U.S. Presidential Race: Official Thread

Obama or McCain/Democrat or Republican..you decide

  • McCain

    Votes: 14 7.5%

  • Obama

    Votes: 173 92.5%
  • Total voters
    187
  • Poll closed .
olesmyhero said:
Just listening to some stuff about this. People are saying he will cure AIDS and make everything perfect. Standards might be being set a bit too high.
Click to expand...

There was an hilarious woman the other day talking about how she couldn't wait for him to become president so he could buy her gas for her and pay her mortgage.

Scout's honour.

That's part of the problem when you don't have a long long track record, and you are running a viral marketing driven Presidential campaign.

You mean everything to all people - until you start pissing them all off by having to actually run the country!
 
jasonrh said:
There was an hilarious woman the other day talking about how she couldn't wait for him to become president so he could buy her gas for her and pay her mortgage.

Scout's honour.

That's part of the problem when you don't have a long long track record, and you are running a viral marketing driven Presidential campaign.

You mean everything to all people - until you start pissing them all off by having to actually run the country!
Click to expand...

It's also part of the generic problem of being President of the USA. A lot of the people you rule are genuine morons.
 
jasonrh said:
Congrats to the President-Elect.

Now it is the time to govern. Lets see what happens from here.

He's going to need to stand up for the middle of the country if he really wants to be a success in the short/medium term, rather than overreaching to the left like the Clintons did in 1993.

As well as bringing in Clinton advisors over the summer, supposedly his people have been pouring over both the day-by-day reportage of Clinton's first cycle and also the papers released from the Clinton library.

Clinton didn't become a hugely popular and successful president until after his move to the centre in 1995. Obama's people will be all too aware of that.
Click to expand...

Obama will govern from the middle...the far left liberal BS is campaign sound bite...

Obama by nature is not a partisan.....He actually believes that we are one nation and the differences we have are not insurmountable.....

...he is betting on each of us being an American first...

I believe his bet will pay off..
 
Red Dreams said:
Obama will govern from the middle...the far left liberal BS is campaign sound bite...

Obama by nature is not a partisan.....He actually believes that we are one nation and the differences we have are not insurmountable.....

...he is betting on each of us being an American first...

I believe his bet will pay off..
Click to expand...

His voting record suggests differently, which isn't a campaign soundbite.

McCain does have a long term track record of pissing off his party by reaching across the aisle, and Obama does not have a track record of doing much aside from party-line votes in the Senate.

This is part of why the election was even as close as it was considering it being a Democratic year - and why McCain would have quite likely won if not for the financial crisis. That's a shocking thing when you think about it - and as you see by the results (like in Virginia and Pennsylvania) it had nothing to do with race, thank God.

If he had a McCain-like bipartisan record even just in the last couple of years in the Senate, then he would have won this one by Reagan proportions.

Because of his record in the Senate a lot of centre-rights and moderates have doubts as to whether he can effectively govern from the centre with Congress in the hands of some real bomb-throwers.

I'm a moderate, almost liberal, Republican (most of us died out before I was born - when Rockefeller lost out to Nixon in 1968). As such McCain was my candidate in 2000, and of course yesterday. But after the race between the President-Elect and Senator Clinton I couldn't help but admire what Obama was doing and hope that he meant his post-primary words.

I'm just glad I don't have to defend that prat anymore after mid-January.

Mind you, the idea Obama won't govern from the centre based on his record might totally miss the point of why he built that record.

Obama seems to have been intent on running for President since he arrived in Washington, so it is very likely he would have been voting party-line in order to please the MoveOn crowd and position himself as the alternative to the Inevitable Candidate. He had to out-left her, even a year ago or ten months ago, in order to get a foothold.

Being President is a lot different to being Senator - he'll be more centrist by nature of the office, but if he wants to reach out in a 50/50 country, then he will do himself a great service and perhaps guarantee that his amazing journey to and in the Presidency will not end for another 8 years.
 
One thing I was struck by yesterday was McCain's concession speech.

For the first time in decades and decades, a losing candidate actually meant what he said about working with the President.

McCain can be a force in the Senate for the centrist parts of Obama's agenda, even with the potential of angering some of the Republican 'base'. He doesn't have to worry about them and he is likely not running for office again anyway.

Mitch McConnell won reelection last night - that was a big deal in the Senate. On centrist issues, McCain might head off some of McConnell's ability to disrupt the Senate if he can get a handful of Republicans to come along with him.
 
jason....I was watching the Florida results come in last night...and was confident Obama will carry it eventually.....but was just turnout the difference last night to 2004?

I know the AA vote was higher....but it seemed even Republicans were not behind McCain....
 
jasonrh said:
One thing I was struck by yesterday was McCain's concession speech.

For the first time in decades and decades, a losing candidate actually meant what he said about working with the President.

McCain can be a force in the Senate for the centrist parts of Obama's agenda, even with the potential of angering some of the Republican 'base'. He doesn't have to worry about them and he is likely not running for office again anyway.

Mitch McConnell won reelection last night - that was a big deal in the Senate. On centrist issues, McCain might head off some of McConnell's ability to disrupt the Senate if he can get a handful of Republicans to come along with him.
Click to expand...

Really reminded me of the West Wing’s Arnold Vinick when he gave that speech, in that while I pretty much loathe the Republican party, I do respect McCain. And just as Matt Santos gave Vinick a position in his cabinet, it occurred to me that Obama giving McCain some kind of position commensurate to his experience and dignity would be quite a nice gesture, in keeping with his stated aims of uniting America and transcending party politics.
 
jasonrh said:
One thing I was struck by yesterday was McCain's concession speech.

For the first time in decades and decades, a losing candidate actually meant what he said about working with the President.

McCain can be a force in the Senate for the centrist parts of Obama's agenda, even with the potential of angering some of the Republican 'base'. He doesn't have to worry about them and he is likely not running for office again anyway.

Mitch McConnell won reelection last night - that was a big deal in the Senate. On centrist issues, McCain might head off some of McConnell's ability to disrupt the Senate if he can get a handful of Republicans to come along with him.
Click to expand...

..agree...that was the old McCain....no pun intended....

I think Obama will reach out to him...because he knows McCain Does love his country unlike Bush.
 
Red Dreams said:
jason....I was watching the Florida results come in last night...and was confident Obama will carry it eventually.....but was just turnout the difference last night to 2004?

I know the AA vote was higher....but it seemed even Republicans were not behind McCain....
Click to expand...

The independents broke for him in suburban areas around the I-4 corridor.

That did not happen in 2004.

The African American vote here did not change dramatically enough to effect the state.

In fact, the importance of the AA vote in the whole election has been a little overblown. He won because he got suburban college-educated crackers to vote for him.
 
Red Dreams said:
..agree...that was the old McCain....no pun intended....

I think Obama will reach out to him...because he knows McCain Does love his country unlike Bush.
Click to expand...

This post encapsulates why the Democrats lost in 2004.

Obama won this time by attacking Bush's policies, rather than relying on an 'Anything But Bush' mentality or the sort of ad hominem nonsense that has been going on in this country since 1994.
 
PJ said:
Why is the inaugaration so long away?
Click to expand...

(watching the game on tape delay tonight so I'm hanging out in here).

it's always like that. the president elect needs time to get his cabinet together and to get ready for the move his family into the White House (will they rename that now?).
basically he has to get caught up on the job so he can hit the ground running when he takes office.
 
I read today that 95% of the black population voted for Obama. If that isn't voting based on skin colour then I don't know what is.
 
Storm said:
I read today that 95% of the black population voted for Obama. If that isn't voting based on skin colour then I don't know what is.
Click to expand...

Source?

The black community is traditionally democratic anyway.
 
Clueless said:
Source?

The black community is traditionally democratic anyway.
Click to expand...

I can't remember where I read it, might have even been The Daily Mail :nervous:

But it basically said that usually 95% of the black population don't bother voting, but this time 95% of them did bother and voted for Obama.

I'll have a look round see if I can find it.
 
jasonrh said:
Obama won this time by attacking Bush's policies, rather than relying on an 'Anything But Bush' mentality or the sort of ad hominem nonsense that has been going on in this country since 1994.
Click to expand...

I think the "anything but Bush" was the invisible elephant in the room anyway.

I must say that it was nice to hear a politician speaking with conviction and charisma again. Of course this may be empty rhetoric - you will to wait and see. The other thing that I like is that is speaks volumes for how race relations have improved in the US and around the world.

What is his policy on health care? I still find it amazing that a country like the US doesn't have a decent public health service.

I have a feeling that if he has a half decent first term then he will get a huge landslide next time.
 
Wibble said:
What is his policy on health care? I still find it amazing that a country like the US doesn't have a decent public health service.
Click to expand...

He backs Universal healthcare coverage, but would not make it compulsory aside from children. He'd also use subsidies to make cover affordable, and insurers would be unable to refuse coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

Obviously it goes into more detail than that, but that is pretty much the gist of it.

I have a feeling that if he has a half decent first term then he will get a huge landslide next time.
Click to expand...

Didn't he get a huge landslide this time?

I think he will do well as President. It won't be easy for obvious reasons, what with the Economic Crisis and the two Wars amongst a whole host of other things, but I think he will definitely improve the image of the US across the world.

Will also be interesting to see how he handles their relationship with China.
 
esmufc07 said:
Didn't he get a huge landslide this time?
Click to expand...

He did in terms of seats but not in terms of the popular vote or at least not sufficiently so that a relatively minor change in fortune could see a Republican in the White House next time around.
 
Storm said:
I read today that 95% of the black population voted for Obama. If that isn't voting based on skin colour then I don't know what is.
Click to expand...

Totally. The Republicans offer so much for blacks.

Hurricane Katrina also brought many into the GOP fold.
 
Storm said:
A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted July 7-14 found that black voters favor Obama over McCain, 89 to 2 percent.

Obama 89%
McCain 2%

Pretty conclusive really.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/16/mccain.naacp/index.html
Click to expand...

Oi, you! Get all your facts first. Posted by Slugger, and then myself:

On the issue of the black vote being 97% in favour of Obama because he is black is a very simplistic excuse, many probably voted for him because he served their interests much better than McCain. Furthermore how does rascism fit into a 88% black vote for Kerry or a 90% vote for Gore.
Click to expand...

Why no one has pointed this out is beyond me.
The black vote for Obama was note racist. We can say that 7-9% is improved on the previous two candidates results. Perhaps maybe half of that vote was because he was black.

97% of Blacks vote for Obama

Obama is black

Therefore racism

Logical Fallacy, incorrect connections. Those of you who believe this kindly strap yourself to a cinder block and go find the titanic. Please and thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Storm said:
What proportion of the black population was that? In other words, what percentage of black people turned up and voted?
Click to expand...

It was around 11% of the electorate.

Fact is black people tend to have lived in inner city areas at some point of their lives. They are democrat voters, hence the past voting habits. You would expect the democrat vote would be up across the board this time around, therefore over 90% of black voters would have voted for the dems whoever the candidate was.

The Obama/Black effect is minimal, and quite honestly I don't blame anyone that did vote based on colour. People here can still remember disgusting segregation and racism. My wife has worked with black doctors that couldn't treat white people when they were younger. The hospital wards in some areas were still segregated in their working lifetime.
 
That's an impressive turnout by them considering they are only 13.4% of the population. Thus they were represented a larger percentage in the polls 11% than they do in the population, shows that they really wanted to get Obama elected, fair play though if it didnt happen know there could have been another few decades
 
mjs020294 said:
It was around 11% of the electorate.

Fact is black people tend to have lived in inner city areas at some point of their lives. They are democrat voters, hence the past voting habits. You would expect the democrat vote would be up across the board this time around, therefore over 90% of black voters would have voted for the dems whoever the candidate was.

The Obama/Black effect is minimal, and quite honestly I don't blame anyone that did vote based on colour. People here can still remember disgusting segregation and racism. My wife has worked with black doctors that couldn't treat white people when they were younger. The hospital wards in some areas were still segregated in their working lifetime.
Click to expand...

You misunderstand my question, maybe I've phrased it poorly.
If 11% of the population is black, what percentage of that 11% actually voted?
 
11% of those who voted were the demographic of A.A. is 13.4% thus they came out in numbers superior to the percent of the population they are
 
Storm said:
You misunderstand my question, maybe I've phrased it poorly.
If 11% of the population is black, what percentage of that 11% actually voted?
Click to expand...

In both 2004 and 2008 the black voting turnout pretty much matched the white turnout. The 'black' effect in this election was minimal.
 
mjs020294 said:
In both 2004 and 2008 the black voting turnout pretty much matched the white turnout. The 'black' effect in this election was minimal.
Click to expand...

Really? From what I read earlier it implied that 95% of black people didn't bother to vote last time, but this time 95% did and most voted for Obama.

I really need to find this article that I read so I can be clear on what i'm saying.

As a matter of fact, I'd be curious to know how they would come up with these figures anyway. Would they just stand outside polling booths and ask black people who they voted for?
 
I reckon they acquired the figures from people who registered to vote and then went from there
 
Ok so here's a slight correction now that I've found the article I read earlier.

The actual increase in black people that turned out to vote is an extremely small 2% (from 11% to 13%).

The statistics that I find alarming are the difference in choice between black and white voters.

White votes: 55% mcCain, 43% Obama

Black votes: 4% mcCain, 95% Obama

That can't be down to pure opinion and there must be a massive racial factor in why so many black people voted for Obama.

Edit: Forgot to post the source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...als-black-voters-swept-Obama-White-House.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.