What are the Key Factors for Victory in the 2008 Presidential Election?

[WarPhalange]

To assert that the free market failed, one has to show that there was one active in the first place, or at least to what extent. The only conclusion I can draw so far from your posts is that anywhere excess, corruption, thievery (or Republicans) exist then one by definition has a 'free-market'.

Right. I'm sure that if banks were told "Do whatever you want." they would have suddenly stopped those bad practices and become good honest businesses.

 

[Astronuc]

This is an interesting analysis of Palin and McCain by Frank Rich.
Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/opinion/05rich.html

SARAH PALIN’S post-Couric/Fey comeback at last week’s vice presidential debate was a turning point in the campaign. But if she “won,” as her indulgent partisans and press claque would have it, the loser was not Joe Biden. It was her running mate. With a month to go, the 2008 election is now an Obama-Palin race — about “the future,” as Palin kept saying Thursday night — and the only person who doesn’t seem to know it is Mr. Past, poor old John McCain.

To understand the meaning of Palin’s “victory,” it must be seen in the context of two ominous developments that directly preceded it. Just hours before the debate began, the McCain campaign pulled out of Michigan. That state is ground zero for the collapsed Main Street economy and for so-called Reagan Democrats, those white working-class voters who keep being told by the right that Barack Obama is a Muslim who hung with bomb-throwing radicals during his childhood in the late 1960s.

McCain surrendered Michigan despite having outspent his opponent on television advertising and despite Obama’s twin local handicaps, an unpopular Democratic governor and a felonious, now former, black Democratic Detroit mayor. If McCain can’t make it there, can he make it anywhere in the Rust Belt?

Not without an economic message. McCain’s most persistent attempt, his self-righteous crusade against earmarks, collapsed with his poll numbers. Next to a $700 billion bailout package, his incessant promise to eliminate all Washington pork — by comparison, a puny grand total of $16.5 billion in the 2008 federal budget — doesn’t bring home the bacon. Nor can McCain reconcile his I-will-veto-government-waste mantra with his support, however tardy, of the bailout bill. That bill’s $150 billion in fresh pork includes a boondoggle inserted by the Congressman Don Young, an Alaskan Republican no less.
. . . .
That was then. Now McCain is looking increasingly shaky, whether he’s repeating his “Miss Congeniality” joke twice in the same debate or speaking from notecards even when reciting a line for (literally) the 17th time (“The fundamentals of our economy are strong”) or repeatedly confusing proper nouns that begin with S (Sunni, Shia, Sudan, Somalia, Spain). McCain’s “dismaying temperament,” as George Will labeled it, only thickens the concerns. His kamikaze mission into Washington during the bailout crisis seemed crazed. His seething, hostile debate countenance — a replay of Al Gore’s sarcastic sighing in 2000 — didn’t make the deferential Obama look weak (as many Democrats feared) but elevated him into looking like the sole presidential grown-up.
. . . .
In the last of her Couric interview installments on Thursday, Palin was asked which vice president had most impressed her, and after paying tribute to Geraldine Ferraro, she chose “George Bush Sr.” Her criterion: she most admires vice presidents “who have gone on to the presidency.” Hours later, at the debate, she offered a discordant contrast to Biden when asked by Gwen Ifill how they would each govern “if the worst happened” and the president died in office. After Biden spoke of somber continuity, Palin was weirdly flip and chipper, eager to say that as a “maverick” she’d go her own way.

But the debate’s most telling passage arrived when Biden welled up in recounting his days as a single father after his first wife and one of his children were killed in a car crash. Palin’s perky response — she immediately started selling McCain as a “consummate maverick” again — was as emotionally disconnected as Michael Dukakis’s notoriously cerebral answer to the hypothetical 1988 debate question about his wife being “raped and murdered.” If, as some feel, Obama is cool, Palin is ice cold. She didn’t even acknowledge Biden’s devastating personal history.
. . . .

It seems Palin is very eager to move into the Whitehouse, as if she is expecting/anticipating McCain would not to complete his term.

 

[LowlyPion]

This is an interesting analysis of Palin and McCain by Frank Rich.
Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/opinion/05rich.html
It seems Palin is very eager to move into the Whitehouse, as if she is expecting/anticipating McCain would not to complete his term.

That certainly is in line with my thinking. Basically Palin looked to advance herself and not McCain. And she didn't do that really at all, so much as salvage her chippy failing campaign from cratering right there on stage at Washington University.

As it is I think her descent has merely been slowed to let her last just another 30 days before trundling off back to Wasilla to take care of her family and try to think up ways to salvage her flagging reputation in Alaska.

 

[WhoWee]

Does everyone else have a cable channel devoted to Obama 24 hours a day...I'm not making a commentary about CNN...I mean the Obama channel...#73 on my Direct TV system...I live in Ohio.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Nope. Golly gee willickers, [wink wink], I get my news from God. He talks to mavericks like me directly.

 

[Astronuc]

Does everyone else have a cable channel devoted to Obama 24 hours a day...I'm not making a commentary about CNN...I mean the Obama channel...#73 on my Direct TV system...I live in Ohio.

That's a bit too much!

 

[LowlyPion]

Does everyone else have a cable channel devoted to Obama 24 hours a day...I'm not making a commentary about CNN...I mean the Obama channel...#73 on my Direct TV system...I live in Ohio.

The only dedicated 24/7 political infomercial station in my area is Fox.

Besides I thought ESPN HD was 73.

 

[LowlyPion]

I thought this was a good retort:

"If we are going to go down this road, you know, Barack Obama was eight years old, somehow responsible for Bill Ayers," he said. "At 58, John McCain was associating with Charles Keating."

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/2008/10/05/D93KH8282_obama/index.html

 

[WhoWee]

Nope. Golly gee willickers, [wink wink], I get my news from God. He talks to mavericks like me directly.

I took the family out for lunch yesterday to a local restaurant...and everyone was talking politics.

Some of the people quoted what they heard from the Obama channel as gospel...which caused me to watch...for a few minutes.

I'm not joking...Obama bought all of the programming slots on a local access channel...24/7 Obama infomercials.

 

[Astronuc]

October 5, 2008
Economic Unrest Shifts Electoral Battlegrounds
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY

The turmoil on Wall Street and the weakening economy are changing the contours of the presidential campaign map, giving new force to Senator Barack Obama’s ambitious strategy to make incursions into Republican territory, while leading Senator John McCain to scale back his efforts to capture Democratic states.

Mr. Obama has what both sides describe as serious efforts under way in at least nine states that voted for President Bush in 2004, including some that neither side thought would be on the table this close to Election Day. In a visible sign of the breadth of Mr. Obama’s aspirations, he is using North Carolina — a state that Mr. Bush won by 13 percentage points in 2004, and where Mr. Obama is now spending heavily on advertisements — as his base to prepare this weekend for the debate on Tuesday.

By contrast, Mr. McCain is vigorously competing in just four states where Democrats won in 2004: Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, followed by Wisconsin and Minnesota. His decision last week to pull out of Michigan reflected in part the challenge that the declining economy has created for Republicans, given that they have held the White House for the last eight years.

But Mr. McCain’s abrupt decision, which caught many members of his own party by surprise, also underlined the tactical political squeeze he finds himself in: by using his fund-raising advantage to compete in so many places, Mr. Obama has forced Mr. McCain to spend money to hold on in what had been viewed as safe Republican states, like Indiana and Missouri, while limiting Mr. McCain’s ability to play offense on Democratic turf.

Mr. Obama now has a solid lead in states that account for 189 electoral votes, and he is well positioned in states representing 71 more electoral votes, for a total of 260, according to a tally by The New York Times, based on polls and interviews with officials from both campaigns and outside analysts. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Mr. McCain has solid leads in states with 160 electoral votes and is well positioned in states with another 40 electoral votes, according to the Times tally, for a total of 200. Just six states representing 78 electoral votes — Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia — are tossups.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html
http://www.politico.com/convention/swingstate.html

 

[Gokul43201]

The separation is blowing up ... but it's close to hitting saturation from the Obama side (just as it approached saturation from the McCain side some 3 weeks ago).

Electoral maps (Obama/McCain):

                     AGGREGATES OF CURRENT POLLS                 |     PROJECTIONS
                                                                 |
Date      RCP1     RCP2     CNN   Elec-Vote  USAtlas-A  Pollster | Elec-Proj  USAtlas-P   
                                                                      
06/21   238/163  289/249  211/194  317/194    271/191            |  349/189    298/240
06/26   238/163  317/221  211/194  317/194    288/180            |  338/200    298/240 
07/01   238/163  304/234  231/194  317/221    268/180            |  338/200    293/245 
07/06   238/163  304/234  231/194  320/218    268/177            |  338/200    293/245
07/11   238/163  304/234  231/194  320/215    268/188            |  306/232    293/245
07/16   255/163  304/234  231/194  320/204    268/177            |  311/227    293/245
07/21   255/163  322/216  231/194  312/199    268/172   293/214  |  298/240    293/245
07/26   238/163  322/216  221/189  292/195    264/175   284/147  |  338/200    298/240
08/11   238/163  322/216  221/189  289/236    264/202   284/157  |  298/240    293/245
08/21   228/174  264/274  221/189  264/261    264/210   260/191  |  264/274    293/245
08/26   228/174  273/265  221/189  273/252    259/210   260/176  |  273/265    293/245
09/06   238/174  273/265  243/189  301/224    259/194   260/179  |  278/260    293/245                                                                           
09/16   207/227  286/252  233/189  247/257    216/246   243/219  |  273/265    273/265
09/26   228/163  286/252  240/200  286/252    264/185   229/174  |  273/265    273/265
10/01   249/163  348/190  250/189  286/190    264/185   250/174  |  273/265    273/265 
10/06   264/163  353/185  250/189  329/194    316/174   260/163  |  364/174    273/265

This is showing all the signs of a metastable bubble. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes through a bit of a deflation over the next few days, but I believe it'll take something pretty big to swing the pendulum the other way.

 

[LowlyPion]

I'm not joking...Obama bought all of the programming slots on a local access channel...24/7 Obama infomercials.

You mean as opposed to having Fox run 24/7 for the last how many years now?

Have you caught the really vicious Hannity's America hour long "Special Report" that tries to paint Obama as tied to black extremists, Central American Communists, the Weather Underground of course, Mortgage fraud, Voter Fraud and every Radical and Racist point in between? They have been airing a financial crisis report that attempts to portray McCain as doing nothing but support regulation and oversight while they fail to mention his unethical intercessions in the regulatory process for his pal Charles Keating. Not to mention his life-long support from the banking lobby as he pushed for the low level of oversight we are now reaping the rewards of. As if that isn't enough they blame Barney Frank and Chris Dodd for everything now - even though Republicans have been in the driver's seat this past decade?

If McCain were a product or a prescription drug for sale, the FCC or the FDA or the FTC would likely have shut down their dedicated Right Wing infomercial, that gives no disclaimer, a long time ago. But not under Bush I can only note.

 

[LowlyPion]

Obama 50% - McCain 42%
Includes interviews from after the VP Debate.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110974/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Leads-50-42.aspx

 

[Gokul43201]

Trends in some of the key states over the last month - see attachment.

Source: pollster.com

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Trends in some of the key states over the last month - see attachment.

Source: pollster.com

Wow! But I'm still holding my breath for the next 29 days.

I think the best interpretation of the "Obama the terrorist" strategy comes from Republican strategist Mike Murphy: Obama will take a hit, short term, but in a week or two, the impact will be insignificant. If we had nothing more important to worry about, then this might get traction, but the fundamentals - the economy, the price of gas, jobs, retirement investments, the price of milk, the value of homes, fear - are controlling the discussion. You can't spin these into a debate about gay marriage, or flag burning, or who knew whom, and when, for long.

Voter registration is ending in many States.

Worth a watch
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=1903805#post1903805

 

[Astronuc]

Wow! But I'm still holding my breath for the next 29 days.

I think the best interpretation of the "Obama the terrorist" strategy comes from Republican strategist Mike Murphy: Obama will take a hit, short term, but in a week or two, the impact will be insignificant. If we had nothing more important to worry about, then this might get traction, but the fundamentals - the economy, the price of gas, jobs, retirement investments, the price of milk, the value of homes, fear - are controlling the discussion. You can't spin these into a debate about gay marriage, or flag burning, or who knew whom, and when, for long.

You left out reduced veterans benefits and health care, care of the Republican-controlled congress and Bush administration, who want to save money, and give tax breaks to the wealthy.

Bottom line - if you don't want to pay for a war, don't start one!


Warning on cuts in veterans' health care
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/351170_veterans14.html?source=mypi
Senators oppose Bush proposal
By JENNIFER A. DLOUHY, HEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- Democratic senators warned Wednesday that a Bush administration proposal to cut VA medical center construction funding and boost prescription drug co-payments would be devastating to former service members.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the proposals -- part of the Bush administration's budget request for fiscal 2009 -- "would close the VA's door to thousands of our nation's veterans."

Murray's comments came during a hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which was reviewing President Bush's requested budget.

Bush has asked Congress to spend $93.7 billion on veterans -- $3.4 billion more than the current fiscal year. The extra money includes higher spending on the health care of veterans returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs anticipates treating 333,000 veterans from the current conflicts in fiscal 2009 -- 40,000 more than expected this year.

Bush would pay for some of the increase by slashing in half the spending on VA construction projects -- from $1.1 billion this year to $587 million in fiscal 2009.

At least two projects at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in the Seattle area would lose funding under Bush's plan -- a $43 million project to make a nursing building meet current seismic standards and the construction of a mental health services building, which carries a price tag of $178 million.

McCain Myth Buster Day 3: John McCain and Veterans' Health Care
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS183681+15-Feb-2008+PRN20080215

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After casting himself as a
"Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President
Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the
ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously
abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in
a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in
2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee
will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

Today's McCain Myth: John McCain can be trusted to stand up for veterans and
military families.

Throughout this campaign, John McCain has relied on the support of fellow
veterans and promised to make veterans' health care his "top domestic
priority." [Associated Press, 12/12/07] In reality, John McCain has
consistently put his campaign ahead of veterans and military families by
pandering to the right wing of his Party on tax cuts.

Faced with a choice between joining Democrats in trying to increase funding
for veterans and military families by eliminating some of President Bush's tax
cuts for the wealthy, John McCain chose to cozy up to conservatives by
preserving the tax cuts he once opposed. Putting his campaign ahead of our
veterans, McCain voted against Democratic efforts to improve care at veterans'
hospitals, provide mental health services to soldiers with post-traumatic
stress disorder and substance abuse problems, and prevent veterans and
military families from paying higher fees and co-payments for medical
services.

 

[LowlyPion]

McCain will pay for his Healthcare with 1.3 TRILLION cut in Medicare.

Bye-bye Florida 27 electoral college votes.

* OCTOBER 6, 2008
McCain Plans Federal Health Cuts
Medicare, Medicaid Spending Would Be Reduced to Offset Proposed Tax Credit
By LAURA MECKLER

John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.

The Republican presidential nominee has said little about the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan "budget neutral," as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn't given a specific figure for the cuts, but didn't dispute the analysts' estimate.

 

[LowlyPion]

John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.

It was Lyndon Johnson who said that Medicare is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women once were provided the healthcare that they had paid for over their working lives.

 

[mheslep]

...McCain Myth Buster Day 3: John McCain and Veterans' Health Care
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS183681+15-Feb-2008+PRN20080215

Bottom of that:

...Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
www.democrats.org.

This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.


SOURCE Democratic National Committee

Damien LaVera of the Democratic National Committee, +1-202-863-8148

Am I missing something? What's a DNC press release doing verbatim in a Reuters byline?

 

[mheslep]

Bottom line - if you don't want to pay for a war, don't start one!

Or a social security entitlement, or a medicare entitlement, or a ...

 

[mheslep]

McCain will pay for his Healthcare with 1.3 TRILLION cut in Medicare.

Bye-bye Florida 27 electoral college votes.

Bye-bye for who? Obama?
http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122315505846605217.html?mod=article-outset-box

...Sen. Obama also would rely on some Medicare savings to pay for his health-care plan, which would offer subsidies to help consumers pay for premiums. The Tax Policy Center estimates that his plan would cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years and cover 34 million more people.

That is TRILLION for the lower case impaired.

Meanwhile, in the same piece:

...Mr. Holtz-Eakin said the campaign never intended to apply the payroll tax to health benefits. That means that most people would see a net tax cut, contrary to Sen. Obama's assertions. Only those with very rich benefits packages are likely to see a net increase in taxes. But it also means that Sen. McCain must fill a huge budget hole -- which the campaign says will come from cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, estimates that the McCain plan would cost the government $1.3 trillion over 10 years. The plan would allow as many as five million more people to have insurance, it estimates.

Mr. Holtz-Eakin said the plan is accurately described as budget neutral because it assumes enough savings in Medicare and Medicaid spending to make up the difference. He said the savings would come from eliminating Medicare fraud and by reforming payment policies to lower the overall cost of care.

Ruthless bastard.

 

[LowlyPion]

Meanwhile, in the same piece:

"He said the savings would come from eliminating Medicare fraud and by reforming payment policies to lower the overall cost of care."​

Ruthless bastard.

There's that much fraud and inefficiency in the system after 8 years of Bush?

It really is time for a change.

 

[Astronuc]

Bottom of that:

Am I missing something?

Evidence to the contrary?

What's a DNC press release doing verbatim in a Reuters byline?

Reuters should do their own independent investigation.


Meanwhile - The Budget According to McCain: Part I
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_budget_according_to_mccain_part_i.html

With earmarks out as a potential source of savings, McCain hasn't said what he'd cut out of the discretionary budget to get to $100 billion. He's even indicated that defense spending might increase. If defense spending is off the table, saving $100 billion would require 18.5 percent across-the-board cuts in every other discretionary program, including things like elementary and secondary education, veterans' health benefits and highway construction. The alternative would be severe cuts in a few programs, as yet unnamed.

Education should be done at the state and local level. It makes no sense to send tax money to Washington only to have it returned minus the bureacratic overhead. The federal government should establish national standards so that every child in the US is receiving comparable education, which is clearly not the case, nor has it ever been (and that is simply wrong!).

We have poorly designed and constructed highways that lead to lots of wasted energy and reduced productivity. That needs to change.

 

[Gokul43201]

Education should be done at the state and local level.
...
The federal government should establish national standards so that every child in the US is receiving comparable education,

Aren't those two statements in conflict? I'm totally for a federally set standard, so local districts can't decide that creationism and snake-oil alchemy be part of their curricula. But then, that does take control away from the local and state levels, doesn't it?

 

[turbo]

McCain hits Obama for associating with a Chicago professor who was a radical in the 1960's. The AP is reporting that McCain joined a group that provided covert support to right-wing death squads in Central America

McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.

The group was the cover for the White House operation that later became known as Iran-Contra.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_iran_contra;_ylt=Agm4eFK77.d2lXCkgXB4CI2s0NUE

 

[Astronuc]

Aren't those two statements in conflict? I'm totally for a federally set standard, so local districts can't decide that creationism and snake-oil alchemy be part of their curricula. But then, that does take control away from the local and state levels, doesn't it?

Not necessarily, unless the federal government imposes on or prescribes the eduction program for the states and local districts. Which it seems to do anyway.

The daily operation (administration, hiring teachers, training, . . .) and funding of schools belongs at the local level.

This topic is worth a thread by itself, and it won't get resolved during the next 4 weeks, or 4 years.

The question is - what should be the role or function of the national government in education? To guarantee that each citizen (child) has equal access to education? That's clearly not the case now. I can see it locally with two school districts where the quality of education and opportunity is vastly different. I could see it 35 years ago when I went to two different high schools which provided drastically different opportunities in mathematics and science. At the second high school, I did calculus, two years of chemistry, and physics (all at the AP level). Such an opportunity simply did not exist at the other high school - they were only 7 miles apart in the same metropolitan school district - i.e. same district administration and same funding source.

How does the federal government guarantee equal protection to each citizen when a majority in any state or local area decides to impose it's view of science or religious belief on the community? Or should there even be equal protection and equal access?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

CNN shows McCain losing ground on the electoral map - some States going from "leaning McCain", to "undecided" - and some "undecided", to "leaning Obama". Their maps now reads as 264-174, with the poll of polls at 49%-44%.

btw, if anyone caught my comment about CNN's Campbell Brown doing a good job... never mind. She has pulled some real second-rate stunts lately.

 

[BobG]

If Obama wins, I think you could see him exercise some real bipartisanship and place a Republican or two in his cabinet.

Right now, the Senate looks to be at least 55 Dems with 2 independents, but Leiberman might not continue caucusing with the Dems. Unless Stevens of Alaska is cleared of wrong doing before the election, he probably loses his seat, as well. Gordon Smith and Elizabeth Dole might lose their Senate races. Franken and Coleman are also even in Minnesota.

You could wind up with 57 (somewhat likely) to 59 (possibly) Dem Senators, plus an independent. Getting Arlen Spector and/or the two Maine Senators to accept cabinet positions would mean the governor of their state would appoint a replacement for them. Both states have Democratic governors. Spector will have a hard time being re-elected in PA in 2010 if current trends and demographics continue.

60 Senators voting in the Democratic caucus is in reach. This could wind up being an even more disastorous election for Republicans than 2006.

 

[LowlyPion]

... but Leiberman might not continue caucusing with the Dems.

If they have 61, I hope they dump him and make him irrelevant.

 

[turbo]

If Obama wins, I think you could see him exercise some real bipartisanship and place a Republican or two in his cabinet.

If Obama wins, I'll bet Hagel is on the really short list for Secretary of Defense.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If Obama wins, I may retire from Politics and just enjoy having a President whom I respect and trust.

 

[B. Elliott]

If Obama wins I hope the SS keeps a closer eye on potential assignation attempts. If he doesn't win, I hope they do the same for McCain...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvBCBnulLs

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here we go. Everyone have a good yell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMBZDwf9dok

 

[B. Elliott]

Warning. There's a bit of foul language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tJjNVVwRCY

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If Obama wins I hope the SS keeps a closer eye on potential assignation attempts. If he doesn't win, I hope they do the same for McCain...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvBCBnulLs

Although your point is valid, if you listen to what they say, the video is actually very positive. We see highly motivated, young black men, who are not only politically engaged, but who also determined to take responsiblity for their own lives. I would imagine that the military bit is derived from the gang mentality prevalent in poor communities.

The want to be professionals - engineers, architects, lawyers - not assassins.