President-Elect Obama!

[LadyTevar]

[SirNitram]

He told you!

[rhoenix]

I have never been more proud to be an America citizen than at this moment.

[The Village Idiot]

I have never been more proud to be an America citizen than at this moment.

I second that. And I must confess, I will have that picture of Obama up on my wall forever now.

[General Havoc]

President-Elect Obama...

I have to say, amazing as that sounds after all this time, I think that title has one too many words in it...

[LadyTevar]

President-Elect Obama...

I have to say, amazing as that sounds after all this time, I think that title has one too many words in it...

You can wait a couple months, hon.

[Dark Silver]

Congratulations to President Elect Obama.

So, now my major worry concerning Obama...that he may in fact be to awesome.

Obama won by such a large margin on the Electorial College, that he clearly has a mandate to do what he promised, along with the Democrat control of the Congress.

We'll see what happens now.

[General Havoc]

He's not gonna fix everything magically. He's not gonna do everything right. I'm not gonna agree with all of his solutions, and nor will the rest of the world.

But I really think, given everything, that he could do very, very well. I think he's smart, engaged, has very smart people around him, and conscious of what a mandate he's received, and why. I think right now he's definitely the right choice. That he's the first Black president is really a matter of historical curiosity to me. I don't care that he's black. I care that he appears, to me, to be the right man for the job right now. And even if he fails to fix two out of every three things he tries, he'll still represent a great improvement over the current status.

Months ago, (back in February actually), when Hillary and Obama were locked in their primary, I said the following:

He is one of those candidates that makes the United States truly special among the nations of the world, the one nobody REALLY should be supporting, but everyone does simply because in their hearts they know he is the right one to support [...] The time is simply right for a seismic shift in policy in this country. This is 1980. This is 1960. This is 1932. This is a new chapter in American politics.

I believed that then, and I believe it now. At the outset of this race, it was physically impossible (from my perspective) for Obama to win the nomination, let alone the election, but he has done both. The problems he's gonna have to deal with are stupendous in their scale and complexity, but given the tools at his disposal, I think this time that we might just be in for better days...

And for the first time I can remember, I'm actually looking forward to them.

[Hotfoot]

A first and difficult step on a long and perilous journey.

The best of luck to us all.

[Cynical Cat]

The most powerful country in the world finally has a capable leader and he's got a lot of work to do. For all our sakes, may he succeed.

[rhoenix]

I will not make guesses as to how the next four years will go, but I will say that I agree with Havoc's sentiment above: the fact that he's half-black and half-white is a matter of academic historical curiosity only to me. In the grand perspective of all his good qualities, it would be very near the bottom of a truly impressive list.

That he is now, in history, the right one for the difficult times - he is the one of our time that is truly the first twenty-first century president. He is the president who promised unity instead of division; reason coupled with instinct instead of untrained instinct alone; common cause instead of finding enemies.

I wish our new President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama all possible blessings - may you be at least a tenth of what you made us believe you are.

[The Minx]

A glorious day for America. Congrats to one and all.

[Ace Pace]

Obama won by such a large margin on the Electorial College, that he clearly has a mandate to do what he promised, along with the Democrat control of the Congress.

Obama has no such mandate. He won several states by a small margin, and popular vote wise the differance was what, 7%? He won, and not by an insignificent margin, but to assume that this means that he can do whatever he wants is silly.

The senate/house would also do well to remember that some of them were picked as a protest against republicans and not for their ideology, if they don't want to be partially kicked out come the next election.

[SirNitram]

Obama won by such a large margin on the Electorial College, that he clearly has a mandate to do what he promised, along with the Democrat control of the Congress.

Obama has no such mandate. He won several states by a small margin, and popular vote wise the differance was what, 7%? He won, and not by an insignificent margin, but to assume that this means that he can do whatever he wants is silly.

Seven and a half million more votes, and 349 EV's to 162 EV's? That's not merely winning, that's double his opponent's electoral votes, and then some, and still we wait on NC, which looks to have gone Obama.

Yes, he and the multiple new Dem Senators and more than a dozen new Dem Representatives, have a mandate. Two elections, and the GOP made no federal gains.

[frigidmagi]

Obama has no such mandate. He won several states by a small margin, and popular vote wise the differance was what, 7%? He won, and not by an insignificent margin, but to assume that this means that he can do whatever he wants is silly.

Ace check the last couple of elections, 7% in American politics is a bloody mandate. Not to mention the Electoral College votes. Shocking I know but when you win by over 7 million people it is actually a damn mandate.

The senate/house would also do well to remember that some of them were picked as a protest against republicans and not for their ideology, if they don't want to be partially kicked out come the next election.

This would be a bigger threat if the Republicans hadn't done their level best to drive people like Rogue, me and General Havoc out of the party. The radicalization of that party is making it harder and harder for anyone who would never vote democrat anyways to jump in with them.

Also there's this, the best way to stay in power in the US is to ride the President's coattails when he's popular and Obama is popular. To refuse Obama's plans at this point is to anger the base of the party and the coalition voters brought in by Obama. The Democratic Senators and Representatives should remember they were voted in do a damn job not just sit there and look pretty.

[General Havoc]

This is not the largest presidential margin in history, but there is utterly no doubt that it is a commanding, sweeping mandate. Even John McCain himself said in his concession speech that the country had spoken with great clarity as to who their choice was. Obama has his mandate, and the future shall tell what work he can make of it.

This would be a bigger threat if the Republicans hadn't done their level best to drive people like Rogue, me and General Havoc out of the party. The radicalization of that party is making it harder and harder for anyone who would never vote democrat anyways to jump in with them.

Also there's this, the best way to stay in power in the US is to ride the President's coattails when he's popular and Obama is popular. To refuse Obama's plans at this point is to anger the base of the party and the coalition voters brought in by Obama. The Democratic Senators and Representatives should remember they were voted in do a damn job not just sit there and look pretty.

The Republicans did not merely try their best to drive me and many other fellow travelers out of the party. They succeeded in this effort. I will be my own special brand of conservative for as long as I live, but I will never again name myself a Republican until the Republican party once more comes to resemble the small-government, fiscally-conservative organization I remember. Until such time as this happens, and Obama proves himself ineffective, I shall support him wholeheartedly. And if Barack Obama can convince me to support him in such a manner, then he has won a mandate. Let there be no question.

The Democrats have swept into power partly on a wave of revulsion with the Republican party, and partly on a wave of revulsion with specific republicans. They've also ridden in on a tide of support for Obama. Whether or not you believe him to be everything he is rumored to be, people want to believe in him and his kind of politics. I told someone once that I hoped Obama won in part because I wanted THIS SORT of political campaigning to become the watchword for campaigns from now on. I want it to be that in 20 years, ambitious, power-hungry politicians on the make will study the Obama campaign and conclude that they must run positive, issue-oriented campaigns with grassroots bases because that is the most effective way for them to win.

This is a sea-change in American politics. Some republicans fell because they deserved to and some fell because they stood on the shore when the tidal wave was coming in. 1932, 1960, 1980, 2008. This was neither a narrow victory nor a limited one. It transcended ideological boundaries, racial barriers, age gaps, gender lines, swept all of the walls we erect against one another aside. Even the McCain supporters I spoke to told me that they hope Obama is as awesome as everyone seems to think he is, and that they are prepared to do their part.

This was a sweeping mandate, the likes of which we have not seen in many years. It's now time to see what Obama does with it. He may be ineffective or unable to wield the levers of power, or he may be the greatest president since FDR. I can't say for sure, but what I will say is that for the first time I can remember, I actually have hope that we will have a President worthy of the title.

And I say that as a lifelong conservative.

[SirNitram]

Hrm. If only some newspaper had a handy means of noticing how dramatic the shift in liberalism's favor the past few years have been!

Oh, there's one.

For those with troubles, the informative image:



Being blue means the county moved to a more democratic outcome, not a more republican one, and didn't stay the same. Notice how the GOP is now nearly a regional, not a national, party.

Obama ran on very liberal ideas. Decrying excessive deregulation. Healthcare for all. Clean, renewable energy. Responsibility to your people from your government. Negotiations, not force. Open support for Single Payer Healthcare.

I can throw out polls, but all speak the same tune: The centre has moved, and it's moved to the Left. You might not like it. You can, also, join those who insist Obama's win has nothing to do with the campaign platform he ran on, and perhaps insist he was elected 'Just because Americans want a black President', or 'In disgust of McCain', if it really pleases you, joining the more ridiculous ranks of punditocracy. I'll stick by my scientific outcomes.

[General Havoc]

I... don't know that I'm ready to say that the center has moved to the left.

Well... let me rephrase. The center HAS undoubtedly moved to the left. Whether or not that places it actually ON the left is another question. I don't believe it does. The fundamental nature of this country is (in my estimation) still something like center-right on an objective scale (if such a thing exists).

Recall of course that first of all, we're comparing on that map this election to the one of George Bush vs. John Kerry. Many of the factors represented in that map are actually quite specific to this election. I don't believe, for example, that Arizona has suddenly become a more republican place. They voted more heavily for McCain than Bush because McCain is from Arizona. Had McCain been from somewhere else, I believe Arizona would have certainly gone blue. Nor for that matter do I believe that Utah is now part of the Democratic base. They shifted left, certainly, but only relative to the pasting they gave Kerry last time. Utah is still a Republican base-state, as is Idaho and Nebraska, despite their "shift" recently.

But your point is accurate in a sense. The mood of the country has shifted back away from the far-right administration of Bush, and the backlash against that has pushed it towards the left. I actually think though that Obama's win was more of a return to the political norms of this country than it was some shift to the left. Perhaps I'm just seeing what I want to see, but I don't believe Obama is a particularly left-leaning candidate. Certainly he's a Democrat and a Liberal. He believes in universal health care, government-as-the-solution, gun control and taxes as redistributors of wealth. He is left of center. I don't think that because the country voted for him, that it means the country is left of center. I think it means that the country is somewhere nearer to the center than they were before. When you are near the center, (almost) all options are on the table, including left-leaning ones. As it should be.

By the standards of other nations, Europe particularly, America is a very conservative country, and remains one now. Indeed, I would argue that by those same standards, Barack Obama is a conservative candidate. Those ideas that Obama ran on, the ones Nitram cited, they are Liberal ideals (some of them), but they are not Very liberal ones. He believes in Single Payer Healthcare, not in socialized medicine. He believes in returning taxes on the wealthy to the Clinton levels, not in ratcheting them up to Denmark's. He believes in regulation, not nationalization. He believes in gun control, not gun prohibition. He is a Liberal. He is not however particularly far from center.

This race had nothing to do with McCain-hatred, or really even anything to do with McCain. It was Obama vs. not-Obama. It also had nothing to do with his being Black. Obama ran a post-racial campaign, a campaign that focused on him as a person and as a story, not as a member of a specific identity group. More than anything though, this was an election of hope and promise. People voted for Obama because they hungered for a new dawn, a fresh start for American politics. They wanted to push aside the divisiveness and the utter utter failure of this past eight years' politics, and move on. They wanted government that was reasonable, trustworthy, that would work to try and help them, rather than help itself at their expense. They wanted an end to the war and a beginning to the repairs of the economy, to our infrastructure, and to our standing in the world.

Barack Obama was not elected because he is a Liberal, any more than he was elected because he was Black. Barack Obama was elected because most of the country realized that he was the most qualified candidate to be President of the United States.

[rhoenix]

Let me preface all of this by saying that I consider myself an Independent. The reasons I do so, beyond quick sound-bite-ish answers I normally give, are mainly that I don't want to feel tempted by groupthink at any point. I don't want to attach myself ideologically to anything but my own ethical compass, which is the same standard to which I hold myself.

I really hope the Republicans learn from this landslide victory by the Democrats (in general, and by President-Elect Obama in particular), and make a comeback. I sincerely do, and I hope their turnaround is much less difficult and wrought with hardship as it was for the Democrats.

When Reagan came along, the Republicans found a common cause to unite behind. The factions of the Republicans united under this banner, learning to appear to everyone else to be marching in lockstep relentlessly. For nearly thirty years, this has sustained them - but with the evolution of all things, life will adapt both directions. Politics, being a creation of living beings, is certainly no exception.

Now, the Republicans sit - fractured, and uncertain, much as the Democrats did for many years after Reagan got his first term in office. The Democrats effectively have their own Reagan - in Obama, they have found someone to unite behind; someone who espouses something they believe in enough to set aside their differences, and learn to march together.

History will tell whether the reign of the Democrats will be a better stewardship than it was under the Republicans, or whether it merely will repeat the same cycle for another side - something I'm hoping Obama will inspire the incumbent Democrats away from. As he said, ideology trumping reality is not common sense, and he wishes to focus on a common-sense government. We shall see how the next four years will go.

However, my suspicions as of now, with the President-Elect still getting ready to move into his rather nice new house in the historic district of Washington D.C., that he will not focus, as Reagan did, of simply helping the members of the party defeated to feel better about their lot. I think that his example (and by extension, the Democrats') will help many Republicans remember that Lincoln was a Republican who still followed the core values of their party, and help them reform - different, and perhaps stronger than before; a party ready to meet the atmosphere of responsibility, accountability, and courage brought in by Obama's mandate.

That, after all, is how I think his mandate will be used - not as a reason to beat the Republicans over the head for the next four years, but as a symbol that the politics of the baby-boomers is over. Now, a new type of politics in America will take shape, one that will reflect the society that has seen the advent of the Internet, and the entire world appearing to shrink as a result. It will make its own mistakes, but perhaps it will make fewer and less severe mistakes than the politics of the previous generation. It will certainly be an honor and a point of pride as an American citizen to find out.

[SirNitram]

Well... let me rephrase. The center HAS undoubtedly moved to the left. Whether or not that places it actually ON the left is another question. I don't believe it does. The fundamental nature of this country is (in my estimation) still something like center-right on an objective scale (if such a thing exists).

I would agree. I tend to be centre-right in my politics in Britain, and the politics of Obama's campaign and the Dems this year and 2006 are only getting close to me, not at me or past me. But to say it's just 'rejection of..' is as insulting as saying it was just because America wanted a Black President.

Obama ran on a platform that was more liberal than alot of people. And he won decisively. I wouldn't call him a 'Liberal'(I reserve that for Massachusetts, which just decriminalized weed), but definitely further left than recent candidates. And he still won. Cheapening his victory into some petty bullshit is insulting.. To him, his supporters, and alot of people around the world.

[SirNitram]

Small aside: NC has been declared for Obama, raising his EV to over 360. He's not yet cleared either of Clinton's EV numbers, but it's a very solid win.

[Cynical Cat]

Small aside: NC has been declared for Obama, raising his EV to over 360. He's not yet cleared either of Clinton's EV numbers, but it's a very solid win.

Clinton had Perot who hovered up 19% and 9% of the vote, mostly from the right.