OBAMA ............. CHANGE .............YES HE CAN

Oh Lucretia - it was just a little joke! But I don't think the election was about colour, I think it was much much more complicated than that. I am usually so cynical that I think no matter who you vote for the government always gets in, as the old anarcist saying goes - but it is hard not to feel a bit of hope in the air this morning. Maybe like when Kennedy got in.
 
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I, am to say the least, worried.

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Why???

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I think it is fantastic that Obama has won the election, but agree to a point about being a bit worried.

Obama has made no secret of the fact that he doesn't agree with the war and wants to pull troops out of Afgan & Iraq, which in one way is good, But it concerns me that you can't leave an fight half-fought. The reality is that it was started and that is that - we can't all go trotting off home and pretend it is going to be alright. What we will leave is a bunch of really pissed of Taliban who would like to get their own back and will no doubt have managed to convinve themselves that they are all powerful and have conquered the western world. So if the americans do go home - who is left to try and control the mayhem that ensues after?

Now, I am no politician so am sure there is a bigger and better plan then just packing up and going home, but i do find it a bit of a concern.

I also worry that he runs a bit assassination risk. There is a very 'old-school' chunk of america that this wont sit well with - wrongly so, but they are there all the same.

I hope that he does a good job of it and wish him the best of luck!!
 
My sentiments are yours, cruiseline.
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I stayed up most of the night watching this, because in my mind, this was not just a US election, it was something I felt part of.

What I love so much about the democratic party, and about Obama's style, is that it lacks aggression. Goodness, did I get fed up of McCain being so aggressive. That says it all about the Republicans to me, I am afraid.

Whhhhooopppeeeeee!!!!!!
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fair enough but i am afraid to get too hopeful. i just think that its realy important that the opponents of this man do not get their faces rubbed in their defeat.
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All last week on his TV adverts he was saying that he was going to support the troops out there.

I think that the election was about race. It was the largest turnout since 1960, people stood in line for 5 hours to vote. If it had been 2 white or 2 black candidates that wouldn't have happened. I also think it was a shame that he will always be known as the first black president, lets hope he actually makes it to the Oval Office and that by the time he leaves he has done some good stuff.
 
I know what you mean about being afraid to be too hopeful, Ive been half expecting a news flash about assassination for months now, a lot of people will not be happy at all - but I agree with what someone else said about the lack of aggression in Obama's speech and proposed policies and the feeling that the rest of the world may have an opportunity to stop hating America quite so much and that perhaps it could become a world leader for positive foreign policy, not a war mongering tyranical force that uses torture and illegal tactics. To quote yet again - hope springs eternal -
 
unfortunately, JFK was seen as the Great White Hope, for both blacks as well as whites....he engineered lots of change in his short term of office...

sadly the episode of the Grassy Knoll awaited him......
 
I am over the moon! This election really has renewed my faith in democtracy and the American people, they all voted with their heads this time, well done America!
 
FANTASTIC NEWS!!!! I also cried a few tears, especially hearing how much it meant to those elderly Americans who were perhaps voting for the first time in their lives 'cos this time they felt it just might be worth it ....

The world will feel a safer place after the handover, I think - Obama seems just so much more balanced and thoughtful than those nutters who have been occupying the White House for the last 8 years, let alone the prospect of Sarah Palin being one heartbeat away from the presidency ... made my blood run cold!

Lovely family, lovely guy - GO OBAMA!!! (And I think that he's the first presidential candidate who hasn't taken any corporate money for his campaign, just contributions from the people - so TRULY democratic - which means he'll be going into the White House without any obligations to Big Oil or anyone else.)
 
It would be naive to think that race played no part in this election, but I also think that America voted for hope and change.

The country, like the rest of the world, is in dire straights, and there is nothing like someone overcoming overwhelming odds, to become the most powerful man in the world, to inject some hope into the nation.

As well as voting for hope and change, America also voted against centuries of deep rooted racism and bigotry yesterday, so this is about as historic as it gets.

A fantastic result!
 
He only got 52% of the vote which isn't great following a terrible Republican President, the economic crisis and being embroiled in 2 wars. What was truly amazing was McCain getting 47% of the vote following Bush on the Republican ticket.

Both are good men but lets not get carried away. Making great orations won't get America back on its feet. Nor will it stop America's racist undertones. Had Obama been 100% black not mixed race too few whites may have voted for him. As it is he only just got a majority with over 90% of African American voters voting for him.

The challenges for him are just as great for as would have been for McCain or Hilary. He is less experienced than either of them and even Palin. So he's good at the rhetoric and promise. Wait and see on delivery.
 
We had a huge Election Night here at the Business School. It was so amazing !!!
Didn't sleep much...Cried a lot, then son kept sending texts from California like YEAH YEAH YEAH OBAMA... OMG What an amazing page of US and world history being written all over and into everybody's heart... YES together with him WE CAN !

Went to work proudly wearing my Barack Omaba T-shirt and couldn't believe the atmosphere ! Everyone was so excited and over the moon
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I'm a total wreck tonight though
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We had a huge Election Night here at the Business School. It was so amazing !!!
Didn't sleep much...Cried a lot, then son kept sending texts from California like YEAH YEAH YEAH OBAMA... OMG What an amazing page of US and world history being written all over and into everybody's heart... YES together with him WE CAN !

Went to work proudly wearing my Barack Omaba T-shirt and couldn't believe the atmosphere ! Everyone was so excited and over the moon
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I'm a total wreck tonight though
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Totally with you!!!

richard
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Did you have your own crazy Election Night up in Normandy rr ?
Made me love the French ! Dean,professors, students + Democrats and Republicans Abroad, the US Consul, local journalists were all united in one huge celebration.We had Gospel singing, dancing but....No alcohol as we were on campus grounds
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Yet the party was so inspiring and spirited and... Fantastic !

Had a couple of glasses (nice red wine) back home though
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I couldn't sleep last night and listened to it on the World Service - when Ohio was called I turned on the TV. It was a night never to be forgotten. I cried a lot and for the first time in my life felt proud to hold an American passport (parents are American, I have dual citizenship but have never really acknowledged it until now).

I want to be cynical - usually I Am cynical, but this time I'm not. Obama's quiet dignity and eloquence have persuaded me that he IS different and CAN make a difference.

As as for the race question - the amazing thing about this election is how many white people didn't baulk at voting for a black man at the last minute, which was the pollsters' fear. He transcends his race. Never in my life have I been so inspired by a politician. I grew up with stories of FDR and JFK over there and of Churchill and Atlee over here. Never thought I'd see one - to me politicians were venal and self serving, left and right alike.

Obama brought together so many people all over the world and caused them to believe that wrongs could be made right through democracy. This is an amazing thing and I'm so, so honored to have been alive to see it done.
 
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I couldn't sleep last night and listened to it on the World Service - when Ohio was called I turned on the TV. It was a night never to be forgotten. I cried a lot and for the first time in my life felt proud to hold an American passport (parents are American, I have dual citizenship but have never really acknowledged it until now).

I want to be cynical - usually I Am cynical, but this time I'm not. Obama's quiet dignity and eloquence have persuaded me that he IS different and CAN make a difference.

As as for the race question - the amazing thing about this election is how many white people didn't baulk at voting for a black man at the last minute, which was the pollsters' fear. He transcends his race. Never in my life have I been so inspired by a politician. I grew up with stories of FDR and JFK over there and of Churchill and Atlee over here. Never thought I'd see one - to me politicians were venal and self serving, left and right alike.

Obama brought together so many people all over the world and caused them to believe that wrongs could be made right through democracy. This is an amazing thing and I'm so, so honored to have been alive to see it done.

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Halfstep, that was wonderfully written, I live in an Arab country, I am married to an Arab and I spend all my time around the Arab community and believe me there is now HOPE in the air all over the world.

This election has been closely watched from every corner of the world, the world has been waiting to see if the American people believed in what their Government was doing and yesterday proved to the whole world that EVERYONE wants a change.

This is a celebration that the world can enjoy.


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I live in an Arab country, I am married to an Arab and I spend all my time around the Arab community and believe me there is now HOPE in the air all over the world.


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That is good to hear Cruiseline. If Obama can mend the relationship between the Arab and wider Islamic world and the west it will be a huge achievement, and the whole world will be safer for it.
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Why "well done America"?

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Simply because, if nothing else, they held their nerve, and voted in a man of colour to the White House.
 
I am SO happy that Obama got in!

I'll tell you what though, don't try and discuss politics with Republican Americans. Am trying, on another forum, to have a calm discussion about Obama and am being told that Obama is going to turn America into a communist country and that the US is basically doomed.
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I live in an Arab country, I am married to an Arab and I spend all my time around the Arab community and believe me there is now HOPE in the air all over the world.


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That is good to hear Cruiseline. If Obama can mend the relationship between the Arab and wider Islamic world and the west it will be a huge achievement, and the whole world will be safer for it.
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Very pleased to hear that Cruiseline!

I stayed up all night watching the results come in. I was at home on my own (sick, on box rest) but when Obama won Ohio I couldn't help whooping and doing a little happy-dance! Also couldn't help crying at his wonderful speech (as well as all the noble stuff, that puppy thing was just so sweet).

I'm not quite as soppy as I sound - I've actually read Obama's books (his early one 'Dreams of My Father' is particularly good) and I am simply overjoyed finally to see a truly intelligent and thoughtful President!

The job itself is a bit of a poisoned chalice at the moment, but if anyone has the brains - and heart - to overcome the obstacles, I think it is Obama!

Both my parents, and my two sisters, are American as well as British citizens - and my father and one sister live in the US - so I had a personal interest in this election, but I think the whole world was watching, and much of it cheering, when Obama won!

My mother lives in Bruges, in Belgium, and she went around the next day in the market saying 'Happy Obama Day!' to people - they all smiled and laughed and knew exactly what she meant!
 
I think that given the history of blacks in America, this was bound to be an election where race was important, maybe the underdogs felt that they had someone to fight their corner for them at long last........I think Obama is terrific and only hope that he gets the chance to fulfill his promises.
 
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Had Obama been 100% black not mixed race too few whites may have voted for him. As it is he only just got a majority with over 90% of African American voters voting for him.

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I think he is an EXCELLENT choice for president,
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but it annoys me that the press seem to completely forget that he is in fact as white as he is black
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I was engaged to an African and I would have been very, very hurt had my children not acknowledged me as their mother - i.e. acknowledged their white blood and heritage as well as their black blood and heritage. This was something my boyfriend and I felt was very important when bringing up any future children. After all skin tone is the luck of the draw with a mixed race child. Had Barack say had a white father and black mother, was called James Smith and had married a white woman - would his campiagn as being the first black president have been the same? Would he still have won? I desperately want to think so but I am unsure
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I have a horrible feeling many people have voted in this election on race not on the candidate himself, whcih for me undermines what an excellent president he will be - whether he is black, white, mixed race, or green with pink spots.

My great hope is that he will make a fantastic president and once and for all the world can start to get over race, sex, religion etc and start judging people for their abilities. It will take a long, long time, but I feel Barack is the right person to make really big leaps in this direction. He seems a man with great ability and integrity and I think he will do a lot of good in the world in many, many areas.
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