President Elect Barack Obama
 

Time for everyone to take a big sigh of relief. :thumbsup:

I'm so happy right now; I keep crying tears of joy! What a momentous occasion this is. It's hard to believe it's true!

There is a lot of happiness in my office right now. The MD just cracked some champagne.

You should see them in Kenya.

* * * * *

Here's looking forward to four years of damage control.

Oh well, we'll see where this leads us.

The people have spoken. I'm glad it turned out this way. Now he has to step up and move us in the right direction.

Pretty much BG xD.

Guess I should grab my ankles and quit my job. The former in preparation, the latter so I can get ready to collect my welfare check. I'll let all of you pay for it!

it is 11:20 pm. mc-cain is into his concession speech.

phew.

i think this is a big deal. this is a really big deal.
i don't have any idea what will happen over the next few months.
but this is a good thing.

Congratulations.

Let's just hope we all made the right choice...that the Obama Nation doesn't turn the "O" into an "A".

It's going to be an interesting four years.

Obama Wins.....
 

Thank god it's over......yea !




xoxoxoo:thumbsup:

Look, from my perch up North I'm not expecting miracles. At best, the careening trainwreck
created by the last 8 years, and the damage it will continue to cause, may be
mitigated.
Barack is human, not the second coming. Still, seems like a DAMN good choice you folks
made.

Christ almighty, after the last election the rest of the world was beginning to question your collective IQ's/ability to read a ballot.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Your Country, your choice.

McCain gave a very class concession speech.

I hope it is taken to heart by all those who did not vote for Obama.

NC is within a few thousand votes of going Obama....PLEASE let us go Obama. I want to see the last four years of me supporting Obama count.

Agreed, DC. It was a very noble speech.

Agreed.

Cheers!
And Congratulations my fellow Americans.



____
I also feel bad for McCain. I think he's a fundamentally good person, and his place in history has been marred the last 8 years by the effect Bush has had on him. Both from losing the primary in 2000 through losing this election on a Bush Referendum.

Sad one has an 8 year presidency (regardless of how bad it was) and the other is a footnote in a historic setting for the Nation.

Thank Jeebus.

Dear TFP,

I am happy. I breathe bountiful sighs of relief. It is over and done.

Love,
mixedmedia

Feeling very good right now. I'm very pleased and proud.

Lets hope he runs the country as good as he ran his campaign.

I am looking forward to the next 4 years.

Ignoring legitimate criticism and allowing worshipful followers and a fawning media to shout down all opposition? ;)

Most definitely, this Canadian is quite sympathetic. I think he is a good man, who was relatively socially liberal and recognized things like environmental issues while standing up against "evil" nations;
also, he has certainly sacrificed for his country. But the Bush stigma was just too strong. Ah well, I think Obama is the stronger candidate for rebuilding. Good luck with the next 4 years!

Yes. Quite quality. I was impressed. His speech writers had clearly seen it coming, hehe.

All you conservatives: This is exactly what the conservative party needed. With this new incentive to provide more clear deliniation between the right and left, maybe by 2012 we will have an actual conservative make it through the primaries, instead of just someone slightly right of center.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Very very, yes.

This is just wow.

Barack Hussein Obama
President of the United States

What a country!

Good on you guys. I didn't think I'd ever see an African-American president.

Anyone else worried that when he got to the end of his speech he was going to make a little Freudian slip at the "God Bless America" part? :lol:

:no: nothing but sheer disgust when I saw the news and changed the channel, but life does go on. At least it will only last a few years.
For the record, I was not that motivated about McCain either.
Edit: I did show restraint and just curse once though.

I'm happy.

McCain did give a great concession speech. I think he would have been a great President too.

And Obama's speech was impressive as well. Hopefully there are as many people that were in the crowd who will help make this country better, and we'll see this country get back on the right track in the next four years.

Amazing.
I'm glad I got to witness this moment.
Senator McCain's concession speech was moving and should be replayed a few more times.

I'm going to withold my congratulations until he gets us out of Iraq, repeals the patriot and military commisions act, and reduces the national debt. I don't think he has any intention of reversing the policies of the last 8 years, prove me wrong President Obama.

Welcome and good luck, #44!
Only in America.

I MIGHT have some kind words for him if he could make that nasty patriot act disappear in some form, but that is unlikely as unborn children being protected.
Ending the clusterfuck in Viet....er......Iraq would be a good start.

Not that I had great faith in McCain doing any of the above either, but these are what I want to see happen. Hopefully he can make some positive change for this country.

so proud
and proud of NC for at least trying to become blue..i think you made it, just not sure yet, but intrade is calling it

i have some very..veyr pissed off friends


mccain's speech: insanely classy. I was truly shocked and was glad to see the real mccain again. Obama's speech...very moving as well...i hope he is ready for the next four years, but after bush set the bar so low...really, can he do any worse.

now...repeal the pat act and get us the eff out of iraq

Whew, what a rush. Now let's see what he does - looks like democrats don't quite have the majority in congress, which could slow him down. I'm anxious to see what he does during his first month in office, and whom he appoints to his cabinet.

Dems have a majority in the House (260 to 175) and Senate (56 to 40). Only 4 in the Senate are yet to be called.

I now know how some people must feel on Superbowl Sunday.

Looks like the Democrats got control in both the House and Senate. That is never a good thing.
Heres to hoping for real political change
*clink*

McCain's speech was definitely classy. Too bad his supporters were yelling shit the whole time.

Twistedmosaic, did you draw that? It's hilarious! :)

The United States has a new president, and the world has a new hope.

Now, if he can just keep it in his pants....

as do i.

for once during an election im ecstatic.

the sad thing is, im already hearing people talking about weather he will get shot or not.


fucking georgia. :shakehead:

I'm happy Obama won but I didn't like his speech at all.
His use of pathos makes it really hard for me to take him seriously. I don't like it when a politician appeals to people's emotions instead of their logic and I don't think it's a good foundation for a presidency.

Also I believe he's overrated as a speaker as he seems lost without a teleprompter. I wasn't fully convinced of his performances at the debates. If you look at his speech today you can see that his view always moves from one teleprompter to another, he never looks straight forward. I realize that it's not easy to speak freely under such circumstances but McCain did much better in my opinion.

Mccains Speech was tight, just wish he would've dropped the Lincoln quote from AMerican History X, thought it would've gelled better than Obama's usage.

Cheers to Obama, didn't vote for him, respect the man, respect the office, interested to see where the next two years will take us. Hoping against hope the Dems don't get 60 in the senate.

Was amazed at how Rove talked on Fox.

Anybody else think Jesse Jackson was trying to garner too much attention with his crocodile tears on the tube???

Is it just me or does this feel like a populist win? There are celebrations in the streets. There seems to be a lot of ownership in this win.

I don't recall seeing this sort of reaction before (for either Dem or Rep wins).

But isn't this what they always do?

this is the first time I felt like I was voting for someone instead of 'lesser of 2 evils' and as a speaker felt like I was listening to an honest, smart adult rather than a sleeze

who knows what'll happen. with the market jump tomorrow ? will banks ease up and lend ?

yep, party in the streets of seattle. never saw that either

I'm still moving to Canada.

I couldn't be happier.

For those who don't get the crocodile tears and the emotion, think back to JFK or ask your parents. :oogle:

When a majority of Americans and every other country on our globe see a man who can take this country back to a place it hasn't seen in years (a little pride, maybe?) it evokes a lot of emotion.

I'm sure we'll read many articles and view many pieces on this, but Jesse Jackson and millions of others were in tears last night. It's difficult to believe this has really happened and blacks and those who backed him with passion realized the burden that's on his shoulders already.

We should all be crying tears of joy and tears of fear. He's a brave man to tackle such an impossible agenda.

I believe that given the choices, surprisingly, the better choice was made. So congratulations to Americans for that.

I will reserve my judgment for when Obama actually starts calling the shots and effecting changes. But I think he's alright.

Well done. It is clearly an historic moment for the US, to have its first African-American President. Whether that is or should be relevant or not is another story.

No idea about how effective Obama will be, but it's hard not to think he won't be an order of magnitude better than the train wreck that has been the USA for the last 8 years under the worst president you lot ever had.

Im wondering if there is anyone in Scotland that wants to adopt me

I see the results of this election giving people hope. I sincerely wish that the people will take this hope and turn that inspiration into real action on a community level and not expect this man or the office to provide a solution to the problem we are facing today and in the future.

It looks like NC is most likely being Demo. All I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

it is the morning after the election.

what seems clear is that the defeat is bigger than the victory.
i watched faux news for a while last night after the results were clear. it was like visting a funeral parlor. they were holding a wake for their business model. this is reason to be cheerful.

i have no problem with folk who are conservative, but i have had a Big problem with the kind of conservatism that was front and center during the last 8 years. that conservatism has encountered its waterloo. and it was entirely of it's own making.
it'll be interesting to watch what happens with the republicans over the next year: they are in a difficult position. i hope they remake themselves, remake their language in particular.

i feel as if there is reason to think that things may be less barbaric. there is reason to think that the united states will not find itself a banana republic in 2 years. there is reason to think that perhaps a more humane form of capitalism might be created, a more rational global order. there is reason to think that maybe the benefits of these will reach more people, and produce a system that is more just, if only because there will be space in national politics to talk about things like social justice.

i do not think obama is a solution. i just think he is more open, more curious about the world, less ideologically blinkered. in a rapidly changing situation, we do not need another ideologue.

there are a host of problems that he will run straight into. the principal thing that will carry this new administration into these problems will be a kind of bump, a brief grace period in the context of which problems that otherwise would be intractable will hover in the air. i think there will be a period during which much of the world will say "hello. we've been waiting for sanity to come back to the states."

what matters is what happens after that.
but for the moment, i think this was a big big deal, this is a big deal.

i feel like the car i am in, which i am not driving, is backing away from the edge of something Very Bad.
that is my main emotion.
relief for its own sake.
a feeling that, despite everything, we didn't hit the wall.

What a night... I'm glad it's over and glad of the outcome, now I just hope that he can DO what he promised.

I really felt for McCain last night, hell the guy had my vote in 2000 before he got "Rick-Roved" in the primaries. I'm not sure who if anyone is to blame, but the major flaw in the McCain campaign was not letting McCain be McCain. He did set the stage for Palin as the new star of the GOP...should be interesting...

I think the whole world breathed a sigh of relief. Obama to me was a clear cut winner, and hopefully, he'll lead the US back to prominence in the world.

Awesome. Wife cried a little when Obama won (Oh you Americans and your emotions). Feels like the US has a chance of being respected in the world again. Congrats guys and gals.

I live on a busy street in a county that went for Obama like 65%. We had people driving down our street all night honking their horns in celebration. It was AWESOME. We all giggled stupidly every time we heard it.

Mark Warner was the first election called by CBS. Congratulations on your new shade of color, Virginia!

McCain's concession was tremendous. It makes me wonder what would have happened if McCain was allowed to run as McCain. I have a feeling the SNL spot and the speech were moments when he said, "ef you guys, I'm going to say what I want to say." Cal Thomas is chief idiot of America. In a world with Billy Cyrus, that's saying a lot.

The GOP is going to have to get their shit together from here on out. Stop the bowing to the religious right and embrace the crunchy cons.

Popular, but not populist. Maybe populists for blacks. They represented 22% of the vote, while consisting of 12% of the population. Michael Baisden can claim a huge part of this election.

I prefer Dick Tuck's concession years ago in California:

"The people have spoken ... the bastards!"

yea, we had fireworks here...

and you know, i was really kinda flat about the election till i heard obama speak and saw the different quality...Seriously, i don't know if i have ever been this happy voting....

amazing.

as for the market, they already priced in the obama transition, honestly, and will likely sell off a bit till the end of the year/he takes oath.

the market is funny that way. The dollar, however, jumped when obama was announced (against hte euro)

I'm extremely pleased with how the vote went.

I look forward to the next four years.

I was amazed by mccain's speech and it really was like looking back at the 2000 mccain, which makes me think his whole campaign was a sham and i'm wondering who really had control there. It was amazing, gracious, and very classy, far above anything this campaign has seen in a long time.

as for the GOP...i think this is great for them. so far, the popular vote is 7 million in favor of obama, that's craziness and the largest % diff since LBJ. The GOP needs to stop wtih the FAR right stuff, the ones palin seems to bring out and focus on the more central ones.

that said, i really hope the dems don't go far left on us.. I think this campaign has pointed out a lot of similarities between how mccain 'really' felt about issues and how obama has voted, so i think he's a good bit less leftist than the right is fearing. He also seems to, at least from the speech, want to unite the country....

and not one mention of "God told me i would win"

Congratulations to Obama. I'm not a fan of his policies, but maybe with this election we can finally put to rest affirmative action, race baiting Jessie Jacksons and Al Sharptons. As always, I always wish the President good fortune, because we are all in it together now.

This morning on Fox news (I was listening to it in the car on the way to work) they were talking about how Palin had so much support in the crowd during his speech and would be a rallying point of the party.

During McCains speech when he discussed Palin I thought I heard a bunch of boo's in the audience - am I wrong?

I didn't notice any. Just boo's every time Obama was brought up.

Sharpton is fun for the right wing to bring up, but any thinking American knows he's a sideshow.

As far as Jesse Jackson goes, let's have us all stand next to our best friend and mentor as he's shot dead because of the color of his skin. Then we can all get together and discuss diversity. The fact that Jackson is not a bitter old man shows a strength of character.

Try Montreal. If you go to Toronto, it will feel just like home (U.S.) only
cleaner and with (slightly) less guns.



You took the words right outta my.... post from last night. What, all Canadians
use the same words to describe Bush for the past 8 years......


As usual, I really, really agree.

Needless to say, he was never heard from again. That is the price of honesty.

Correct. I've said many times, here and elsewhere, that it's a shame that the republican party was hijacked by the neoconservatives. If you look pre-Reagan/Nixon, the republicans weren't like that. It'd be nice to see them go back to what they used to be instead of being led by greedy moneygrubbing warmongering bastards. Conservatism isn't bad, but sham conservatism is. They fooled people into thinking they were conservatives by spending like crazy, but lowering taxes so people didn't feel the pinch. That era of sham-conservatism is, hopefully, over.

The one thing that worries me is that we are going to have to pay for the 2 decades of crap, and I think the president who starts those payments is going to be rather unpopular. I also think Obama is going to start those payments because he's gonna be responsible about it.


Agreed. I think if McCain had conducted his campaign in the spirit of that speech, he'd have won. Food for thought.

I saw a different speach. Two different speaches, really - McCain fumbled and stumbled a bit, which was a tired man at the end of a long run speaking with elegance - but having a bit of trouble because he was reading from his notes.
Obama also carried notes to his podium. He did not seem to need them. The scanning of the crowd was not a man looking at a teleprompter but a master orator speaking to a great crowd of people. His not looking rigidly forward was because he was communicating an amazing thing to everyone in a beautiful manner - not being a talking head looking at the camera with the red light shining above it. He spoke in a way that gave me true hope for you Yanks, and ever since W and his brother stole the show in Florida in 2000 I have not had that feeling.
Congratulations on pulling away from the brink, America. Now help that man do what needs to be done.

I give Obama the credit he is due. I think similar to when Reagan was elected there will be a positive change in the way we view our country and that is needed in these difficult times. There is no doubt that more people got involved in our democracy as a result of Obama than ever before, I think all Americans will believe our nation is for all of us in spite of our differences.

Granted, I'm going to reserve some praise for the man until I see what exactly goes down in office, but today.. I feel different. I feel less embarrassed to be an American. I feel like a corner has been passed. I feel like for once in this country we can honestly say that we are equal. Policies aside, this has been an amazing race on both ends of the spectrum. I feel like Obama could honestly be a catalyst for change.. not the solution, but the catalyst. I feel like America finally did something right.. they finally pulled their heads out of their asses and had a say in what they wanted. I feel like the world was watching and in some areas a sigh of relief was heard, while in other areas, a sense of fear was struck. Struck not because of the man who was elected, but because Americans looked and acted like they were one country. The world knows that when our people are united, we are unstoppable.

I feel as though a weight has been lifted off the shoulders of people who have passed and those who will come into the world. I feel like anything is again possible. I feel.. proud.

I know this is a mute point, but out of curiosity I'd like to see how the Libertarian candidate did... I cant find those stats, can someone point me in the right direction?

Full Election Results - Election Center 2008 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com

484,000 votes for Barr nationally

Shani,


2008 General Election Results for Bob Barr & Wayne Allen Root | Libertarian Party


not too hot.

thanks, I was afraid that was the page, for some reason all I get is a crappy text only page when I go there and it doesnt show what I was looking for...I appreciate the information

The Libertarian party page has a state-by'-state (incomplete) vote count for Barr

2008 General Election Results for Bob Barr & Wayne Allen Root | Libertarian Party

Barr's showing is comparable to most recent Liberatarian candidates....about 1% of the voters.
-----Added 5/11/2008 at 11 : 57 : 56-----
Obama's 52% is the highest popular vote for any candidate in 20 years.

Well done people.
I feel very American today.

My eyes are still puffy and scratchy from the tears of joy I shed last night. I don't expect miracles out of Obama but after 20 years of Bushes and Clinton's (well nearly plural), I am so happy for a change. It's like a breath of fresh air.

I didn't think I had taken Obama's race into consideration in my vote, but when he won last night, I was overcome with emotions. I realized on a gut level just HOW historic his victory is and felt so much joy for our countries African-American citizens that this milestone has been reached.

I too was very happy to see McCain be so gracious in his concession speech. He was the McCain I used to like and respect before the race. If he had been the "old" McCain throughout the campaign, I think the results might be very different today.

Like RB said, I also feel like we have been saved from the brink and hopefully we will regain the respect internationally that we used to have (and of course our domestic problems:eek:). *crosses fingers and toes*

don't you mean 'left' direction?

Same thing.

Haha, one of my great-greats gave a similar speech when he lost a sheriff's race. Something to the point of, "Everyone in this county is a damned liar." Keepin' it classy!

Meanwhile, I'm pumped and hungover.

My sediments exactly!!

Said the rock to the other rock...

Here is my favourite of all the election night maps;
http://kottke.org.s3.amazonaws.com/crikey.jpg

Just moved to Arizona this year and now knows what its like to feel when your vote is pretty much useless.

Fucking red state.

Yay for the overall though!

destrox...i'm in SC...where almost every republican won...

talk about your vote being meaningless

Now is when it gets hard. I am so pleased Obama won, but now he has make hard decisions, disappoint his followers, shock his enemies, and do what is right for America.

I am more optimistic now than I have been in the last 10 years. And look forward to a better world for my daughter.

But our problems are not going to go away overnight, and we American's (present company excluded) need to get off our butts and take responsibility for our actions... Wallstreet I'm looking at you right now.

Quote from Frostbyte in another thread which I moved here so I could respond - "That's a pretty bold statement that you just tossed out there. Kind of a threadjack, and I don't really buy the rest of your post, but would you care to elaborate? I don't know that anything could happen to make anyone yearn for the Bush years, since I don't know anyone who thinks the last eight years have been a productive, happy time in American politics. Do you think he's incompetent? Do you think he's stepping into an unfixable situation like Carter did and is just going to have to sleep in the bed he made for himself? Are you just an unhappy third party voter whose exact political ideology isn't being represented?"

Frostbyte, to answer your question - I am a Constitutionalist. The Federal Government should limited to
1) Maintain Interstate commerce through construction and repair of roads and bridges.
2) Maintain relationships with foreign nations for the purposes of trade and security.
3) Maintain and defend our nations borders.
4) Uphold the Constitution and settle disputes amongst the States.

Nothing else. If I were President, I would eliminate Social Security, Dept. of Education, Medicare, Medicaid, and all other social programs. These programs should be moved to the State level, as Washington can not possibly create social programs that meet the needs of all people. They also are all unconstitutional (at least in spirit), in my opinion. I would eliminate the federal income tax, as it is unconstitutional. I would eliminate the concept of "marriage" within the Government, as this is a Biblical term. As it applies to the "state", there would only be the contract law known as "Civil Union". I would uphold Roe v. Wade. I would legalize hemp and marijuana for the purposes of textile production. I would eliminate retirement plans for Congress and I would enforce term limits of 2 federal terms. I believe it was the intent of the Framers to have the citizenry equally armed as their Army, so the government must always fear its people. I believe the government no longer fears its people, and that is why they have gone so far astray.

Most importantly, I believe the only thing the Federal Government owes you is an opportunity. The rest is entirely up to you.

So, as you can see, my political position will NEVER be represented in our modern Congress and I am okay with that.

Obama will certainly change America - in a way that will make it unrecognizable to our Framers. It is a travesty what he represents. His policies will jeapardize the very core of our foundation. I will not debate with you "why" we are where we are right now. Suffice to say, we would probably not agree. I would submit to you that it was the vision of our Framers that allowed us to become the greatest nation in the history of mankind and that the further we diverge from their vision - the worse off each of us will become. In saying that, I need you to understand that I am not speaking on the concepts of slavery and women's suffrage - I believe those are wrongs that were righted. However, the core structure and the role of the Federal government in your life was absolutely perfected in the Constitution and has been continually eroded by each Congress since.

Tell me about it.

Cimarron....unless you were one of those "framers" who debated the issues during that hot summer in Philly ..your interpretation of their vision is just that....one interpretation and no more valid than anyone elses.

You hit my political pet peeve button.....21st century pundits who speak for the framers!

I sincerely apologize for hitting your pet peeve button. I'm certain the framers of the Constitution wanted the Federal Government to own our mortgages, provide us each with health insurance and medical care, pay our bills when we become unemployed, pay for our higher educations, pay for us when we grow old. I specifically recall that story when Fred lost his job at the blacksmith shop and asked George Washington for some money out of the treasury to get him through the month. How could I have forgotten all of that and interpretted the Framers' intent so wrong.

Sorry, you hit my political pet peeve button by calling me uninformed because I disagree with your politics.

i dont think I called you "uninformed" anywhere in my post.

I simply stated that there are different interpretations of the intent of the framers.

Cimarron, thank you for explaining your view. You will never see a major political candidate who represents your viewpoint, though I'm not sure I'm quite as far away from you as you seem to think I am. Regardless, I think your fear about Obama (as opposed to McCain, or anyone else) is relatively misplaced. The Bush administration has been everything but small-federal-government conservative politics, and a McCain administration wouldn't have been any better in that regard. Now, what they chose to spend money on may have differed-Dems being more likely to spend money on social programs, Reps on military and defense spending-but we're not talking about major changes in the degree of control these administrations want to have over the country writ large, nor on the amounts of money they want to extract from people and spend.

Personally, I don't see a big difference about the where of government spending. I see too much of it, and that, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be a trend we're going to move away from anytime soon. If we have to spend it, I'd rather we spend it on social programs than a military industrial complex and mired conflicts in foreign countries. I share your skepticism for Obama, because while he's run a good campaign, I have no idea what he'll do once he takes up the reigns of power, but from a small-government libertarian/constitutionalist perspective, I don't think he's going to be any worse than McCain would've been. He'll just do it in a different way.

I've little doubt that the founders would be dismayed by the state of the union. But I also have little doubt that the way they envisioned the constitution to work when they wrote it would not work in the modern United States. I think we can do a lot better than we are and have been, but I don't really see a strict constructionist view working very well.

objectively true
subjectively true
non sequitur

Speaking of Washington, I heard that motherfucker had, like, 30 goddamn dicks.

It seems like whenever anyone breaks out the constitutional ouija board to consult the founding fathers, the founding fathers always agree with the person doing the channeling. In death, the founding fathers are the ultimate yes-men. It's fairly convenient way of appealing to people who both give a fuck about what the founding fathers thought and also aren't especially inclined to mistrust someone who clearly has an agenda in claiming to be able to speak for people who've been dead for roughly 200 years.