McCain v. Obama

Over the last week, my sociology class viewed the acceptance speeches of Barack Obama and John McCain. While reading both speeches we were asked to compare and contrast the parts in the speech. This includes words used, policies, and their biographies. Now I will attempt to compare and contrast these two speeches in order to provide a detailed analysis of both candidates.
Both candidates used a variety of words throughout the course of their speeches. For example Obama used McCain’s name a total of 21 times, while McCain used Obama’s name a total of 6 times. But McCain did refer to him without using his name. we were also asked to record how many times each candidate used the following terms; change, fight trust promise and Washington. Senator McCain used these words a total of 179 times. “I” was used 95 times while “promise” was used 4 times. Senator Obama used these words a total of 157 times. “I” was used 68 times while” fight” was used only 6 times.
Next we were asked to record the candidates views on certain issues. From I read the candidates had a lot of the same views and they differed on quite a bit. McCain wants to stop spending 700 billion dollars on foreign oil while Obama wants to spend 150 billion dollars in “affordable energy”. in my opinion 150 billion is not “affordable”. They also differed on what to do about the war in Iraq. McCain states that he wants to keep the troops in Iraq for as long as possible while Obama doesn’t want the war to continue, but he will finish what we have started.
The last item we were required to record was the biographies mentioned in both speeches. McCain first talked about his parents and grandparents and then switched to his involvement in the Vietnam War. While Obama talked mostly about his family and their backgrounds. In my opinion McCain focused on war to much in his biography, maybe he enjoys the subject, or he is trying to play of the countries pity toward him. Hoping that they will side with him because of his past. While Obama, I think, focused on his family rather well. He played on the idea of family and parental involvement. Which can really hit home with a lot of Americans. But in the end it will all come down to the personal opinions of each individual, and they will make the right choice.

Majority to Minority???

Minorities may play a major role in future of the American society. After reading Sam Roberts articles titled “In a Generation, Minorities May Be the U.S. Majority” and “A Nation of None and All of the Above.” Both of these articles gave me serious questions regarding the recent minority shift in the U.S. According to the first article the minorities will soon grow to rival the white majority, which sits at about 79%. But the other article says that the shift may only lead a drop in the white majority from 79 to 74 percent. Which, in the long run, does not seem to be that big a deal. But in my opinion, there needs to be a change in the way minorities are counted. Take for example, the Spanish Americans. There are numerous illegal immigrants in this country. That is a fact. But the kids they have are counted in the census as U.S. citizens. I believe there should be a law requiring them to apply for citizenship, or even be deported back to their parents native country. But there is still a problem about how to get rid of illegal immigrants before this problem grows to large. At the moment we are doing little to cope with this issue.
Now let me shift a little to the legal immigrants that enter this country. As most Americans know, there is no better place than this country. Which is why we should allow immigrants to continue to come as much as possible. Why, because America was founded on immigrants. Look at the founding fathers for example, all of them are just transplanted Englishmen. America was and will always be a safe haven for those who share its ideals. Which is why we should allow immigrants from all over to keep coming and why we should help the illegal immigrants become citizens.