October 31

1. McCain Acknowledges He is Lagging Behind (Kompas 10/31, p.11; report by Simon Saragih, a participant of the Emerson program)

Republican presidential candidate John McCain acknowledged that he was in a difficult position, lagging behind his Democratic opponent Barack Obama. But McCain said he was not worried. In Tennessee, Republican supporters are skeptical about McCain’s chances of winning. “I will be surprised if Obama does not win,” said Professor Jackson Mooney from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, Wednesday (10/29). “Traditionally, Tennessee is a Republican stronghold. But people start changing their opinion because apparently the other candidate has a better offer,” he said. A recent Gallup poll indicates that Obama is leading McCain by 51 percent to 44 percent.

2. Why Tuesday, November 4, 2008? (Kompas 10/31, p.33; report by Simon Saragih, a participant of the Emerson program)

The first Tuesday following the first Monday in November is U.S. Election Day. For 2008, the date is November 4, 2008. This regulation was decided in 1845. The next question is: Why is the election held in early November? The United States used to be an agrarian society. For this reason, U.S. politicians regarded November as a month where farmers would need a lot of time to cast their ballots, as they needed to travel from their villages to the polls. November was the month where harvest would be completed. Then why on Tuesday? People had to travel far to the polls. Monday was seen as inappropriate for Election Day, because that would mean people had to depart from their villages on Sunday, which is the day when people attended Sunday church services. There is another reason why the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November was chosen. Lawmakers wanted to prevent Election Day from falling on the first of November for two reasons. First, November 1 is All Saints Day, a day on which Roman Catholics are obligated to attend Mass. Also, merchants typically balanced the accounts from the preceding month on the first of each month.

3. U.S. Media also Have Weaknesses (Kompas 10/31, p.35; report by Simon Saragih, a participant of the Emerson program)

There are unethical tactics applied by U.S. media and politicians. “At first, I thought the U.S. media was exemplary. That is not the case. There are many weaknesses in U.S. media,” said Paul Ujihiro Niwa, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, Friday (10/24). Niwa is a Japan-born U.S. citizen that used to be a journalist for the Singapore-based CNBC Asia. “One example is [U.S.] media failure to alert people of the financial crisis and save the U.S. from terrible economic catastrophe,” he said. According to him, U.S. media is fragmented and tends to prioritize themselves, at least their own states. “In fact, there are only a few national media in the U.S. The public does not really care about what happens outside their home [state],” he explained.

4. Five U.S. Presidents Were Black (Kompas 10/31, p.36; report by Simon Saragih, a participant of the Emerson program)

Joel A. Rogers and Dr. Auset Bakhufu once wrote a book that says there were at least five black presidents in the U.S. This, in fact, is relatively reasonable. During the migration from Europe to the U.S., European men far outnumbered European women. Moreover, at that time the rape and impregnation of an African female slave was not considered a crime. The Virginia Magazine of History volume 29 says that Andrew Jackson, the 7th U.S. president, was the son of a white woman from Ireland who had intermarried with a black man. Then, in his 1867 book called “The Johnny Cake Papers”, Thomas Hazard wrote that he interviewed Paris Gardiner, who said he was present during the 1796 presidential campaign, when one speaker stated that Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd U.S. president, was “a mean-spirited son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father.” Then, William Herndon, a law partner of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president, said that Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and that his mother was from an Ethiopian tribe. In Herndon’s book entitled “The Hidden Lincoln,” he says that Thomas Lincoln could not have been Abraham Lincoln’s father because he was sterile from childhood mumps and was later castrated. Then, in Marsha Stewart’s 2005 book entitled “Warren G. Harding U.S. 29th President,” the black author claims that she is a distant relative of the president. Then Harding’s successor, Calvin Coolidge, proudly admitted that his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. However, Dr. Bakhufu says that by 1800 the New England Indian was hardly any longer pure Indian, because they had mixed so often with Blacks.

5. Osama to Wipe Dirt (Rakyat Merdeka 10/31, p.1; report by Muhammad Rusmadi, a participant of the Emerson program)

At 05:30 a.m. Boston time I had to leave Boston for New Hampshire. My final destination was a small city called Athens in Ohio. I will be in Ohio until the Election Day on November 4. Dr. J. Gregory Payne from the Emerson College picked me up and took me to the Manchester Airport in New Hampshire. Manchester Airport is a quite airport yet the security check is as tight as other airports in the U.S. I took the Southwest Airlines and the check-in to take off process went smoothly and on time. Although there is a seat number on my ticket, passengers were free to sit anywhere they wanted. However, handicapped passengers and those who brought children were given the priority. The aircrew looked very relaxed, not like Indonesian aircrews that look sometimes very sexy. When we stopped over in Baltimore for transit, I saw Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. Instead of fear, I laughed because Osama that I saw was in the form of a picture printed on toilet paper sold in a souvenir shop.

6. Bill Clinton Joins, Obama has Strong Chance (Seputar Indonesia 10/31, p.1; report by Alvin Masrifah, participant of Emerson program, and Irawan Nugroho)

For the first time, former President Bill Clinton campaign together with Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama six days ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Their joint voices in calling for change are predicted to open bigger chance for Obama to win the election. In the campaign Clinton called Obama as representing “the future of the U.S.” in front of 35,000 Democrats supporters. Clinton puts aside his disappointment over his wife defeat when competing against Obama in the preliminary election. He and his wife Hillary now reaffirm their support for Obama.

7. Call for Vote in Mosque (Rakyat Merdeka 10/30, p.1; report by Muhammad Rusmadi, a participant of the Emerson program)

I took the chance to explore the city of Boston. Boston is an old and famous city and the largest as well as the capital city of Massachusetts. The city was established on September 17, 1630 by the British colonials. Boston is a historical city that has the U.S. Independence Declaration Building on Washington Street. The well-known Harvard University is also located in this city. I walked around with a colleague and found what seemed to be a mosque. There was no loudspeaker to call for prayer (adzan). There was only an internal microphone. We prayed Maghrib at 18:00. Around the mosque, there was also announcement calling for voting on November 4 and to choose Barack Obama. “Obama is the symbol for U.S. immigrants,” said Bilal Kaleem, the Executive Director of Boston Muslim Community. Bilal is also the imam of the mosque. Boston and Massachusetts has been known to be the democrat state for presidential election.

8. Behind the Decisive Moment (Koran Jakarta 10/31, p.5; report by Tri Subhki Rahmatullah, a participant of the Emerson program)

For any presidential candidate, speech is a matter of life-and-death. A successful speech would almost guarantee votes, at least woo supporters. In contrast, horrible speech would lead the candidate to defeat. That is why every U.S. presidential candidate has a special team to draft his/her speech. Barack Obama – despite his reputation as a good orator and speech writer – entrusts the writing of his speeches to a team led by 26 year-old Jon Favreau. The same goes with John McCain, who assigned Mark Salter to write his speeches and even correct the words he is going to utter. Regarding the method and concept of a speech, J. Gregory Payne, a communication expert at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts said that the most effective communication method was “people-to-people dialogue” as it builds friendship among those involved.