Obama Continues the Fight to end Racism - The Heschel School

Page 2 Helios Volume 7 Issue 2 December 2008
Working For Change
By Michael Nevid
As seniors begin to make plans for
next year some will choose to go straight to
college while others will choose to take a gap
year and travel around the world or to study
and volunteer in Israel. But none of us will
have the unique opportunity Adam Gitlin has
had since graduating from Heschel last June.
Adam spent the past few months working
for President-elect Barack Obama during his
campaign for the presidency.
Even before Barack Obama steps
into the Oval Office on January 21st, he will
have already made a significant change in
this country. Over the last two years, Obama
has created the largest coalition of volunteer
workers ever to be used for a presidential
campaign. In every state, Obama volunteers
organized efforts to get people to register to
vote as well as carrying out many other important
tasks.
The volunteer effort was boosted by
the internet. Barack Obama’s campaign website
includes a site where volunteers can create
their own pages, similar to a Facebook or
Myspace page, and use those pages to interact
with other volunteers in order to organize
campaign events. By Election Day, about
1.5 million people had created accounts on
Obama’s website. But these volunteers did
not stop working after the election.
During Obama’s campaign, Adam
Gitlin worked in the campaign headquarters
in Chicago. He helped organize events
geared towards the Jewish vote. He responded
to emails with the smears against Obama
that surfaced during the campaign. He also
worked on the Get Out The Vote program,
which required him to travel to Cleveland
to make sure the final week of the campaign
was a success.
Adam was inspired to work for the Presidentelect’s
campaign because he respects Obama.
He said, “To see a politician who was pursuing
a career in government for the right
(Continued from Front Page)
reasons - for
the good of
the public first
– was very
inspiring and
exciting for me
and I wanted
to help out
the campaign
in whatever
way I could.”
According
to Adam,
Obama’s campaign
was the
ideal form of
politics because
everyone involved worked together for
a common purpose. With regard to the campaign
he stated, “I think [that’s] ultimately
how politics and government should be ―a
group of deeply inspired and motivated people
coming together in an effort to change the
status quo for the better.”
Even before Barack Obama steps
into the Oval Office on January 21st, he will
have already made a significant change in
this country. Over the last two years, Obama
has created the largest coalition of volunteer
workers ever to be used for a presidential
campaign. In every state, Obama volunteers
organized efforts to get people to register to
vote as well as carrying out many other important
tasks.
The volunteer effort was boosted by
the internet. Barack Obama’s campaign website
includes a site where volunteers can create
their own pages, similar to a Facebook or
Myspace page, and use those pages to interact
with other volunteers in order to organize
campaign events. By Election Day, about
1.5 million people had created accounts on
Obama’s website. But these volunteers did
not stop working after the election.
Illustration by Janet Rubin
During Obama’s campaign, Adam
Gitlin worked in the campaign headquarters
in Chicago. He helped organize events
geared towards the Jewish vote. He responded
to emails with the smears against Obama
that surfaced during the campaign. He also
worked on the Get Out The Vote program,
which required him to travel to Cleveland
to make sure the final week of the campaign
was a success.
Adam was inspired to work for the
President-elect’s campaign because he respects
Obama. He said, “To see a politician
who was pursuing a career in government for
the right reasons - for the good of the public
first – was very inspiring and exciting for
me and I wanted to help out the campaign in
whatever way I could.” According to Adam,
Obama’s campaign was the ideal form of
politics because everyone involved worked
together for a common purpose. With regard
to the campaign he stated, “I think [that’s] ultimately
how politics and government should
be - a group of deeply inspired and motivated
people coming together in an effort to change
the status quo for the better.”
Bloomberg and the Third Term
...to override the people’s decision.
Tony Avella, a council member
and candidate for mayor in
Queens, said, “For us to overturn
that legislatively is a disgrace, you
should be all voted out of office for
this.” In addition, the country is in
the midst of a financial meltdown.
City Counsel speaker, Christine
Quinn, who voted in favor of allowing
Bloomberg to run again,
said, “Our city, already in recession,
is headed for a long and deep
downturn, we will need to do more
with less to keep our city moving
in the right direction.” Quinn
is suggesting that New York City
may really need Bloomberg to stay
in office over these next few, very
crucial years.
Bloomberg was first elected
a few months after the September
11th attacks. Regarded as having
helped New York recover economically
from the attacks, he was reelected
in 2005. For the last fifteen
years the city has not allowed any
elected leader to hold office for
longer than two four year terms.
Bloomberg’s request this fall to
be allowed to run for a third term
challenged Americans, specifically
New Yorkers, to think about why
term limits were established. The
Twenty Second
Amendment
of the
United States
Constitution
states, “No
person shall
be elected to
the office of
the President
more than
twice…” The
amendment
refers specifically
to the
presidency,
but the law
represents a
very real fear
that existed already in the minds
of the country’s forefathers. Many
people believe that holding public
office for too long can have negative
results, such as corruption,
sloppiness, and staleness of creativity.
However, the discussion of
a third term has come up now because
Bloomberg is such a beloved
mayor and so widely respected.
The counsel’s permission to
Bloomberg to run for a third term
made a strong statement that these
fears may not be accurate, at least
in the case of Mayor Bloomberg.
Illustration by Miriam Dreiblatt
Although Mayor Bloomberg is
very good at his job and popular
among New Yorkers, this change
in tradition could set a dangerous
precedent. Should laws be bent under
certain circumstances and for
certain people? Perhaps other men
and women holding office will use
this precedent to have rules bent
for them. This issue is important
not only for voting citizens of New
York, but also for the generation
that will have to pay for the consequences
if this third term does not
go well.
Helios Staff
2008-2009
Editor-in-Chief
Talia Siegel
Art & Layout Editor
Leah Whiteman
Sports Editor
Benjamin Seidman
Managing Editor
Jessica Appelbaum
Junior Editors
Aliza Rosenfeld
Hannah Weintraub
Brandon Bell
Contributing Artists
Naomi Blech
Miriam Dreiblatt
Alli Fried
Shelly Kaplan
Hannah Kober
Deborah Levy
Amy Lewis
Talia Niederman
Sabrina Rosenthal
Janet Rubin
Tsvi Tannin
Andrew Udell
Rachel Zeuner
Contributing Writers
Jessica Appelbaum
Brandon Bell
Jenna Doctoroff
Miriam Dreiblatt
Emma Goldberg
Zoe Goldberg
Michaela Hearst
Shayna Hertz
Ari Kramer
Talia Kula
Samuel Kupferberg
Abigail Lipnick
Susan Moskovits
Michael Nevid
Leah Robinson
Aliza Rosenfeld
Anna Rothstein
Rebecca Schwarz
Beatrice Volkmar
Zachary Weg
Rachel Weisberg
Faculty Advisors
Lisa Cohen
Dena Schutzer
Gabriel Godin
Guest Advisor
Samuel Freedman
Printing courtesy of Tri-Star Offset
& Barry Goodman
If you would like to
respond to any of
the articles featured
in this issue, please
send your comments
to HS Newspaper on
First Class.
Thanks,
Editors 2008-2009