A Welcomed Break

Last week I concluded my first semester as a 1L and couldn't have been happier to be finished with the miserable experience of exams. I am confident in asserting that it was the most miserable 3 weeks of my life (and hopefully nothing tops the experience). It felt good to be back in school after a year wasted back at home, but I must admit I was a bit under prepared for the rigors of law school. Much of my first semester was spend developing/honing study skills and many hours were wasted using improper study techniques. I wish somebody would have told me early on how useless the case books are despite their exorbitant price tags. It's nice to be back home and to have the opportunity to relax for a couple weeks before heading back with a new attack strategy in my studies.

I've been thinking about the elections a lot since Nov. and what the results say about the perspective of the nation. Obviously people are unhappy about the way the country is being run and leave it to the Republicans to latch onto this dissatisfaction and exploit it to their benefit. Ted Strickland recently gave a great speech discussing how the Dem's lack a unified political message, while the GOP is never hesitant to assert intentions of "cutting taxes and lowering the deficit." Voters seemed to be oblivious that these two concepts go hand in hand, and these promises seem particularly hypocritical in light of historical increases in the deficit during Republican administrations. Strickland also points out the intellectual elitism the Democratic party is guilty of, which further isolates them from voters. Despite the GOP's best efforts towards preventing Obama from achieving any meaningful change, I'm excited to see that the nation has been moving forward, even if it's more slowly than we'd have liked. Health care reform will go down as Obama's crowning achievement if and when it's given a chance to be successful. Although the majority of people don't really understand the new health care policy (I don't claim to fully understand the intricacies either), the biggest misconception is that it will increase the deficit, which is a lie propagated by FOX and the GOP. I also think that the repeal of DADT is something the efforts of Congress should be commended for. The entire drawn out process illustrated just how hard headed McCain is and what a huge mistake it would have been had he been elected president. I think Jon Stewart best illustrates McCain's outright lies in regard to DADT. Check it out here. I can't help but assume that his vehement opposition to repealing it operates on a somewhat personal level due to his daughters preference for women.