Blog Post 1.2 "Democratic Platform"

Hey, there is a short one this week, both because of the short week and because the last one was so long!  This is from the editorial page in Wednesday's New York Times.

The Democratic National Convention is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina this week.  One of the few things that actually happen at the convention is that the party settles on one "party platform". The platform is basically a statement of goals and issue stances that are to be adopted by the party.  This particular article is about how many speakers are avoiding several stances in the platform.  Keep this in mind next week as we begin to study the role of voters and public opinion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/opinion/words-not-spoken.html?_r=1

Read the article and write a 2 paragraph summary of what you read.  Then, answer the following questions.

1. Why do you think President Obama avoids mentioning his position on limiting gun laws?
2. Why would a balanced budget be the type of topic the party would decide to emphasize?
3. What Democratic Party goals did Mayor Cory Booker focus on during his speech?  Why would he choose these?
4. What are the Democratic Party's foreign policy goals, according to the platform?
5. Why do you think the Democrats would avoid talking about campaign finance reform during the convention?
6. Do you think it is likely that President Obama could get a campaign finance amendment passed in his second term?  Given your knowledge of the amendment process, explain why or why not.
7.  What is the author's attitude toward the party's platform?
8.  What do you think they author thinks about the likelihood of the party actually adhering to its goals?