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\centerline{MONT 104N -- Modeling the Environment}
\centerline{Second ``Debates'' Day}
\centerline{November 14, 2012}
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{\it Presenters}
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Robertho Gay, Bobby Indeglia, Mike Keane, Marshall Lougee, Nick Lovullo, Joe McNamara 
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{\it Priorities for President Obama's Second Term}
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Tuesday's national election led to only slight rearrangements of the 
balance between the Republicans and the Democrats in Congress and 
President Obama narrowly won a second term by defeating Governor 
Romney.  There will be no ``honeymoon'' period this time (as new Presidents sometimes
get), though, because even before the new Congress takes office in January 2013, averting
the impending ``fiscal cliff'' (the deep automatic cuts in most categories of Federal spending
and across-the-board expiration of the Bush-era tax rate decreases) will require bipartisan
action.  Looking past that deadline, what should be the goals for the next four years?

There is an interesting collection of positions staked out in the New York Times 
{\it Room For Debate} blog posted on Wednesday, November 7:  
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\centerline{\tt http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/11/07}
\centerline{\tt /a-to-do-list-for-president-obamas-next-four-years}
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(this should be all entered as one web address; it's broken over two lines
to fit on the page here)
including several touching directly on issues we are considering in this course.  
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{\it Assignment}
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For this ``debate,'' I think it will be a good plan for each of you to take 
the position of one (or maybe two) of the eight contributors to the New York
Times blog, look into who your people are, what their backgrounds are, why
they might hold the opinions they do, and then research
some of the details behind what they are saying.  Be
prepared to discuss why your person (or people) think their issues
are the most important ones that need to be addressed in President Obama's
second term.  Look for connections with things we have discussed in class
and highlight them in your presentations if appropriate.  
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Every can use the computer and projector in our classroom
to display any graphical or numerical information they would like
to bring in.  
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The natural way to do this will be to have each of you take one position
and plan for each person to speak for about 4 or 5 minutes, with time for
a follow-up discussion after everyone has spoken.   If you want, 
I can assign who takes which position.  But you can also sort that out for 
yourselves if you have strong feelings one way or another and you want to 
present your own opinions.   
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I would like to meet with the whole team before class on 
Wednesday, November 14 to see where you are and see if you have any 
questions about how to make your cases.  I'm free basically during 
office hours 10am - 12 noon on Monday, November 12 and all 
morning on Tuesday, November 13.  
\bye 

