Download Elections for President of the United States Elections for President of

Chengdu Institute Sichuan International Studies University
Lesson Nine
Obama Makes History
Background information
• Quiz: some relevant information about American politics
• Elections for President of the United States
• Some important figures: Barack Obama; John
McCain; Hillary Clinton
• Some great events: The 1994 Republican
Revolution ; Hurricane Katrina
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.
Builders laid the cornerstone for the United States Capitol in 1793, and
the building has been the seat of the country’s Senate and the House of
Representatives since 1800.
Legislative Branch Organization
Bicameral (two house) politic System
Congress:
Senate (100)
House of Representatives
(435)
The U.S. Capitol: Senate
The U.S. Capitol: House of
Representatives
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The Senate
The House of Representatives
Senate Organization
Because of its relatively small size, the Senate has a simple organizational
structure. The president pro tempore (temporary) controls the chamber, but
individual members have substantial power to influence or block legislation.
Organizational Structure of the House
Executive Branch
The executive branch of the Government is responsible for
enforcing the laws of the land.
President: Leader of the country and Commander in Chief
of the military.
Vice President: President of the Senate and becomes
President if the President is unable to serve.
Departments: Department heads advise the President on
policy issues and help execute those policies.
Independent Agencies: Help execute policy or provide
special services.
U.S. President &Vice President
The White House (front)
The White House (back)
Executive Branch of Government
The President's Cabinet (15 Departments)
1.
Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Department of State (1789)
2.
Secretary of the Treasury
3.
Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates
Department of Defense (1947)
4.
Attorney General
Eric Holder
Department of Justice (1870)
5.
Secretary of the Interior
Ken Salazar
Department of the Interior (1849)
Timothy Geithner
Department of the Treasury (1789)
6.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
Department of Agriculture (1862)
7.
Secretary of Commerce Judd Gregg
Department of Commerce (1903)
8.
Secretary of Labor
Hilda Solis
Department of Labor (1913)
9.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kathleen Sebelius
Department of Health and Human Services (1953)
10.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Shaun Donovan
Department of Housing and Urban Development (1965)
11.
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
Department of Transportation (1966):
12.
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
Department of Energy (1977):
13.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Department of Education (1979)
14.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Eric Shinseki
Department of Veterans Affairs (1988):
15.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
Department of Homeland Security (2003)
Judicial Branch
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Supreme Court of the United States---------------美国最高法院
District Court-----------------------------------------------地方法院
Claims Court-----------------------------------------------索赔法院
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit----------联邦巡回上诉法院
Court of International Trade---------------------------国际贸易法院
Territorial Courts------------------------------------------属地法院
Court of Military Appeals-------------------------------军事上诉法院
Court of Veterans Appeals-----------------------------退伍军人上诉法院
Administrative Office of the Courts-----------------法院行政管理局
Federal Judicial Center----------------------------------联邦司法中心
The Supreme Court Building
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Since 1935 this majestic marble building in Washington, D.C.,
has housed the Supreme Court of the United States.
Current Supreme Court
American Political Parties
• Elephant----The
Republican Party
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Most members are
conservatives.
• Donkey------The
Democratic Party
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Most members are
liberals.
Election of the President
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On November 5, 2008, Americans elected the
44th President of the United States. This
process was set up in the United States
Constitution. The Constitution requires a
candidate for the presidency to be:
At least 35 years old
A natural born citizen of the United States
A resident of the United States for 14 years
So how does one become President of the
United States? The following steps outline the
general process for presidential elections.
Step I: Primaries and Caucuses
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There are many people who would like to
become President. Each of these people have
their own ideas about how our government
should work. Some of these people can belong
to the same political party. That's where
primaries and caucuses come in.
• In these elections, party members get to vote for
the candidate that will represent their party in the
upcoming general election.
Step 2: National Conventions
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At the end of the primaries and
caucuses, each party holds a national
convention to finalize the selection of one
Presidential nominee. During this time,
each Presidential candidate chooses a
running-mate (or Vice-Presidential
candidate).
Step 3: The General (or Popular)
Election
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Now that each party is represented by one
candidate, the general election process begins.
Candidates campaign throughout the country in
an attempt to win the support of voters. Finally in
November, the people vote for one candidate.
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When a person casts a vote in the general
election, they are not voting directly for an
individual Presidential candidate. Instead, voters
in each state actually cast their vote for a group
of people, known as electors. These electors are
part of the Electoral College and are supposed
to vote for their state preferred candidate.
Step 4: The Electoral College
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In the Electoral College system, each state gets a
certain number of electors, based on each state's total
number of representation in Congress. Each elector
gets one electoral vote. For example, a large state like
California gets 54 electoral votes, while Rhode Island
gets only four. All together, there are 538 Electoral
votes.
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In December (following the general election), the
electors cast their votes. When the votes are counted
on January 6th, the Presidential candidate that gets
more than half (270) wins the election. The Presidentelect and Vice President-elect take the oath of office
and are inaugurated two weeks later, on January 20th.
Quiz: some relevant information
about American politics
• 1. Who is responsible for running for US
presidential election?
• A. The federal election commission
• B. The States
• C. Congress
• D. The organization for economic cooperation
and development
• 2. US presidential elections are held every_ _
years.
• A. Two
• B. Five
• C. Eight
• D. Four
• 3. What are the major political parties in the
United States?
• A. Whig and Tory
• B. Democratic and Republican
• C. Conservative and Liberal
• D. Evangelical and Democratic
• 4. Members of the House of Representatives are
elected every_ _ years
• A. Two
• B. Five
• C. Eight
• D. Four
• 5. How long are the terms served by the US
senators?
• A. Two years
• B. Four years
• C. Six years
• D. Eight years
• 6. What were the unusual about the 2008
presidential election?
• A. There were four major parties instead of two
• B. It was decided by the popular vote instead of
the electoral college
• C. Citizens voted by internet
• D. There was no incumbent president or vicepresident running
• 7. What is the maximum number of terms a US president
may serve?
• A. One
• B. two
• C. Three
• D. Four
• 8. When does the inauguration of president-elect take
place under the normal circumstances?
• A. November
• B. December
• C. January
• D. March
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9. Which of following words mean “the right to vote”?
A. Suffrage
B. Canvas
C. Ballot
D. Naturalization
10. When is American national election held?
A. November 5
B. December 25
C. The first Tuesday after the first Monday of November
D. Uncertain
Elections for President of the United
States
• Elections for President of the United States
are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots
for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral
College, who in turn directly elect the President.
They occur quadrennially (the count beginning
with the year 1792) on Election Day, the
Tuesday between November 2 and 8, coinciding
with the general elections of various other
federal, states and local races.
• The process is regulated by a combination
of both federal and state laws. Each state
is allocated a number of Electoral College
electors equal to the number of its
Senators and Representatives in the U.S.
Congress. Additionally, Washington, D.C.
is given a number of electors equal to the
number held by the smallest state. U.S.
territories are not represented in the
Electoral College.
• Most state laws establish a winner-take-all
system, wherein the ticket that wins a
plurality of votes wins all of that state’s
allocated electoral votes, and thus has
their slate of electors chosen to vote in the
Electoral College.
Some important figures
• Barack Obama
• Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu
(1961), and graduated from Columbia (B.A.1983)
and Harvard Law School (J.D.1991). Soon after
law school, he moved to Chicago, where he
practiced civil-rights law, lectured on
constitutional law at the University of Chicago,
and was active in Democratic Party. He was
elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996,
serving until he won a U.S. Senate seat in 2004.
As a young Democratic star, he shocked the
2004 Democratic convention with his keynote
address.
• He became a candidate for the 2008
Democratic presidential nomination
and was elected the nation’s 44th
president. Obama is the first AfricanAmerican president in American
history.
• John McCain
• John Sidney McCain III (Obama’s opponent),
Born in 1936, is the senior U.S. senator from
Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for
president in the 2008 American presidential
election. Graduating from the U.S. Navy
Academy in 1958, McCain became a naval
aviator. He once fought in the Vietnam War, and
was captured by the North Vietnamese and was
imprisoned in Vietnam for five years until 1973
when he was released. Because of this
experience, McCain is regarded as their national
hero by American people.
• Hillary Clinton
• Hillary Clinton is the 67th United States
Secretary of State, serving in the administration
of President Barack Obama. She was a United
States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009.
As the wife of the 42nd President of the United
States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the
United States from 1993 to 2001. In the 2008
election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the
Democratic presidential nomination.
• Some great events
The 1994 Republican Revolution:
• It refers to the success of the Republican
Party in the 1994 U.S. midterm, which
resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the
House of Representatives, and an
increase of eight seats in the Senate. The
gains in seats in the mid-term election
resulted in the Republican gaining control
of both the House of and the Senate in
January 1995. Republican had not held
the majority in the House for forty years.
Hurricane Katrina:
• Hurricane Katrina was
one of the five
deadliest Hurricanes
in American history. It
happened in the
August of 2005. At
least 1836 people lost
their lives in this
disaster.
Text Analysis
• Title: Obama Makes History
Part 1 (Para 1-7): Barack Obama
was elected the nation’s 44th president
• Question 1: What information about Obama can
you get in this part?
• 1. He is the 44th president in America. （para1)
• 奥巴马是美国第56届、第44任和第43位总统
• 关于 “届” “任” “位”
• 美国宪法规定，总统选举4年一次，总统任满4年
为一届。如果总统在任期内因故未能满任，另由他
人接任，这两位总统为同一届总统。
• “任”，是指担任总统职位的次数。一人担任几届
总统职务，仍为一任。但一人在不连续的几届总统
选举中先后几次当选，当选几次就算几任。
• “位”，指担任过总统的实际人数。美国从开始选
举总统至今，不论是连选连任，还是先后几次当选，
不重复计算，有几位算几位。
• 2. His family:
• He is the child of a Kenyan father and a
white mother. （para2)
• 3. His political banner:
• ride a reformist message of change
（para1)
• Question 2: How do you understand the last sentence
of paragraph 2?
• “ …Republican Sen. John McCain… who could not
overcome his connections to President Bush’s
increasingly unpopular administration.”
• On the war in Iraq: McCain is a strong supporter of
the decision to go to War in Iraq and the continued
presence of American troops in that country
• On foreign policy: McCain generally agrees with the
Bush administration’s foreign policy, including their
refusal to negotiate with the Iranian government and
their emphasis of military force over multilateral
diplomatic solutions to conflicts.
• Question 3: What are Obama’s
accomplishments and goal?
• Accomplishments: Obama’s election ushered in
a new era of Democratic dominance in
Congress; in the House, Democrats made major
gains, which further strengthen the power of
Democratic party.
• Goal: To advance an economic and foreign
policy agenda.
• Language Points:
• exhortation：the act of exhorting
• ascend: to move from a lower to a higher
level
• razor-thin margin: very faint advantage
• Difficult Point:
• Filibuster-proof—able to avoid filibuster.
Filibuster (用冗长的发言等阻挠立法) is a
strategy employed in the United States Senate,
by which a minority can delay a vote on
proposed legislation by making long speeches
or introducing irrelevant issues. A successful
filibuster can force withdrawal of a bill.
• Proof is a combining form meaning resistant,
impervious to
• E.g.: waterproof
• Part 2 (Para 8-14): McCain and Obama’s
competition and McCain’s attitude
towards Obama’s victory.
• Questions:
• 1. What is McCain’s attitude towards
Obama’s victory?
• McCain congratulated Obama and
delivered a gracious concession speech.
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2. Has Obama accomplished his promise to
transform the electoral map? How was the map
changed?
Obama made good on his pledge to transform
the electoral map. He overpowered McCain in
Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania and
passed the needed 270 electoral votes just after
11 p.m., with victories in California and
Washington state.
• The Democrat easily won most of the
Northeast, the Rust Belt, the West Coast
and mid-Atlantic states that normally back
Democrats. By midnight, he appeared to
be running strong in North Carolina,
Indiana, Missouri and Montana. Obama
ultimately won in Indiana, bringing his
electoral college total to 349, while McCain
won Montana, bring his total to 163
electoral college votes.
• Language Points:
• concession: a point, right etc. given or
allowed, esp. unwillingly or after a
disagreement
• electoral: concerning elections or electors
• gracious: polite, kind, and pleasant, esp. in
a generous way
• meld: to blend; to combine
• Knowledge Points:
• 1. Concession speech: a speech to acknowledge a
rival’s victory
• 2. Phoenix: Phoenix is the capital and the largest city
of the U.S. state Arizona. 菲尼克斯
• 3. Jimmy Carter: the 39th president of America from
1977 to 1981. He was also the recipient of the 2002
Nobel Peace Prize. Throughout his career, Carter
strongly emphasized human rights. He took office
during a period of international stagflation, which
persisted throughout his term. The final year of his
presidential tenure was marked by the 1979 takeover
of the American embassy in Iran and holding of
hostages by Iranian students, and unsuccessful
rescue attempt of the hostages, fuel shortages, and
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• 4. Popular vote: 普选
• 5. Rust Belt: an area in parts of the Northeastern United
States, Mid-Atlantic States, and portions of the Upper
Midwest. It is also known as the manufacturing Belt.
• 6. Electoral college: the national body elected by the
voters of each state to choose the President.
• 7. Presidents
• Theodore Roosevelt: He was the 26th president of the
United States, serving from 1901 to 1909.
• John F. Kennedy: He was the 35th president of the
United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination
in 1963.
• Bill Clinton: He served as the 42 nd president from 1993
to 2001 and was the third youngest president in the
United States.
• Ulysses S. Grant：He was the 18th president in the
United States as well as military commander during the
Civil War and Post-war reconstruction periods.
• Part 3 (Para 15-18): Bush’s attitude to
Obama’s election as president.
• Questions:
• Why is it said that the election was a
referendum on Bush?
• The economic Policy of Bush: The
economic policy of the George W. Bush
administration was a combination of tax
cuts, expenditures for fighting two wars,
and a free-market ideology intended to deemphasize the role of government in the
private sector.
• Hurricane Katrina: Hurricane Katrina was
one of the five deadliest Hurricanes in
American history. It happened in the
August of 2005. At least 1836 people lost
their lives in this disaster.
• The criticism of Bush’s handling of
Hurricane Katrina:
• 1. Mismanagement
• 2. Lack of preparation in the relief effort
• 3. Delayed response to the flooding of
Orleans, Louisiana
• Language Points:
• referendum: a direct vote by all the people
to decide about sth. on which there is
strong disagreement, instead of the
government making the decision
• transition: the act of changing or passing
from one form, state, subject or place to
another
• Part 4 (Para 19-25): McCain’s Efforts and
Loss & Obama’s Fighting and Gains
• Question:
• Why could Obama overpower McCain in
your view? What advantages did he have?
• Language Points:
• albatross: a source of frustration or guilt
• Hispanic: from or connected with a country
where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken
• Difficult Point:
• We had some tough cards to play all the
way through and we hung in there all the
way.
• ---From the beginning to the end of the
campaign, we were determined and did
our best to gain a strong or advantageous
position, and we remained firm all the time.
• Part 5 (Para 26-28): Sen. Clinton’s
attitude towards Obama’s victory
• Language Points:
• outreach: an organization’s or a political
party’s involvement with or influence in the
community
• demolish: to destroy
assignment
• Supplementary Reading:
• Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier
Falls
• Thank you!