The Lowdown » Obama

The State of the Union Explained in Four Visualizations

Matthew Green — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:22:05 +0000

President Barack Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner, gives his 2013 State of the Union address. (Charles Dharapak-Pool/Getty Images)

So, what did the big guy actually say? These four multimedia resources help sort through the nitty gritty of the president’s speech.

A breakdown of the 12 big policy goals

The highlights: an annotated multimedia presentation

As they did with Obama’s inauguration address, the New York Times has created a great annotated version of the speech, allowing reader to click on the various speech highlights, watch corresponding clips from the address, and read further commentary.

Fact-checking the president

So, was everything he said true? Politico offers an interesting multimedia analysis, with specific clips from the speech and commentary as to the accuracy of the president’s statements.

The words, visualized

How do the president’s words look as a visualization? This interactive, created by Dmitry Paranyushkin from Nodus Labs, uses text network analysis tool Textexture to show us the the most prominent concepts inside the text and the relationship between the words used. Words are represented as nodes and the closer they occur next to each other within the text of the speech, the more interconnected they are in the network. Clusters, created by certain words appearing more often next to each other than in the rest of the vocabulary used, indicate distinct topics in Obama’s speech. Kind of weird – but definitely worth a look.

2012 Presidential Election Results Visualized

Matthew Green — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:34:18 +0000

A neatly presented recap of a messy, exhausting and seemingly endless presidential race. Produced by K.D. Delany on Prezi.

Tying The Knot With Same-Sex Marriage: Obama’s Slow Evolution

Matthew Green — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:17:31 +0000

The year was 1996, and a political novice named Barack Obama was running for Illinois State Senate – his first bid for public office. Responding to a questionnaire from Outlines, a gay newspaper in Chicago, Obama wrote: “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”

It took him till now to return to that position.

Just two years later, Obama was deeply steeped in the world of politics. In his re-election bid for state senate, the same newspaper asked the same question. Obama’s position had already shifted, though. In response, he said he was now “undecided.”

Since then, Obama has held fast in his support for civil unions and equal rights for gays and lesbians, but until this week, he never firmly tied the knot in support of same-sex marriage. Scroll through the timeline, and view the clips, to see Obama long “evolving” feelings on this issue.

Obama’s Very Loaded Thumbs Up On Same-Sex Marriage

Matthew Green — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:16:52 +0000

It took just 10 words for President Obama to end his career-long wrestling match with the same-sex marriage issue. During a deceptively casual television interview on Wednesday, Obama simply said:

“I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”

And with that, Obama made history as the first sitting American president to endorse same-sex marriage.

Although Obama’s stance on the issue doesn’t change any existing laws, and his endorsement was almost certainly pressured forward after recent unexpected remarks on the issue by both his vice president and education secretary, (who independently voiced support for same-sex marriage), the president’s statement marks a watershed moment in one of this nation’s biggest and most contentious social issues. Because even as the country remains bitterly divided about it, a presidential endorsement packs a pretty powerful punch in influencing the debate.

The legal status of same-sex marriage around the U.S. (NPR)

For Obama, whose position on same-sex marriage has for decades, swayed like a pendulum, this latest statement marks the momentous end ( at least for now) of his drawn out, self-described “evolving” stance on the issue. Because, when it comes down to it, Obama is, above all else, a professional politician. Sure, he has strong personal beliefs and values. But his impressive political success has always depended on the ability to delicately balance priorities and values, and to find the comfortable middle ground to retain a solid support base.

Bottom line for a cautious politician: row the boat, but try not to rock it too much!

Given all that, it’s little surprise that the guy’s balked at supporting same-sex marriage.I mean, regardless of your stance on it, this issue’s about as heated as it gets – pretty much the equivalent of political heart burn. Just a day before Obama’s big endorsement, voters in North Carolina (where the Democratic Convention will be held) approved a constitutional amendment banning both same-sex marriages and civil unions (a vote Obama expressed disapproval about). North Carolina is just one of 30 states that have voted in favor of constitutional amendments defining marriage as a heterosexual union. And a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that while the contingent of American’s supporting gay marriage has increased in recent years – to just over 50 percent – there is still a ton of strong opposition, especially in many of the swing states that Obama needs to win in the upcoming election. Currently, eight of those 10 swing states don’t allow same-sex marriage (Iowa and New Hampshire are the exceptions).

If America were to legalize same-sex marriage, it would hardly be the first country in the world to do so. Actually it wouldn’t event even make the top 10! Currently, 10 countries allow same-sex marriages. Think you know which one’s they are? Some might surprise you. Take a look at the Washington Post’s slideshow to find out.