Obama Wins!

[johnhpus]

Thanks god... now let's see Rove arrested for ignoring those subpoenas, and Bush for the wiretaps, and all the other evil bastards for their evil deeds.

It probably won't happen, but if Obama wants to be a good President, it's time to clean house (well, after the hand-off of course).

[FrameFever]

yeah, nothing else was expected.
Now he have to do a lot of work, after the worst 8 years in the US. I think that was the biggest achievement from bush, his disastrous work make it possible that obama became the president.

[johnhpus]

Celebration in the streets of Atlanta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW8mkl3_s3g

probably this way in a lot of places

[jjp]

In my eyes the most respectable thing about this election is the very high election turnout. If nearly everyone who registered actually voted the turnout is about 88%.

[betajaen]

I stayed up into 3AM to watch the results come in on the BBC. At 200 electoral votes, he was going to win, so I went to bed. Of course woke up at 4; So I checked the results again on my iPod and found out he won and went back to sleep happy. It is not until a few minutes ago, I found out by how much he won. Seriously well done America.

The USA is now cool again in my books.

[stoneCold]

The USA is now cool again in my books.

word

[reptor]

Job well done for now. Let's see what happens once he gets to the White House.

I expect a change in the foreign policy of the USA. If a clear change doesn't come then I would be disappointed. I hope it turns more into solving conflicts peacefully and away from trying to force others to swallow the American Idealisms. I expect more respect towards other nations from the new administration compared to what the appalling TBA has done (ruined a lot of goodwill towards USA around the globe).

[syd]

he'll be a great president, Americans should be really proud

[sinbad]

I stayed up into 3AM to watch the results come in on the BBC.

Hey, I wasn't the only Brit to do this then

America has just vindicated itself a great deal in my eyes, after losing almost all faith in the country when they elected Bush for a second time. It's a major turning point in my view, as important as any of the great civil rights movement events in the 60's, and I'm very glad to have been around to see it.

He's got a hell of a job ahead of him, but Obama is smart, is considerably more grounded in reality thanks to his upbringing than most politicians, and isn't afraid to challenge the status quo. He's the first person I would truly call a 21st century leader, and I'm genuinely excited to see what happens in the next 4 years. Sounds stupid since I don't even live in the US, but Obama to me means real hope that things can be better.

[VictorMoran]

Thanks god... now let's see Rove arrested for ignoring those subpoenas, and Bush for the wiretaps, and all the other evil bastards for their evil deeds.

Indeed.

Rove is a felon, there is a congressional subpoena pending on him which he violated claiming privileges he does not has.
On those bases alone his should be in Jail. Let us see if this invigorated congress has the stomach to enforce it.

[betajaen]

Sounds stupid since I don't even live in the US, but Obama to me means real hope that things can be better.

I think this is why the American election has been so important not to the Americans but to everyone else. I haven't seen so much such attention to it as before, it's all in the British papers, on the news, everyone's talking about it, and everyone had a favorite candidate that they'd vote for. Almost like it's our election.

America has so much influence in the world, the elected will president will make the UK better (or worse) than it is. If/When the Americans will pull out of Iraq, most likely the British will too. If/When the American economy comes back to normal, ours will too. It's fantastic to know that such an influnence and power is the hands; of what I understand knows what he's doing and hopefully he will undo the last eight years and put everything back to normal again, if not better.

On another note:

It's Guy Fawkes night/day today, which is quite important to us Brits. For those who don't know; It's the anniversary of when a man called Guy Fawkes nearly blew up the Houses of Parliament that would of killed the King, we celebrate that he didn't by making a "Guy" and burning him on a bonfire whilst watching fireworks.

[ppClarity]

... after losing almost all faith in the country when they elected Bush for a second time.

Heh. It wasn't so much a vote for Bush but a condemnation of Kerry.

For the most part, Americans are centrist. Clinton understood this, so did Obama. Sure, the candidates will speak to their party's positions on the issues, but they need to be careful where to draw the line. Go too far and that centrist core will abandon you.

Bush was not at all popular in 2004 and it should have been a landslide win for the Dems. A lot of people blame Bush's campaign for outspending Kerry, but the truth (IMO) is that Kerry's talking points crossed the centrist tipping point and even wound up alienating a lot of traditional support.

Palin turned out to be ignorant and arch-conservative. McCain (or his campaign manager) should have done better due-dilligence but then that could have been said for most facets of the McCain campaign. Worse, McCain seemed completely out of touch with what it was doing. Not exactly an endorsement for the nation's Chief Executive.

[reptor]

Almost like it's our election.

A lot of coverage here in Finland as well. One (non-free) BRAND NAME channel showed CNN I think for the whole night. That's quite exceptional.

I would want to have the same thing when there are elections in Russia, for example. Just for the sake of learning and widening the view I have of the World. I don't speak Russian but I am never going to learn it if I don't get exposed to it... it's just almost too easy today to get exposed to the English language and I am starting to resist that movement a little bit (by, even though slowly, studying non-English languages and cultures, and by voicing my opinion here that our students should perhaps not take the easiest route by choosing English at school whenever they are allowed to do so in favour over other languages).

[warmi]

Thanks god... now let's see Rove arrested for ignoring those subpoenas, and Bush for the wiretaps, and all the other evil bastards for their evil deeds.

It probably won't happen, but if Obama wants to be a good President, it's time to clean house (well, after the hand-off of course).

Calm down.

It was not a coup and this is not the Soviet Union.

[johnhpus]

Not to get off too far on a tangent, but I don't see what's wrong with expecting our incoming president to arrest the criminals who were given a pass by our outgoing president.

If a president and his men can't be held accountable to Congress during his term, it's the duty of the next president to make sure that justice is served. Otherwise any president and his people can do anything they want without fear of punishment. To rule, above the law, without fear of punishment is a quick way for us to become the Soviet Union.

I don't believe for a second that you wouldn't be calling for heads if these crimes were perpetrated by democrats. And I'll go you one better... what Rove did was treason. That, by law, deserves the death penalty. It won't happen that way, if he's pursued at all, but that's what he deserves.

[warmi]

And I'll go you one better... what Rove did was treason. That, by law, deserves the death penalty. It won't happen that way, if he's pursued at all, but that's what he deserves.

Rove was political advisor to Bush.

You are insane.

[reptor]

I agree johnhpus, let's not give our administrations the right to do whatever they want and get away with it. Wouldn't that be the Soviet Union indeed... until it collapsed.

Trial them properly and after that has been done then I have no complaints.

I'm going even as far as saying that GWB himself should be trialed. And some others as well which were in his administration. I think in the USA exactly that should be possible if anywhere in the World.

If the outcome is then that there will be no punishments, fine.

[johnhpus]

I know exactly who Rove is.

Is it not treason to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA agent?

[reptor]

And I'll go you one better... what Rove did was treason. That, by law, deserves the death penalty. It won't happen that way, if he's pursued at all, but that's what he deserves.

Rove was political advisor to Bush.

You are insane.

So you like to attack the person johnhpus's sanity. I am disappointed in your style of having a discussion.

[johnhpus]

So you like to attack the person johnhpus's sanity. I am disappointed in your style of having a discussion.

I'm not sweating that part. I would probably say that to warmi in response to any number of his views, with varying degrees of seriousness I like a spirited argument and warmi never shirks from delivering. He's cool with me

[Nauk]

I too stayed up all night, totally awesome! It almost felt like the big fat happy ends in the old Star Wars movies or like Robin Hood being crowned King

I also was deeply impressed by McCains congratulation speech, very decent and sportive, clearly showed the true McCain, kudos.

Congratulations US-America and go good team!

[Zool]

A black Muslim, terrorist-loving, communist ?? (and rapist of babies but the McCain campaign didn't address this one since they regarded baby-raping as a deeply personal issue).
MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOULS!

BTW, hilarious stuff from Eric S. Raymond: (by http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=586)

The crackup I thought I was seeing in the Obama campaign didn’t happen. I underestimated the ability of the mainstream media to cover for Obama’s weaknesses. We may all have underestimated the effectiveness of ACORN’s vote-fraud machine.

I’m glad we’ve elected a black man president; I’m sorry it’s one who looks quite so much like a sort of latter-day Manchurian Candidate programmed by his hard-left associates to hate his own country.

I hope we don’t all come to regret this day horribly. We can only hope that Obama is a better man than his influences.

Man, the guy cracks me up, pure comedic genius..

[jacmoe]

Being too young to have experienced JFK and Martin Luther King, I am glad to be able to witness this event!
This is history!
Amazing!
Congratulations USA!

[KungFooMasta]

Well, can't say I didn't expect this outcome! But honestly, I don't think any republican candidate had a chance in this election, with Bush's performance. Unfortunately this is true for a lot of other elections as well, its seems like everybody is voting democrat. (I'm speaking about state elections) I seriously hope the end result is a positive one.

[xavier]

Thanks god... now let's see Rove arrested for ignoring those subpoenas, and Bush for the wiretaps, and all the other evil bastards for their evil deeds.

Indeed.

Rove is a felon, there is a congressional subpoena pending on him which he violated claiming privileges he does not has.
On those bases alone his should be in Jail. Let us see if this invigorated congress has the stomach to enforce it.

If anyone cared any longer, perhaps. Fact is, there are far far far more important things on peoples' minds right now.

Get over it. Move on.