Presidential Election - Essay Example

Another Presidential election is just ahead, which is being termed the most important election in the history of the U.S.A. This is not the first time that the term most important election in differing degrees of extent, like in a century or a lifetime has been used to describe the previous Presidential elections The stakes in the election have been raised by the use of these terms, but the changes that have resulted from these elections have not lived up to the importance given to the election, save for a few of the Presidential elections that go back quite a way in time. Examples of these lie in the first Presidential election in 1789 that made George Washington the President, as it set the pattern of the four-year tenure of the President; the 1800 Presidential election, which saw for the first time power changing hands from one political party to the other; the 1864 Presidential election that returned Abraham Lincoln to continue the fight, and bring to an end the stalemate in the Civil War; and the 1932 Presidential election that brought Franklin D. Roosevelt to power and the manner in which he changed the scope and power of the federal government. Now this election is being acclaimed as the most important election in history. There is a definite change that it might bring and that is in the form of the first African-American President. Other changes are promised, but they have to be delivered and be momentous for it to rank among the most important elections in the history of the U.S.A.

Democratic presidential candidate Obama received a surprise endorsement from the respected Republican retired General and former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who at one time was touted as a possible first African American President. Critics of this endorsement in the Republican Party have charged that this endorsement of Powell stems from the Obama being an African American, while his opponent Republican presidential candidate is white; his resentment of the present Republican President George Bush, and the opportunism of Powell, with Obama leading in the opinion polls.

Powell defends his endorsement of Obama saying that it is a well-thought-out move after assessing the two candidates, the initiatives that they will take as President, the drift in the wrong direction of the Republican party, and the current needs of the nation in the makeup of the President, and not on the basis of any racial overtones. In his own words, he supports Obama, because “he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. In his opinion both Obama and McCain will make good presidents, but taking into consideration the needs of the nation in the style and substance of the next president, Powell believes that Obama fits the bill. The most important job for the next president will be convincing the world of the new image of American leadership and its ability to take on the leadership of the world. Obama is capable of this. Powell also derides the personal attacks of terrorism on Obama by McCain and says that American politics does not need this style of politicking. In addition, he is also not happy with McCain’s choice of vice president, as he believes that big cities are not devoid of values. Powell thus makes a strong effort to defend his surprise endorsement of Obama, through the projection of Obama’s strengths and the weakness of McCain. The extent of the influence of this endorsement only time will tell, but it does highlight the dissensions within the ranks of the Republicans with McCain as their presidential candidate.

This article takes a swipe at the economic plans of Democratic Presidential candidate Obama. The downturn in the economic fortunes of the country is on the mind of practically every American and is expected to play a significant role in the way the citizens cast their votes. Obama stands for an increase in taxes to reduce the deficit and spur the economy through spending on public programs. It is this stand of his that is attacked, by linking the current downtrend in the economy to the weakness of the current Republican President George Bush in allowing pressure from the Democrats in Congress, after the collapse of the dot coms, to increase public spending. This has resulted in millions of dollars being spent on wasteful public programs that do not benefit the nation. The government taxes or borrows money and then utilizes millions of dollars on “social and pork-barrel programs” in support of the unemployed, which is paid for by the employed. In addition, the millions of dollars spent on so-called infrastructure development do nothing to improve the economy of the nation but do provide additional benefits to the unions, who are the vote banks of the Democratic Party. Nearly eight years of this kind of spending has led to a spurt in the federal budget and economic woes. Obama stands for such continued spending, which will only cause further economic gloom for the nation.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment criteria in education may be taken as the various dimensions by which the evaluation is made on how well a student has fared in terms of the learning goals for a particular course. In short assessment criteria may be perceived as yardsticks. Some of the commonly used assessment criteria are the correctness of the content of the work, the use of language, the quality of the arguments present, and the application of theory in practical scenarios (Teaching and Educational Development Institute, 1999).

Assessment criteria define the characteristics of work done by students to be classified into different levels. The usually seen classification places excellent work in the First Class grade that shows marks allotted as greater than seventy percent. Poor work results in a Fail grade, which shows marks awarded as less than forty percent. The other grades usually fall in between these upper and lower limits (Music and Performing Arts, 2008).