by Bill O'Connell on November 8, 2010
As is the case every ten years we take a census of the population of the United States, as required by the Constitution. After the census is taken the seats in the House of Representatives are shuffled to accommodate for shifts in population between the states.
So what does this all mean? In a previous post focusing on the Senate we showed that currently twenty-one Democrats and two independents who caucus (meet and generally vote with) the Democrats will be facing election in 2012 compared to only ten Republicans. In the House, everyone is up for re-election every two years. So after picking up 60 seats, or thereabouts as some races still haven’t been decided, where do the two parties start off as a result of reapportionment? Although final numbers won’t be in until December, it doesn’t look good for the Democrats.
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by Bill O'Connell on October 2, 2009
The Obama international charm offensive seems to be wearing thin. As the first U.S. President to ever lobby to win an Olympic Games, President Obama failed in his effort as Chicago was eliminated in the first round. The Olympic ideal was to divorce sports and politics and by doing so, promote peace by having athletes from around the world meet on a one-to-one basis and see each other as individuals rather than as the countries they represented.
Although Hitler used the 1936 Olympic Games to showcase the revitalized Germany, it was Jimmy Carter who was the first to directly use the Games for political purposes when he pulled the U.S. team from competing in Moscow in 1980, to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. There’s nothing like punishing your own young athletes who perhaps worked a lifetime for the opportunity to compete in an Olympic Games and perhaps never get another chance. The Soviet’s returned the favor four years later by boycotting the Games in Los Angeles in 1984.
Let’s go back to the ideal of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who help found the modern Olympic Games:
May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.
So let’s leave the Olympic Games to the athletes and perhaps now, President Obama can get back to work.
