Purposes of the Conventions?
As you watch the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, think about the purposes of these events. What are the parties and nominees trying to accomplish during their "free" time in the limelight? What are they trying to avoid? Do they matter to average citizens? Why or why not?
posted by Crosby | 3:11 PM
12 Comments:
I believe that the conventions have several goals in mind. One is to designate the canidates as the canidate for their parties. Another is to win as many votes as possible from the state the convention is being held in. Everything here in Denver is relvolving around the convention. Signs and ads are everywhere. It's hard to ignore this sort of thing, so many people will either attend or watch the convention and make the decision to go with Obama since they are in the state that is holding the convention. These conventions definately do matter to average citizens, since every vote counts.
Another purpose is to make Colorado look nicer. All of a sudden green grass is appearing around DIA, "Celebrate Denver 2008" posters are common, and everthing, in general, is being spiffed up.
I think that the conventions are a way to go out with a political bang. The candidates use this time to convince the people of their views, to settle any unclear issues, and, of course, to take political stabs at their opponent.
They pick the city of the conventions knowing that they're going to be the focus of the area. The people there are going to pay more attention to them than their opponent. Obama and the democrats aren't very familiar with denver. So why did they come here? Maybe they thought the scenery would help Obama's image. hah. Colorado is overall a red state, but denver is a heavily democratic city. This way, they can pull the attention of all of the concentrated democrats in denver, still atract other people from the rest of the country, and maybe turn the state blue. Yesterday, I was on the lightrail riding downtown just to see waht was going on. I was talking to man from new york who came dressed with Obama stuff for the convention. It made me realize that the convention was bigger than denver, it was for national votes.
I think that the main reasons of national conventions are presenting a unified party after the divisive primaries, announcing the tickets platforms, to officially announce the ticket, to have swing voters watch inspiring speeches in an attempt to win their vote, and to gain support in the state that the convention is being held at.
I think that they are trying to avoid embarrassment, and infighting.
To answer that question I would have to have a better definition of “average”.
Definitely the conventions are a way for each party to swing any undecided voters to their side before they go to the polls in november. I chose personally to avoid watching because i feel that 1.as a young person i have almost no reason to develop any political views until i am closer to voting age and 2.i find it sad what kind of lies these men have to tell to get elected. They make the citizens believe they will do all these wonderful things and then it ends up that half of the things they promise will never happen.
I agree with Jack- a lot of the politicians do tell a lot of lies to get elected. A few nights ago Hillary was saying how horrible and awful the last eight years have been. That's not fair to say that about a president who really tried hard.
I also think politicians shouldn't promise everything and appeal to everyone, because you can't do that without lying. They should instead say what they support and what they don't instead so that they give a clearer image of themselves instead.
Adding on to my above comment, I am reminded of Student Council elections in second grade. One boy promised the whole class free donuts every lunch period. Guess who got elected for our class? He did, but I never got my free donuts, neither did anyone else.
Ziven - more important than my definition of "average" is your definition of the word!
Jack - you will be old enough to vote during the next presidential election. How can it be too early to have started developing your political identity?!
Jack and Robert - It is too easy to say "politicans lie" and then not back it up with facts. You need some examples to support your generalization! Also, remember that opinions cannot be lies. Hillary Clinton's statement about the last 8 years is an opinion. Furthermore, voting for people who make impossible promises (a second grader promising free donuts to everyone, everyday) is technically a voter's fault! I do not disagree that politicians have lied in the past (H.W. Bush "no new taxes" and Clinton re: Lewinsky are recent examples), but ultimately the voters are responsible for punishing those who lie and rewarding those who do not.
I believe that through conventions the parties are trying to unite, not together, but the parties themselves are trying to bring the people in the together under one cause. They are showing what they believe in as a whole. They are representing themselves in a positive light to the general public so that their campaigns don’t go unnoticed and they can appear and get publicity. They are trying to avoid negative publicity because they want to represent themselves in a positive light. I think that the average citizen should try to pay attention to these things to see what the parties represent and see if the citizen’s beliefs coincide with their own so they know how they want to vote when the time comes.
I believe that the purpose of both the Republic and democratic convention is the same thing. Both parties need to try to bring those who haven't chosen a side yet and bring them on their side. The republicans need to show that they are not totally conservative so that they can win some middle ground people and the Democrats need to show that they are not so liberal. Both campaigns are attempting to win over the middle and undecided.
I was watching the DNC on T.V. and Hillary Clinton spoke on this subject. She said "There is one purpose for this Democratic National Convention. That purpose is to get people excited and motivated about voting in the '08 elections". I think she was right when she said this because it is making people get interested in the presidential candidates and they are evaluating their decision on who they will vote for more carefully. Watching the DNC, I really got a solid idea on who Obama is and what he stands for, therefore I can decide on what I agree with and what would want him to change. I think many people pay close attention to these two conventions and evaluate their decision on who they will vote on from there.
I think that the conventions are an easy way to publically energize members of the party and show the country what their party is about. I think this is important for the entire country to be a part of through not only watching the conventions, but discussing them with those around them. I think that the platform of the party is integral to a successful convention, and I thinkt the DNC really accomplished this, but I haven't heard as much about platform from the RNC. Overall, they are important for the candidates, the delegates, and everyday citizens.
P.S.- I miss you Crosby!
I think when it came to the conventions, the candidates were trying to tell the voters what they were going to do as president. I also think that they were trying to win over the in between voters. For example Obama had to try to win over the Hilary voters and McCain was trying to do the same. I think that it was interesting to see how all the hard work goes into putting these conventions together, since the DNC was held here.
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