en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/23/0b1a0996c4bf87fb4a9ddc0b83c16853.html
I talked to my mom this past weekend and found out that she barely follows the campaigns. I can't blame her because it's become nothing more than wrestling promo, without the 5* match! What's worse is that the campaigns presented within the parties have descending into this, especially the Democrats. To me this is utterly sad and since the world is watching, I get the feeling that many people feel uneasy about any contenders at this moment.

For Clinton, it's a real disappointment to see her take the low route. Her husband did an excellent job during his election against Bush back in '92. A lot of what Clinton did that was so positive was that he practically ignored Bush whenever Bush attempted to assassinate Clinton's character. Clinton, whether or not he was truthful, would attempt to convey his plans. As a president, that's basically what you need to do. In Hillary's case, she broke down and cried (from what I read) to grab one state.

Hillary, I support the notion of having a female for a president one day, but at this moment, I cannot respect nor believe in a leader who utilizes pathos to gain votes. One, it makes you look weak as a leader to the world. And more importantly it makes you an obvious liar. It's already known that as a politician you're a liar by nature. But you don't have to be an obvious one. It simply insults the public's intelligence and tells me that you're willing to resort to desperate tactics in order to gain victory.

As for Obama, I have no problem supporting him. I feel he's going to be the better candidate in the end. But I think it's completely disrespectful to have someone degenerate these debates into something like the start of a schoolyard fight. The US needs someone better from a moral point of view than that. The country knocked out the Republican party because people grew easily sick of the underhanded tactics that the Democrats had portrayed for many of these people. Don't you think that the country deserves a little respect by focusing exclusively on repairing itself, especially with the upcoming recession?

To both candidates: America and the world need to at least hear concrete plans on how you intend to bring the nation back. The world fears and despises America because of the true terrorist of Bush and what he's done to engender a highly aggressive and prejudice image of America that essentially took the country back to the McCarthy era. We are in the year 2008 and we have learn to grow beyond simple ignorance and prejudice as a global society. Or have we?]]> Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:58:53 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/23/0b1a0996c4bf87fb4a9ddc0b83c16853.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/10/3cb296541f25c2ed6248bd3775405786.html
The thing that's saddest for myself is that I think both candidates end up undermining the Democrat's platform in the end, especially if both candidates perform any negative campaigning. If this were November and we had to go to the ballots right now with both candidates on the list, this wouldn't be an issue. But we still need for the Democrats to make it to November and provide a positive image for the American public and the world to witness.

This campaign is so critical that everyone is watching. People have so many opinions on the subject, simply because Bush fucked the US up really badly. The next 8 years of the world impinges on selecting the correct one. Heck, my next 8 years of my life impinges on the next president. I mean, I'm hoping the next one has enough sense to dismantle the Homeland Shitcurity waste and TSA (Totally Stupid Assholes) agency and focus on getting the nation back on track.

Anybody but Bush is the wrong attitude to have. I think that all of the Republican candidates (except Ron Paul who dropped out) are not qualified to lead the country into 2016. We don't have that much time to rebuild the nation. China and India are catching up. Many allies lost faith in the US and only fear another crazy regime in taking over. Youth is despondent as ever and the kids are growing up dumber while other countries are leading in science and technology. Then you have the ecological issues with Global Warming, resource depletion, the oil crisis and such. Also, you have job losses and crooked finance firms getting away with murder while CEOs depart with the gratitude of multi-million dollar severance packages.

I don't want nor trust a Republican to lead America away from this. So hopefully the next candidate will be strong enough to take on the Republican party and win won for the country rather than a few self-serving people.

Hey Hillary! Why don't you team up with Obama as VP if you lose to him? I think that'd be a killer tag team.]]> Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:56:05 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/10/3cb296541f25c2ed6248bd3775405786.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/19/bd05f8e08962b74f9529bd38a76998ff.html Clinton Says Obama Relies on Words." Hillary should realize what a hypocrite she is by her own words. This type of rhetoric garners no respect from myself, no, I presume, the world at large. Here, we have a case of the squeaky wheel trying to get the grease, but she's just ending up getting more rusted by the day. Here's a message to Hillary: Examine how your husband beat George Bush in 1992 to figure out how to beat Obama.

Bill Clinton attempted to describe what his plans were in as concrete a fashion as possible while his opponent George Bush attempted to negatively paint his character as being dubious. It has been said that Bill Clinton utilized the polls on what people wanted to hear to help him overcome Bush. Apparently during that era, people wanted action after being sick of the Republican dominance starting from the Reagan era. Once again, Hillary should be listening to her people and I think people want a person who will solve key issues like the mortgage crisis, job loss, the stagnating economy, pulling ourselves out of ironic, getting the country out of debt, stemming job losses to outsourcing, dealing with the oil/gas crunch, improving education, improving safety WITHIN the country, paying more respect to people's privacy, doing things to keep America competitive against India and China in the information age, and improving progress in America as a world leader.

Instead, Hillary is coming off like a whiny little bitch for losing.

If Hillary wants to succeed in this election, she cannot be the pot calling the kettle black (oh, she definitely doesn't want to go there with Obama). She needs to be forward thinking, not delving into the childish realm of a pro-wrestling interview match. Austin 3:16 works for Steve Austin and the WWE. The country is suffering and has suffered Republican abuse for the past 8 years, which has caused many people, especially the younger generations a great deal of frustration. Only by concentrating on beating McCain through focusing on how to get America back on track, can the next leader have any hope of winning this coming election.

So Hillary, the world is watching. You've made a lot of mistakes and your losses are a clear indication that people are losing faith in your cheap tactics that only work at a high school prom. Be a woman of the future and start tackling issues, not making the election a matter of personal insults and taking the low, easy road to convince your naysayers that you are the right candidate.

]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:19:37 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/19/bd05f8e08962b74f9529bd38a76998ff.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/3/6/626db519f7108314bc0da96d3bdd84a4.html
My only sorrow is that Obama and Hillary have been clawing at each other rather than focusing on issues. McCain has been intelligent from what I've read in praising his opponents. You really need tact in my book to win over the populace. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock are so late 90's in terms of the interview style. People in the US need the spiritual, mental and emotional healing of a president who's going to be able to execute doing a few major improvements to make the US a real world leader again.

Either way, I honestly hope that if Obama or Hillary loses, they will support each other as the vice president, similar to what Edwards did for Kerry in the 2004 elections. Although in the end that didn't help much, I think the move made a lot of sense in consolidating the best known candidates in an attempt to overthrow the Bush empire. In 2008, with so many people seemingly being passionate about both Obama and Clinton, I think it would an incredibly dramatic, emotional and powerful setting for them to go hand-in-hand against McCain.

In the meantime, I hope both Hillary and Obama put away their shotguns and start focusing internally on their platforms so that they can beat the already focused McCain.]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:08:44 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/3/6/626db519f7108314bc0da96d3bdd84a4.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/8/45fbc33ac6e1901729b768983fe6a61e.html
McCain's platform on the outset seems acceptable, but if you read between the lines on some of his issues, you'll begin to realize that in all honesty, he does not give a shit. On some of the issues regarding the financial crisis, his basic stance is that the market needs to be fixed but wants the market drive the situation.

In other words, he doesn't give a shit and doesn't want to take any responsibility for the fuck ups that will continue to occur without direct government intervention.

America is a horrible wasteland economically and the government needs to step in to do something to correct it. I blame a lot of the fuck ups in the economy on Wallstreet and those greedy asshole white collar criminals that have time and time again fucked over the American people. While millions of Americans are suffering in foreclosing homes, bad credit, over priced gas pumps, inflated merchandise, increased cost of food and on and on and on, these son of a bitch fucks continue to make a buck. And McCain says let the market handle things? If McCain gets his eye, he and the government will continue to turn a blind eye against Wallstreet, not punishing those crooks, especially those CEO bastards making millions of severances, which they don't deserve, and continue moving the market in their favor, shorting any real investment opportunities and creating more chaos. That is going to be McCain's reply as a president with his hands off, I don't give a fuck and I don't want the bloodshed on my hands attitude towards Wallstreet.

Obama has said a lot of the correct things in the campaign and he's going to be massively appealing to the middle class, the youth and the deprived. People this fall will be voting heavily from emotion once gas prices dig deeply into the pocket books, when food prices reach an exorbitant level, when they have to leave their cities for cheaper areas and when they lose their jobs because of the conditions Bush and his cronies have impelled upon the US.

However, there's a huge catch.

Let's say Obama does get November. He'll have a responsibility and expectation of the world on his hands. Can he do it? Can anyone do it?

The expectations are as enumerated (in my opinion):

• Immediate action to lower the gas prices
• A stimulus bill to improve the economy
• Something to curb rising food prices
• Expansion in the job market

Oh, and it doesn't end there. Those are just the expectations that must be completed within the first year. From that we need to address:

• Improving education
• Making America competitive again in as a technological leader
• Ecological friendly policies
• Spending in science and the environment
• Repairing the massive black eye Bush has painted across the US in the face of the world
• Getting the troops to come back from Iraq
• Re-diverting the misguided war funds back into the infrastructure of the US
• Getting the perpetually promised and never delivered universal health care for Americans
• Addressing the H1-B visa issues
• Enforcing policies against automakers to quickly improve standards in the face of the gas crisis
• Going after the Republican fucks (namely Cheney) who have been helping and hiding all the funds with their oil and Wallstreet butt buddies
• Making Americans feel safe again internally
• Doing something about the horrible airport crisis (hopefully by dismantling the TSA and Homeland Security)
• Making food safe again

And of course, this is probably just scratching the surface of what needs to be immediately addressed.

What I meant by the catch was that if the president cannot fulfill these expectations soon, the world and the American people will shun American politics. American politics and politicians will become a bigger joke. You will no longer be able to depend on the government for anything and soon the government will lose almost all power in terms of faith as people will turn to mega corporations to support them or hide on isolated farms in fear of a domestic/civil war that was partly alluded during the Katrina Hurricane disaster.

This is how critical the 2008 election is.

It's not just about personalities. It's about the world and the US government in one of the most meaningful stakes because people just are sick of what's going on. I hope both candidates realize that. I certainly hope Obama not only realizes the stakes in this, but will do everything in his power to help the American people. I don't want to see hidden agendas emerge two or three years down the line where false promises were delivered and nothing would be done. And I think most people feel the same way.]]> Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:46:22 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/8/45fbc33ac6e1901729b768983fe6a61e.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/28/64269dbcf30a4df436f9fc779abb8d16.html
Of course, at that time I was supporting Hillary. Big mistake back then. She's a cougar, much like her husband. Maybe more so by comparison. But that's all finished as the Clintons officially endorsed Obama the other day.

Now, we get to the interesting part. We've got another three months to go before things really heat up. But more importantly, Obama's slogans of change must now be concretely defined. A roadmap must be drawn. Many articles online are focusing on this part of the campaign. So far, we've heard rallies for appealing towards pathos, but hardly any for logos.

What Obama has to do is guarantee things. People don't really want to be disappointed, so you have to be concrete and realistic on what's possible. What can Obama guarantee for the American people that's a clear benefit for them?

Unfortunately, what I fear is coming up is going to be a war on age vs skin color. Neither really have any relevance in 2008. But both sides will assault each other or appeal those secular audiences in trying to get the votes.

Again, I prefer definitive statements. I want to know how much tax money will be spent. Or how much money will be devoted towards space exploration, education and energy renewal. Or fixing the completely broken TSA and Homeland Security offices. These are areas that concern me. But it's hard to see at this point what really will happen.]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:37:46 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/28/64269dbcf30a4df436f9fc779abb8d16.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/30/14790b7397ab5d91acac2aa0f9dbbc52.html
However, the choice by McCain is probably going to be his death knell. I read an interesting comment comparing Palin to Dan Quayle. Well, I think McCain's choice is far worse than Quayle for himself because Palin is a woman. It's painfully obvious that McCain wants to respond to the power Obama-Biden bill in presenting an option for change. But this is the clearly the wrong candidate. McCain's choice was to placate conservatives and those wanting change. Shes' unknown though and she's just a typical conservative with a gender disguise.

In the end though, when you balance things out, the age and gender factor will weaken McCain's side and kill his chances of winning the election. Obama's campaigning is just far too strong, imo. I don't favor Joe Biden for the record, but Obama's side seems far more well rounded.

McCain's campaign is just more of the same. It's the ancient face of America. Obama is just sophisticated, cool and now (minus Biden). Truthfully though, neither group is ideal for me, but we'll have to wait and see.]]> Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:25 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/30/14790b7397ab5d91acac2aa0f9dbbc52.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/9/2/55703dcd7c3becf188403a229998baa9.html
As I mentioned in my previous article, McCain and the Republican's chief purpose in assigning a woman was to attract young and disillusioned voters by demonstrating that an old guy with an old party can easily change course. Now with this latest scandal in the eyes of the media, McCain's party certainly has hit a quick stumbling block, only a few days after Palin's announcement.

However, Palin absolutely cannot drop out of this situation nor can McCain drop her. It would make their entire campaign look weak and demonstrate that McCain and the Republican party's choices are not sound ones. Certainly, McCain was correct in stating that the media's attention has been grossly unfair towards them. But this is not a trivial matter as we're dealing with one of the most important elections in the history of America. So every detail and every issue will crop up as voters truly examine the candidates moves on the chessboard.

Just over on Yahoo, I spotted Obama immediately addressing the situation as calling Palin's daughter's situation "off limits." To me, this is Obama attempting to intercede and project a "good guy" image (whether he's sincere or not is a different story). But naturally, he's trying to turn the situation into a plus for him by posing as someone with some morals (we're talking politicians people!). Just like that, you're giving easy points to someone who's going to sweep up as many as he can to ensure 100% victory in November.

Yet, we're still at the beginning and about 2-3 months away. This isn't looking hot for McCain and I think the media themselves are taking a bias against the Republican party. Of course, we still have the electoral college to screw things up. But at least from the overall picture, I would say Obama has some nice points over McCain just on this issue alone.]]> Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:28:02 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/9/2/55703dcd7c3becf188403a229998baa9.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/9/13/8826d2f3cfab76f2c94dfad80e2f6c3f.html
Obama had mentioned:

"(He) fundamentally thinks this is a real reminder of the bad decisions made both on Wall Street and Washington and the need to modernize our financial regulatory structure to prevent these types of problems."

But what does he mean exactly by "the need to modernize our financial regulatory structure?" These words are vague and demonstrate no concrete forward thinking as to exactly how to handle the crisis. Yes, Wallstreet is to blame. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows that Wallstreet is filled with crooks and nepotism. But that does mean that we need a concrete plan for pulling the banks and the people losing their money out of this situation.

McCain's crew said little more than:

"I have not heard of any proposal for taxpayer money (to be used) ... and obviously that would be something that is not anyone's first choice."

Well, naturally 99% of American citizens would be upset at bailing out a bunch of rich crooks. Yet at the heart of this statement is no concrete plan.

I did some reading the other night about the Great Depression. It's interesting to see what America did to partly bail itself out. One of the most critical aspects was heavily regulating Wallstreet. Apparently, many of those regulations were lifted in the 70's and 80's. One has to wonder how much money these people put into politicians' pockets to get those regulations lifted.

Still, if we're heading into a depression, the first we should do is restrict Wallstreet. I see Wallstreet as being too dangerous of a place to be the sole indicator of people's lives. You can't just let a bunch of money grubbing crooks being allowed to dictate the course of American's lives.

Partly, I think you gotta change the way people are allowed to make money on Wallstreet. Everything should be impartially driven, completely automated by computer systems (it will be but that's a slow movement). Remaining traders should have limits imposed in terms of the money they make. Analysts should not be allowed to work for the securities firms directly. In fact, there should be limits on how much money they make as well. Then you have the executives. You need to impose a lot of restrictions on their power. Prevent them from giving themselves raises, things like that. Anything to prevent corruption by greed. That's the key in controlling Wallstreet.

The biggest problem with Wallstreet is that it's a game and people bend the rules all the time by creating new rules to their advantage or slithering between holes. I see investment banking/Wallstreet as something where companies use to fund their companies to grow and where people can use invested money for retirement. The problems in Wallstreet occur when investment becomes gambling. You stop treating investment as a long term plan and transmorgrify it into a short term speculation.

Top to bottom, you have to investigate the way these places are done. The housing crisis should not have occurred because both home owners and lenders got greedy in seeing a chance to develop a non-existent market. The thing is that these people are financially trying to make money in new areas wherever possible. But there are limits to growth. Perhaps that's where a true regulatory body needs to step in and say, "Hey, here's the true market cap. Here's a hard restriction." Prevent bubbles from overexpanding. Use hard numbers based on real income, population, etc. to derive how much a sector is worth. Then cap it to prevent the bubble from bursting.

At any rate, neither candidate leaves me much confidence for the future of America with regards to the financial crisis. Hopefully, more Americans read between the lines when they vote. Actually, I hope that Americans won't vote at all to protest the fact that both candidates can't even handle a major situation like this.]]> Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:31:00 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/9/13/8826d2f3cfab76f2c94dfad80e2f6c3f.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/9/16/5812b9b85ffb591cd3e3e6d397e47a3a.html
After the Enron mess, CEOs and CFOs now are fully accountable for their actions in corporate fraud. The whole meltdown of Lehman indicates the smoke and mirror tricks that allowed these people to make millions off of unsuspecting people. Right now, according to my friend, all the upper management in Lehman Brothers are in hiding. I bet right now, they're shifting their money and other assets overseas in Swiss bank accounts.

I think Obama's immediate policy ought to be finding these corporate crooks and persecuting them. I think the democrats and next president ought to freeze all these people's assets (everyone not just the CEOs and CFOs, but the upper management and traders that exploited this system), throw these people in jail, and redistribute their assets/money to the public in the form of a tax reimbursement. If you want to know about how to fund your tax relief, there you go!

In the case of Enron, one group was affected. In the case of a company like Lehman, we're talking global. Same with these other big finance companies. Funny how the feds are willing to bail them out but they weren't willing to bail out the dot coms.

Well, Obama just needs to pin the real face of the American enemy as the greedy corporate white collar crooks. Now, you have someone to verbally beat up in rallying the American middle class.]]> Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:45:48 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/9/16/5812b9b85ffb591cd3e3e6d397e47a3a.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/11/10/74c4889aba73f209f353bbfa36fe1b1a.html
Well, then again they might've planned the whole thing in one night....which is honestly the more likely of scenarios.]]> Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:28:07 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/11/10/74c4889aba73f209f353bbfa36fe1b1a.html