Obama to Become Next President
!

_____-----------------

Fox and NPR have called Virginia for Obama, and Florida also seems headed his way.

The key states still out: North Carolina and Indiana.

______---------------------------

_________-----------------------

Chris Shays loses in Connecticut.

All of New England's House seats are now blue.

_______________-----------------------

Omaha:

Obama up by 5 points with about a third of the vote in.

__________----------------------

For all the ink and money spilled on McCain's hopes of making inroads into the Jewish vote, exit polls suggest Obama won the demographic by a margin even higher than John Kerry's, and like Al Gore's and Bill Clinton's.

The exits currently have it at 78 percent to 21 percent.
________-------------------

The Drama of the Night is Now the Senate

_______---------------

Before I forget:

How come Joe the Plumber didn't work? That was such a nifty idea.

Exit polls from Pennsylvania show that 55% of people who earn more than 200,000 income voted for Obama (those who see their taxes th same or a raise under Pres. Obama.) Talk about it's about MORE THAN self-interest.

Barack Obama President-Elect of the United States
Barack Obama passes 270 electoral votes, defeats John McCain, and will become 44th President of the United States.

A breathtaking moment.

______------------

AP Calls Florida for Obama

Have to say, this is one state where I thought McCain might outperform his polls.

___------------

Obama Wins Virginia

The Commonwealth delivered for Barack Obama.

_---------

Hear hear!

(Manhattanites started celebrating in the streets when the networks called the election --- it was like New Year's, without the fireworks. I don't think that's ever happened before.)

wow.. this is totally awesome! I am not even an american and I can feel it... I am sure the whole world can feel it!

Yes!

Amen

Congratulations everyone on the new level of consciousness!

This sets a lot of things in motion.

There is a plan, in the Wisdom Based Presidency Papers that are with Obama

Supular.com [click my name] now says President Elect Barack Obama Supular Status.

As for part of the plan, and some of the contents of the Wisdom Based Presidency papers click my name a link to it on Obama's web site.

Congratulations America on this first new day of a new way.

We here in Europe are celebrating with you.

Cheers to the new President of the U.S.: Barack Obama!

Mieke

Our long national nightmare is over.

YES WE CAN!

Joanie
Obamamama!

Roger Simon at the leading Conservative site Politico writes:

"Once upon a time, the thought of Barack Obama becoming president was downright audacious.

In the early days of his campaign, Obama had to persuade people that casting a vote for him was not a waste of time, a sad joke or a hopeless cause.

When I interviewed him just a few days before he announced for the presidency in February 2007, I asked him if he was on some kind of “crusade.”

He sat up in the chair where he had been sitting with his chin cupped in his left hand, his arm resting on the arm of the chair, and even dropped a “g” to make his point more forceful.

“No, no, no,” he said. “If I am runnin’ for president, it is not symbolic. It’s to win. But it’s also to transform the country.”

Barack Obama won Tuesday night. The transformation of the country we’ll see about.

But Obama’s victory certainly says a great deal about how the right person with the right message at the right time can move very far and very fast in this country, no matter what the barriers"

Rest of the article...
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15296.html

"Our long national nightmare is over"....dana

But....for almost 50% of the country...the long national nightmare is just beginning...

Some of us believe in a hand up...not a handout..

Some of us believe in the 1st amendment...and make no mistake, with Nancy Pelosi being actually the most powerful person in the world now...the 1st amendment will see an assault like it's never seen before...

Some of us believe in the 2nd amendment...we'll be lucky to come thru four years of Obama with the 2nd amendment intact...

Some of us believe in fairness in taxation...Obama played the class envy card so well...

Some us believe in American Exceptionalism...

Some of us believe that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the only inalienable rights....everything else is a wish...or a privilege....

Some of us believe that unfettered democratic power...will lead us closer to the brink of a totalitarian state...

Some of us....didn't drink the kool aid!!

but...for those of you who did...Congrats....

see you in four years....

Wonder what's gonna happen with that test that Joe Biden predicted....

:)

YES WE CAN!!! The rallying cry of the Obama campaign...

Yes we can...destroy capitalism in four years...

Yes we can...weaken the military to desparate levels in four years....

Yes we can...lose a war, that we are winning now..

Yes we can...drive gasoline over $5 per gallon...

Yes we can...find a way to bring American down, instead of lifting others up...

Yes we can...appoint Justices to the Supreme Court who look to Europe to interpret our laws..

Yes we can...tax businesses out of business..

Yes we can...double minimum wage, and reduce the number of small businesses by at least %50!

Yes we can...employ such great social reforms that we can emulate the European countries with double digit unemployment...low worker productivity...

Yes we can...feel all warm and fuzzy...we elected Barack the Magic Negro...(not my words) and began the fall...into unbridled socialism, open borders, and all around malaise....

Congrats America...Yes we can...

:)

(Manhattanites started celebrating in the streets when the networks called the election --- it was like New Year's, without the fireworks. I don't think that's ever happened before.)

3. Posted by heath

____

There were celebrations on the streets EVERYWHERE yesterday night.

It's a great day for Democrats and Republicans alike. For Democrats, Barack Obama was elected President. For Republicans, there was finally dancing in the streets and Americans greeted as liberators.

From Bush the Cowboy to Obama the conciliator. Only in America.

Congrats to all Americans who make up this a wonderful nation.

Rafael

shame, Norm. not your words? why repeat them? why not repudiate them?

Senator Obama is up folks.

Up! Up! Up!

By 12 points up, which I don't think can REALLY be is right, but I am just too happy to think about it.

Now...

I'm still worried about Pennsylvania, where I think the negative ads COULD be having some effect, but what if... hang on let me jot down some numbers here... what if Senator Obama were to TAKE AWAY Ohio and, say, Virginia, then it wouldn't matter what happens in Pennsylvania, right? RIGHT?

And... and the latest numbers out of Florida are looking really good, but what if there's late movement due to the robo-calls into the Cuban community or what if the youth vote doesn't show up or what if African-American voters get intimidated at the last moment or if the polls don't open on time, because I'm kind of freaking out here... see... because I'M STARTING TO WORRY THAT THERE MAY BE SOME LATE MINUTE MOVEMENT TO THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN!

OhWhyOhWhyCan'tTheElectionJustFuckingHAPPENalreeeeaaaaaddddyyyyyyy!!!!

What?

WHEN?

Really?

REALLY?

What-- What HAPPENED?

No.

NO!

President-Elect Obama?

Well... what... do... we... do... now?

Cheers and Jeers: President-elect Obama Wednesday
by Bill in Portland Maine

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Things to listen for in the near-future:

"I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States..."

"In the news today, President Obama called on Americans to..."

"The Obama administration says it's tackling the issue aggressively..."

"Republicans condemned/accused/attacked President Obama today..."

"The House and Senate have passed, and President Obama signed, sweeping legislation..."

"The first question of this and all future press conferences will go to Helen Thomas. Go ahead, Helen." "Thank you, Mr. President..."

"President Obama's cabinet picks have been hailed as smart, shrewd, and diverse..."

"For the first time in years, polling shows that Americans feel like the country is on the right track again..."

"President Obama, with the backing of General Petraeus and the Iraqi government, announced significant troop reductions this week..."

"Once again, the Republican effort to mount a filibuster failed miserably..."

"After two weeks on the job, Republicans called for Obama's impeachment today, and were literally laughed out of the chamber..."

"OPEC panics as Obama White House announces massive alternative energy push..."

"You're watching Alaska Cable Access Channel 2. Welcome to Hockey Talk with your host, Sarah Palin..."

Who'da thunkit?

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/5/10378/9462/62/652870

Well, time will tell whether all of the crowds of weeping people will be disappointed when Obama does not heal their emotional/psychological/spiritual and, of course, financial wounds while, of course, healing society, making us ONE, all that good stuff. After all, these people are expecting Obama to do all of these things. I wonder what will happen when they realize that Obama cannot "heal" them and "heal" society. Time will tell.

morning everyone,

Well, today is a good day in America, in fact, it is so good that Skinny's list of horrors doesn't even faze me....I found myself just smiling reading them, and, why, you might ask? Well, I will tell you, after, seeing, all those faces last night with tears streaming down their cheeks you realized that Barak Obama being elected as the President of the United States of America is history in the making and we have the privilege of being it's witness.....it was awesome, touching, powerful, all in one...and it was just nice to see the Nation say NO to John McCain's and Sarah Palin's politics of divisiveness...

yes, it is a good day in the USofA.....

ruth :))

Yay we won!

Now we're in the driver's seat and the problems coming down the road are much bigger, scarier and implacable than any we've seen in our lifetimes.

In my experience there's only one way to drive out of a fiasco -- fast and in the right direction.

It's not the time for half-measures and Dean Baker has a great idea, healthcare:

"President Obama has the opportunity to establish himself as one of the truly great presidents in his first days in office. He can take advantage of the current economic crisis to announce plans to jump start national health care insurance. Extending health care insurance can be an effective stimulus that will provide an immediate boost to the economy.

More importantly, it will provide the same access to health care that people in other wealthy countries have long taken for granted. For this accomplishment, President Obama will rank alongside Presidents Roosevelt and Lincoln as one of the nation's truly great presidents.

The backdrop is straightforward. Economists from across the political spectrum are now calling for a large stimulus package to limit the economy's decline and the rise in unemployment. The consensus is in the range of 2.0-2.5 percent of GDP, or $300 billion to $400 billion a year."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/president-obamas-path-to_b_141254.html

And if that sounds pie-in-the-sky, check this NYT op-ed from Bob Rubin and Jared Bernstein:

"The Bible got this right a long time ago (paraphrasing slightly): there's a time to spend, a time to save; a time to build deficits up and a time to tear them down. Though one of us (Mr. Rubin) is often invoked as an advocate of fiscal discipline, we both agree that there are times for fiscal discipline and times for fiscal largess. With the current financial crisis, our joint view is that for the short term, our economy needs a large fiscal stimulus that generates substantial economic demand.

We also jointly believe that fiscal stimulus must be married to a commitment to re-establishing sound fiscal conditions with a multi-year program that includes room for critical public investment, once the economy is back on a healthy track.

One of us (Mr. Rubin) views long-term fiscal deficits -- in combination with a low national savings rate, large current account deficits and foreign portfolios that are heavily over-weighted in dollar-dominated assets -- as a serious threat to long-term interest rates and our currency and, therefore, to our economic future. The other views these economic relationships as much weaker.

At the same time, we both agree that our economic future also requires public investment in critical areas like education, health care, energy, worker training and much else. In our view, then, the next president needs to proceed on multiple tracks, with both the restoration of a sound fiscal regime and critical public investment."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/opinion/03rubin.html

Can we get out of this crisis? Can we do the things we need to do to help those in need -- especially the state governments that actually do so much of the public service work in this country?

Do I really have to ask what the answer to that question is today of all days?

YES WE CAN.

flabs...

dude...u may live to eat ur cancerous words of vile and hate...i think u are a disgrace, an embarassment...the word classy applies not yo u...u are afraid of ur own big shadow and ur own gasses...go back in that hole and hide or do some serious soul searching and meditation...maybe it will help...shame on u!

Excuse me for Palin-jacking this thread.

Just for fun: Palin spending spree MUCH WORSE than thought.

Okay - a little bit of levity on this historic day.

Here's a story that will get you smiling:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581

Newsweek reports that Sarah Palin's infamous spending sprees on clothing (something she blamed on the campaign), were MUCH WORSE than previously anticipated. Yes, that's right, much worse than $150,000:

"NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy."

How outrageous was this profligacy? Well, take a look at this:

"One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus."

Just as in her days in Alaska, when she charged the taxpayers for her time spent at home, or countless other remarkable boondoggles, Diva Palin can't resist grabbing while the gettin's good. But she didn't just use her own expense account to buy clothes, but she had some of her underlings charge it on their cards too!

"According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement."

But here's my favorite part. Ready for it?:

"One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books."

Okay, where to begin? First of all - $20-$40,000 for her husband's clothes? Men, are you with me here? What the hell would you spend that much on for clothing? Certainly nothing that was essential in the two months between her nomination and the election. She had to know that, so clearly she was loading up while she could.

And some "have apparently been lost?" Please. They've been lost deep into Palin's closet.

According to the Newsweek story, the aides kept McCain in the dark about this so as not to enrage him. Palin, the hardcore ladder-climber, made a request to the campaign to speak alongside McCain's concession speech last night (!?!). Understand this: Sarah Palin wanted to speak as part of John McCain's concession speech. Steve Schmidt (wisely) vetoed the request.

I know, we beat them and have bigger fish to fry. But I'm not above gloating, and this story is too much fun.

Excuse me for Palin-jacking this thread.

Just for fun: Palin spending spree MUCH WORSE than thought.

Okay - a little bit of levity on this historic day.

Here's a story that will get you smiling:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581

Newsweek reports that Sarah Palin's infamous spending sprees on clothing (something she blamed on the campaign), were MUCH WORSE than previously anticipated. Yes, that's right, much worse than $150,000:

"NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy."

How outrageous was this profligacy? Well, take a look at this:

"One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus."

Just as in her days in Alaska, when she charged the taxpayers for her time spent at home, or countless other remarkable boondoggles, Diva Palin can't resist grabbing while the gettin's good. But she didn't just use her own expense account to buy clothes, but she had some of her underlings charge it on their cards too!

"According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement."

But here's my favorite part. Ready for it?:

"One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books."

Okay, where to begin? First of all - $20-$40,000 for her husband's clothes? Men, are you with me here? What the hell would you spend that much on for clothing? Certainly nothing that was essential in the two months between her nomination and the election. She had to know that, so clearly she was loading up while she could.

And some "have apparently been lost?" Please. They've been lost deep into Palin's closet.

According to the Newsweek story, the aides kept McCain in the dark about this so as not to enrage him. Palin, the hardcore ladder-climber, made a request to the campaign to speak alongside McCain's concession speech last night (!?!). Understand this: Sarah Palin wanted to speak as part of John McCain's concession speech. Steve Schmidt (wisely) vetoed the request.

I know, we beat them and have bigger fish to fry. But I'm not above gloating, and this story is too much fun.

Yeah! We are all now unified under the One. The nature of all of this gushing is rather disturbing, sounding more and more like people are gleefully gearing up to live under some totalitarian regime. People have invested so much hope into this figurehead Obama. This has been done before--people tearfully investing all of their hopes into a leader to salve all wounds. There is really nothing new about this phenomenon.

Hehehehehe.....you dunderheads....you've been suckered....unless you desire to live in a nanny state.....

And now...to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon!!

Barack the Magic Negro,
Moved to DC,
He Frolicked round the monuments,
Destroyed our liberty...

Barack the New Messiah,
His wife is Michelle...
She's so tall, shes so smart...
She' First lady from Hell....

Together they're so happy,
Our country they destroy...
Constitution, Declaration...
To them they're just a toy...

Oooohhhhh, Barack the magic negro.....

Heather....just to irritate you! Worked didn't it?

That tagline was placed on your messiah by a liberal writer in San Fran...i thinkk it was...

Baby D....you're so eloquent today....Keep it up little feller.....

Y'all have a wunnerful day....better get to work...you know....make all I can before inauguration day....it'll all go to hell then...

:) hehehehehe....

Whoa...tipper baby....that's almost as bad as when the clintons raided the white house and air force one!!!

imagine what it'll be when BM (barackmichelle) leaves in four years.....whoa nelly...

it didn't irritate me, Norm. it made me embarrassed (for you).

I'll bet you a case of the beer of your choice that (if you're honest with yourself) in four years you're going to respect this man mightly.

Heather...don't be embarrassed for me....I'm alright...

I'm embarrassed...that the country of Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, (give me liberty or give me death) John Adams...and so many more...has lost it's sense of destiny. That over half the population feels that government is the answer to all of life's problems. That a candidate for the highest office in the world, can play on peoples prejudices, fear and jealousy, to cause us to vote for bigger government, punishment for achievers, appeasement of dictators, and all around mamby pamby liberal hogwash...

That my dear...is embarrassing....

As for the respect...I already have a measure of respect for his tenacity, his chutzpah, and his ability to look into the camera and lie like Bill Clinton....What cajones he must be packing....

As for the beer...there is none I like...but thank you.... a bottle of wild turkey maybe.. :)

As for my antics....just having some fun.... but it's nothing compared to the bile that's been spilled here toward GWB and macpalin....

have a wunnerful day.....

:)

The day after Election Day is always a time for reflection (and coffee, Pepto, wheat toast, and whatever other concoctions cure a hangover). In my lifetime, none has ever been as nationally momentous as November 4, 2008.

For three obvious reasons, last night was an historic landmark - the election of the first African American president, the success of a campaign that was more grassroots than any past, and the very bold progressive mandate the country delivered thanks both to the sheer size of the victory and to the candidates making clear this was an ideological choice between Reagan-ism and Roosevelt-ism. While I tend to try to live up to the "there's no crying in politics" rule, I'll admit it - I, like so many others last night, shed more than one tear of happiness and hopefulness.

In the weeks ahead, pundits, pollsters, prognosticators and prevaricators will inevitably analyze the election to death, tell us that these stark results somehow mean America is more conservative than ever, and insist that the only Serious and Responsible thing for an Obama administration to do after such a resounding election is to perpetuate the status quo. Indeed, we're already seeing this from most of the commentariat, and now, even from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(Dem), whose first declaration after seeing his Senate majority increase was, "This is not a mandate for a political party or an ideology." Reid's comments echoed Sen. Clarie McCaskill's(Dem) yesterday, when she told Fox News the first order of business for a President Obama is to appease John McCain's supporters.

This is par for the course - this is how the system works. And we shouldn't be surprised nor demoralized by it. We should instead simply listen to what the two presidential candidates themselves said last night.

McCain, gracious and honest in defeat, said what almost every Establishment voice refuses to say - and that apparently includes congressional Democratic leaders fearful of the huge responsibility they now have. The Arizona senator said simply: "The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly."

Minutes later, Obama said: "This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change."

They are both correct. America did speak clearly, and this election is only the chance to turn that unified American voice into action - it isn't concrete action yet, but it sure could be.

In the coming days, I guarantee you there will be many reasons to feel cynical. Hell, only hours after one of the most powerful and inspirational election victory speeches about "change" in recent memory, we learn that Obama is considering appointing various Clinton administration officials to top White House posts - some of them the corrupt hacks who played a key role in passing the lobbyist-crafted policies that origianlly deregulated our financial system (Glass-Steagall repeal), gutted our domestic economy (NAFTA, China PNTR), and shredded the social safety net (welfare "reform").

These moves are troubling - but we must carefully balance our skepticism with optimism. I'm not saying we should be naive - but what I am saying is we shouldn't judge Obama only on personnel decisions, because we shouldn't automatically assume he will outsource his own vision to his minions. However corrupt those minions' personal politics, record and history may be, we shouldn't get too bogged down in inside-the-Beltway debates over people like Rahm Emanuel (potentially Obama's new chief of staff) - people who may seem important, but who are, in terms of importance, mere fleas compared to the president himself.

I'm also not saying we should avoid pressuring Obama to fulfill his concrete campaign promises and last night's overpowering progressive mandate - and that's true whether Obama puts the same old D.C. hacks or a whole new crop of progressive thinkers around him. He may put the most corrupt and parasitic team around himself, or he may put the most honest and principled team around himself - but that's way less important than what we force him to actually push for.

As someone who both strongly supported Obama in the primary and general election, and also questioned him on some of his policy positions, I think that (despite the naysaying of some partisans) support and pressure can be as complimentary as the carrot and stick. Indeed, I think real movements and concrete change come only with both. Yet, I also believe that we should make sure the pressure we harness is the kind that assumes that Obama is at minimum trying to act in good faith for progressive goals, at least until he gives us clear reason to believe otherwise.

Why do I, a perpetually perturbed idealist-cynic and a campaign-scarred pessimist-optimist, say this? It has something to do with the election night festivities in downtown Denver watching the big screens. Those celebrations could have been anywhere in America last night, as millions experienced the same scene. And what's significant about that images last night was not the News headline declaring Obama the victor. It is the foreground and the background juxtaposition - the exuberant crowd in one city looking at another exuberant crowd in another city, an optimistic America looking at an optimistic America and celebrating together.

That's what last night will be remembered for, even as we head into debates about what Obama's first priorities should be. Though the post-election political coverage is all about D.C. jockeying for cabinet positions - that's not what this election was about. Though the television broadcasts that delivered last night's news were chock full of professional pundits and D.C. operatives and political insiders insisting that we needed their analysis to tell us what happened - we didn't. Because for once, this wasn't their election, it was ours; this isn't their presidential candidate, he is ours; and if we keep pushing and remember that election night was the start of our work and not the end, it won't be their government, it will at last be ours.

The country has regained its sense of destiny, wherefore the celebrations in the streets.

It's about real respect for the man, not just for his having won. If you're up for it, name your preference. You can even go for a Hirsch reserve.

was wondering what anyone thinks about the complex changes in global perception of the US, with Obama's win:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us/politics/05global.html

(or click my name)

McCain's concession was his best speech of the campaign. I think it was because it was his only honest one; he's not a comfortable liar.

The look on Sarah Palin's face last night was PRICELESS. She was a moose in the headlights. She seemed like she was genuinely shocked or afraid or something, which is strange, because she's been campaigning for 2012. I almost got the impression that she just received some horrible news OTHER THAN --(see the post by Tipper #25)-- the crushing defeat.

Fred Barnes, circa November 22, 2004, in "Realignment, Now More Than Ever":

'KARL ROVE SAID LAST YEAR that the question of realignment--whether Republicans have at last become the majority party--would be decided by the election of 2004. And it has. [...] Rove says that under Bush a "rolling realignment" favoring Republicans continues, and he's right. So Republican hegemony in America is now expected to last for years, maybe decades. [...]

What hasn't emerged is the much-touted "emerging Democratic majority." It remains a theory of liberal analysts John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, based on their take on voting patterns of women, urban professionals, and Hispanics. The theory faltered in 2002 and even more this year. [...]

Rove, leery of claiming too much for Republicans, said on Meet the Press on November 7 that "there are no permanent majorities in American politics." This is true, but some last longer than others. Burnham, however, sees little chance of change for years. For Republicans to slip into minority status again, he says, it would take a monumental party split like that in 1912 or "a colossal increase in the pain level" of Americans as happened with the Great Depression. Neither is likely.'

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Protected/Articles/000/000/004/916rlnyg.asp?pg=1

McCain's specialty is being gracious and apologetic after doing something wrong. He never really learns, as he always seems to have something new to apologize for, but I think he's actually sincere at the time. I wasn't surprised at all at his speech last night. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if McCain 5.0 (or whatever version he'll be on, now) is one of Obama's biggest allies on the Republican side. He has quite a reputation to earn back.

#31 spencer:

Chief of Staff is not a policy position. It is a traffic cop/implementer position despite how it was portrayed on the West Wing. Like Rahm or not (and I am not the biggest fan) he is quite competent. Also, I am encouraged by the fact that Obama gets that you need people who know their way around on the WH staff.

This is in huge contrast to the first two years of the Clinton Admin which had friends/hacks like Mack McClarty as CoS and Ira Magaziner as the key health care point person for HRC. You have to work with Congress to get your policies passed and if you bring in people who don't understand Congress you are going to be screwed. It wasn't until Clinton made Leon Panetta CoS that things started to improve for him.

I know Rahm is not well liked in blogosphere but this is actually quite encouraging. Obama is looking to hire people who can move his agenda and I like that.

One thing to remember, Obama will set most of the agenda not his appointees. We will not agree with everything he does or all his appointments but he is clearly the most progressive person to be elected Pres in my lifetime.

Hi Heath,

I read the article under the link you provided #33.

There was one specific paragraph that underlines the difficulty of countries to take up their own responsabilities towards what they are expecting from other leaders like Obama:

"" Many in less developed countries — especially in the Arab world — agree that Mr. Obama will not carry out their wishes regarding American policy toward Israel and much else, and so they shrug off the results as ultimately making little difference.""

If those countries would first try to live up themselves to their own wishes, perhaps Mr. Obama would carry them out alongside.

It is my belief that as long as we are expecting from others that they will fulfill our wishes the world as a whole will not change.

Obama may fulfill as many hopes and wishes as there are people who are willing themselves to work them out.

One may have high expectations from a person like Obama, he himself has always said that he is nothing without the people to carry them out.

So everybody in the whole wide world will have to become the change Obama is expressing oneself and only then the sense of togetherness and being one world or one nation can be filled in.

Mieke

afternoon all,

skinny writes, "Hehehehehe.....you dunderheads....you've been suckered....unless you desire to live in a nanny state....."

This dunderhead played a tiny part in the making of this "great Nation's"(to borrow a bit of Palin speak) historic election of the first Black President of the United States of America...I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to take part in this.....that there is absolutely nothing any sour puss can say or do that diminishes this moment in our time, here, in the USA.....truly, it is grand....relish it folks for life moves fast...appreciate what you did yesterday....enjoy....

btw.....The Obama's are a beautiful family and Michelle Obama will make a lovely first lady....

so dunderhead I may be...skinny, your rantings can't beging to sully this lovely day.....

don't worry.....there is always...2012

ruth...

i betcha u'll neva hear from that weird barracuda again!!!!!!!!...she'll quietly fade away into history...

Ruth:

Couldn't have said it better. I am at such peace right now and that matters more to me and my family and friends then all the negative projections anyone can throw our way.

I am a / at piece with / of history.

Diablo:

Bin Laden calls himself a Muslim. To any true practitioner of the Muslim faith he is a charlatan.

In the same vain the true base of the Republican party, a base full of caring and concerned citizens, helped to put an African American into the White House last night. Those that rail against this choice today are not representative of the true values of the Republican party. They are a part of that selfish minority that would serve their own gains at the cost of America.

I highly doubt that the true Republican base will ever allow the likes of Sarah Palin to be associated with national politics again.

This is a great day for Republicans. It's a chance for them to take back their party.

THANK YOU, HEATH

love the article you linked us to

here it is in plain text

hope I don't get anyone sued LOL

November 5, 2008
The Promise
For Many Abroad, an Ideal Renewed
By ETHAN BRONNER
GAZA — From far away, this is how it looks: There is a country out there where tens of millions of white Christians, voting freely, select as their leader a black man of modest origin, the son of a Muslim. There is a place on Earth — call it America — where such a thing happens.

Even where the United States is held in special contempt, like here in this benighted Palestinian coastal strip, the “glorious epic of Barack Obama,” as the leftist French editor Jean Daniel calls it, makes America — the idea as much as the actual place — stand again, perhaps only fleetingly, for limitless possibility.

“It allows us all to dream a little,” said Oswaldo Calvo, 58, a Venezuelan political activist in Caracas, in a comment echoed to correspondents of The New York Times on four continents in the days leading up to the election.

Tristram Hunt, a British historian, put it this way: Mr. Obama “brings the narrative that everyone wants to return to — that America is the land of extraordinary opportunity and possibility, where miracles happen.”

But wonder is almost overwhelmed by relief. Mr. Obama’s election offers most non-Americans a sense that the imperial power capable of doing such good and such harm — a country that, they complain, preached justice but tortured its captives, launched a disastrous war in Iraq, turned its back on the environment and greedily dragged the world into economic chaos — saw the errors of its ways over the past eight years and shifted course.

They say the country that weakened democratic forces abroad through a tireless but often ineffective campaign for democracy — dismissing results it found unsavory, cutting deals with dictators it needed as allies in its other battles — was now shining a transformative beacon with its own democratic exercise.

It would be hard to overstate how fervently vast stretches of the globe wanted the election to turn out as it did to repudiate the Bush administration and its policies. Poll after poll in country after country showed only a few — Israel, Georgia, the Philippines — favoring a victory for Senator John McCain.

“Since Bush came to power it’s all bam, bam, bam on the Arabs,” asserted Fathi Abdel Hamid, 40, as he sat in a Cairo coffee house.

The world’s view of an Obama presidency presents a paradox. His election embodies what many consider unique about the United States — yet America’s sense of its own specialness, of its destiny and mission, has driven it astray, they say. They want Mr. Obama, the beneficiary and exemplar of American exceptionalism, to act like everyone else, only better, to shift American policy and somehow to project both humility and leadership.

And there are others who fear that Mr. Obama will be soft in a hard-edged world where what is required is a clear line in the sand to fanatics, aggressors and bullies. Israelis worry that he will talk to Iran rather than stop it from developing nuclear weapons; Georgians worry that he will not grasp how to handle Russia.

An Obama presidency, they say, risks appeasement. It will “reassure Europeans of their defects,” lamented Giuliano Ferrara, editor of the Italian right-wing daily Il Foglio.

Such contradictory demands and expectations may reflect, in part, the unusual makeup of a man of mixed race and origin whose life and upbringing have touched several continents.

“People feel he is a part of them because he has this multiracial, multiethnic and multinational dimension,” said Philippe Sands, a British international lawyer and author who travels frequently, adding that people find some thread of their own hopes and ideals in Mr. Obama. “He represents, for people in so many different communities and cultures, a personal connection. There is an immigrant component and a minority component.”

Francis Nyamnjoh, a Cameroonian novelist and social scientist, said he saw Mr. Obama less as a black man than “as a successful negotiator of identity margins.”

His ability to inhabit so many categories mirrors the African experience. Mr. Nyamnjoh said that for America to choose as its citizen in chief such a skillful straddler of global identities could not help but transform the nation’s image, making it once again the screen upon which the hopes and ambitions of the world are projected.

Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at the People’s University of China, said Mr. Obama’s background, particularly his upbringing in Indonesia, made him suited to understanding the problems facing the world’s poorer nations.

He and others say they hope the next American president will see their place more firmly within the community of nations, engaging in what Jairam Ramesh, junior commerce minister in the Indian government, called “genuine multilateralism and not in muscular unilateralism.”

Assuming Mr. Obama does play by international rules more fully, as he has promised, can his government live up to all the expectations?

“We have so many hopes and wishes that he will never be able to fulfill them,” said Susanne Grieshaber, 40, an art adviser in Berlin who was one of 200,000 Germans to attend a speech by Mr. Obama there in July. She cited action to protect the environment, reducing the use of force and helping the less fortunate. In essence, she wants Mr. Obama to make his country more like hers. But she is sober. “I’m preparing myself for the fact that peace and happiness are not going to suddenly break out,” she said.

Many in less developed countries — especially in the Arab world — agree that Mr. Obama will not carry out their wishes regarding American policy toward Israel and much else, and so they shrug off the results as ultimately making little difference.

“We will be optimistic for two months but that’s it,” predicted Huda Naim, 38, a member of the Hamas parliament here who said her 15-year-old son had watched Mr. Obama’s rise with rapt attention.

But some remain darkly suspicious of the election itself. They doubted that Mr. Obama could be nominated or elected. Now they doubt that he will govern. The skeptics say they believe that American policy is deeply institutionalized and that if Mr. Obama tries to shift it, “they” — the media, the corporate robber barons, the hidden powers — will box him in or even kill him.

“I am afraid for him,” said Alberto Müller Rojas, a retired Venezuelan Army general and the vice president of President Hugo Chávez’s Unified Socialist Party. “The pressures he will face from certain sectors of society, especially from white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, will be enormous.”

Part of that fear stems from genuine if distant affection.

“He has charisma, he’s good-looking, he’s very smart, he’s young and he knows how to make people like him, to the point that when he went to bow down to the Israelis, people here still made excuses for him,” said Nawara Negm, an Egyptian writer and blogger.

There is another paradox about the world’s view of the election of Mr. Obama: many who are quick to condemn the United States for its racist past and now congratulate it for a milestone fail to acknowledge the same problem in their own societies, and so do not see how this election could offer them any lessons about themselves.

In Russia, for example, where Soviet leaders used to respond to any American criticism of human rights violation with “But you hang Negroes,” analysts note that the election of Mr. Obama removes a stain. But they speak of it without reference to their own treatment of ethnic minorities.

“Definitely, this will improve America’s image in Russia,” said Sergey M. Rogov, director of the Institute for U.S.A. and Canada Studies in Moscow. “There was this perception before of widespread racism in America, deeply rooted racism.”

In Nigeria, a vast, populous and diverse collection of states, Reuben Abati, an influential columnist, has written, “Nigerians love good things in other lands, even if they are not making any effort to reproduce the same at home,” adding, “If Obama had been a Nigerian, his race, color and age would have been an intractable problem.”

So foreigners are watching closely, hoping that despite what they consider the hypocrisies and inconsistencies, the nation they once imagined would stand as a model for the future will, with greater sensitivity and less force, help solve the world’s problems.

There is a risk, however, to all the extraordinary international attention paid to this most international of American politicians: Mr. Obama’s focus will almost certainly be on the reeling domestic economy, housing and health care. Will he be able even to lift his head and gaze abroad to all those with such high expectations?

Reporting was contributed by Rachel Donadio from Rome; Steven Erlanger from Paris; Nazila Fathi from Tehran; Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem; Nicholas Kulish from Berlin; Clifford J. Levy from Moscow; Sarah Lyall from Reykjavik, Iceland; Lydia Polgreen from Dakar, Senegal; Simon Romero from Caracas, Venezuela; Somini Sengupta from New Delhi; Michael Slackman from Cairo; Sabrina Tavernise from Istanbul and Kiev, Ukraine; Edward Wong from Beijing; and Robert F. Worth from Sana, Yemen.

the world's people do not really hate Americans

the world's people remember the idealism of the Peace Corps

they remember the help the United States used to give so open-handedly to other countries in times of disaster

they remember that Americans love other countries, love to travel, love to learn about other cultures, love to reach out to make friends abroad in their travels

also, America LOVES tourists from other countries

I love seeing Japanese tourists taking photographs

they are so gentle and polite and so interested in Americans and American culture

there exists no artwork more beautiful than Japanese artwork

Me too ... proud to be an American!

texas was up for grabs!!! 'bama had a better chance to turn that state blue than mac-is-not-back to turn pennsylvania red...

results...

dino...4,467,748

'bama...3,521,284

a swing of another 500,000 votes was possible if he had contested it as he did the biggies in the east coast...likewise...big sky country was gettable if the brother had made one visit there or spend some advertisement dollars...and there are other close ones...whoa.

texas is ready to turn blue...

The world is a somewhat more hopeful place today than it was two days ago, but let's get real. The glass is half empty, for me.

Obama is a conservative/centrist Democrat who will at best implement a small shift in American policies — he hasn't promised any strong change in Iraq, and his health care plans are an incremental improvement over the existing situation. And the opposition is shrieking "socialist!" at every suggestion, so don't expect an easy road to accomplishing even the centrist plans of President Obama…especially since he's inheriting the wreckage of 8 years of Bush misrule.

He still has to work with a self-interested, triangulating congress made up of many of the same Democrats and Republicans who have collaborated with Bush in screwing over America for the last eight years.

We're still afflicted with the curse of religiosity as a political prerequisite, and Obama has strengthened it. That is a poison that will harm us over the long term; we may have made the more rational choice in this one election, but reinforcing the potency of irrationality will come back to bite us over and over again.

The media isn't helping. The news yesterday was all a-babble over a "post-racial America". Nonsense. A significant minority still hates people over the color of their skin, and you know the skinheads are cleaning their rifles right now. This self-congratulatory nonsense distracts us from the real problems that still exist.

We still have the rot of ignorance and hatred in the American electorate. Proposition 8 won. Saxby Chambliss won. Michele Bachmann won. Norm Coleman might yet win.

I'm not dancing in the street yet. I'm anticipating many years of struggle ahead.

13. Skinny

Skinny, regarding "Our long national nightmare is over," I wasn't talking about W Bush. I was talking about the racial divide in the shadow of our original sin, slavery.

I'd think that as a Republican (which is the Federalist's party and fought as "The Union"), you must agree.

But maybe you're more of the idealogical vein of Sarah Palin who declared a new way of looking at things: "I'm a Federalist in that I support States' rights."

(Hmmmmmmmmmm. Scratch, scratch.)

Most of you sound awfully befuddled lately, I must confess.

P.S. Africa is a Continent.

Joe The Welfare King!

So it turns out that when Plumber Joe was a child, he was on welfare, not once, but twice, and he credits it with helping his family ultimately lead a middle-class life style. He defends having received welfare by saying that he's subsequently paid into the system.

In other words, well-designed taxpayer-funded social assistance programs are fine because ultimately they will pay for themselves.

Suddenly we have Joe The Reasonable, right? Well, not exactly. Plumber Joe has got something of a tax dodging problem. In the end, he's just another typical Republican hypocrite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7x0YyLDono