Barack Obama Wins US Presidency 3709
Last night, around 11pm, all the major networks announced that Senator Barack Obama had won the election. Soon after, Senator McCain conceded. There were no crazy partisan court hearings, just a simple election. This is your chance to talk about it and what it means for the future of our nation.
I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Informative)
The Dems may actually get 60. They're at 56 now and there's still 4 seats in the "too close to tell right now" territory.
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Interesting)
As long as the senate can still filibuster, nothing too crazy will get through. If a party ever got 60 senators though, God help us!
Normally, I might agree with you, but a lot of those Republicans are coming up for election in 2010, and most of them are actually smart enough to read the writing on the wall. Filibustering every issue will not bode well for their chances for re-election, and they know it. I think Obama is going to be able to get a lot more done than some people think.
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Insightful)
Everything is already screwed up about as bad as it can get. There is some serious "left" listing that needs to happen to put us back on course.
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Interesting)
I wish I could mod that up, because that's exactly why I voted the way I did this election. I voted D straight down the list for the first time ever. No mix and match, no attempt at balance. Straight Democrat. I feel a little dirty, but it needed to be done, and for the first time since I've been able to vote, I actually have hope that maybe this time it will be different. I was well on my way to becoming disillusioned and apathetic, but this time I care, and I'm hopeful.
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Interesting)
Thank you for your thoughtful, and non-insulting reply. I agree that the blame mostly lies with Bush, but McCain's campaign clearly illustrated to me that the neocons who brought us Bush were still in charge of the Republican party. Until those idiots are no longer running that party, I will not vote for them. That sucks for the good Republicans, but they've got a lot of cleaning up to do. I wish them well.
I have hope that McCain will leave that crowd behind and do some good for what remains of his political career. His concession speech was nothing short of beautiful. His audience's reaction was atrocious, but I don't fault McCain for that.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Democrats and Republicans represent the same ideal (Score:5, Insightful)
If America wanted serious change, change that was not just superficial, then one of the third party candidates would have one.
At the very least, it is a good thing that the neoconservative movement appears to have weakened a bit in this election. Do not confuse neoconservative and Republican -- while most neocons are Republicans, most Republicans are not neoconservative and many Republicans found the neoconservatives to be embarrassing.
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Funny)
Lagom? lol, first time ever I've seen the word spread outside of Sweden :D
It's finally happening! After hundreds of years borrowing english, latin, german and french words our time has come! If only we built some new castles to! (On that topic, how nice to know we are shutting down all our military really fast nowadays while the russians are mobilising [jamestown.org] (though probably not to invade us :D))
Somewhat off-topic I know, but I can handle the negative moderation for spreading this awesome news about how we'll take over the world thru lagom!
Re:I'll Tell You What It Means (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course, it won't be portrayed that way. The press will never jump on Obama's every misspoken word, or call out every contradiction in his policy. No, I expect that the press will go right on supporting this guy through thick and thin because they're married to him now.
And that is different to the Bush presidency between 2001 and 2006 exactly how?
I was hoping for a Bush win in 2004 for a simple reason: I wanted him to be president when the whole shit was stinking even up the noses of the big media. I wanted him to be president when it became clear to even the last and hardboiled conservative that President Bush was a failure. I wanted an actual reporting in the daily news how bad a president was in power.
Re:You just made his point (Score:5, Informative)
98 Senators voted for the Patriot Act. Only one voted against. The Republicans weren't alone in passing it.
357 Representatives voted for the Patriot Act. Only 55 voted against. Again, the Republicans weren't alone in passing it.
Note that the political climate of the time was such that if the Democrats had controlled both houses of Congress, odds are it would have been passed by similar majorities.
Drunk wisdom (Score:5, Funny)
A fellow bar patron put it best:
"BLUE TEAM WINS"
Re:Drunk wisdom (Score:5, Funny)
"Red Warrior needs food... Badly"
Re:Drunk wisdom (Score:5, Funny)
Green Elf shot the food!
First thing I thought about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Rev. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream".
Re:First thing I thought about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or maybe you shouldn't be using a dead person's hypothetical opinions to promote your own agenda.
Re:First thing I thought about... (Score:5, Funny)
Skim MLK?
Re:First thing I thought about... (Score:5, Insightful)
I voted for Obama, but he's not even close to MLK.
I think that the GP meant that MLK's famous dream has been fulfilled, not that Obama is somehow as great as Dr King.
My own opinion chimes with that of one of our most famous leaders: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else." - Winston Chirchill [thinkexist.com]. After the world suffering eight years of GWB, the quote somehow seemed appropriate.
Re:First thing I thought about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Fallout from the election (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait. My copy of Fallout 3 arrived yesterday and that's all I can think about.
Deck chairs on the Titanic (Score:5, Funny)
Thoroughly, and decisively, re-arranged.
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER! (Score:5, Funny)
For some reason that picture makes me hungry for some KFC.
What? (Score:5, Funny)
Reputation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reputation (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do you care how we look to the rest of the world? Let's worry about the problems in our country. I really don't give two shits about how some snoppy European views our country.
Great! Recall the troops from Afghanistan guys! The Yanks can handle it by themselves.
Re:Reputation (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do you care how we look to the rest of the world? Let's worry about the problems in our country.
Those two issues are related.
Re:Reputation (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do you care how we look to the rest of the world? Let's worry about the problems in our country. I really don't give two shits about how some snoppy European views our country.
Yeah, I mean, it's not like foreign policy really has any effect at all on the way our country is run or anything.
Re:Reputation (Score:5, Interesting)
Because if the rest of the world likes you, they might stop thinking up ways to blow you up. When you say please don't build any Nuclear missiles they might actually listen. Hell there's a chance that people won't take the whole 'giving people democracy thing' as such a bad joke if you actually came across as well meaning and decent. It's not just the Europeans you need to consider, but if you did, then next time you decide to start a war you might get help from someone other than the Brits.
And if you're going to throw out insults (the OP never mentioned by whom or where that reputation might be held btw.) they could at least be real insults. That said kudos for coming up with a word that isn't in the urban dictionary.
Strange no one has mentioned this but.. (Score:5, Funny)
The party of big government (Score:5, Insightful)
The party of big government soundly defeated the other party of big government.
Too bad for those of us who think the government is getting dangerously big.
15 million people are employed by, and have a vested interest in an the size and power of, the federal government, let alone state and local.
Re:The party of big government (Score:5, Insightful)
I've voted Libertarian in the two elections prior to this one; I live in Texas, so it's not like non-Republican votes count anyways.
This year? The best way to advance the libertarian agenda? I voted for the Democrat. Straight ticket, in fact.
Torture? Indefinite detention? This is how we do things in America, is it?
Here's the whole thing in a nutshell -- I can win an argument about money. I can't win an argument about what God told you to do, and I'm mad that I have to even try. "God says it's the right thing to do" caused all this garbage. The proper response to 9/11 was $500 in cabin door locks and a *memo to the pilots* explaining how certain critical assumptions we made were flawed. Everything else is exactly what the American-educated bin Laden expected and in fact desired. Mission accomplished, O spiritual warrior. And the Republican party as a whole gets tarred with this brush because they didn't step up to defend the Constitution of our nation.
I've deliberately done what I can to force the Republican Party to fracture and squeeze out either the godnuts or the socially liberal. Then maybe I can vote for economic conservatism without lumping it in with votes for totemic spirits. I'll deal with four or eight years of bad financial decisions because even if the far right wingnuts are correct, I'd STILL rather starve than torture and kill for Jesus.
(So far I've been (apparently) banned on RedState and been banned on FreeRepublic. You'd think they'd be more sensitive to Constitutional issues, especially among people historically voting libertarian.)
As a Canadian, let me say... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well done, America. You've taken your first step toward re-establishing your international credibility by voting out the Republicans, who have played a large part in engineering the current state of international affairs. We recognize that your country is in a pretty deep hole left by the last administration, but we trust you'll do your best.
Thanks, American voters. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure I'll be modded out, but as an Australian... can I just say, THANK YOU America for making the right decision.
Your country has a huge influence on us and I am so glad you are taking a positive step forward into what I hope will be a new era for us all.
Congratulations on making a historic event happen (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Congratulations on making a historic event happ (Score:5, Funny)
Hope and fear (Score:5, Insightful)
Hope because the idiots that have been running the country for nearly a decade are gone, fear that the new bunch of idiots aren't any better.
Ron Paul (Score:5, Funny)
This was easily the best election I ever participated in. Mostly because of Ron Paul. He opened my eyes to real liberty and true freedoms, and I've been a changed person man ever since. I'm not going to take crap from the two parties sitting down anymore, and I have real hope for this country, that someday we all might really be free from the federal government. I was also exposed to Ayn Rand and read her fiction, and really enjoyed it.
I wrote Ron Paul in, and I was beyond happy the rest of the day. It honestly felt awesome to vote for someone that I honestly believe in, an opportunity I've never taken before.
Re:Ron Paul (Score:5, Funny)
Please report immediately to decontamination area 4. Remember to burn all your clothes. Exposed items you wish to decontaminate must be collected in a sealed, transparent plastic bag and handed in to the paramedical personnel at your decontamination area.
I recorded.. (Score:5, Funny)
The Real Surprise is in Alaska (Score:5, Interesting)
The biggest surprise of the night is in Alaska, where against all odds, they elected [alaska.net] a convicted criminal [nytimes.com] to the US senate.
Re:The Real Surprise is in Alaska (Score:5, Informative)
They know he'll be expelled, but that the Governor (
Palin) will appoint his successor to serve out the rest of the term.
It was basically a choice of "yes" or "no" to giving a Republican seat to the Democrats.
Everyone knows Stevens is going to prison. His reelection just serves as a placeholder for the person who's actually going to take the Senate seat in his stead.
I don't believe that the Governor can appoint herself to the post, so at least the Democrats don't have to worry about hearing the words "Senator Palin".
Oh goshdarnit! That other guy git in (Score:5, Funny)
Obligitory Simpsons (Score:5, Funny)
Kent Brockman: I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply doesn't work.
As an european... (Score:5, Insightful)
History, sacrifice, hope and gaps (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not American and couldn't vote but I've spent all my adult life here and the last eight years have affected my life in much the same ways it affected yours. I'm very glad there were record turnouts, whoever you voted for.
I think its good to recognize this as a historic and important moment. I stayed up all night working and listening to the coverage. It is a night I'll remember and I'm admittedly quite happy. Certainly, there is hope, a word I haven't heard much off since 2001. I'm very glad that he acknowledged that the real work lies ahead and that it will take a spirit of service and sacrifice and both of them talked about coming together and bridging the gaps that have cut this nation.
Bridging gaps is a hugely critical message today. There is an interesting discordant note between all the commentators speaking about how this marks the end of slavery and the fruition of the civil rights movement and the change of a generation, and what looks like a yes vote on Proposition 8 in California. When the dust has settled, there is going to be much talk about the way different demographics voted and the gaps that represents. I hope it will not take 40 years for all of us to recognize that in the end, beyond nationality, skin colour, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or background, we are all just human beings.
The thing that absolutely amazes me... (Score:5, Interesting)
...is the international reaction to Obama's win. I knew that the reputation of America and Americans had been battered over the past few years, but I never suspected that it was as bad as it was. I watched the results last night, said a little "huzzah!" when Obama was declared, listened as McCain gave a warm, dignified, and gentlemanly concession speech, and then went to bed thinking I'd seen it all. I woke up at about 4:45 this morning and I've been flipping between news stations ever since. I got a little emotional last night during the speeches, but I'm absolutely devastated by the number of non-Americans who are dancing in the streets over Obama's win. I never thought I'd see video of a few hundred Chinese people jumping around and chanting "Obama! Obama!" A reporter in France walked up to a woman and simply said "Obama?" Her face lit up and she simply said "C'est formidable!" Kenyans are throwing feasts in his honor. Arab and Persian states are happy. Israel is happy. Pakistan is happy. Australians are losing their damned minds over it. Russia is... well, they're kinda grumpy, but they're not having a good year. And all morning I've been hitting my usual haunts (/., Fark, CNN, BBC, & more) and I keep seeing messages posted by people from a zillion different countries congratulating us and thanking us for "making the right choice." Before you ask, yes I voted for him, no, I don't think he's the messiah, and yes, I'm still pissed at him for breaking his promise over campaign financing. But even with all that, I still can't shake the feeling that something *seriously* important happened last night. I'm almost 40, so I've seen a few elections, but never in my life have I seen or felt the kind of excitement that's in the air right now. It seems like all sorts of barriers have just... vanished. Racial, political, international, interpersonal, it just all seems different now. I know that part of it is just the morning-after buzz of having your candidate win, but there's something special about having a friend email you and tell you how they got hugged twice in Germany while wearing an Obama t-shirt and walking to the bakery on the corner, then reading a post that says "The Netherlands are happy for you!" The world stood up and took notice of us this morning. I hope he doesn't let us down.
Thus endeth my waxing philosophical.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
Let me be the first to day that, I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
...welcome our new black, arab, muslim, atheist, socialist, communist, not-born-in-america, terrorist, redistributionist-in-chief overlord.
LOL!
Seriously, from all of us in fake America to all of you in real America, thanks for the laughs...and the winks. Let's not forget the winks.
Go Obama!
Re:Two words (Score:5, Interesting)
I think.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Based on the "hopes" of a lot of people, the poor guy is going to disappoint a lot of people.
His supporters who think he'll change everything.
His detractors who think he'll change everything.
Take a look at a list of presidents for the past 40 years and you'll see no one president fundamentally changes everything. Can't be done. A president doesn't have that sort of power.
As I tell everyone, whoever gets elected you hope he/she does well for our country, because then everyone wins.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
A coworker of mine described his vote very simply: "My fear with McCain is that he will do as he says. My fear with Obama is that he won't."
My response to those concerns is very simple: if he does half of what he says he'll do, that's still a big win.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
My favorite thing to hear on Fox was a discussion going on to do with the state of the economy, and how "we are only now seeing the full effects of the Clinton presidency". I about fell out of my chair.
I do realize that change cannot be immediate, but there are limits. Considering how long we've had a Bush for president, continuing to blame the past just flies in the face of all reason.
Now it still concerns me to stand by and watch just how much more damage the Lame Duck can do before the clean-up crew moves in.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
Now it still concerns me to stand by and watch just how much more damage the Lame Duck can do before the clean-up crew moves in.
I have this image in my mind of Dubya, on January 19th, starting "police actions" in about 20 countries, and saying, "Let's see him fix this!"
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
Blaming Bush will only work for so long. If Voters took account of who was responsible for problems they would of tossed out Dems and Republicans in congress since the Democratic congress does hold some responsibility for their actions over the last two years, but the fact of the matter is that whomever is in the White house defines which party is responsible regardless of who is REALLY responsible.
Complaining about trains not running on time and management is FAR different than making the trains run on time and BEING management.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
>Quit being so damned bitter and actually start helping your fellow countrymen instead of being an asshole because your guy didn't win
You mean like the Democrats did in 2000 and 2004?
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, the "Bush is not my president" and "Somewhere in Texas a village lost its idiot" T-shirts and all of the /. posts about "KKKarl Rove stole the election" and "the chimp" things the Democrats did after 2000 and 2004 absolutely helped their fellow countrymen and weren't asshole things to do.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, it does.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
just because you heard it on fox news doesn't mean it's incorrect.
I just want to say again, Yes it does!
"Fox News" is not news. It is a commentator show. It is hard to even find a "news" show any longer. Everyone has to inject their opinions and interpretations of the carefully selected facts presented. That's commentating and editorializing -- not reporting and not news.
We need truth in labelling in everything, it seems, and not just on foods and drugs.
Re:More than Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
I would have hoped that the American people would be smart enough to know that the crisis was a bi-partisan failure. From Credit Default Swaps passing the Senate as a rider 98-0, to the Bush Administration sounding the alarm in 2003 but being ignored, to Barney Frank famously telling the House Republicans that there is nothing wrong with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and getting the backing of House Democrats), to the Republicans blocking the Fannie/Freddie bill once it reached the Senate, there is plenty of blame to spread around.
The truth is that the economic crisis happened because the financial markets found new ways to be greedy that no one understood. When the powers that be looked at the balance sheets, they'd see these odd financial instruments and mortgage-backed securities and just shrug and say, "We trust that you guys are educated and know what you're doing. Besides, it seems to be working." Only now that they're falling apart is it clear to everyone how underhanded and vile these various financial instruments were. It's all crystal clear in 20/20 hindsight.
That being said, McCain didn't help himself any by appointing Grahm and Fiorna as his advisors. Having the guy responsible for CDSes and the most hated CEO in history (at least, that hasn't been prosecuted) didn't exactly endear him to the American public.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
Why? Did he vote?
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole world agrees with those sentiments.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not saying that he deserves it, but when these pie-in-the-sky types realize that he is human like the rest, and that he won't be able to wipe the tear from every eye, his approval rating will take a serious hit.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
I have never seen such hysteria for a candidate in my life. With the type of overwrought messianic expectations that he faces, there is no way to go for Obama but down.
I'm not saying that he deserves it, but when these pie-in-the-sky types realize that he is human like the rest, and that he won't be able to wipe the tear from every eye, his approval rating will take a serious hit.
As far as a good part of the rest of the world...we don't think you elected a messiah. We're just glad you didn't elect the 3rd incarnation of the fucking antichrist.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
McCain isn't the antichrist. Not by a long shot. And I said this as an Obama supporter. He's served this country (more honorably than many senators) for a long time.
When will you get it into your head that your your political opponent isn't automatically evil incarnate? That may work for vi-vs-emacs and Apple-vs-MS wars on /., but it's just juvenile in the real world.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
> It is juvenile to think someone is evil because they use a
> different text editor.
Most folk on /. know it's juvenile. Those who accuse their political opponents of being evil usually don't. Hint: if your political opponent was truly evil, you probably wouldn't be around. Just ask some Zimbabweans who dared oppose Mugabe and were found in a ditch with their limbs torn off.
> It is just clarity to see evil in someone who will bring
> suffering to millions of people.
By that measure FDR would qualify as "evil" - his policies (including the US' insistence on the gold standard long after other nations abandoned it) extended the Depression for the US for at least 6 years and caused suffering to millions of people.
"Evil" is a loaded word. Sending people to Siberia to starve and die is evil. Sending jews and gays to bake in Polish camp ovens is evil.
If you think McCain is evil, you're deluded _and_ are cheapening the meaning of the word.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
"We're just glad you didn't elect the 3rd incarnation of the fucking antichrist."
Even though I voted Obama and am VERY glad he won, I think that's overly harsh on McCain. Every impression I got was that he was more intelligent and sane than the Texas Village Idiot.
The problem is that McCain and Palin ran on a platform that catered to the same uneducated religious nutjobs that Bush appealed to. That platform backfired on them, when their "This is Real America" small-town speeches pissed off the (according to them) educated "Fake Americans" living in suburbs and cities. I may live in a small town now, but I grew up in the suburbs and many of their speeches implied that I was not a "Real American", which I found quite insulting.
Signed,
"Fake American" (aka educated ex-suburban-resident)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
It's funny, though... Obama is quite possibly the biggest con man I've ever seen. I have great admiration for his skills at deceiving people, even as I'm disgusted with my fellow countrymen for being taken in by a swindler so easily. Truly an exemplary politician, even if he is a bad statesman.
Why would you be surprised? Weren't we taken by Clinton just as easily in the 90's?
Yeah, and look how bad the Clinton years were for this country...
Oh, wait...
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
I have never seen such hysteria for a candidate in my life. With the type of overwrought messianic expectations that he faces, there is no way to go for Obama but down.
I take it you were born after the 1984 Reagan-Mondale election.
Messiah (Score:5, Insightful)
With the world in financial crisis, two wars, and our civil liberties gone down the tubes, isn't it time for a charismatic leader with dreams rather than Joe from accounting?
When did we become so cynical that we believed nothing would change? I suppose there were people said the same thing when FDR was elected.
When did we become a nation of "that's too hard" instead of "yes we can"?
Re:Two words (Score:5, Interesting)
For me, as a person born in the Southern US in the 1960s, this event is a very, very big deal. I've seen people do things that should never be done, and get away with it, and I never though that a black man could ever be president.
I'm very cynical about politics, but not about people. And for the first time in my life, I am truly proud to be an American.
No one expects miracles, but it feels good to put that chapter in our history at least partially to rest.
Did you hear his speech? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
So you honestly believe that the only reason so many people voted fro him was race? How sad.
It may also surprise you that, in retrospect, experience is not correlated to being a good president, and in fact some of the the most inexperienced presidents have been some of the most successful [electoral-vote.com].
Compare it to the alternative McCain, who's political convictions apparently run so shallow that nearly all of them did a complete 180 in the four years since his last attempt at the oval office. His campaign was run by anyone but him and the choosing of Palin should shake even the most stalwart GOP supporter's confidence in that man's executive capabilities.
I'll take "confident and inspirational" over "schizophrenic and incompetent" any day, even if "experience" is lacking.
=Smidge=
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
I am sure people will point out that McCain!= Bush, and I will admit that McCain himself seems to be a man of integrity. However, much of the republican leadership is not. Palin serves as a perfect example.
As a European who has paid an interested attention to this election, it seems to me that the McCain who gave the concession speech and sat 'debating' next to John Stewart (essentially the enemy) was a man of integrity and I was impressed that he was willing to give his views to an audience that disagreed. Unfortunately the McCain on the campaign trail, the stupid negative namecalling (when Obama wasn't there), putting a 'below-Bush-intellect' Palin on the ticket, the whole 'small-towns' thing was not a man of integrity, it was a man who let too many Bush advisors on his team.
A shame because he would have had better chance without them.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Two words (Score:5, Funny)
God? God had nothing to do with it. Thank Bush.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
Where have you been the past 8 years?
Anyway, I can't say Obama would be significantly better (or worse) than McCain, McCain just too much risk of Palin becoming president. I think she would have made us look back on the "golden years of Bush"
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
More importantly, a vote for McCain was a vote for Rove and friends. Rewarding them with another four years would have been interesting in a Chinese curse kind of way.
Dear label-happy US-ians (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you honestly think that voting in Obama is going to turn the states into some sort of Soviet Russia just because SOME of his plans are similar to those in Western Europe?
Wake up and realise that it doesn't matter what the idealogical principle is. All that matters is that you do the correct action for the situation. Sometimes that action is one that reflects libertarianism, sometimes conservatism, sometimes socialism, sometimes environmentalism, sometimes etc.
Your healthcare system NEEDS drastic change, perhaps socialism. No one is suggesting a British style NHS (certainly not the British). But quite simply, whether you are proud of you country or not (and when did that matter to anything) you should be ashamed of your healthcare system.
Regards
Person-bored-with-meaningless-election-fearmongering-but-honestly-impressed-with-the-US-people.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
No, however you would have had to put up with a lot of the status quo since even the most honest of Republicans would find it difficult to remove the most corrupt or incompetant entrenched in various nooks and crannies. The same could apply if there had been a corrupt Democrat administration but it would take a few years with nobody really watching before that could happen while some of the current crooks have should have rap sheets dating back to Nixon's administration.
One thing I've noticed from being in a place that had a far more corrupt government is that the replacements make an effort to try to be squeaky clean even if is against their nature. Also the Republicans now have a chance to purge criminal elements which they would not have if they had won, so I think it's better for them and the USA than if they had won. The bizzare shift to Monarchy within the Republican party and the rest of the odd neocon agenda has hopefully been laid to rest with this election if it wasn't already.
Re:Two words (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the thank god was in reference to the no recount. I could be wrong, but that is what my 'Thank God' reaction was aimed at.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:United States Socialist Republic (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:W00t! Welfare for all! (Score:5, Insightful)
And now you're worried about socialism? Welcome to last year.
where are mod points where you need them (Score:5, Insightful)
Nicely put!
As far as the new president is concerned: the guy has a lot of shit to clean up now, and we don't even know what's still coming. He will have to take a lot of unpopular measures, and I really wonder if he can keep a high popularity for long.
Re:Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)
What's with the obsession with taxes? The difference in taxation of the last 30 years worth of budgets with their tax breaks and tax hikes are comparatively small with regards to your consuming power as it relates to other economic effects and measures.
Take the last 8 years for instance, GW Bush has effectively wiped out any tax-break by a) running up the deficit b) running up the inflation c) spending trillions of your tax money on a phony war and d) financial crisis.
So a 3-5% tax break on a $100,000 income is pointless with a 4-5% inflation and mortgage rates almost doubling the last few years.
Looking strictly at what ends up in your pocket after the taxes are paid and not what you get for your taxes or the overall economic situation is a simple reaction to a simplified issue from a simple person.
Re:All I can say now is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's going to take a lot of hard work to undo the backward progress and bad decisions that the Bush gov't lied and cheated the American people into. But it's a serious job for grown-ups who are not afraid let reason and long-term strategy prevail, instead of fighting fire with fire 'til the house is burnt down. Luckily, there will soon be a responsible adult in the White House.
Re:Anyone know about the rest of the US? (Score:5, Informative)