President Obama Takes Control of the Second Presidential Debate

The second presidential debate was moderated by Candy Crowley of CNN. In this presidential debate Obama was at his best. He was determined never to let any accusation levelled against him by Romney to stick. He tried successfully to defend his record as president and aimed to discredit Romney’s ability to do a better job.

This debate was very interesting and both candidates were sharper and combative intending to score political and debating points in the eyes of the public. The only problem was that they gave Candy Crowley a hard time. She had a hard time trying to be polite and firm at the same time when they were clearly exceeding their time and speaking out of turn.

President Obama rubbished the five point plan of Governor Romney. He forcefully asserts that Romney has no five point plan and that he has only a one point plan, which is that those at the top play by a different set of rules. He further states that that is what created the crisis in the first place. This is no doubt a reference to the Bush Administration. In other words a vote for Romney is vote for a deepening and worsening of the financial crisis.

It was obvious that the President and his team had been extremely busy after the first debate and they had successfully graduated from an Intermediate Romney Studies to Advanced Romney Studies and passed their advanced studies with flying colours. He attacks Romney for presenting himself as a coal guy when in actual fact he stood in front of a coal plant and said that it kills and he was instrumental in closing it down. This and many attacks were to present Romney as inconsistent.

On the question as to whether there is a difference between President Bush and Romney, Romney distances himself from President Bush and tries to present himself and his proposed policies as quite different from Bush. It was obvious that the President loved this question and seized on this opportunity to prove why the former Governor is like President George Bush and in fact on some issues he was in fact worse than President Bush.

All in all it seemed that President Obama had one goal in mind to defend his record and his ability to keep his promises while on the other hand discrediting the former Governor as being inconsistent and shifting positions.  The President did very well and he was slightly ahead of Romney in this debate.

The First Presidential Debate Between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney

The First Presidential Debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney was held at the University of Denver,   in Denver, Colorado. The veteran journalist, Jim Lehrer who is the host of PBS NewsHour. It focused on domestic issues ranging from the economy, health care , role of government and governing.

President Obama is the incumbent President and the Democratic  Nominee for President. As an incumbent President he was uncontested for the presidential candidacy of the Democratic Party. Mitt Romney on the other hand went through a gruellling primaries in order to emerge as the Nominee of the Republican Party.

The two presidential candidates are very good debaters and as such it was going to be a great debate. Romney's strategy on the onset was to discredit the record of President Obama whiles Obama tried to defend his record and show how the policies, programmes  and ideas being put forward by Romney was not good enough.

As a typical Democrat Obama presented himself as he has always done as the defender of the poor and the middle class and launched a scathing attack on Romney for favouring tax cut for the very rich. Republicans have always been perceived as the party of the very rich and it is seen as the party of multi millionaires and billionaires. The Republican party is seen as putting forward policies which only benefit the very rich. Obama tried to stick this label on Romney but for the most part he refused to give enough glue to Obama to make it stick.

Romney went for Obama's track record  accusing him of doubling the debt  when he had pledged prior to his election to half it. He tried to discredit Obama as the champion of the poor and middle class, accusing him of burying and crushing the middle class.

Obama consistently accused him of having a 5 trillion dollar tax cut policy and he consistently denied it with eloquence.Though a formidable debater, it seems that the tough primaries and various gruelling debates that Romney  participated in order to secure the nomination sharpened his debating skills. He was therefore a worthy match for the President. The President was good but not at his best. He did not control this debate as he has always done in other debates.The major problem  was that he did not respond at all or effectively enough to a few accusations levelled against him by Romney. One was his accusation that Obama intends to raise taxes which will kill 700,000 jobs  and the other was his accusation of putting 90 billion dollars in green jobs.Obama also did  well in accusing  Romney of his inability to give concrete programmes with details which Romney was ineffective in rebutting. In all it was a great contest, well balanced but Romney was slightly ahead  of the President in this debate.

Dare to Actualize Your Dream

It is not easy to succeed but it is not all too difficult to succeed. You need hope faith , motivation and inspiration as you go along the slippery, winding and confusing road to success. You need to be focused and alert to opportunities. Most importantly you need to know yourself and understand yourself , that is you need to discover yourself.

"Dare to Actualize Your Dream" by Nana Aboagye is the book of the moment. This e book is on Lulu and Kindle. It is to motivate, inspire and guide you along the path of success. It takes a holistic approach to success. This is because there is mental,spiritual and physical dimension to success. All these have to be fulfilled in order that you can be truly successful.

This book is realistic , understandable and easy to read. It is written for everyone who has the will to succeed. It will guide you to be consciously aware of your limitless potential in order to tap into it to create the life you want and live your dream. If you stick to the principles and teachings contained in this book, it will bless your life and make you fulfilled and happy.

Great Comeback for Manchester City

Manchester City looked bemused and outplayed by Sunderland for most of the game. Larsson's strike in the 31st minute was replied by a penalty by Mario Ballotelli in the 43rd minute. A second goal from Bendtner and Larsson  in the 45th and 55th minutes meant that Manchester City who are in contention for the league title were thrilling Sunderland by one goal to three.

They looked unable to get their acts together. It seemed that Sunderland were going away with the three maximum points. Ballotelli's fantastic goal in the 85th minute  restored  hope to the dejected team and some seconds later  Kolarov struck home the equalizer with the goalkeeper caught standing unable to move and clearly beaten.

A win by Man City would have put them on level points with their city rivals Man U. With this draw they have 71 points as against Man U  who have 73 points. Man U are on top of the league leading Man City by 2 points.The league title race is being keenly contested but if Man City don't put their act together Man U will run away with the league title.

AC Milan Surprises Barcelona

AC Milan held their own against Barcelona at the San Siro in a goalless match in the UEFA Champions league  match played on  Wednesday the 28th of March 2012. Barcelona were unable to outclass the Italians who were fired up and prepared to give give their fans a match to be proud of.

Inspite of the fact that Real Madrid led by the Special One, Jose Mourinho is on top of the La Liga with 6 points clear of Barcelona, Barcelona is still the team to beat. Barcelona has transformed itself into an almost invincible force. They make great teams look amateurish. Manchester United can attest to this. A few weeks ago they trashed Bayer Leverkusen by 7 goals to 1.  It showed their characteristic insatiable appetite for goals.

In football, the Italian defence is known for its effectiveness and its impregnability. It is the only country in the world that can play defensive football and play it effectively for 90 minutes. In the match against Barcelona last Wednesday, AC Milan epitomized the highly effective and impregnable Italian defence. Their attack was also spot on.

They were able to keep Messi out of the match and frustrated him and prevented him from getting into his stride. Messi throughout the match was clearly a shadow of himself. AC Milan was not outclassed but made a good impression on the spectators. In front of the San Siro fans Massimilano Allegri proved his worth and showed  that he has an antidote to Barcelona's tactical invincibility.

Barcelona was unhappy with the poor nature of the pitch at San Siro and they have complained to UEFA about it.. This does not take anything from AC Milan's performance because they held their own against the best team in the world at the moment.

Wanlov caused a stir as Delay is suspended on TV3

Wanlov  the Kubolor caused a stir on television over the weekend when in trying to prove the fact that he never wears  underwear surprisingly exposed himself to the hostess Deloris Frimpong Manso on Delay. Delay is a celebrity programme that interviews celebrities on one of Ghana's most popular television stations called TV3.
Wanlov is a Ghanaian musician of mixed Ghanaian and Bulgarian descent. He is peculiar in the sense that he is always barefooted and prefers a cloth around his waist rather than trousers or shorts. His peculiar and odd way of life caused the hostess of the programme  to question him whether the perception that he never wears underpants is true. This degenerated  into the unfortunate anticlimax where against all decency he exposed himself to the hostess.
The unfortunate incident has made many people in Ghana very angry and surprised owing to the fact that  this indecency has never been seen in the country before. However, to add insult to injury Wanlov  is adamantly unremorseful for his behaviour. TV3 was quick to do damage control by distancing itself from the incident and suspending the programme. The image of the programme has been tarnished forever and it may never return to TV3. If it even does return the infamous indecent exposure will haunt it forever and prevent it from having credibility.

The Ghanaian coach Stevanovic alleges the use of black power ("juju")

In a report by the Serbian born coach of Ghana National  Team Goran Stevanovic posted on Peacefmonline on the 23rd of February 2012 he makes a starling revelation about the use of black power or "juju" by the players. He states that "we all need to help in changing some players' mentality about using black power to destroy themselves and also make sure we install discipline and respect for each other".

There has always been the belief of the use of "juju" in football by a cross section of the society. However, no one in authority has ever publicly confirmed  prior to Stevanovic's revelation. It is certainly very difficult to prove the authenticity of the assertion. 

This revelation comes in the wake of what was seen by many Ghanaians as an abysmal performance by the coach. Ghanaians wanted nothing short of lifting the African Cup. Whiles some sympathize with the coach, a great majority would like to see the back of him.This is because after placing second in the last African Nations Cup in 2010 and going as far as the quarter finals in the World Cup and loosing only to Uruguay under dubious circumstance when Suarez  punched the ball from entering the net after his goalkeeper was clearly beaten.

 It would be correct to guess that we may never know whether the allegation is true. The problem is that  it will be impossible to deny or confirm it. In matters of superstition and spirituality it is practically impossible to conclusively ascertain their veracity. 

Is the head coach using the "juju" to cover up what many Ghanaians consider as a bad performance? We may never know. However, in due course the Ghana Football Association (GFA) will consider his fate whether he will be allowed to stay or he will be sacked.

Arsenal humiliated at San Siro

It was supposed to be  clash among equals an Italian giant meeting an English giant. However, Arsenal was convincingly beaten and humiliated at San Siro loosing by 4 goals.

It all started with a terrific shot by Kevin Boateng and then two more by Robinho and the last goal wasa penalty which was converted by Ibrahimovic.

Arsenal looked clueless and purposeless in front of goal. the AC Milan defenders kept the Van Persie out of the match. With Van Persie the most important Arsenal forward out of the match,  the task of Milan became less difficult.

For many years Arsenal is a shadow of itself. The team though depleted by the departure of Nasri, Fabregas just to mention a few, it still has  very great number of good players but they are unable to deliver the goods and this leaves all mesmerized as to what is really happening to Arsenal.

The humiliation at San Siro yesternight does their ego no good.  It remains to be seen whether Arsene Wegner can relive the past and ignite the spirit of success into the team so that Arsenal can relive its past glory in future

Zambia wins the 2012 African Cup of Nations

Zambia shocked all by cruising from the group stages to the final of the African Cup of Nations and won convincingly in the final against Cote d'Ivoire on penalties.

Great footballing nations like Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria were conspicuously absent  having failed to qualify for the CAN 2012. It was therefore expected that nations like Ghana , Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal with  great track records will be impressive and that one of them will  eventually lift the Cup. It will have been odd and even strange for anyone to have believed that Zambia will win the Cup. Indeed though a fairly great football nation she is dwarfed by the likes of Ghana, Senegal and cote d'Ivoire.

 During the tournament they showed great discipline tenacity, tactical discipline and strength that saw them defeat Senegal, Ghana and Cote Ivoire and eventually lifting the Cup.  The Zambian captain Christopher  Kotongo as a result of his outstanding performance and leadership was promoted to warrant officer class in the army during the tournament.

Never having lifted the Cup before, 12 February 2012 was the first time time that Zambia lifted the  Cup. No one can take the credit away from President of the Football  Association of Zambia Kalusha Bwalya, one of the finest footballers of his day whose inspiration and leadership was tremendous. It might have been a great day for him considering that all his team mates sadly perished in a plane crash. He escaped because he was not on the plane taking them to a World Cup qualifying match.  Indeed Herve Renard can not be left out for his tactical strength and winning zeal.

 The souls of the departed in the plane crash will feel honoured for this great achievement by the current national team. Well done Zambia.