HAIRCUTNovember, 8 2012

Buzzsaw Magazine’s

American voters re-elected President Barack Hussien Obama late Tuesday night in a historical election ridden with

political gaffes, unprecedented advertisement funds and a substantial Republican presence.

While the race remained close for the first hours after the polls closed, the President ended up sweeping nearly all of the seven swing states that were initially seen to be highly contested, with Virginia’s 13 electoral votes giving Obama the margin he needed to win.

Repeating a trend reminiscent of the 2004 and 2008 elections, one of the largest swing states, Florida, still remains in a stage of late polling and delayed election results. Regardless, Obama’s vic-tory was declared shortly before midnight, with Romney’s concession speak following at 1 a.m.

Yet across the ballot, national issues ranging from economic support and tax cuts to gay mar-riage and women’s health-care rights, have splin-t e r e d constituents, leaving the popular vote differential at only

500,000.This election did not

appear to have the same massive rallies

of four years ago, or even the unbridled energy and excite-

ment. And in a campaign so seemingly starved of people power, it is still unclear whether this election’s unparalleled fiscal contributions will be able to withstand the remainder of the Presi-dent’s term.

But it is most definitely a more consequential election.

Obama will now be called to determine the fate of the Bush tax cuts, Medicare and Medic-aid, and the implementation of the 2010 federal health-care law – each being national issues that have been heavily debated, and most often con-trolled by Republican Congressional gridlock.

Now with even more Democratic hold in the Senate and House – in addition to a record num-ber of women serving – the tables are turning in America’s governmental power shift.

What’s more, within this next term, Obama could potentially fill as many as two or three Supreme Court seat vacancies which could ultimately change the court’s political composi-tion.

The President is now faced with four more years to make

decisions, make change and continue to sway a constituency that

pulled him

through this election by a slim strand of remain-ing hope.

Early critics are already calling upon Obama’s responsibility to make grand decisions now that there is no longer the weight of re-election, making it more clear than ever that what Obama truly faces is four more years of criticism.

In President Obama’s acceptance speech, broadcast live at 1:30 a.m. from Chicago, he spoke not only congratulations, but also a sincere call to action.

“The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote,” Obama said.

With millions of ballots cast for candidates considered worthy of governance, for issues considered worthy of democracy and for a fu-ture considered worthy of our children, today marks the first day of the President’s second term in office.

Now is the time for change in our country. Will it come from Obama? Or will it come from us?___________________________________Emily Miles is a senior journalism major who is hop-ing for a secure job after she graduates. As a nanny.

In the White House. Email her at egmiles@gmail.com.

OBAMA NATIONBy Emily Miles

I care about the economy; I care about the deficit; I care about our for-eign relations. But most of all, I care about the social is-sues that define how we treat each other and interact with each other as humans. I care about living in a country that truly allows justice and equality for all. If anyone is to help continue to pave these roads to equality in the next four years, I strongly believe President Obama is the man for the job. This has been a status quo elec-tion. We have the same president, same majority leaderships in the House and Senate. But I have a feeling that this term for President Obama will encapsulate anything but the status quo. And for that reason, I can now relax completely for the first time since these political campaigns began.___________________________________Meagan McGinnes is a junior journalism major who is starting her campaign for preisdent in 2028 now, #McGinnes2028. Email her at mmcginn1@ithaca.edu.

Opinion:Meagan McGinnes

HAIRCUTHair CutterHair StylistHair DresserHair Sweepers

Emily MilesDanielle West

Carly SitzerKacey Deamer

Marianna GarcesRachael Lewis-Krisky

David LurveyGena Mangiaratti

Meagan McGinnesKayla Reopelle

Anika SteppeFrancesca Toscano

Jenni Zellner

Views expressed in this newsletter are not nec-essarily those of the editorial staff or of Ithaca

College. Feedback and contributions should be sent to buzzsawmag@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Campus Progress for funding this issue.

A Buzzsaw magazine publication.

Visit us at:BUZZSAWMAG.ORG

As a journalist, I try to remain objective and not have a political opinion in my reporting. But this election was too

important and this win is too great to remain impartial.

I am so relieved to hear President Barack Obama will continue to be our president for the next four years. Governor Mitt Romney as presi-dent truly frightened me. As a woman, I feel we would have taken three steps backwards in the fight for women’s economic equality and contra-ception rights. All progress made by the LGBT movement would have been eliminated. But worst of all for college students would have been the state of the economy under Romney, the job market on the United States he would create (or

lack thereof) and the lack of federal aid available for students wanting to attend college.

Obama was elected in the 2008 election on his mantra of “change.” Though it has not come as quickly as I had hoped (I mean we are the genera-tion of instant gratification), I do believe we will be seeing some serious attempts at change in this next term. One thing that will be different from the last time he was elected a mere four years ago is the position where he will be starting. The economy was a complete disaster being in a ma-jor recession. We are now turning a corner and starting the term in a much better place. A factor working against President Obama is the fact that though he won the electoral college, Romney is vey close behind in the popular vote.

Even facing this challenge, I think we will still see great changes on the horizon. Unemploy-ment dropped to 7.8-percent this September. I think this drop in unemployment will continue to be a trend with an increase of jobs under the Obama administration. I also think we are going to see an attempt to raise taxes on the wealthy in an attempt to lesser pressures on the middle class and lower income families, while still try-ing to work towards lowering the deficit. And Obamacare? I think it is going to flourish this term since it’s upholding by the Supreme Court.

“Nobody is going to go broke just because

they get sick. And Americans will no longer be denied or dropped by their insurance compa-nies just when they need care the most. That’s what change is,” said President Obama. I think with universal health care initiated and with the expansion of Medicaid, we are going to see the quality of life for many Americans go up drasti-cally.

This money could even potentially be put back into the economy with many people having more money to purchase other necessities they were skimping on prior in order to buy expensive medications. In regards to war, I believe we are going to continue to see a decrease in military presence in Afghanistan with military funding continuing to be reduced as previously agreed

with Congressional Republicans. However, with the Republican Party still having a majority in the House of Representatives, I think Obama is going to continue to receive some serious opposition in any bill he tries to pass. This will be the Presi-dent’s greatest hurdle to jump.

Do I think Obama is perfect? No. Out of all the past presidents of the U.S., Obama has been the biggest whistleblower. I did not agree with his handling of Wikileaks, and I do not agree with his history of censorship of government documents and information that should be available to the public. And though Obama is better than Romney on environmental issues, I still strongly disagree with some of his environmental policies. Accord-ing to the Wall Street Journal, “the U.S. produced more oil in 2010 than it has since 2003 and all forms of energy production have increased un-der Obama.” Though the president has spent heavily on green energy, he still believes natural gas and fracking is a viable option — something the rest of Ithaca and I seem to disagree with.

Yet, I rather take Obama with some faults than Romney with only faults any day. At least Obama treats the country as that: A country with real people, real lives and real problems. Romney would have treated the country as a corporation — a corporation in which those with a thin wal-let would be left behind.

“At least Obama treats the country as that: A country with real people, real lives

and real problems.”

OBAM

AOpinion:Meagan McGinnes

HAIRCUT

ROMNEY303 206

electoral votes electoral votes

ME: allow same-sex marriages YES 54%MD: allow same-sex marriages YES 52%MN: deny same sex marriages NO 50%WA: allow same-sex marriages YES 52%

CO: legalize recreational use YES 54%OR: legalize recreational use NO 55%

WA: legalize recreational use YES 56%MA: legalize medical use YES 63%

Legalization of MarijuanaMarriage Equality

PropositionsPopular Vote Popular Vote

Election Night at IC

Clockwise: Students celebrating in Emerson Suites (photo by Alexis Lanza); Senior Erin Irby celebrating after hearing Obama was reelected (photo by Alexis Lanza); Students taking a break on the set of ICTV’s show Experts Say (Photo from Ithaca College social media.)