A new chapter in the history books was written tonight. The people have voted and the votes have been counted. Congratulations to President Elect Obama!!

Congrats on a hard fought campaign. Let's just hope he can live up to the hype. I will keep an open mind

I think the speech Senator McCain gave a short while ago was one of the most gracious and eloquent speeches I've ever heard. I was most impressed.

No matter how you look at it... good or bad, history was made today. Let's hope middle-class America can finally get the relief it deserves. (and that gas prices stay down)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

God bless this country. I voted and my vote did count. History was made I called my best friend she was crying so hard I had to let her go, she just wished her father could be here for this. I could not stop crying when I felt the love we both have for this country. One nation under god. This is history I'm glad I was here to witness this day.

I agree McCain was very gracious, I hope that through all the smoke screens and lies that these two campaigns have have pushed and peddled that the winner will hold up to his end of the bargain and he does not turn into what he says he is not. Political Powers Corrupts many offen, and some not by their own will...

It's sad when the goal of the person we elect is to make history.

We've thrown intelligence and logic aside for a "historic" election.

Russia has already made a move knowing full well that obama is weak and a pacifist.

Americans voted for fame, not experience, and we will reap what we sow.

This was the strangest presidential campaign and election I've ever seen from many perspectives.

I've never seen the media more in the tank for a candidate. I think so many in the press are liberal, hated the Bush years, and wanted to be part of history in electing the first black President that the media did not do its job. I can't help but think there will be buyers’ remorse by the general public when the media starts to actually do its job on reporting on Obama in a more unbaised way.

I've never talked to so many people about an election before that did not seem to care about the issues or history of the candidates. I talked to a number of people about who they were voting for and when they said Obama I asked why and they said they thought things could not get any worse and they wanted change. Obviously they have a right to vote how they want for any reason they want but I think these people seriously lack a historical economic perspective when it comes to economic hardships, recessions or depressions.

I do hope that this election helps with racial issues in America. I understand there is some discrimination that still goes on but I never felt or have seen in my life that modern America is inherently racist. One thing I'm happy about is that with this election the media and some black leaders that focus on this can no longer imply that the majority of America are racists because the majority of America freely voted for a minority candidate.

The election is over. The people have spoken and Obama won fair and square and he deserves our respect. I hope he reconsiders many of his positions (especially on energy) and moves to the center. Regardless, I wish Obama and the Democrat majority much success since their success is OUR success.

quote:

Russia has already made a move knowing full well that obama is weak and a pacifist.

I think this statement is so far off base I don't even know where to begin.

If the move you are referring to is the announcement that Russia is deploying missles to Kaliningrad, this is not new news. Russia has for a couple of years said that it is unhappy with our deployment of intercepter missles in Poland and the radar system in the Czech Republic. They have clearly stated that our moves would escalate world tension and they would match us move for move and have even gone as far as to suggest they would hit Poland with nuclear missiles if our system was installed there because they consider that system of violation of teh 1972 ballistic missile treaty we have with them.

In his first state of the union address given today, President Medvedev blamed the US "for world turmoil". He also blamed the recent war in Georgia and the missile system that is going to be installed in the former Soviet Union as the reason.

Did Russia invade Georgia because as you suggest Obama is weak? Hardly.

It's his first state of the union address, he is going to repeat what the Russians have been saying for the last two plus years in that speech. It has nothing to do with Obama.

In fact, if you check news achive, you'll see that well over a year ago, "First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov warned that Russia could deploy medium-range missiles in the Kaliningrad oblast -- opposite Lithuania and Poland -- if the United States turns down Russia’s proposals on anti-missile defense in Europe."

The response from the Russian President today is not new. That response is in response to the current administrations plan to take former Soviet states into NATO, and in response to our plans to install the missile system in Poland. All responses, not just from Russia but from the US as well began well over two years ago. Obama was not even running at that time, he was not responsible for our international decisions and in fact Bush is still President, not Obama.

Perhpas you are talking about some other thing Russia has said or done that for some reasons you've linked to Obama, if so I'd love to hear what it is because I think suggesting Obama is responsible for Bush's decisions is quite a stretch to say the least.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ismileutoo,

thanks for your opinion ismile.

even obiden knows the "world will test obama", why don't you?

it's not a stretch, it's a beginning.

quote:

Gates Rebuts Russian Missile Defense Concerns
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008

“The Russians know perfectly well this isn't aimed against them,” he said in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “We have gone a long way toward providing the necessary assurances to Russia that this system is not aimed at them but is aimed at a very limited threat coming from Iran.”

“We have offered transparency in a variety of ways. And to tell you the truth, the Russian military has shown some interest in this. But I think that for political reasons, the Russians have chosen to make an issue of it,” Gates said.

quote:

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:00:19 GMT

Poland's foreign minister, Radek Sikorski said Obama had previously told him he would build the US missile defence base in Poland as long as the system works and wasn't aimed against Russia.

quote:

Poles, Czechs see Obama standing by missile shield
Wed Nov 5, 2008 10:26am EST

Poland and the Czech Republic expect the incoming Obama administration to go ahead with the European missile defense shield which will be located on their soils, the countries' prime ministers said on Wednesday.

Under President George W. Bush, the White House had pushed to complete negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic ahead of Tuesday's presidential election.

"I doubt if we and the Czechs could anyhow influence the decision of the new U.S. President," Polish Prime Donald Tusk said during a joint news conference with regional leaders.

"I also don't think we have so far received any signals that the project may be changing in a negative way for us," he said.

His comments were echoed by the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek.

"Already during the election campaign, Barack Obama said his attitude toward the missile shield did not differ from that of Bush administration," Topolanek said.

quote:

even obiden knows the "world will test obama", why don't you?

Bush, Obama, Gates, Poland's foreign minister Radek Sikorski and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, and myself, all think you're wrong.

Your posts seems to assume the only person who would be tested is Obama. Bush has been tested by Russia on many issues, such as their invasion of Georgia and their threats of attacking or invading Poland and on this particular issue month after month, if McCain had won he too would be tested on this.

That testing of Bush happened although we all know he is perceieved as strong on military issues, even by Russia. McCain likewise is perceived as strong on military issues. To suggest that any new test by Russia on any issue or on the issue of our missile defense system in Poland is due to any perceived Russian mindset that Obama is weak is way off base.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ismileutoo,

quote:

Originally posted by wakeupnewalbany:
It's sad when the goal of the person we elect is to make history.

We've thrown intelligence and logic aside for a "historic" election.

That is such BS. Do you really think all those Americans voted the way they did with the goal of "making history"? You have a very low opinion of this country.

--
"Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'."

I have to agree McCain gave a very good speech last night as did Obama. But one thing stood out as the cameras scanned the the thousands of people at each site and that is AGE. McCain's people were about 90% above 40 and Obama's followers seemed to be under 40 with most being 30 or under. Has our education system failed or did it do too good of a job? Time will tell. I hate to admit it but I could not bring myself to vote for Obama or McCain so I left my ballot blank. For me there was no clear choice.

quote:

being 30 or under

Depending on which source you use, young voters choose Obama 2-1, middle age voters split on both candidates and McCain won the older vote.

A gallup poll showed young voters felt Obama understands the problems of people their age, 71% to 12%. That same poll seemed to indicate the top three issues were the economy, Iraq and the concern that no changes would be made.

When I look at these polls, personally, I think that the two main issues that affected their choice were tied together in their minds, those two issues being the economy and the war in Iraq.

I also think that McCains combining of terrorism and the war in Iraq into one issue hurt him with young voters. I believe young voters perceive both issues as two completely seperate issues and tying them together made young voters think that the third most important issue to them, concern that nothing would change, was a valid reason to vote Obama.

I also think that tying Afghanistan and terrorism into one issue are perceived completely opposite from that and I believe young voters do think of Afghanistan and terrorism are one and the same issue unlike Iraq and terrorism.