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. “Change has come,” he told a jubilant hometown Chicago crowd estimated at nearly a quarter-million people.

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Sen. John McCain (R-Ill.) in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Iowa and more. He captured Virginia, too, the first candidate of his party in 44 years to do so.

Election Excitement Grips C.U., Ithaca

Venus Wu — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Obamania erupted in Collegetown just after 11 p.m. as Barack Obama was declared the next president of the United States. People poured out of bars and crowded the streets as they soaked in the historic moment.

“It’s crazy, oh my God,” Leslie Tseng ’10 said. “Everyone is running up and down Dryden Road, yelling ‘Barack Obama’ and setting off fireworks.”

It was a time of unbridled celebration across campus.

“After McCain conceded, everyone was on cell phones, smiling and screaming. Everyone was really happy and the atmosphere was great,” Claudia Mattos ’11 said.Obamania

Analog Voting

Meghan Hess — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Obama Wins!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease in a landslide victory. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Election Day 2008

Jennifer Vargas — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Democrats Take State Seats

Sun Staff — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Democrats were victorious in both houses of Congress last night, securing seats that would back president-elect Barack Obama upon his inauguration. Marking a major shift in power in New York, the Democratic Party will hold 26 of the 29 seats in the House of Representatives, in addition to at least 32 of 62 seats in the State Senate.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) was elected to serve his ninth term in the 22nd district, which includes Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions. He defeated Republican George Phillips, a history teacher in Binghamton. In an informal lunch meeting at Cornell last month, Hinchey — one of 288 to reject the $700 billion bailout bill in September — addressed the current financial crisis.

Live Blogging Election Day 2008

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:22:56 -0500

Follow our live blog here throughout the day for updates on the final day of the 2008 presidential campaign. The first polls close at 7 p.m. eastern, but check in throughout the day for exit polls and other news from around Ithaca. We'll be following the results throughout the night, so stay tuned!

The Sun's full election day coverage can be found online here.

12:23 am by Mike Wacker:

Well, that about wraps it up for me. I've got a CS 3810 prelim at 9:05 a.m. and a CS 6820 midterm due at 10 p.m.; I should probably get to work on those.

A Look Back: The Sun’s History of Endorsements

Michael Stratford — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

College students across the country today will overwhelmingly support Senator Barack Obama’s nomination for presidency, according to nearly every measure of political support.

A recent poll of Cornell students’ preferences unsurprisingly confirmed that students here would not be an anomaly to the national trend. When The Sun’s editorial board endorsed Obama last week, it similarly conformed to a national trend.

Of the college newspapers that UWire, a college wire news service, surveyed, Obama received more endorsements than his rival Senator John McCain by an 86 to 2 margin.

The Daily Mississippian at the University of Mississippi and the Mesa State Criterion at Mesa State College in Colorado were the only two college newspapers in UWire’s survey to support McCain.