Elf from the woodland Realm

Here Is the Audio

I just want to start off and say that I think Dennis Kucinich, the congressman from Ohio looks like a little elf. Now that thats out of my system I can talk about his speech “Wake Up America” that he presented at the Democratic National Convention.

First I want to say that if you get the chance to watch a video version of the speech I would, because Kucinich jumps all over his podium its quite humorous. But the audio will do just as well. The title of the speech “Wake Up America” is a phrase that Kucinich repeats over and over again. Kucinich's point is that we as Americans need to “wake up” and see that the oil companies are screwing us over, and that the government under the bush administration is screwing us over.

What Democratic Convention speech could be complete without a reference to the oil crisis? Kucinich states that if we do not do something gas will get to 10 dollars a gallon! He states we went into Iraq for oil and oil alone. I guess the acronym should have told us that; Operation Iraqi Liberation. Kucinich questions our pratical values with that statement. Is a war worth fighting if we have to work an hour and a half for a gallon of gas. (I am from Texas minimum wage is only 6.25 cents)

Kucinich plays on the stereotype that all the Bush Administration did was make our economy horrible. Its true that most American's don't approve of the Bush Administration so saying this is probably a good idea. He then states that we can't afford to have another four years of the Bush Administration implying that John McCain and Sarah Palin are the same as George Bush and Dick Chaney. Personally I don't see Sarah Palin shooting anyone in the ass though.

Dennis Kucinich states that over time we pay four times more for De fence three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and two times more for health care. He states that if there was an Olympic event the administration would win for Miss leading, Miss managing, and Misappropriating, which by the way is nice alliteration, the bush administration would take the gold. I disagree because China would cheat. He uses Alliteration to better make his point. Making each word more remember able. He also uses the Olympics because they are still fresh on peoples minds.

Individually I think Dennis Kucinich puts a lot of presure on us. He warns us of all the bad things that could happen. He reminds us of all the bad things happening and all the bad things that have happened. He gives us a glimpse of the future telling us we must change we must “wake up” or else we are going to be living a very bad four to eight years.

Dennis Kucinich wants a lot of things, most would raise taxes significantly but I'm not going to get into that, He states all the things that he wants at the end. However he doesn't tell us how he would like to achieve those things. For instance he states that he wants better health care, and he wants better education, and lower gas prices. All those things are going to cost money. And a lot of it. He avoids talking about the negative things, The Democratic Convention is not a place where you should talk about that anyways.

I do find some contritions within his argument. For instance he is for many things such as universal health care yet he says that the cost of health care has gone up. If we have universal health care won't that just make taxes go up? Also if we tax the oil companies more they are just going to forward the prices on the consumers. I do find it weird that he would complain about the cost of living being so high at the beginning of his speech and then go on to state all the things that we need which would make the cost of living go up even higher. Its very interesting.

Overall Dennis Kucinich ends his speech by saying up with the democratic party and then endorses Borok Obama and Joe Biden. This is expected at the convention so there was no surprise there.

IVE WOKEN UP!

In Dennis Kucinich's speech "Wake up America", he warns America of the bad path that they have been going down due to the Bush Administration. He uses gas prices, the economy and the ram pit losses that Americans are feeling right now. The title of the speech "Wake up America" is a calling for all American citizans to finally wake up and see what has been hapining the last eight years. We all need to "wake up" and see the facts.

Oh the Bush Administration. Kucinich doesn't waste any time before bombing them. "Now, if there were an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold." He is of course referring to misleading us into war - lets be honest it was for oil, mismanaging or economy and misappropriating funds to the war on Iraq. Kucininch really does not like the bush administration at all.

"Now, this administration can tap our phones. They can’t tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. But they can’t open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. But they lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. Now, they have skillfully played our post-9/11 fears, and they’ve allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many." In this skillful rant Dennis Kucinich both promotes and complements the Democratic Party but also bashes Bush. He reminds us that under the Bush administration defended and enabled CALEA, which forced all telecommunications providers to allow the government to "listen in" on our phone calls. He then tells us that the the government used 9-11 to go to war, a theory that many people are subscribing to now.

He also talks about Gas Prices a lot, he says that we went into Iraq for oil. His opening statement "Wake up, America! In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neocon artists seized the economy and added $4 trillion of unproductive spending to the national debt." sets his tone as angry at the oil companies and angry at the government for letting the oil crisis happen. Not to mention the home crisis and the other crisis we have had to endure over the last eight years. "Wake up, America! We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration, they want to drill more, into your wallet." In this part of his speech Kucinich takes an even more aggressive tone he wants people to know that we did not go to war for revenge we went to war for oil! People need to relies that oil is power now look at Russia they took over Georgia for oil whats to say we wont take over Iraq or Iran for oil?

One thing that Kucinich does well is list, he lists a bunch of things that are currently wrong with the goverment implying that if we elect Obama and Biden the problems will be fixed. "Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their healthcare, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid for with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the President’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq’s oil." All these hardships have happend or gotten worse in the last eight years. It is true that since September 11th Americans have lost alot of jobs. The New York Times stated that "The national recession and the attack on the World Trade Center cost New York City 47,000 more jobs than previously believed, bringing the city's total job losses to about 223,000 in the last two years, according to new data released yesterday." Kucinich states that we really need to fix the problems we have here before we go off and make more of them.

In his conclusion Dennis Kucinich wraps up by Yelling all the things that he wants; "Now, this is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is a call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers! Up with wages! Up with fair trade! Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, our water systems, our sewer systems, our ports! Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment! Up with health care for all! Up with education for all! Up with home ownership! Up with guaranteed retirement benefits! Up with peace! Up with prosperity! Up with the Democratic Party! Up with Obama-Biden!" This forceful call to action ends on a bright note inspiring the party for their hopeful victory to come.