Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Barack Obama, The Future, and You







Alright gang, I think we can all agree that it's been a historical day. So far though, you've been passive observers.

It's time to switch roles.

I want to hear your analysis of what's happened today. To that end, please answer the following three questions in complete sentences and to the best of your abilities:

1. How, if at all, will the election of Barack Obama directly effect your life as a high school student in Spokane?

2. Do you feel that the enormous expectations placed on President Obama are unfair? If so, why? If not, why do you believe he's capable of leading the world into an era of unprecedented progress and change?

3. MLK, Obama, and Lincoln. Beyond the obvious ( Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights, America's first black president) what is connection between these three American leaders? Has real progress been made? Is oppression still a part of American life?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. I don't believe that the election and inauguration of Barrack Obama honestly has any direct effect on me whatsoever.

2. I believe that President Obama has made a great deal of "promises" to the American people. If he has any intention of keeping those promises, then he should have no problem meeting the expectations we have placed upon him.

3. Abraham Lincoln made a great contribution to history by fighting a war to free the slaves. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also did his part by helping achieve equal rights for all African Americans. Without these two important and historical figures, there would be little chance if at all, that Barrack Obama would be President. Now even though we all still face oppression in everyday life, I think it's safe to say that we have definately made some progress.

Paul Andrew Gottselig: AKA Slim Shady:
AKA Sick Sense:

JuiceBx said...

1. Obama plans to give the people the people of the United States, even if they are in poverty, will make school and collages possible.

2. To the eyes of Americans, Africans, and everybody else in the world, if you become the Prsident of the United States you automatically become the world's leader. And if you become the world's leader there will be strings attach, leadership to take place and responsabilitys. Obama knew that and he accepted it.

3. MLK and Lincoln fought for the right for the African Americans, but still the African Americans live in difficulty. Oh wait, here comes Obama using his Presidential abilities to make school possible for not only white, Asian, and Arab, but also for the African Americans. Ultimately, these three men stood up for the people. But, oppression still holds us down, if only we join together, we might become the greatest country the world has ever seen.

RULER OF GALAXY said...

I do not know at this time how Obama being elected will effect my life I will have to wait and see. I believe enormous expectations are placed on Obama. People expect him to fix every thing and I don’t believe that is possible but I do believe he can make a big change the question is that change good or bad. I think MLK, Obama, and Lincoln are all great leaders who have or had to lead in really hard times. MLK helped lead the US out of discrimination, Lincoln had to help the US from falling apart, and Obama has to deal with Iraq the current depression and much more.

The dog lets Brandon bark at noon said...

Barack Obama will effect me as a student because he and Biden propose that they will lower the costs of College and also as a main topic they want to focus on making schools better academicaly.

Unless our country is perfect there will be no president that will not inherit problems from prior presidents. I did not support Obama from the beginning but the man kinda grew on me. So with that said I have faith because he sounds like someone who walks the walk and doesn't just talk the talk. He talks about change and becoming a stronger country so I hope that he is sincere.

They all push for the better of the citizens of our proud country America. They strive to acheive that by hard work and persistance. I cant really say that for Obama though only because we haven't seen him DO anything yet. He HAS made very encouraging speaches though. So like I said we'll see what Obama can do and I wish him luck.

NerdySkittles said...

The election will effect my life as a high school student in Spokane because our advisors/teachers will expect more of me as a student and will allow me to succeed in high school mainly because I will be following Obama’s example.
I believe that the expectations that have been placed on President Obama are unfair because you are asking too much of one person. It takes several people to achieve the expectations. I think that anyone is capable of leading the world into an era of unprecedented progress and change if they put there mind to it.
All of them fought for their beliefs and for the rights of all man kind. Also there was a high expectation placed upon all of them. I think that there has been progress and that if we want to continue making progress we need to follow the examples of our leaders. Yes, oppression is still a part American life because if there was no oppression than many of the problems in America would be solved.

Ziggy Warsex said...

the election of barack obama will change my life as a high school student very little. im in my senior year of high school so im almost done. but as my life as a high school student comes to a end my life as an adult has just begun. i dont have any "for sure" posisions on obama but ifeel he has brung about a culteral re-awakening. and not a black cultural awakening or a hispanic or any minority. it has been an awakening on the american spirit. i think this is a new age of america as a whole. personaly im excited about it.

i think that obama has an emence amount of responsibilty and expectations placed on him, but i do not think its not something he asked for. all the expectations for obama are all things he has promissed. he has promised great change should he be elected. on the other hand i believe that america's over bloated view of great change is a problem. i believe alot of americans are expecting to much to fast. i think obama will set a lot of great things in motion, and this new great sense of a greater america, but i do not think alot of his changes will be significant in this four year term.

all three of these people have set in motion an emense amount of change. MLK set his civil rights movment in motion, but its not untill now that we are seeing the effects. Lincoln set in motion the freeing of the slaves and brought america to a whole, but he never realy saw that all men were created equal. the thing im driving home that i think all of these people have in common is that they have set (or will set) a presedented change, but will not get to see the out come.

Unknown said...

First off, I would like to say that today is a great say to be an American, and I believe that change is on our horizon, and that whether or not you supported Obama in his campaign, you should support your president instead of criticizing him.
Now, on the issue of how I think Obama's election will affect my life as a high school student in Spokane, I believe that according to his policies he will remove standardized testing, help with early education, and help me pay for college. I think ditching no child left behind will greatly help increase the quality of our student’s education, by focusing on the content of what we are learning, rather than spending time preparing for tests. I also think that his plan for early childhood is great. As some of you may know my mom evaluates kid’s age birth to three to see if they need special teaching. I think Obama's plan would greatly help detect issues before they become so major, that they cant be helped. As to making college affordable, I think this is an amazing step forward in getting America educated. I personally doubted if I was going to be able to go to college, but now with this plan, college is a much more realistic possibility for me.
Do I feel that the expectations placed on Obama are unfair? Yes. Why? because we all thing that because of his campaign and the fact that he is the first African American president means that he automatically will make huge changes to our country and he just got into office. I think it is way too soon to judge whether or not he will live up to what everyone expects. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
What is the connection between Obama, Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln? Well there is the obvious as stated that they all made huge steps for civil rights, but even further than that, I think they all embody the American dream of equal opportunity. All have risen in the time of need, and strived for justice, and good morals where lacking. They all give, and will continue to give great hope and inspiration to the American people. They all are figures we can look to for guidance. I think these men resemble what we all hope to be. Hopefully Obama will rise up to the enormous expectation that have been placed on him, and even go further.
Today I am proud to say that i am an American, and I hope that my children and my children’s children will be able to say the same.

Ride-Hard said...

1) With the newly elected president Barack Obama in the white house I feel that this will affect me with my future plans by allowing me more opraduntieys for the time to come.
2) No. I don’t think that the enormous expectations placed on President Obama is unfair, the reason for this is he was the one willing to step up to the plate he should be ready to take on any responsibilities ahead.
3) There are several things I see that all the great leaders have in comment.

Space man said...

How, if at all, will the election of Barack Obama directly effect your life as a high school student in Spokane? I’m getting out of school this year so as far as high school Barack can’t effect me as a high school student because he doesn’t have the time to.


Do you feel that the enormous expectations placed on President Obama are unfair? If so, why? If not, why do you believe he's capable of leading the world into an era of unprecedented progress and change? I don’t think it is unfair, if he was not up to being President than he would not be running. I also don’t think he has the capabilities to lead the world into a era of unprecedented progress and change more than any other President would be able to offer.

MLK, Obama, and Lincoln. Beyond the obvious ( Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights, America's first black president) what is connection between these three American leaders? Has real progress been made?
Is oppression still a part of American life?
Other than Lincoln giving the opportunity of equality and MLK presenting equality to the people of the United States that has lead to the opportunity for a none white man/women to be in office. I do not think that Barack has not made any speeches like MLK or Lincoln (yet).

The Number 12 Looks Like Brandon said...

Well, Hopefully Obama will put his college plan into action creating tuition that will be affordable to everyone. A lot of students including myself could really take advantage of such an amazing opportunity. I would fully take control and leave college with my doctorate in pharmaceutical science. That is how Obama would affect my life as a high school student in Spokane.

I feel that there are not any unfair expectations, because as a president you need to prepare for everything and you need to do the best and if you mess up we are all in trouble. So I guess what I am saying is no. it is not unfair to expect the best from our president, he should be the best because that is his job.

MLK, Obama, and Lincoln have one major thing in common, they worked hard to get where they are today. They show with hard work, hope and determination you can do anything. You can show a people that once oppressed those different that we are all the same and we can live in peace and prosperity. YES WE CAN!

Murphs said...

1.As a middle class—for now—high school student in Spokane, President Obama’s election has little effect on me RIGHT NOW. In less than a year, two years, three years, this will probably affect me far more as a legal adult and tax-payer.
2.I do believe that America has unreachable goals they expect from Mr. Obama the moment he’s gotten a little bit settled into office. Mr. Obama has not been granted his pick of X-Men superpowers and immortality now that he’s been inaugurated. I do think that he will, by the end of his four-year term, have set up the framework for all those things we want done NOW, but I don’t think that anybody could solve every single problem we demand he give us answers to, even with eight years.
3.To be quite honest, I don’t see much of a connection between Presidents Lincoln and Obama, because Pres. Obama isn’t of African-American descent like the slaves Pres. Lincoln worked so hard to emancipate. I think all of these leaders—MLK included—have told us that yes we can change things from the way they are now. Yes we can eliminate the blight upon the Union that is slavery. Yes we can have equality for all people, no matter what colour their skin is. Yes we can fix all the things that we find wrong with America.
Oppression isn’t like the speaker here told us, or at least anymore, because before MLK, it was real and visible, which it isn’t any more. Oppression has become a sort of if we don’t talk about it, it isn’t happening occurrence. The government doesn’t censor American journalists like Pres. Lincoln did in the Civil War, but who’s to say that we’re not self-censoring? Don’t cause a fuss. we say. It’ll all be over soon enough.

Unknown said...

1. Obama will have a rather small direct effect on us but the indirect effects that he has on us may be innumerable. Some of these effects will be felt immediately but most will take time to show their faces. These effects are the ones that we will feel the most.
2. I think that the expectations that have been place on him don't differ so much from those placed on his predecessor; George Bush. They both were -more or less- aiming for change in the country. Bush gave the country itself no major change aside from the war. I think that Barrack Obama will keep most of his promises and eventually pull through.
3. While i think that this was a historic day in the history of African-American history, My belief is that Everybody is equal and that he is just a person like the rest of us and that he won the election not because he was black, but because people knew that he would bring upon us the much needed change.

Lolami said...

1. Barack Obama will certainly have an effect on me, though not through some pending “education reform”, but rather, by inspiring me to have a greater political understanding and dynamic attitude toward this country’s future. (This answer really fails to fully address how Obama will directly effect me as a Spokane high school student, but waddaya gonna do...)

2. I think (some of) the American people have a skewed perception of what this MAN is capable of. Though, I too look forward to witnessing how Barack “the Almighty” Obama will ultimately refurbish the ol’ U-S-of-A (I can see it now, Extreme Makeover: Land of Liberty Edition); I find it hard to alleviate my uncertainties. I do feel, however, that this man will act with the utmost tenacity and fortitude; even if some of our goals, though noble, are a little zealous.

3. These three icons embody the very idea of the “American dream”. That a single man, in the pursuit of justice, can over come adversity and redraw the blueprints of what is socially acceptable.

: ) MeLiSsA : ) said...

In Spokane Washington I do not see how it will affect me as an individual. As a student in the United States of America I see a positive future for my college career. I also see a positive turn around for our economy.

In my opinion we have not placed enormous expectations on President Barack Obama. He took his role as the president. Being the president you should know that your roll is to better the US and try to keep the promises that will fulfill the demands of the people of the world.

MLK and Obama would never have been known without Lincoln in my opinion, and I also believe that Obama would not be where he is today without Martian Luther king Jr. I believe real progress has been made, America would be nowhere near it is today without any of these great American leaders.

We Middle East Beasts Plays For Keeps, yoe foows said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
We Middle East Beasts Plays For Keeps, yoe foows said...

Its time for the Mosezlamb to speak some.....words of greatness

1. Obama and any other Presidents have greatly effected all Americans everyday. From the money you earn, taxes you pay, rules you follow and the way you think. The wars he start, continue or end will effect us all. He is our leader and will lead us to a greater America, whether we help him or not. So as an American and a Muslim I am under the command and authority of the leader we choose, so whether you like him or you disagree with his path to the top.....he is going to take us to the top of this mountain even if he has to drag us. He swore to the oath...why shouldn't we? He swore to uphold and defend the Constitution why shouldn’t we…he is an American too?

2. And nothing is usually fair as President. As you can see the past whether you create world peace or save a country there is more we haven't done.....thus making every President ,or most, a failure? No, this is wrong, they are to be judged as Americans, on the grounds of the good they brought in the position they we in, compared to the chaos and evil they indisputably awakened.

3. They all deserve to be honored for the greatness they gave to us and the world. Great men….from a great country.