Obama has won

Often surprises me how quickly US political talk seems to turn to the apocalyptic themes, 'who do we bomb/attack/censure next' - some Diplomacy might make a pleasant change. A bit of "Jaw-Jaw" rather than instinctively resorting to "War-War" as Churchill might have put it.
'The End is Nigh!' tone often struck seems somewhat hysterical to the external observer.

As SW mentions; it's a common political maxim that nobody wins an election - the previous bunch lose it.
Speaking from outside the country in question I reckon neither Mcain or Obama could possibly have been worse than the previous incumbent for the US's international reputation, both of 'em looked like a serious upgrade.
The Bush Years have eroded my personal feelings for the external actions of the US Government from 'generally positive' to 'immense distrust'.
I hope this situation is reversed in the coming years and the country's viewed once again as more reasoned in it's actions, particularly by it's natural allies who have become increasingly alienated and bemused at many decisions taken - a country that used to be perceived abroad as a firm & fair friend is often seen of late as more of a bully, even in quarters that previously were very much pro-US.

Good luck to him, big job - sincerely hope he makes a decent fist of it.
(Providing some loony doesn't shoot him first for having the temerity to be a black President.)

Cheers,
Adam.

 

I did not vote for Mc Otto

we already have a deep grounded history on the ugly one, as I said earlier we wait and see what Obama can bring to the table, I pray that he will be a strong leader and stand up to those that would try and put us asunder. Personally I feel he is weak minded, but I am praying for the man regardless to do what is right, think we can all agree with that

dang I have been up since 4am talking with too many trying to get people to reason this out.............and now for me to quit. sometimes having Family in high places in the government can be taxing on a persons nerves.
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alrightie then a glass of wine, make love to my woman and talk about WW 2 now ~

 

You said it brother. I do not see our election system as truly 'democratic' since the only exposure we have is to the two parties rather than the whole spectrum.

 

A well balanced third party would have a good chance if it had a clear message that appealed to the middle class.
The trouble with alot of the third parties is they are at one extreme or the other.
Perot had the best chance of all who ran in recent history. Also Governor Jessie Ventura.

 

Although I wanted McCain to win and I am concerned about the effect of an Obama presidency, I have to believe that an Obama predidency, even coupled with a Democratic majority in the Legislature, cannot do any lasting harm to the USA. Obama will ultimately prove to be more of a centrist because he will be looking towards a second term and he will realize that extremist positions, coupled with either Romney or someone like him running against him in 4 years, will doom him to a one term presidency.

On the other hand, this election has demonstrated that in the USA, just about anyone who is born in the USA can truly dream of becoming The President of the United States. Minorities and women can now credibly throw their hats into the political ring and not be viewed as novelties, as was the case in 1984 when Geraldine Ferrarro was on the Democratic ticket. At the same time, Senator McCain's selection of the wrong woman as his running mate has shown that the standards for acceptance remain the same and that a bad candidate will not gather support. From an evolutionary perspective, this is a very good thing for our political system.

If the election had been held before the markets tanked and before Sarah Palin emerged as the surprise Republican VP candidate, Senator McCain would have won the election. Sadly, at least from my perspective, he did not. That said, President-elect Obama is soon to be our Head of State and I shall do my best to watch his actions as President with an unbiased eye, regardless of what promises he may have made and without regard to the fact that he was not my candidate.

Of course, I will feel better if Colin Powell will quickly form an exploratory committee for the 2012 election. How about Romney-Powell for 2012. That sounds good to me!

 

VP, I agree totally on the 'Jaw-Jaw might make a change' logic. From the point of view of the rest of the world I think there is a great sigh of relief from both friends and enemies alike as all of a sudden there is hope that maybe we won't be charging off to attack any more people. Last night as the results came in I heard 3 people saying words to the effect of 'if McCain wins I bet we'll be in Iran before 2012,' I can see their point and I'm glad he lost.

Now, if Obama is clever he'll get McCain onside and beat the 'soft' and 'lacking experience' arguments by listening with one ear to the hard old men of US politics, though tempering their words with a little youthful optimism

 

well Stefan Bushy is not out of office yet so anything can happen, just had 2 good friends leave for places unknown this morning and it was not Afghan or Iraq, but in the mid-east.

Obama has a huge load dumped on his narrow shoulders from the past 25 years, it will be interesting if he can hold on in his first term of office

 

Whatever happens, i don't care. As far as i am concerned, i have never been so proud of this great nation before, and I stand by the honorable choice more Americans made. This is, after all, a government that's of the people, not of the white people.

 

Is this you trying to get another rouse out of causing a stir? I have not heard a single person on this forum claim he shouldn't be President because he is Black. Many reasons have been pointed out, and non them inply race as the reason.

 

This final section; "...if Obama is clever..." seems to be exactly his strength. If past performance in an executive postion is taken into account.

Being the first African-American to hold a Presidential seat is nothing new to Obama, since he was also the first to be President of the Harvard Law Review. Here is one excerpt from an article:

"Even though he was clearly a liberal, he didn't appear to the conservatives in the review to be taking sides in the tribal warfare," said Bradford A. Berenson, a former Bush administration lawyer who was an editor at the review."

"The politics of the Harvard Law Review were incredibly petty and incredibly vicious," Berenson said. "The editors of the review were constantly at each other's throats. And Barack tended to treat those disputes with a certain air of detachment and amusement. The feeling was almost, come on kids, can't we just behave here?"

From:

At Harvard Law, a unifying voice - The Boston Globe

Being able to listen to both sides, and alter people's approach without insulting them seems to be his forte.

 

Za this is going to make America feel a little more like the USSR with Obama's social programs.

 

Or more likely it will entrench Democracy (in the wider sense, not the partisan one) even more deeply, confirming the usual, normal way of things of Presidents coming and going according to the free will of the Citizens who choose them.

 

I've heard that before Erich, I'm beginning to suspect your mates have some sort of season ticket to the middle east? Sure they haven't got a time-share in Dubai or something?

I would be surprised if Bush did kick off a war in the next 2 months or so, particularly with the Christmas run-up etc. If he does, he is nothing short of despicable!

Mike, I don't think he was necessarily referring to the forum, it was quite funny to see how many people made Obama's race an issue. I saw a poll which stated that 90% said race had nothing to do with it, that means a fair few people lied and 10% of people are out and out racist scum.

 

probably Damascus Stefan .... the Syrian women are quite beautiful

the good ol gut feeling says anything could and will happen

 

IMO those people are ignorant pr*cks who never deserved a vote in the first place. Perhaps it's just in my area or the north in general, but 90% of the black/white racism I see in my area are blacks still angry about the past*. These are one incapable of moving towards the future.

* Just about everyone dislikes the muslems, extremist or not.

 

One of the more interesting "exit polls" done by NBC asked just that question, regarding race. They posited it in two forms, i.e. "race had nothing to do with their decision", and that "race did have an influence on their decision". What was surprising was that the same percentage expressed the same answer, it did (over 60%) and it didn't (over60%). Even more surprising was that those people all cast their ballots for Obama, so I would think that demonstrated the point is moot.

 

I hope to hell you're wrong mate

I agree on the race thing Mike, frankly any racist, regardless of whom they dislike, is ignorant and bigotted. It's just a shame that people insist on bringing it in to this kind of issue.

 

I don't understand is why some people got annoyed at a reference to race. A page ago you were comparing Obama to Hitler... That's harsher I think.
Now, your mates going away all of the sudden to the middle east. That's scary... If Bush attempts to invade Iran at this time, there will be turmoil in the streets I think. Not to mention, it'll be a blow way bellow the belt. Sending more americans to die for nothing...
Maybe if he did that, the guy who runs the feds (forgot his title) will actually arrest Bush. That'd be amusing.



Cheers...

 

Invade Iran ? chortle unlikely got more problems with Pakistan and Syria to be bothered with whacky Iranians , if i was a gambler id say Israel has dibs on dealing with Iran.