Obama Wins! - So What's Next?

Remove all ads!

No instead LKD you had mass feelings of "white guilt" from the sheep that believe everything the news media spews out.

Just go onto some of the black websites & check out their forums. Most of the posters are under the impression that now that obamas the big cheese that all their problems will be payed for by the government.
Who wants to bet that there is a reparations bill on the table within a month of him assuming office?

 

You a little bitter there martaug?? are you really mccain in disguise??

 

I didn't vote, martaug, for obvious reasons, but believe me when I say there's no white guilt on my part -- had I voted for McCain I am confident in myself that it would have been based on his policies, NOT an anti-Negro bias. Conversely, had I voted for Obama it would ALSO have been based on his policies, not a white guilt basis. But you are kidding yourself if you think there's not white people who base their vote on anti-black bias, just as anyone who claims that white guilt doesn't exist at all is also delusional.

But I don't think Obama was voted in on a white guilt wave. His policies and ideas -- as he stated them -- resonated more voters than McCain's did.

Silvery, McCain's concession speech showed that he's not NEARLY as bitter as martaug!

 

Believe it or not, but every other country in the world doesn't like Republicans. If the entire world could vote for the American president, the Republicans wouldn't stand a chance. I'm sure a lot of people will be relieved that Americans finally did something right, after getting it wrong the last two times. If anything, the world will like you more for electing a Democrat.

And whoa, Iraq and Afghanistan aren't screwed up now? Do some people actually still believe that things are going well over there? It can only go up from here

 

Yes silvery, very bitter, as obama is going to f@ck our country over very badly.

LKD, i am 100% sure that a far larger number of people voted for obam based on color &white guilt than voted for his politics(on the order of 60%/40%)

 

Funny you should mention that... I saw a woman being interviewed for tv the other day and they asked her why she was voting for McCain and she said: "Well, my husband is a veteran and so is he (McCain), that's why he (McCain) is my man." Talking about having your patriotism in the wrong place. Just because someone is a veteran doesn't make him good at leading a country. I guess it's kinda like being black doesn't make you good at leading a country. Now with every election or referendum around the world, you hear people say the same things: "The other people don't know what they are voting for", or something along those lines. And in truth, a lot of people don't; they vote out of tradition, whether someone is black, or whether someone is a veteran. That isn't only true for the other party

Like Tal said, Obama won't move mountains. He won't raise taxes to 50% either, because most of the American people won't take that (from either side), that stuff only works in Europe

 

I agree. The sky isn't going to fall on America because of Obama. Whoever believes that is a hysteric. And as for unemployment because of Obama? Mind causality - Obamas confiscatory taxation aside there still is this economic crisis, this great depression everybody fears, remember? It isn't as if that is Obama's fault.

Obama won't solve all of America's problems, and America even under the Democrats will still be America. That peculiar sense of mission is not going to go away. Democrats also call Obama the 'leader of the free world'. America will be a major player and there is a bipartisan consensus on many things in foreign policy, where I expect a lot continuity. Obama being a much nicer guy will make it way harder for us to resist the sillier aspects of those policies. That boorish idiot in Office now is giving us a much easier time.

Besides, it's not that Europeans resent Republicans per se. For my part, I don't. I resent what the R's have become in the last 15 years, and I loathe the Palinite wing of the Republican party. I still look favourably at some of the Republican old-school politicians who are conservative in the sense that they are thoughtful, reasonable and realistic. Think of Chuck Hagel. In today's Republican party they're oddballs.

I hope Obama is going to restore the checks and balances the R's have wrecked or ignored under Bush, and that he takes the 'war on terror' nonsense off the agenda. That he rolls back the torture regime, and the blatant politicisation in the administration that is the heritage of Bush. In the same breath I hope that folks like Rahm Emmanuel don't turn into a Democrat Cheney. Not that the R's wouldn't deserve some more humiliation for all the **** they pulled off the last eight years - the country does not.

I hope Obama is strong and smart enough to prevent US policy towards Israel from running into the same dead-end America's utterly ridiculous Cuba policy ran - confrontation, and nothing but, as anything less would be appeasement - because special interests have an iron grip on this issue and are able to prevent change. In case of Cuba that obviously would be the Cuban lobby, in case of Iran it's just as obviously the Israeli lobby and the neo-cons (who transcend party lines - Clinton's Dennis Ross comes to my mind - or Richard Perle, who is a registered Democrat). Or, horrors, think of Brezinski's russophobic foreign policy recipes. Those foreign policy struggles are going to continue.

My current prognosis for the R's is that either Romney or some Romney emerges as a new leading Republican pulling the R's back towards the centre again, or the Palinites prevail and the R's further move to the fringes of the right. That would sentence them to insignificance for the time being, because the Palinites are too few in number, but such is the price for ideological purity. It, however, will in no way reduce their fervour.

 

Well it is now time to see what the Democrats can do. They have control of both the executive and legislative branches of the government. If they do great things, they deserve all of the credit, if they fail they deserve all of the blame.

A Cuban friend of mine once explained to me that at least in the U.S. we never have to worry about tanks rolling down the street after an election.

While I'm not at 100% gloom and doom (see Martaug), I am very concerned. I figure if they screw it up too badly we only have to wait until 2010 for the next House elections.

 

Wow Snook! How unexpectedly gracious! (I'm serious.) And you're completely right on the timeframe. While Obama is president for at least 4 years, he realistically has two years to fix the economy, and form a coherent Middle East policy at the very least. If those two things at a minimum are not completed two years from now, the Republicans will retake Congress in 2010.

 

I agree. His work is definitely cut out for him. But I wouldn't have supported him if I weren't supremely confident in his ability to handle it.

Very classy post, Snook.

 

Normally I would agree, but I think we should keep in mind what Obama will inherit from the previous administration - it will be a major factor in at least the first 2 years. Apart from that, imo you are quite right. Personally, I think there won't be a drastic change, but I would expect things to be a little better. YMMV.

BTW, I believe the market initisllu reacted quite well to Obama's election. Perhaps it was the idea of large infrastructure projects that he had in his plans, or were they just happy that it was over? I doubt brokers are people who are that enthusiastic in their business decisions.

 

Even though I am one of the resident conservatives, I disagree with martaug's assessment(s). First of all, I think race had a very small role in the election numbers. What had a huge role in the election was:

1. Bush. He was a huge liability and one that I did not feel any republican could overcome. I have felt all along the only republican that had a chance was McCain (and that was an outside chance).

2. Money. Six hundred million dollars. That's simply a huge number. That much money buys a lot of advertisement and pays for an excellent support network. Never underestimate the power of the dollar (especially when combined with 599,999,999 of his friends).

3. Support staff. Obama surrounded himself with excellent people. The democrats were in the driver's seat and could dictate the tone of their candidate. Obama's staff understood very well how to present their candidate. McCain's staff did not know how to present their candidate. There were many times I was left scratching my head at the campaign decisions -- we all saw the real McCain and liked him, but his staff kept that person hidden and just made him sound like an angry old man. But I guess history has shown the underdog in a campaign has the best chance of winning by attacking -- I just don't like the strategy (especially for McCain).

4. Obama got the vote out. People voted in this election that had never voted before. It was an amazing turnout. Although this is related to point #2, it is more a reflection of Obama's ability to reach out to groups who believe he will listen to them when in office.​

I liked both Obama and McCain from the start. I've said before it was a win-win election to me. Each man had his own strengths (and weaknesses) but I believe both were men of integrity with great leadership abilities. Obama will surround himself with a strong cabinet and will provide the leadership necessary to push through needed changes.

A seven million vote differential and the swing of many seats of congress sent a clear message that the people of America want things to change in Washington. Hopefully, Obama's administration will be up to the task.

 

I'll jump on the "surprised at Snook" bandwagon here - classy response.

Nothing insightful to add that hasn't already been said here. America was obviously ready for a change.

 

TGS and T2 - Thank you for posting comments that showed a lot of class. I don't know if I could have done as well if the situation had gone the other way.

1. I don't think Obama will raise taxes directly, but will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire next year. The rates will return to what they were during the Clinton years.

2. Obama won't find much in the US treasury, since the outgoing bunch has spent it all, and then a bunch more. So he will have to craft a budget that will allow for the lack of government funds.

3. Of course he can save a whole lot of treasury money by ending the useless War in Iraq. I suspect that will be one of the first things he does by crafting a timeline for ending that "adventure," or should I say, "war of choice." But he will probably shift more resources to focus on the other war in Afghanistan.

4. Energy will be interesting, because gas is suddenly under $2.00 a gallon. And all the major oil companies claimed that that was no longer possible. What a surprise. Nevertheless, he will probably use many of the ideas used in the Picken's Plan to create alternatives and create all those "green Jobs," Obama has been ranting about for the last two years.

5. Healthcare: I still think Obama is weak on that issue despite all the hype during his campaign. But It's better than what McCain wanted, which was to tax healthcare benefits as income. But this is directly from his website:

The good news is that many who are not covered now, will have access to "affordable" insurance. Of course, the insurance companies are still a part of the current problems, and I would have liked to have seen a solution that involved the insurance companies less. BTW, my own insurance just informed me that they are now only covering 68 percent instead of 80 percent of my medical expenses. They are so "nice...."

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/#reduce_costs

 

*comes out of retirement for historic occasion*

Thank God, Rovian tomfoolery has an expiration date.

But President-Elect Obama (what a pleasure to type those words) will have an unprecidented mess on his plate come January.

All respect to Aldeth, but sorting the current economic mess in two years seems awful optimistic. What with massive US debt, massive consumer debt, global economic crisis, untold trillions of derivatives yet to unwind, diving house prices and the very real possibility of deflation, the continued hemorrhage of money into Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Fed down to its last basis point. IMO we still haven't faced the worst consequences accruing to years of gross financial and political mismanagement, and we're in for a rough ride. Which is still to say I'm very very thankful to have someone at the top who takes policy, as opposed to politicization, seriously.

 

As I've said before, America doesn't have that many global friends so Obama is going to have to start repairing the damage Bush's lot did and build some bridges...that could be what slows down that 2 year estimate.

Also, i don't get why Americans don't just use a healthcare system like the NHS with the option to go private if they want to

 

Best of luck to you Mr. Obama. I sincerely hope that you will be a great President. As a conservative I am extremely concerned, but hopeful.

 

Well, you're right in that he won't be able to fix everything in two years, but we need improvement from what we have now. Stock market improvement, housing market improvement, and a growing economy are all possible.

 

With some luck, he might have a slightly more successful foreign policy. Certainly his administration won't suffer from the preconceptions that accompanied the Bush regime.