OBAMA ELECTED

[Do_what93]

rejoice!

[Interbane]

I agree, I simply didn't want to see Palin in office. I'm happy to see that you're still around Do_What.

[Frank 013]

I can't "rejoice" until I see what kind of president Obama actually turns out to be... even the best choices during an election often turn out to be a disappointment.

That being said I am glad Palin did not make it to the white house, the last thing this country needs is another administration that will continue to dissolve the separation between church and state.

Later

[Chris OConnor]

Amen, Frank.

[Mr. P]

Amen, Frank.

I can rejoice in seeing Bush finally gone, the Republicans out of power (the need for a counter-balance to what has happened these past 8 years), the fact that Elizabeth Dole is GONE after trying to associate her opponent to Atheists (not that it was a positive message toward atheists, but that the religious attack machine has lost a bit of impact).

We can rejoice because Obama represents a forward looking President. He has run a relatively clean campaign and has not attacked overly much, and most of that was defense.

I can rejoice that Palin is no where near the White House. She is more of a danger to the country than any terrorist. The fruit that rots from the inside may look appealing on the outside, but if injested it will make you retch.

I can rejoice that a new generation will be in the WH. I can rejoice that we have made history and taken a big step toward moving far away from racism and hatred.

Obama is the only one that had a chance at uniting the country, especially after that horrible campaign McCain allowed to be run in his name, because so many prominent Republicans have seen in him what the country need now.

This was without a doubt the right choice. I am sure he will make the same mistakes any President could make...things may not go perfectly...but I cannot see things going as bad as Bush. At least we will have intelligent, thinking President...one who is not afraid to consult with smart people and educate himself.

Yeah...I can rejoice.

[Ophelia]

I am very pleased.
I agree with Mr P's post (it seems that I always do when he writes about politics ).

Television showed us scenes of rejoicing in different parts of the world: for Europe it's no surprise, Europeans always side with the Democrats and Obama has been immensely popular from the start.

I wondered if there were places in the world they were not showing on TV where people would have wanted McCain, or perhaps didn't care.

I wondered if the Ku Klux Klan were feeling dejected, but couldn't find a public statement to that effect.

As for reactions in the world, all I could find was the article I am going to quote, which is not a very good one. It mainly gives the leaders' official reactions, and of course they always congratulate one another.
I can vouch that Sarkozy's congratulations were heartfelt though: he has wanted to be politically closer to the US from the start, and since that's an idea that doesn't go down too well with French voters, he knows he has a much better chance on the home front if the president is Obama.
(The press has dubbed him "Sarkozy l'Americain").

Anyway, there are a few lines about the reactions of people, which is what I'm interested in, and this in particular:

In Cuba, Obama's campaign vow to ease the 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo and his willingness to consider dialogue with the Cuban government were a breath of fresh air after almost eight years of tough talk and hard-line policies from the Bush administration, Cubans said.

"I think with Obama we will have some improvement. We're going to breathe a little, because if the other (McCain) had won we would be in bad shape - and not just the Cubans," said housewife Cristina Recio, 50.

"With Obama, there has to be a relaxing of the policy toward Cuba because he has at least promised to change things such as ending restrictions on trips to Cuba (by Americans) and that will be good for everyone," restaurant employee Diego Lopez, 41, said.

The fact that this embargo is still in place is a disgrace, so this is a very good point in favour of Obama. It suggestst he has an open mind and will not cling to old quarrels or ancestral fears.

www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=bac862e4-fd51-4d32-9980-7203594e9cc3

[Mr. P]

Oh...just because I love throwing back shit in peoples faces and taking as much away from Bush as possible...remeber in 2004 when the Repubs were saying that "Bush had more popular votes than any other President ever? (like that actually means anything more than there is more population/voters)...well Obama has decimated that number. According to CNN, Obama won just under 63,000,000 votes. Bush had just over 59,000,000.

Useless info just to enjoy this moment a bit longer. I also heard some Republicans, who claimed a MANDATE for Bush in 2004 saying that "Well, 48% (it is actually 46%) of the people do not agree with this election.

Well, at least this one was decisive and without question...and more than that has had to deal with having Bush in office...even though one of those years he lost the Popular vote. (Some of us know the popular vote is not the factor that decides though).

Mr. P.

[GentleReader9]

I had the distinct pleasure today of hearing a man who identified himself as a conservative Republican, who had in fact voted for McCain, saying that after watching the two candidates's speeches last night, he felt proud to be a citizen of the United States of America and convinced that the right person had won, afterall. He said when he saw the faces of people he hadn't seen looking like that since the late 1960's, crying with joy, it took him back to that time and that he ended up feeling hopeful that the United States could really unite and be what we aspire to be together, after all. He felt humbled to have believed it was not realistic before that. I hope liberal people will not alienate people like that man by gloating or rubbing things in; I feel humbled by his admitting that and I want us to be worthy of his hope.

Last night I watched the election results at a public place where Liberal people go to do things like that in this town, and eat, and cheer in a large communal living space/restaurant. There were probably about 300 people, many standing at the back and sides. When the three West Coast States flashed blue all at once right after the polls closed, everyone screamed and clapped and cheered. I cried; people around me cried. I can't believe there are still people in this country who don't understand what an incredibly good thing this is. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to heal and grow strong, not just inside ourselves as a country, but in relation to the whole world. This is a chance for the United States to come into its full selfhood, to see how beautiful and strong and intelligent we really are now that we have quit selling ourselves short and abusing ourselves by thinking we were much smaller and poorer in spirit.

Even my daughter's embarrassed scolding, "Mom, nobody actually says, 'Yay,' like it's a word. Could you stop it?" could not mar the moment. It was a joy to be there with her and to tell her that when I had told my teacher that my mother had cried to hear that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot, she wrinkled her nose at me and asked, "She did?" You just can't get young people to really understand the maginitude this kind of thing. They think it's always been like this. When the commentators said some people had stood in the rain waiting for this for hours, I said, "Years. Years and years!"

[Ophelia]

I'm very happy for you Shanta.

[DWill]

This was without a doubt the right choice. I am sure he will make the same mistakes any President could make...things may not go perfectly...but I cannot see things going as bad as Bush. At least we will have intelligent, thinking President...one who is not afraid to consult with smart people and educate himself.

I think Obma's election has created a great deal of hope in the country. While we could say that realizing all these hopes is unrealistic, we'd also be foolish not to take advantage of this feeling and take it as far as possible. That said, he has set himself up for a huge fall. It will take both political genius and sheer intellect for him to succeed. For myself, his promises about ending division-- the red-blue thinking that has diminished us--are what I will mainly hold him to. If his talk of this turns out to be just that, if he doesn't have the wherewithal to slap down the sometimes obnoxious figures in his own party, he's going to end up being just another politician, and all talk of "transformational" will cease. He also needs to stop pandering to us, tell us what is wrong with us, the people, and ask us to do some work and make some sacrifices, or he also will fall short as a leader. This man has his work more than cut out for him, deserves every penny of his big pay raise.