Congratulations to President Obama.

[Ian Robinson]

Looks like it was a landslide.

End of the era of hate and fear and start of a new era of hope perhaps.

[Paddy]

Hear Hear!

[matt]

Indeed.

A terrific result. If Obama ends up performing half as well as he speaks publically...it's going to be one hell of a ride:)

It's a huge step forward for America, too. Very heartening.:thumbsup:

[casstony]

Hopefully Obama wont be half as entertaining as Bush:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM

[TrevorW]

Remember what happened to the last GREAT American President. Alas it's a not really a land of milk and honey.

Long may he reign in peace

[gman]

Really dosen't matter who you vote for, a politican always gets in.

Unfortunatley in America, generally who ever has the most money to play with usually gets voted in.

Just wish that all politicians get judged by the promises they make prior to elections and have to face court if they do not live up to those promises.

[Whizgig]

I agree with you about the jail sentence for the misguided decisions that they make us have to endure but I reckon throw the lot of them into jail Now! then we wont have to put up with them later. All of them are only there to line their own pockets and for the power of being above everyone else they disgust me.

[Ian Robinson]

Or if they misuse public moneys for saturation national "um .... ahum !! cough cough educational (political precampaign and campaign)" advertising ....

[styleman333]

A wonderful result . Can only be good for world peace for a muslim to be leading the most powerful race on the planet . Maybe im being nieve but its got to be harder for radical extremists to breed hate against america when they are run by a fellow muslim. Also its good to have a younger man with a young family who seems to care what sort of world he leaves when his term finally ends .....Good for u Obama

[TrevorW]

Whatever gave you the idea he was Muslim if he was he'd never have been voted or even selected to run

Barack Obama Background

Hometown
Honolulu, Hawaii
Age
47
Religion
United Church of Christ
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1991
Columbia University, B.A., 1983
Candidate Website
www.barackobama.com (http://www.barackobama.com/)
Candidacy Status
Formally declared candidacy Feb. 10, 2007.

Political Experience
U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2005-present
Illinois State Senator, 1997-2004

Professional Experience
Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School, 1993-2004
Attorney, Miner Barnhill & Galland, 1993-2004
Family Information
Spouse: Michelle Obama
Children: Malia Ann Obama, Sasha Obama

[jjjnettie]

I understood that he followed the Muslim faith.
It's been mentioned a few times in the media, as well as the 4 Corners program on the election the other night.
It's a good result, I'm very happy that he was voted in.

[styleman333]

Well he looks more muslim the Mr Bush thats for sure and btw McCain looked like a cross between steve martin and billy crystal

[astroron]

I am a great fan of America,and today my faith was restored in that great nation:)
I just hope President Obama can do even a good fraction of what he has promised:thumbsup:
Ron

[Shawn]

Most certainly not the most powerful on the planet...:whistle:

[jjjnettie]

I was listening to the news today at work, and it gave me shivers to think that I was listening to History being made.

Sadly though, when I asked a few of our customers their views on the election results, not one was pleased with the outcome.
Sigh....this is such a red neck town.

[astroron]

:screwy::screwy::screwy:
Ron

[Shawn]

Its a breath of fresh air JJJ, lets just see.. could it be any worse, ?...

[styleman333]

Agree 100% jeanette , i gathered the kids around and told them history is happening right now ...... they laughed and looked at me as if i was a boring old fart (which i am ) but one day they might just remember and tell their own kids they watched it

[Ian Robinson]

:jawdrop:Um .... he is not a muslim.

Can't believe anyone here has actually swallowed that bit of anti-Obama misinformation.:shrug:

I've seen lots of similar comments from yanks at other chatrooms and forums though from McCain - Palin Republican supporters as recently as this morning :screwy:(who have been posting misinformation and mud slinging (spamming chat rooms with quotes from rightwing blogs and UTube clips taken entirely out of context or edited to say things never said) in the hope that some of their rubbish and allegations might stick or influence people away from voting or the Democrats and Obama - Bidden.
Very nasty posts targeting anyone who happens to dare post anything that takes them to task or supports Obama (calling them stupid, socialists, commies, uninformed, naieve, cowards, unpatriotic , unamerican , antiamerican , antibusiness, terrorist simpathisers, antilife, terrorist appeasers ., accusing him of being a fraud , of fraudulent funds raising , of stealing the election or not campaigning fairly (or the way they wanted him to ie loosing his cool or resporting to attack advertising )... etc ,sounds familiar eh ?

My wife and I watched it unfold on ABC today , I suspected he was going to win , it was only how convincingly that was in question. IT CERTAINLY WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE. Certainly a historic day - glad I witnessed it.

I hope that some neoconcersative christofascist fruitloop or white supremeistist whackjob doesn't decide to assassinate him as a result of his being made President. This is likely a serious prospect now , there a lot of americans who hate him and what he stands for.

[styleman333]

Seems rednecks are in here too lol

[styleman333]

Besides ....faith and colour shouldnt matter in whom leads a country. The best man won and as a father of young children , im very happy to have a man with such insight and inspiration to lead the world to hopefully a better situation ...

[Ric]

He looks like a good man that's not afraid to put his ideas forward. He also gives me the impression that he will do a lot of good things for his country and the world in general. I think I read somewhere that he is NASA friendly as well.

History will be the judge.

[Astro78]

In the words of my loving partner "if Oprah's happy, so am I"

[styleman333]

I havent seen this much excitment at his rally since Oprahs "favourite things" show lol

[Ian Robinson]

Not wrong there - in fact I would rather our leaders be smart highly educated athiests to a man and woman.

[Ian Robinson]

:rofl:Not another Oprah groupie ?

[styleman333]

"Not wrong there - in fact I would rather our leaders be smart highly educated athiests to a man and woman."


Couldnt agree more Ian

[Omaroo]

The guys's been in congress for three years and he's suddenly the leader of the free world. We're kidding, right?

Great.:mad2::sadeyes:

Not on. Change for changes' sake? I seem to remember McCain barracking for the anti-sub prime camp, not Obama. Yet, Obama is taking credit for the "fix". We don't know this guy from a bar of soap. He's now in charge of us all.

Sounds familiar.... wake up people! It's great to see that those who wanted to vote for him can "congradulate" the man.,.. - and actually be able to spell.

[Paddy]

It will clearly be a great improvement to have a US leader who's IQ exceeds his shoe size!

[Omaroo]

I guess we'll see now. It's brilliant that his IQ is 14. I feel safer now.

[dugnsuz]

Well said Ric - save the backlash when there's enough material for a backlash eh!?

[Astro78]

I'm starting to think there's no Illuminati after all.




The most powerful woman in world, would be unwise not to be:D .... but no :)

[Ian Robinson]

oh no.... the spelling nazis are here too .... :rofl:

[GrahamL]

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushdumbquotes2.htm



his IQ is 14. I feel safer now.

come on chris aside another blow to conservative politics.. the movement into double figures does present the possibility of at least a more articulate leader of the free world:thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

Good point. LOL!!

Nah - Sorry all, I was a tad tipsy last night when I posted. A bad time to do that. My only problem with "turf everything out" elections is that we then tend to try and justify the choice on the notion that he "can't be any worse" to ourselves, and somehow feel better for it.

President if the USA is a huge responsibility - is Obama really ready to lead it? He has a great manner on stage and can talk the talk that script writers have given him - but so can any actor. I'm not confident for one minute that he meant anything he said - he's a politician. The USA just told us that he is a "breath of fresh air" and voted him in, and I guess we'll all have to see what that means in time. At the end of the day, I hope that the US voters haven't made a mistake on behalf of the rest of us. Hating Bush is one thing - but simply endorsing his nemesis because he is the only alternate choce is probably naive.

[Satchmo]

You mean *another mistake* ? :) Being not a republican and pledging policy to ease the US out of Iraq and Afghanistan was probably enough to get Obahma over the line. USA's war mongering and general aggression has meant a loss of respect on the world stage and they are looking to correct that. Voting out the republicans was just the start.

[AstralTraveller]

It's not so much naive as the only option. It is a real problem that the political system throughout the 'democratic' world consists of giving the voters a choice between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dummer - both of them backed by big money. Sure, Rudd's done some good things and he better than the alternative, but is he really that different? I'd like a genuine alternative, please.


PS Oh dear Chris ... "choce" ... a spelling misturk :P

[casstony]

What is it that you fear about Obama? Even old school wealthy republicans recognise that the Bush administration has been ruinous for the country.

[Omaroo]

Nothing in particular - apart from not really knowing anything about the bloke.... like everyone else. :shrug:

[Omaroo]

LOL! There's a difference between being unable to spell and a typo. :whistle:

[Omaroo]

You're right there Mark - it's the rock and a hard place syndrome. No-one can ever be everything to all people, but it has been a particularly aggressive administration. Then again, the collective threat to the US hasn't been as prevalent since, well, I'm not sure when. I'm not sure of the last time throughout history that the US public have been on the receiving end of extremists in commercial jets on US soil. It must have been a tough few years to try and balance the retaliatory measures as "best they saw fit".

[AstralTraveller]

Balance?? Balance!! Is this some attempt at black humour?

How many innocent civilians have died in the 'war on terror'? Another 18 just the other day. The 'balance' under Bush has been that foreigners don't count.

[Omaroo]

I thought that was obvious. A little dry maybe.

[AstralTraveller]

OK. My apologies.

[tornado33]

The world has gotten to be a much nicer place for me since Kevin Rudd became PM of Australia and now Barack Obhama became US president (well President elect for now). The old right wing governments, which had ideals of greed that led to the global crisis in the first place have been done away with, outmoded by more decent caring people. There may yet be hope for Humanity afterall :)

[Satchmo]

Jeese Chris , Your taste in white wine must be *extremely* dry :)

What country did the 9/11 terrorists come from ?

[Omaroo]

LOL! Geez - OK, I've put little rabbits ears around the offending passage for everyone.

Saudi, for the most part, weren't they? That, Lebanese and UAE.

[Jen]

:) i don't do politics :lol::lol:
:shrug:

:whistle:

[AstralTraveller]

Well - I won't be voting for you then. :P

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol:
:nerd:

[avandonk]

Those so called leaders Bush and Cheney have cost the American people over four thousand of their young! Meanwhile Cheney is getting very rich via Haliburton that supplies the 'effort' in Iraq. The party is over and as usual YOU will pick up the bill!


Bert

Their greed is only exceeded by their stupidity and ignorance!

[Ian Robinson]

Careful some yank will probably wade in call you nasty names and accuse us of ANTIAMERICANISM for saying such things, despite you being 110% correct.:D

[Ian Robinson]

And next question , who apart from China (the "communist" one) do the yanks owe the most money too ?

[Ian Robinson]

I still don't understand why Bush Jr and Cheney were NOT indicted before now ?

[mick pinner]

To believe an American president, any American president, can change the world is ridiculous and wishful thinking. l am certainly not anti American but that country is going down the s-bend at a rate never before seen, not just because of the recent monetary crisis but an ever increasing pressure just to keep the infrastructure going. No president up to now has even made a dent in the declining American economy. Obama may have all the best intentions ( don't they all ) but the excuses will come, he will have enough on his plate with home economics that world affairs will take a backward step. Even if he brings the troops home we will be no better of than we were before we will be just back where we started.

[Kal]

According to this wiki entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt), Japan

Foreign owners of US Treasury Securities (August 2008)
Nation billions of dollars
Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan)585.9
Mainland China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainland_China)541.0
United Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom)307.4

[Ian Robinson]

August 2008 is quite dated .... a lot has happened since August and all except Obama's election for the USA was BAD and extremely costly.

[GrahamL]

While not a big player in world eccenomics Ian .. I would say the drug cartels of south america .. though not the most savy of investment advisers :P.. they have historicaly always gone with the most stable global cuurency... If these guys arn't happy to hold US dollars In there tax free world .. I really wonder when other nations will have a good look at the same .

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-02-16-laundered-euros_N.htm

[PCH]

Gotta be honest Chris, I was wondering what his qualifications were myself. I'm not totally convinced that even a considerably longer period in the somewhat limited role as senator is sufficient training for the top job.

Though having said that, I'm not sure exactly what training would be enough, as there isn't really another position quite like it is there :P Unless they practiced in one of the 40 or so countries they've invaded in the last 50 years ;)

Cheers,

[norm]

This was certainly history in the making. Sure there were the dramatics and the speeches, but why the hell not. I am glad to have witnessed history and see it unfold.

The guy maybe seen as inexperienced in the political front and yes time will be the judge, but what of experience? I think the experience dialogue is over rated and played over too many times. How do you get experience until you get a crack at it? Its not like he is going to be making decisions on his own anyway.....

America needed a change badly and hopefully Obama will provide the catalyst for this.

[Alchemy]

happy to see him win at the moment....

its good to see a non-white man in the best seat, its long overdue that america gets over its color issues.

he gives a good speech, consider though its written for him by others i imagine.

the government is a collective of people policy makers and advisors, lets just hope they have better ideas and agendas than the last one. This campaign was big on retoric and suprisingly low on policy and how they can change the mess.

anyway for now, he's a new man with opportunity, its up to him to make the most of it. i hope he does.