Barack Obama has a lot to live up to – his speech got people going, definitely, and what he stands for is brilliant, but if he doesn’t managed to live up to expectations, especially with massive democratic majorities in everywhere else, then there will be great disappointment. I’d even say that Hillary might fancy another go at him if that were the case.

He has aimed high. If he hits it, it will indeed by an historical moment. If he fails, he will be seen as a failure by the people. He will definitely be a better president than Bush… but we’ll see what happens. Hopefully he’ll keep his policies – but I think his policies on climate change and Iraq, at least, will be softened.

Four years can make a big difference. Of course, cleaning up a mess takes longer than making one, but these four years are better than nothing.

04.35
It hasn’t seemed real until now. The election has been going on for so long, that it just became another form of entertainment. Now that it’s some, some of the Nouse team are finding it emotional. This is real. This is history.

Come on guys, get over yourselves. Let’s keep a bit of perspective here. The world is not going to change in 4 years because of 1 man. We in Britain are certainly going to see gradual, incremental change in US foreign policy, at very best. US troops are still in Iraq, Afghanistanm rumbles on, and rogue nuclear threats will persist. Besides that, the outcome of this election has infinitesimal significance to Britain.

The idea of a black Democratic president who embodies change and effuses charisma is wonderful in principle. But if we assess Obama’s triumph with a sense of realpolitik, then we may feel a sense of trepidation. As the BBC elucidated this morning, the real test will be the efficiency of Obama’s legislation and reforms, and whether these approaches will be enough to represent the power of his personal force, and supersede our obsession with identity politics in the midst of an exciting, yet not definitive, electional campaign.

Things are no definitive. And Obama needs to fulfill American expectation if we want to evade an even scarier prospect of Palin gaining presidency in 2012.

Concerning also to see 2 (maybe 3 by the end of the count) states constitutionally outlawing gay marriage. Also particularly heartbreaking to see California voting no to naming a sewage plant after George W Bush.

Speeches were interesting, Obama obviously borrowing from Luther King in the repetitive ‘yes we can’ section, very similar to I have a dream. McCain’s speech showed us too that he still is miles apart from the republican base. If anything a better speech than Obamas on a personal level, although it highlighted everything that sets him above the politics of the GOP. His humility and respect for the opposition and recognition that Obama was a good candidate won’t go down well with the grassroots. The booing of Obamas name (in a crowd of vetted invitees only) shows the mindset between many big players in the republican party.

The tough job’s only about to begin for Obama. The whole world will now be watching to see if he can translate his promises of ‘hope’ and ‘yes we can’ into anything meaningful in terms of substance. I have sympathy for Dan T’s comments about ‘Obamania’, and the pressure will really start to mount if he doesn’t live up to his promises.

Overall a positive result for America and the wider world if, and only if, Obama can actually deliver. My fear now is that after such an emphatic and hyped win, he won’t be the president we all want him to be. If anything, expectations will be so high that it will be very difficult to translate momentum in the campaign into immediate political change. He’s inheriting an economy in turmoil and Bush’s foreign policy and an unfinished war on terror. We shouldn’t expect him to solve problems immediately.

On a slightly different note, it’ll be interesting to see how Bush’s last 2 1/2 months in office are shaped. Will he be quiet, or will he try to get as much done as possible? Or will he even try to repair his legacy as the most disliked president of modern times?

Looking back to the race for the Republican nomination and other members of the Republican party, particularly people like Huckabee, McCain was actually the best of a bad lot. However he really showed his immorality when he thought to forge an attack on Obama by accusing him of “spreading the wealth around”, as though seeking equality and fairness and aiming to provide for the poorest in society is a bad thing. He also failed to do what Colin Powell did and say that even if Mr Obama had been a Muslim, as some of the Republican Party liked to imply, it would be completely irrelevant. Lest we forget, he was also the person who callously sang “Bomb, bomb Iran”. He is not a decent human being and although his concession speech was gracious, as many have noted, I am almost more relieved that John McCain will not be president than I am happy that Barack Obama will be.

Incidentally, Ian, how would you define a fascist? It’s a worthwhile debate because O’Reilly clearly is not one. When you say this, do you mean anyone who does not subscribe to your own liberal-left opinion of the world?

Not really true. He won with a small popular lead and ended up with (my guess is 370) a LOT of electoral votes… more proof that the US electoral system doesn’t work very well. However, frankly, the election came out with the popular winner being the unquestionable President-elect and therefore there won’t be any drawn-out recounts or dodgy dealings. Not to mention that McCain was very gracious in his attitude to Obama. Kudos to him for conceding and making a good quality speech

And 4:01… a minute off… but Virginia, Oregon, California, Washington, Hawaii are already called. Florida looks likely. Idaho is McCain. Only news from Arizona, Montana and North Carolina to come through to make me happy.

And I would love Palin to lose Alaska… but… no.

So now to predict the final result and guess which policies he will end up failing to go through with. I reckon he’ll flake on his green policies because of big business involvement… and I reckon he’ll flake on Iraq withdrawal. But yeah, congrats to Obama

In other news the Democrats have won massive gains (aka victories) in everything else and the English football teams failed spectacularly in Europe. It’s still tight in Arizona and Montana but I have the feeling that they’re completely irrelevant I am, hmm…. going to call them both Republican but they really will come out close!

Otherwise, good job.

Florida + Virginia = should be democratic victories, as I said before… and then even if California provides a “sting in the tail” he will win.

Big respect,

40 Hes Road

Stupid slow internet :-\

I’m calling South Dakota for McCain, Nebraska for McCain, Idaho for McCain, North Carolina for Obama. Alaska doesn’t need to be said.