First off, this was NOT an "overwhelming landslide victory". Anyone who thinks that is the case needs to take a closer look at the past. Not to mention if that is the way you think then the next time your kids (or grand kids) bring home a report card with a 67 on it be sure to tell them what an "overwhelming" achievement that is. I'll stick to calling a 98 an overwhelming achievement...read on....


There is a huge difference here. In '84 Reagan won 58.8% of the popular vote (Obama won 52.8%) and won 525 of the 538 electoral votes (Thats 97.6%) (Obama won 365, 67.8%) . Reagan won every state except Minnesota, Obama only won 28 plus DC and a nebraska 2nd district With McCain winning 22 states...

First off, this was NOT an "overwhelming landslide victory". Anyone who thinks that is the case needs to take a closer look at the past. Not to mention if that is the way you think then the next time your kids (or grand kids) bring home a report card with a 67 on it be sure to tell them what an "overwhelming" achievement that is. I'll stick to calling a 98 an overwhelming achievement...read on....


There is a huge difference here. In '84 Reagan won 58.8% of the popular vote (Obama won 52.8%) and won 525 of the 538 electoral votes (Thats 97.6%) (Obama won 365, 67.8%) . Reagan won every state except Minnesota, Obama only won 28 plus DC and a nebraska 2nd district With McCain winning 22 states and 45.8% of the popular vote. (Heck even ole GW here won 31 states in '04 with 50.7% of the popular vote). Making a comparison between these two events is not even close to the same. Plus counting % of votes of total population is kind of a weird number considering all the people under voting age who in no way could contribute to the vote (except campaigning) and all the people who don't bother to vote, not to mention the 12-20 MILLION illegal immigrants who get counted toward total population but who can not vote (and rightly so). So those of you who think that anything other than Mr.Obama being 1/2 black and having the most amazing hype machine in the history of politics makes this some kind of record setting election, are sadly mistaken.

That being said, I do believe that so far he is doing a fairly decent job of picking his cabinet and appointments. But in reality he is basically doing politics as usual. Just about anyone following the current political climate would be making fairly sweeping changes. He certainly hasn't made any appointments that are profound or groundbreaking. But I do applaud his attempts at bi-partisanship.

The major point I was trying to make was that even the interpretation of the numbers are falling prey to the hype that the Obama campaign has created. One thing is for sure, the man and his team have certainly set a new standard as to how to run a presidential election effort. I believe that if does a decent job over the next four years we will see a change in the type of person who runs for office. It will become more of a contest of popularity and charisma than one of true qualifications. So I personally have mixed feelings about how I hope he will do. On the one hand I hope he is a resounding success (even though I did not vote for him) because I want to see our country prosper and it wou...

The major point I was trying to make was that even the interpretation of the numbers are falling prey to the hype that the Obama campaign has created. One thing is for sure, the man and his team have certainly set a new standard as to how to run a presidential election effort. I believe that if does a decent job over the next four years we will see a change in the type of person who runs for office. It will become more of a contest of popularity and charisma than one of true qualifications. So I personally have mixed feelings about how I hope he will do. On the one hand I hope he is a resounding success (even though I did not vote for him) because I want to see our country prosper and it would be nice to see someone prove that it doesn't require tons of experience to know the right things to do. On the other hand If he does not live up the the hype then experience and track records will surely be forefront in the elections to come for a number of years and hopefully people will not fall prey to the hype again. So its kind of a double edged sword for the future.

The best comparison I can make is that I hope Obama turns out to be another Bill Gates. Gates was not a phenomenal programmer nor was he a superb business man. What he was, is a person with a good idea who had the sound mind to know that he could not do the things that needed to be done to succeed alone. He was successful because he knew how to put together teams of people who could get the jobs done, and done right.

Well, let's pretend no virtue on McCain's part here - he would gladly have outspent Obama if he'd thought he had a chance of raising that much money.

People gave it - more donors than in any campaign in history. That's how it works. It's not like Obama robbed them.

And many of those television commercials were policy-based candidate familiarity ads - made all the more needful because the McCain campaign kept saying "what do we really know about Obama?" Ads and hype are two different things: McCain's ads were hype; a much lower percentage of Obama's were.

McCain lost in every demographic except older people. And an astonishing 40%, I believe, of McCain voters were convinced Obama was a ...

Well, let's pretend no virtue on McCain's part here - he would gladly have outspent Obama if he'd thought he had a chance of raising that much money.

People gave it - more donors than in any campaign in history. That's how it works. It's not like Obama robbed them.

And many of those television commercials were policy-based candidate familiarity ads - made all the more needful because the McCain campaign kept saying "what do we really know about Obama?" Ads and hype are two different things: McCain's ads were hype; a much lower percentage of Obama's were.

McCain lost in every demographic except older people. And an astonishing 40%, I believe, of McCain voters were convinced Obama was a Muslim; many still are convinced he wasn't born in Hawaii.

No such hype was pushed about McCain. While Obama began his campaign with a reputation as an orator, by the last month his people were dishing out facts and figures to anyone who would listen, while the McCain campaign was pushing "Who is Barack Obama?" and "He pals around with terrorists," and "he wants to re-distribute wealth." His slanders were rebuked by Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as communications professionals and diverse editorial boards. Obama did nothing of the kind in retaliation.

The hope that that was the way Obama would be was what drew me to him before the Iowa caucuses. I didn't get all I wanted, but on the whole, I am admiring a President-elect for the first time in my life.

I certainly do not disagree that if given the chance McCain would have spent that kind of money as well.

Just for reference however it is somewhat understandable the misunderstanding about him being Muslim:

"I've always been a Christian," said Obama, focusing on his own personal lack of practice of Islam as a child to deny any connection to Islam. But Muslims do not see practice as key. For them, that he was born to a line of Muslim males makes him born a Muslim. Further, all children born with an Arabic name based on the H-S-N trilateral root (Hussein, Hassan, and others) can be assumed to be Muslim, so they will understand Obama's full name, Barack Hussein Obama, to proclaim him a born M...

I certainly do not disagree that if given the chance McCain would have spent that kind of money as well.

Just for reference however it is somewhat understandable the misunderstanding about him being Muslim:

"I've always been a Christian," said Obama, focusing on his own personal lack of practice of Islam as a child to deny any connection to Islam. But Muslims do not see practice as key. For them, that he was born to a line of Muslim males makes him born a Muslim. Further, all children born with an Arabic name based on the H-S-N trilateral root (Hussein, Hassan, and others) can be assumed to be Muslim, so they will understand Obama's full name, Barack Hussein Obama, to proclaim him a born Muslim.

taken from: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5286

Are you kidding me? Few presidents have acted as quickly and decisively as President Obama. I'm making a rubber stamp with the words IDIOT on it for people that complain about what Obama has done or not done when HE'S ONLY BEEN IN OFFICE LESS THAN 2 MONTHS!!

For christ's sake, people rolled over and spread their cheeks for 8 years with Bush. You'll also get a double stamp of IDIOT if you think the economic problems we have will be fixed in the immediate future. Everyone keeps thinking that the stimulus package was Obama's sollution to the problem. Wake up. It was a SHORT TERM SOLUTION to keep the country together long enough for him to have something to start repairing.

Of the 438 "promise...

Are you kidding me? Few presidents have acted as quickly and decisively as President Obama. I'm making a rubber stamp with the words IDIOT on it for people that complain about what Obama has done or not done when HE'S ONLY BEEN IN OFFICE LESS THAN 2 MONTHS!!

For christ's sake, people rolled over and spread their cheeks for 8 years with Bush. You'll also get a double stamp of IDIOT if you think the economic problems we have will be fixed in the immediate future. Everyone keeps thinking that the stimulus package was Obama's sollution to the problem. Wake up. It was a SHORT TERM SOLUTION to keep the country together long enough for him to have something to start repairing.

Of the 438 "promises" Obama made during his campaign he's already tackled 75 of them in the first 2 months of office.

STAMP

I'll give you a hint - they've bankrupted the nation

STAMP

Hello McFly. Anyone in there? Why don't you crack open a little economic history and look at what our nation's deficit was before Bush spent nearly 2 trillion dollars during his disaster of a presidency. The nation was actually MAKING money against the debt and it was going down ... and then in stepped Bush and his "war on terror".

he and his cohorts in Congress are the ones responsible for everything since he took office

Are you seriously suggesting that Obama has anything to do with the economic situation as it stands right now?

If so DOUBLE STAMP

Blaming congress is partially right, but I'll bet ...

I'll give you a hint - they've bankrupted the nation

STAMP

Hello McFly. Anyone in there? Why don't you crack open a little economic history and look at what our nation's deficit was before Bush spent nearly 2 trillion dollars during his disaster of a presidency. The nation was actually MAKING money against the debt and it was going down ... and then in stepped Bush and his "war on terror".

he and his cohorts in Congress are the ones responsible for everything since he took office

Are you seriously suggesting that Obama has anything to do with the economic situation as it stands right now?

If so DOUBLE STAMP

Blaming congress is partially right, but I'll bet if pressed you'll put it down to the democratic side when the republicans had the president and majority for 6 of his 8 years. Repubs like to try and argue that the dems had a majority of the congress since 2007, but it was such a small majority that Bush's threat of veto kept them locked up.

Look around and wonder how someone like Obama made it into office. He was a nobody, black man with rumors tieing him to Islam and he still slammed McCain. Why? Because the republican party has lost touch with American values and ideals and the people are frankly tired of them building an empire that continually aids the rich and suppresses the poor. He was selected because people want change. And I hazzard to guess that even if he does fall way short of his promises the next president will not be a republican either. One might even consider the party in its death throes.

Oortcloud - your ignorance in our economic crisis is equal to Obama's, Congress' and all the presidents advisers, your blame Bush game is so out of date it borders on boredom.

Are you seriously suggesting that Obama has anything to do with the economic situation as it stands right now?

My God! I can not believe you or anyone would ask such an asinine questionare! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING! Have you been on Mars the past few months???

Of course he does, as does Bush and almost everyone in Congress.

What-me-worry-Obama - compounded an existing problem into one that could plunge us into a great depression, massive debt, hyper inflation,...

Oortcloud - your ignorance in our economic crisis is equal to Obama's, Congress' and all the presidents advisers, your blame Bush game is so out of date it borders on boredom.

Are you seriously suggesting that Obama has anything to do with the economic situation as it stands right now?

My God! I can not believe you or anyone would ask such an asinine questionare! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING! Have you been on Mars the past few months???

Of course he does, as does Bush and almost everyone in Congress.

What-me-worry-Obama - compounded an existing problem into one that could plunge us into a great depression, massive debt, hyper inflation, Obama could be the One Man that ends up destroying our whole economy under the guise of pretending to fix it!

Ignorance may be bliss, but it sure isn't amusing.

I just get tired of people that ignore everything that's been pointed out that completely destroys their argument and then they hide behind "you're ignorant" comments.

Bush blaming may be old hand, but it still holds true and it is still the source of many of America's problems. Rather than continually trying to ignore Bush's foul-ups or denying them, try actually owning the problems stemming from the source of republican ideologies.

Trickle down does not work.

Wars do not stimulate an economy if your industry exists in other countries.

Occupation with little care to collateral damage as well as the use of torture CREATES...

Ignorance may be bliss, but it sure isn't amusing.

I just get tired of people that ignore everything that's been pointed out that completely destroys their argument and then they hide behind "you're ignorant" comments.

Bush blaming may be old hand, but it still holds true and it is still the source of many of America's problems. Rather than continually trying to ignore Bush's foul-ups or denying them, try actually owning the problems stemming from the source of republican ideologies.

Trickle down does not work.

Wars do not stimulate an economy if your industry exists in other countries.

Occupation with little care to collateral damage as well as the use of torture CREATES far more terrorists and anti American attitudes than it solves.

Being hostile to research and science and pushing for ideology over education leads to stupid people.

The problem with your ignorance, dl211, is that you embrace it. Obama has not been in office long enough to even begin to judge so the fact that you and people like you are doing it only shows that you do it out of some personal spite and certainly not because of any intelligent insight into the nation's economy.

People wanted a change from the constant failed policies of people working for the interest of the rich. Complain all you want, but it is because of the actions of the greedy and power hungry that events have developed to where they are and that we are seeing a huge change in policies to be put into action.

It's time the presidency works for all people, not just the affluent.