Barack Obama's epic win (salon.com) No president since John Kennedy or Harry Truman will come into office facing graver crises....Tuesday was the night that the 1960s -- the divisive decade that defined American politics for 40 years -- finally died.... by defeating Clinton (representing baby boomers) and McCain (representing Vietnam soldiers) ...The raucous Obama victory rally in Grant Park was the capstone of Democratic strength through unity. The riotous antiwar rallies in Grant Park during the 1968 convention and the brutality of the police truncheons accentuated the cultural fault lines in the Democratic Party that contributed to 28 years of GOP control of the White House, from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush....Obama carried all four of the once reliably Republican suburban collar counties surrounding Philadelphia with a victory margin of nearly 200,00 votes. In Ohio, Obama ran up a 90,000-vote majority in Franklin County (Columbus and its close-in suburbs), turning what was until recently tossup country into a solidly blue part of the Democratic base. The Washington suburbs provided Obama with his victory margin in Virginia, a state that last went Democratic in 1964.
Finally, a Thin President OVER the coming days and weeks, there will be many “I never thought I’d see the day” pieces, but none of them will be more overflowing with “I never thought I’d see the day”-ness than this one. I’m black, you see, and I haven’t gained a pound since college. I skip breakfast most days, have maybe half a sandwich for lunch, and sometimes I forget to eat dinner. Just slips my mind. Yesterday morning, I woke up to a new world. America had elected a Skinny Black Guy president....
Perfecting the Union ...For almost eight years, Americans have seen words stripped of meaning, lives sacrificed to confront nonexistent Iraqi weapons and other existences ravaged by serial incompetence on an epic scale....In that four-year span, Obama never got angry. Without breaking a sweat, he took down two of the most ruthless political machines on the planet: first the Clintons and then the Republican Party....An idea has power. John McCain had many things in this campaign, but an idea was not one of them....Obama’s idea, put simply, was that America can be better than it has been. It can reach beyond post-9/11 anger and fear to embody once more what the world still craves from the American idea: hope....
For Obama, a Towering Economic To-Do List Few presidents have entered office with an economy in such turmoil. ... The reasons are myriad: the financial system, though back from the brink, remains deeply troubled. ... Consumers who piled up credit card debt are pulling back, a major concern because their spending helped power economic growth in recent years. ... ECONOMIC STIMULUS: Obama Is Likely to Act Quickly...MORTGAGES: A Pledge to Aid Homeowners...FEDERAL REGULATION: Tighter Reins on Wall Street...AUTO INDUSTRY: In Detroit, No Cash, No Credit, No Time...HEALTH CARE: An Overhaul Will Have to Wait...TECHNOLOGY: To Shape Policy, a Cabinet Voice...ENERGY: An Agenda Faces Possible Delays...TRADE: Cooperation Fades, Protectionism Rises...
For Obama, Long-Term Ills and Short-Term Pain BARACK OBAMA’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election was in many ways a repeat of Ronald Reagan’s win 28 years ago. His eventual success as president may depend on a willingness to do what Mr. Reagan did: be willing to combat long-term economic problems while accepting short-term pain and the risk of a prolonged slowdown that could damage his popularity. Both men were elected in a year when a recession had severely damaged the popularity of the incumbent. In each race, the incumbent party’s candidate tried to paint the challenger as a dangerous risk. Mr. Reagan was portrayed as a right-wing actor with extremist views; Mr. Obama as an inexperienced liberal who was weak on national defense and had “palled around,” as Gov. Sarah Palin put it, with a terrorist....
Uganda: Diplomats, MPs Celebrate President Obama's Victory ...Speaking at the US Embassy's 2008 Election Night event at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, Mr Browning welcomed President Obama's historic victory, saying; "It's an important step in our history of Americans for an African -American, a member of the minority to be elected by the majority. It's an accomplishment and I congratulate him for his historic election as our new President of the United States."...At the US Election Night, among the invited guests who turned out to witness Obama's historic victory, were a host of MPs led by Kasilo MP, Okupa Elijah who, like other legislators endlessly praised Obama's election as mammoth success to the black race. "I am extremely happy and I don't regret spending a night here waiting to see Obama, the new president of the United State declared a president. He has indeed made us proud as Africans and we expect a lot from him as a continent," Mr Okupa said. The opposition Peoples Progress Party (PPP) President, Mr Bidandi Ssali was among hundreds who endured the aloofness of the nigh weather conditions to observe Obama's victory. "Obama will change some of the radical policies of George W Bush, double aid to Africa and oversee the donor funds to fight corruption that had dogged African countries for years." The Public Affairs Officer at American Embassy, Ms Lisa Heilbronn, welcomed Obama's election, insisting that any practical policies should emphasise doubling aid to Africa as part of the wider efforts to fight poverty, disease and hunger on the continent....
Blacks see Obama win as path to their healing Barack Obama's win Tuesday night as president of the United States has created a buzz in the black community and has some African-Americans talking about how this moment can reshape how they see themselves and what's possible for their lives....Obama made history -- and fulfilled lifelong dreams for many. And although change won't happen overnight, Metro Detroiters said they believe Obama is the key to bridging the race gap, and has already uplifted their self-image, pride and confidence in the African-American community. ...
Tanzanian Parliament salutes US president-elect The National Assembly in Dodoma yesterday unanimously passed a special resolution congratulating United States President elect, Mr Barack Obama. The Speaker Samwel Sitta told Members of Parliament who are attending the 13 meeting of the House that he will submit the resolution to the Government for forward it to the White House. Mr Obama, the Democratic Party presidential candidate defeated Republican's John McCain to become the first Afro-American president ever in the history of the super-power. The president-elect, Mr Obama, the 47-year-old son of an American mother and Kenyan father, become one of the youngest presidents-elect since independence in 1789. His win has galvanised the world with messages sent from all continents. ...
Congratulations, Barack. Now What? The good news for Barack Obama is also the bad news: He won. With victory comes the responsibility of addressing an economic mess of historic proportion. Obama is not facing the typical post-war recession: This is not a market correction, but a major transformation of our economy that will require going beyond promises to raise taxes on only those making more than $250,000 a year. Instead, the architecture of financial regulation needs to be redesigned, the government must play a larger role in structuring economic activity, labor and community need a stronger voice in the decision-making process, and with the Chinese financing our deficit, the United States will have to find a new place in the global economy. ...
Obama urged to live up to promises British newspapers on Thursday feted US president-elect Barack Obama's victory as a sign of a "transformed" America but warned that the country's first black leader had a monumental task ahead. They said the euphoria triggered by Obama's historic win would soon give way to the hard work of presidential politics, with one paper referring to British prime minister Tony Blair's fall from grace after a landslide victory in 1997. "It was impossible not to feel that the world was a slightly better place -- that civilisation had taken a significant step forward," the Daily Mail newspaper wrote. But it warned that "for a brief honeymoon period, Obama will be given the benefit of the doubt. After that, he will be judged on his actions."
The electorate's great expectations Never let it be said that Americans don't care, passionately, about the state of their government and the power of their role as citizens. This year's contest, historic on so many levels, generated once-in-a-generation levels of enthusiasm. The next question is, what will happen to all of that energy? How can it be harnessed to meet the huge challenges that await us?
Editorial: Lessons for tyrants of the world ...America may have its faults as a nation, and may be hated by all manner of people for all manner of reasons; it is even possible that its electoral system may not be faultless, after all. Nothing is? We take note that African Americans constitute only 15 per cent of the American population. Any system that makes it possible for a representative of such a minority group to offer himself to lead an entire country must be a system which all nations must aspire to emulate....We could, for instance, not fail to be amused by a remark by a Kenyan who called into the BBC yesterday that if Obama had lived in many countries in Africa, he would either have been killed after being seized from his home at dawn by faceless men, or he would have been hounded into exile at his very first attempt. At the very “best”, he would have lived the rest of his life in maximum security prisons, always wearing the tag: “enemy of the people”. This is the work of power-drunk, corrupt megalomanias who have arrived at a point in their lives when they begin to think they have a divine right to rule; African rulers who, once in power, never want to step down, and who, therefore, see every critic as a threat who must be eliminated. This is the lesson the Times draws from the victory of the 44th president of the United States. As African leaders pour congratulations into America, we pray that these lessons are not lost on them.
Michael Moore: What Will It Be Like to Have a Smart President? ...In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity: Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth. But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of hate fizzle out in our lifetime....There was another important "first" last night. Never before in our history has an avowed anti-war candidate been elected president during a time of war. I hope President-elect Obama remembers that as he considers expanding the war in Afghanistan. The faith we now have will be lost if he forgets the main issue on which he beat his fellow Dems in the primaries and then a great war hero in the general election: The people of America are tired of war. Sick and tired. And their voice was loud and clear yesterday....
World Wonders If Obama Victory Will Live Up to the Hype As black French civil rights activists and their friends began celebrating US President-elect Barack Obama's election early Wednesday, Nov. 5, in a private club in Paris, one reveler sounded a sobering, and largely unappreciated, note of caution. "Obama is an American politician, and he will govern like an American president," said Cameroonian journalist Paul Heutching. "Let's not jump to unrealistic conclusions just because he looks like us."... "I am afraid that people may be pinning unreasonable hopes on Obama," said French historian Pap Ndiaye, the author of "The Black Condition: An Essay on a French Minority." "He will be working under strict political constraints. The disappointment may be very great."...
Anti-Obama communities in social networking site Within hours of Obama registering a decisive victory over Republican John McCain, about 30 communities were registered in popular social networking site 'Facebook' demanding his impeachment even before he formally assumed office, saying his policy will "destroy" America. About 2,000 people have joined communities like 'Impeach Barack Obama', 'Lets Impeach Barack Hussain Obama Now! and 'Impeach President-Elect Obama', asking people to "wake up" against his "radical Leftist agenda that will destroy America".... A group 'Impeach Barack Obama Now!', says: "Save America now, impeach Obama to save us from his radical Leftist agenda that will destroy America". Another group quipped, "There are a lot of Americans out there who do not fully understand the concept of Socialism or Communism which is why they've elected Obama as President." 'Impeach Barack Obama' with over 1,000 members asks people to "come on board" if they want to impeach Obama if he fails to fulfill his promises as it take "approximately seven seconds for a modern day President to violate oath" they took in accordance with the US constitution....
No comments:
Post a Comment