YES WE DID

Posted on By Wil

ObamaWins.jpg

I just called Ryan at school and told him to look around, because he’ll want to remember where he was when Barack Obama was elected president.

I’m too giddy and relieved for deep thoughts, and there’s a bottle of champagne that Anne and I have been waiting to open for a long time, so I’ll just say: The nightmare is over. Now, it’s time to get to work.

(image yanked from kos)

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Comments (226)

  1. At least it wasn’t a hanging chad?
    True–other than tons of people showing up to polls and the occasional presinct having ot go to paper ballots because a machine failed, I don’t think there were any major problems with the voting infrastructure. Which is a very nice change from 2000 and 2004.
    Site note: for the two weeks following the 2000 election, I was on a research trip to Russia. It was wierd; the Russians were worried; thinking that the US was going to dissolve in a Constitutional Crisis. I assured them it wouldn’t work that way, and that it was a matter of people not caring enough that caused the problem in the first place.

  2. WooHoo ! I am sure happy Barack won. His acceptance speech was incredible.
    I am also just glad that the election has now come and gone. Like many people I am sick of the campaigns dominating the news.
    Now America has to come together in order to get this country back on track.

  3. Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s been lovely speaking with you, but it’s 1:30 in the AM in Central time, my body is on eastern time, and I need to go to work in the morning.
    G’night! May the luck of the Seven Pillars of Gulu be with you at all times!

  4. @Craig: I had just turned 13 a couple weeks before the election, and was completely baffled for those two weeks. At some point, I asked my parents if every election went like this, because I distinctly remember my father looking like he was going to be sick at the thought. Thank your choice deity that we didn’t have those problems this time.
    @Brent: Yeah, that speech was beautiful. I had some stuff in my eyes during it. 🙂

  5. My 33rd birthday is January 19, 2009. I will get the single greatest birthday present of my life a day late. A world in which I can actually hope. A world in which I can say that the best in my country triumphed.

  8. Night everyone! I’ll be up for a while elsewhere, celebrating with my contingent of Australian friends, but it was a blast-as always-here!
    *walks off, singing We Are The Champions as loud as she can*

  11. Oh man, I’m getting awesome birthday presents this year. Bush gets the boot and Obama moves into the WH. Come on January 20! I’m going to be partying hard that night 😀

  12. I’m not American. Nor do I live in America. Some may ask: “why should I care?” Why? Because America is a Super Power. Be it foreign policy, economic policy or environmental policy, the choices America makes change the course of (political) decisions across the globe. The current financial crisis started in the American housing market. As a result countries like Iceland and Hungary are now facing bankruptcy. Whole countries! I was nearly unable to buy the house I now live in because of something that happened 3,000 km from where I live. To know that America now has a leader who will guide the country down a path of moderation, and reconciliation, is something that fills me with great hope. Congratulations President Obama!

  14. 2 things:
    1 – Socialism is not communism. They merely believe that the state should intervene where necessary to get things done for the people. Things like free healthcare for all, good free education, that sort of thing, that’s Socialism. FDR was essentially Socialist in many respects.
    2 – Obama’s not a Socialist in any meaningful sense of the word. All you people going “Oh NOES!!!11one – he’s a Socialist!! *PANIC!!*” are just crazy. Give the guy a chance. His book speaks all about unity between the two parties – taking the best ideas from both. It’s about healing divisions, getting people working together. I think he has real potential .

  15. @fritzk3:
    Yeah, unlimited power can be scary. So let’s not forget that prior to the first W. term the majority of the Supreme Court justices were Republican President appointees. What happened then? Oh, yeah, an election was stolen in 2000.
    And let’s not forget what happened after W. was handed the presidency in his first term by his brother’s state and the Supreme Court, and all three branches were under Republican influence: a second election was stolen in 2004.
    Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the dictatorial path the Bush Administration was marching merrily down during his second term. (I think the post quoting Grand Moff Tarkin said it well in a satirical sort of way.)
    Good riddance W. Welcome, bright, new day of hope, promise and freedom.
    Congratulations, fellow Americans of all walks of life, on taking back this country.

  17. This is directed at all the people commenting about Obama being a socialist: You clearly NEVER read a book about how Socialism or Marxism works. Go over it and stop reading the Cold War propaganda in your basement.

  18. The second comment is ‘welcome to socialism’?!
    Americans as a rule would not know socialism if it snuck up on them wearing a Fidel Castro beard and bit them on the bottom.
    Democrats are far from socialists – Republicans and Democrats are so close, it’s amazing how much antagonism there can be.
    Overall, this time I was reasonably pleased with both candidates. The usual mud-slinging was at a minimum, they were civil. (Their supporters were not though!) In another year, I would have been pleased with McCain. In 2004, I wanted Kerry to beat Bush, but it it had been Kerry-McCain, I would have wanted McCain.
    McCain is someone who is not the typical neo-con (that’s why he picked Palin, for balance) – and the ‘old style’ republican who doesn’t do all the neo-con bible thumping is good to see. Unfortunately, he played to his base a little too much, and did pick up some of those attributes.
    That said, I am very pleased. What I want in a US president (as a non-US person) is someone intelligent, who recognises areas in which he/she is not all-knowing – and then get the best advice before making a decision.
    This is why I was relieved when Hillary got knocked out – that thing about making a virtue from ignoring advice from every economist going about the ‘gas tax break’ (petrol) was simply horrid.
    It’s amazing how prescient the final season of ‘The West Wing’ was… but then, in writing Santos, they did shadow Obama for a while.
    Now, to make it perfect, McCain has to be offered a job advising on foreign affairs…
    From the start, everything Obama did was ‘presidential’. He was polite, civil, he just looked the part…. and he was thoughtful. His most impressive speech I saw was the one where he explained his reasons for not wanting the tax break on fuel. He took an unpopular stance, but took the long term position which followed the best economic advice available at the time.
    Ultimately, I want to see a president able to change his mind in the light of new information. For me, the classic ‘I voted for it, until I voted against it’ was a poor turn of phrase, but exactly what I want the president to be able to do…. evaluate new information.
    I get the sense that Obama can do this.

  20. SAL9000 says: “This is the single worst day in American history.”
    So the election of America’s first black President is worse than September 11th 2001? Wow.

  23. Congratulations to all of my American friends, whether you’re located in a red state or a blue state. Obama, like all presidents, will have his opportunity to shine, and will hopefully not squander it like the incumbent. There are a number of problems demanding immediate attention and it is not going to be an easy road ahead. I have great hopes that they will be all be solved in a timely, effective manner by the new Administration.
    As for the word “socialist” and “socialism” being tossed around, honestly, I would guess that most people are parroting that word because, let’s face it, it’s the most-left-leaning political belief we can think of. The equivalent would be calling someone on the right “facist”. Most of us are centrist, slight left or slightly right, and our political parties reflect that, demonizing aside. The one belief that most socialists would agree on, and one that I agree with, is that capitalism concentrates power and wealth in a very small segment of society that has absolutely no sense of “noblesse oblige” or moral and social responsibility. And that applies whether or not you’re Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, religious or atheist, Obama or McCain.
    Noblesse oblige.

  26. It is interesting to see that after all of the talk of how this election shows we as a country have put racism behind us when the fact is most people voted for Barack Hussein Obama simply because he is considered black. Just look at the results for the ballot measures against gay marriage and you will see that the majority of people in this country do not share the liberal views of the democratic party. Now the rest of the country will have to suffer through the term of someone chosen not for their experience or any accomplishments they have made but instead for the color of their skin. Yep, this is a huge step forward… Now if you will excuse me I am heading to the store to stock up on ammunition before King Barack Hussein Obama takes over and implements his 500% excise tax on guns and ammunition.

  27. In the early hours of this morning, in the staff canteen at London Gatwick Airport in England, all staff were glued to the BBC news as the election results came in. Congratulations to Obama, and to The United States.
    This just shows what can be achieved when people get out and vote! It’s a real shame that here in the UK more people voted in Big Brother than in the last election.
    Well done America!

  28. Americans as a rule would not know socialism if it snuck up on them wearing a Fidel Castro beard and bit them on the bottom.
    I think that has to be the funniest and truest statement made in a long time. Well spoken!

  29. most people voted for Barack Hussein Obama simply because he is considered black.
    Hmm…let me see…in the final analysis of this election…
    – BHO doesn’t look like a lukewarm corpse
    – he isn’t known for backing the president who made Lyndon Johnson look normal and sane
    – he has not only heard of the constitution, he’s formally studied constitutional law
    – he has the radical idea of sitting down with leaders of countries that we don’t like and talking, rather than threatening to invade them.
    As culturally important as Obama’s presidental victory is (and it is, and I’m thrilled) the real victory here is the implied referendum on 8 years of George W. “I’ll ignore the constituion when I feel like it” Bush. It would have been better to have impeached him round about 2004. However, the American People voted on whether or not they thought that what Bush Jr., Rove, Cheney etc. did was acceptable behavior for leaders. The Republicans got their asses handed to them; the answer was apparently “NO”.
    Now the Democrats have maybe a year and a half to take that ball and run with it. I hope they don’t screw it up. I hope that the momentum of this victory and Barack Obama’s leadership will translate into the Democrats getting Good Stuff done, rather than what they’ve done for the last two years which was to be a poor excuse for an opposition party.

  30. A very very very sad day for America. What an indictment against the one and only TRUE America – limited government, minimal taxation, respect for private property and freedom.
    We have bowed to the globalist agenda of socialism and appeasement, freely, without shame and without remorse. Gods can only hope we get what we have elected.

  32. @taltoz: “Now the rest of the country will have to suffer through the term of someone chosen not for their experience or any accomplishments they have made but instead for the color of their skin.”
    And nobody voted for McCain-Palin because they were white, right?
    @SAL9000: “What an indictment against the one and only TRUE America – limited government, minimal taxation, respect for private property and freedom.”
    Freedom, in a TRUE America, is also freedom for all, regardless of race, creed or sexual orientation, right?

  34. I was alone in my room at the Holiday Inn in Terre Haute, Indiana.
    I ran downstairs when they called it on TV, because I wanted to share the moment with at least one other human being. But NO ONE was around. They’d turned off the television in the lobby and vanished!

  36. Sal9000 basically speaks what I feel, and much more eloquintly (if I can spel it corektly) so I’ll just leave it at that. I’m glad that no Card Carrying Democrats had to move to Canada last night.
    Also… Marvel? Really? DC is way better for one reason: Batman.
    Also… Kirk (with the one exception of the Tommy Gun weilding Picard in First Contact).

  37. All I can say is, “God Damn America”, it’s about time! I’m just so excited to have a president that actaully has a grasp of the Englissh lainguge; his speeches and press confrences will be a joy. Now….get to work!

  38. Same post after spell check…sorry.
    All I can say is, “God Damn America”, it’s about time! I’m just so excited to have a president that actually has a grasp of the English language; his speeches and press conferences will be a joy. Now….get to work!

  39. Congrats from Canada. I honestly can’t figure out why so many people are freaked out about small-s socialism. It’s not ALL bad, you know. And there is a real difference between socialism and Communism, in spite of what Americans have been told for 75 years.
    Who knows- in a few years, you might even be able to have that nasty lump looked at, courtesy of state-funded medicare!
    Also, have a look at Fivethirtyeight– this guy is a genius.

  40. And here’s to hoping you guys get your Constitution back after the ass-kicking Bush and his good-ole’ boys have been giving it for the last eight years. Maybe I will be able to lift my self-imposed ban on travel to the US again!

  41. Congrats to Obama!!
    I actually felt like my vote counted. I live in VA which hasn’t voted Democrat since 1964. That makes me feel that my voice was heard. My vote counted. Now it is time for change.
    ~~TARA~~

  42. All this talk about Obama turning America into a Socialist nation! Doesn’t anyone realize that FDR already did that with the New Deal and we have been living that way since then? Obama is truely a breath of fresh air in American government.
    Congratulations President Elect Obama!

  43. @Samurai Avon Lady
    Terra Haute, Indiana. You should be grateful there was no one around. If you went out cheering for Obama in Indiana, you’d be lucky to only get an earful of how wrong you are. I work in a hotel in Indiana. I had to wait 6 hours before I talked to someone who wasn’t pissed about the outcome. This is the first year a democrat won Indiana since 1964. I’m was really happy that Obama won, but when the first thing you hear out of someone’s mouth is “The KKK will fix this”, you tend not to celebrate in unknown company.

  44. LOL – people would actually not visit the US because of who sits in the White House?
    I know part and parcel of the left mentality is predication-based externalization, but that’s literally too funny.

  45. Way to go America, Way to go Obama! I’ve always been proud of America, but at least now I don’t feel like I’m faking it.
    And to the bitter haters wafting around here, your own man conceeded, and congratulated Obama. If you really think McCain is a great man, as I and many Obama supporters do, you will respect him now too by joining him to unite this country instead of tearing it down.

  46. One victory for justice, one defeat. I can’t BELIEVE Prop 8 got passed O_o. And reading the LA Times article about it just made me angry. “Marriage is defined between one man and one woman with the intent to raise a family.” So… does that means that the marriages of the het couples I know who can’t have children or have no desire to are null and void? And it sounds like adoption isn’t considered viable either. Bloody bollocksy hell. Stupid stupid stupid. Gah!!!! (more anger noises)

  49. It’s not over folks. In Georgia a scumbag named Saxby Chambliss is somehow ahead. He’s already executed some pretty nasty voter supression scams. Sad, really.

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