Civic Engagement

VOTE SEBELIUS

         Sebelius has been a part of many great advertisements but putting them all into one central message, I’ve created one for the voters of today. Sebelius needs voices, your help not just a single vote. Rally behind Seblius to see your country grow in a way that American’s haven’t seen possible in a decade.

CAN'T STOP A SMILE

TELEVISION AD:

You can see it already

The change we need in Kansas Economy

Stronger schools, and safer communities

You can see it in leadership and what brings us all together. Kansas is moving forward. Sebelius can provide this for you.

“These are our goals, and the reason I’m here to keep Kansas moving forward”- Sebelius.

Sebelius broke through years of legislative gridlock to pass a plan that strengthens our schoos.

“I’m Kathleen Sebelius and I approve this message.”

         You should vote for Kathleen Sebelius because of all the great success she had in the past as governor, and while holding the office of secretary of state. Some of her many accomplishments include this one stand out fact of her career. In November 2005, Time named Sebelius as one of the five best governors in America, praising her for eliminating a $1.1 billion debt she inherited, ferreting out waste in state government, and strongly supporting public education – all without raising taxes, although she proposed raising sales, property, and income taxes.

         She is willing to go out on a limb for the people of America, and that is what you need in a future politician to take office in any position.

with husband

With husband and two sons.

Kathleen is just like you and I, a hopeful American with a lot of ideas. She is a mother, a wife and a very strong politician. 

#voteSebelius 

With husband.

MEDIA COVERAGE 4/23/15

            When I Google searched my candidate, the most recent news or written stories were dated back to April of 2014. The top searches were from media outlets: the Washington Post, NY times and from CNN network.

            http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/kathleen-sebelius-to-step-down-as-hhs-secretary-omb-director-will-take-her-place/2014/04/10/f4420d1e-c106-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/us/politics/sebelius-resigning-as-health-secretary.html?_r=0

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/politics/kathleen-sebelius-resigning/

            All of these stories are based around the same issue. These were written to talk about Sebelius resigning from office after troubles over the Health Care Act. Most of the media outlets that covered her most recently are primarily hard news outlets. The Washington Post has a liberal audience but it viewed by conservatives as well. The NY times tends to be more liberal and CNN as well, but not near as much as FOX news.

            From all of these stories the media is definitely generating the news. From mostly reliable sources but altered to the way they want to appeal to the people that view the news. I think that because there are harsh things within these stories about Sebelius that as a candidate or someone that works for her wouldn’t directly write. They would want to maintain as much of a positive image as possible even through these past times of her resignation.

            For example in the Washington post however, there was a few places that showed a silver lining in Sebelius’ resignation. Quotes directly from Obama, speaking very highly of her. In this case I think that it altered this news outlets perspective on how they chose to write about her. Mostly mentioning her good and who would step up and replace her. Without strong power in this case Obama being in the story I think they may have took advantage of making the article all about her weaknesses in office. Political relationships with the media really do alter what is written. This is from the last couple of chapters we read.

“Under Kathleen’s leadership, the team at HHS turned the corner,” he said. “And we are proud of her for that. That’s a a historic accomplishment.” –Obama

            In the CNN article you can see that they write mostly criticizing Sebelius. For example: “Kathleen Sebelius -- who weathered heavy criticism over the flaw-filled launch of the Obamacare website, then saw the program through as it topped a major milestone -- is resigning as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a White House official said Thursday.” This to me suggests that the media is generating the news in a way that they think more people will read. Lets be honest as humans we’d rather read about bad news, conflict, emergency’s and drama. Good news is great but no-one wants to read an article covering how great Sebelius’ was.

            Overall I think that these media outlets don’t really set up Kathleen for candidacy. They more so make it so we can see that she was good at the time but is sort of washed up. I think that if she were to run in the upcoming election she would definitely want to be covered by outlets such as the Washington post.

CNN VS. FOX

          I found written stories of Kathleen Sebelius from her time of resignation holding the office of Human Services Secretary on CNN’s website and also Fox news’ website. Both of these are referring to the same main idea of her leaving office however, both media programs portray Sebelius in a totally differently light.

Articles found here:

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/politics/kathleen-sebelius-resigning/

FOX: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/01/prime-time-to-dump-sebelius/

         First in the CNN article, prominently a liberal media program sort of backs Sebelius. In the first couple paragraphs it shows how and why she had been under attack and viewed negatively. They list some of her issues in office such as “being subject of a "Saturday Night Live" parody and talk show one-liners panning her.” But also this story comes right out and says that Republicans in Congress were especially critical of what they saw as her lack of leadership shepherding through what they saw as an ill-conceived, ill-advised law. To follow though CNN makes a great generous effort to stand behind Sebelius and say that through all of these fires she is still holding on to her job. This quote from the story shows just that:

 “But Sebelius, 65, held on to her job, insisting America shouldn't abandon the legislation and all that it hopes to achieve.”

         They almost make her image better. She resigned because she wasn’t able to fix or control the Obamacare act and everything that went along with it. But in all reality I believe that this is accurate because nobody can make Obama care work. CNN had a part in their story where they actually found a republican tweet saying just that. Having a source from an opposite party really shows she only did what she could. It takes a lot for someone of another party to recognize that.

         CNN portrayed Sebelius I think just the way she’d want to go down from what I have researched so far. I think they may be a little generous by making the last two quarters of the story finding outside sources that also back Sebelius. If a person were only to see this CNN story, I think they would be more upset with the spot our government let Sebelius fall into, not at all upset with her success in the position she held.

            Next with the story from Fox news, we see Sebelius carried in a very different light for the same issue of her resigning. The title “Prime Time to Dump Sebelius,” already shows the view they are trying to get the readers to have. You can’t read that title without thinking that she did something very wrong, or is no use to the system anymore.

         After talking about Obamacare, there is a section that goes into talking smack on her time in position. They even have a section where they answer the question: Why is Sebelius being blamed for everything? They are unfair in their responses

“Perhaps now is the moment, during this temporary, contrived victory celebration, to let her finally get some rest. The new federal contractor starts today for the Web site that Sebelius will always be remembered for wrecking.”

        

         If someone were to read this article about Sebelius I think they could see that it was biased but maybe that’s just because I’m informed of whom she really is after writing all of these blogs.

CNN on Sebelius

A piece of representation of my candidate can be found on the website of CNN. With the headline of “Sebelius’ Term was a Disaster” they clearly made an opinion of my candidate, and not in a very good light. For example the second quote of the entire article is, “Sadly her term as secretary of Health and Human Services was a disaster.”

You can see the full article here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/11/opinion/gingrich-sebelius-right-to-resign/

           They attack her by painting a negative image of her while in office. They talk about how American’s should be able to expect that people who enter high public office will see their job as a public duty and will view faithfully serving the public and administering the laws as their solemn obligation. Which in this case CNN is making readers view Sebelius as someone that didn’t take her job seriously.

            Also they take a spin and make her into somewhat of a follower, mentioning that whatever she did was echoing Obama and his decisions and ideas. Mirroring her ideas after his as mentioned in the article. They make the reader’s view her as secretive and conniving. For example they list some examples in the article with this quote: “She made dozens of changes to policy without the authority to do so, from waiving welfare's work requirement to pressuring insurance companies for Obamacare implementation dollars after Congress denied her budget request to delaying the employer mandate--twice--outside the confines of the legislation.”

            Overall this pushes back against the image Kathleen Sebelius is striving for and wants to create for herself. In my blog two I mentioned that Kathleen’s image is very positive. She values “pro-choice” and education most. She has the image of a mother, a caretaker but also a strong leader and woman.  She runs on many political positions but overall wants people to see that she will do whatever needs to be done to keep the best interest for the people. 

  This website of CNN paints a horrifying exact opposite of Kathleen.

            In my opinion I think that this article does shift the image on Kathleen Sebelius for some readers but in this case probably uninformed voters or people that were never for her in the first place. It came out after she was in office. I think you can find a bad review on any politician for any given time-period some where. With CNN you just wouldn’t have to do as much digging.