Obama won

[Eli Delventhal]

In case you live under a rock or quite far from the US of A, Barack Obama won a second term. According to polls, the entire world is happy except Pakistan and just under half of the USA.

[theagentd]

Lol, didn't he win with like 300 to 200 seats or whatever they got. And all the newspapers in Sweden was like "THIS'LL BE THE MOST EVEN ELECTION EVER (Just Like Last Time (tm) (And The Time Before (tm))).

[Eli Delventhal]

Lol, didn't he win with like 300 to 200 seats or whatever they got. And all the newspapers in Sweden was like "THIS'LL BE THE MOST EVEN ELECTION EVER (Just Like Last Time (tm) (And The Time Before (tm))).

Yes, but he just barely won in many of those states. Several of them he won by only a few thousand votes. It's part of why the electoral college is so nutso. It appears that Obama had a run-away victory, but he only had 2.5 million more votes across the country (60 million versus 57.5 million).

Only a few weeks ago it was a much closer election. Shortly after hurricane Sandy Obama's approval ratings shot back up because he dealt with all that so well. If it had never happened, he might not have won.

Still, Romney was sort of unelectable in the current climate, because he is a CEO who has laid lots of people off. I sort of can't believe the Republican party let me move forwards as a candidate. Also, him being a mormon actually greatly reduced the southern vote for him.

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[theagentd]

Oh, right. Doesn't that mean that it was possible for Obama to get less votes than Mitt and still win as long has he barely wins in just over half the states and completely loses in the rest? Broken system is broken?

Besides, I wouldn't trust anyone run a country. At least not a human.

[matheus23]

Oh, right. Doesn't that mean that it was possible for Obama to get less votes than Mitt and still win as long has he barely wins in just over half the states and completely loses in the rest? Broken system is broken?

Yes it is.

But who would want to change it, and then not get elected, because he changed a big (oh boy, I forgot the word...) "thing", which was the thing they always did for a long time.

[matheus23]

Oh and:

According to polls, the entire world is happy except Pakistan and just under half of the USA.

That's true Germany: 86% for Obama... (not valuable source, still looking for link... but everything google gives me is america...)

[sproingie]

One of the more interesting results of the election is that Puerto Rico voted for statehood.  Now it's not likely they'll be admitted with a Republican-controlled House (PR votes overwhelmingly Democratic) but then again they could potentially peel off a good size faction of Republicans who might want to do something about their Latino problem.

Oh, and Colorado voted to legalize recreational Marijuana.  Time to visit the Mile High City

[Damocles]

Maybe he can magically "change" the US trade deficit and public debt away..

[sproingie]

Maybe he can magically "change" the US Trade Deficit and Public debt away..

Maybe he can be not a nihilistic psychopath, which is at least better than we can expect from the opposition.

[Damocles]

Maybe a "nihilistic psychopath" (that pushes through economical reforms) is what is needed to avoid a big crash of the dollar and thus world economy
in the not so far future.

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[theagentd]

Maybe a "nihilistic psychopath" (that pushes through economical reforms) is what is needed to avoid a big crash of the dollar and thus world economy
in the not so far future.

Lol, you seem to assume that the end of America's economy literally means the end of the world?

[Damocles]

Look in your history book:

(1929 , cough cough)

Or do you have a propper macroeconomical argument against it.

When the US economy crashes it will inadvertly pull Europe and Asia down.

[appel]

I wonder if he'll get another one of those peace nobels, I hear the norwegians are very generous on those.

Nope.

[RobinB]

Ah what now?
In the Netherlands we got election almost every year because they keep screwing up lol.

[Eli Delventhal]

Maybe a "nihilistic psychopath" (that pushes through economical reforms) is what is needed to avoid a big crash of the dollar and thus world economy
in the not so far future.

You're totally entitled to your opinion, but there is evidence that it simply does not work in the current times. The evidence is George W Bush. He started this whole mess, and his economic plans were almost exactly the same as what Romney proposed.

Just please explain to me how a country can avoid being in debt if it doesn't tax anyone? I never understood that viewpoint. If you're spending X money, then X money needs to be coming in. I know Romney wanted to reduce the spend so less money had to come in, but he never actually presented, mathematically, enough cuts to support that. Why would he keep it all secret unless it was going to be extremely unpopular (therefore bad, right?) or he didn't actually know?

If a republican was running for office who actually had a proposal, presented mathematically in its entirety, for cutting the deficit, I'd vote for him. But Romney was not it.

[StumpyStrust]

Yeah yeah I am not to happy about this one but w/e

If US crashes then most of the world will take a hit because we are still the big network for businesses. As other countries become less reliant on the US our impact will be reduced. Thing is....I don't think they ever will be.

Funny thing is, China is no longer buyin up our dept like crazy. They are selling in off like stock because they know we are going overkill.

5-6 trillion in 4 years. Even if you just add that again in the next 4 we are really screwed.  Whole thing with the electoral vote is that if Obama won one "battle ground state" he won the election if they were worth more then 12 or something. He was going to win from the beginning. Only thing I am really pissed about is the health care mandates forcing religions to pay for things that go against their faith. In US we have this whole separation of church and state thing...kinda is a big deal.

Anyways there are meh 2 cents.  

[Damocles]

I dont say that Romney presented a very convincing plan.
But 2 points
#1 politicians never actually realize what they promise before election (collecting votes.)
#2 The House of Representatives is in republican hands, effectively crippling the current presidential actions.
with Romney the chances would have been higher to push through needed reforms.

I think that Romney would have had to act pragmatically.
And Obama now is much more limited in his power.

[sproingie]

Only thing I am really pissed about is the health care mandates forcing religions to pay for things that go against their faith. In US we have this whole separation of church and state thing...kinda is a big deal.

If only we had a health care system that wasn't up to the whims of employers then.  They fought tooth and nail to have that agency of the state delegated to them, they can bloody well follow the rules, and that means not imposing their religious mandate on their employees.  Your freedom of religion begins with your own practice of it, and it ends with my freedom from it.

[StumpyStrust]

The employer is not required to give any health care. Health care is what some call a luxury. I personally think people should have access to free healthcare if they cannot live without said access. (broken arm, surgeries, etc) but abortion/birth control is not something you need to live.

Here is a fun fact for those Europeans here. According to the US census report, our "poor" people live as well as the average middle class person from Europe. This is based off of living space per occupant, income per occupant, luxury items like internet access, computer, flat screen tv with its size, appliances, cars/car models....etc

I currently live worse then the poor in my country do. Lulz 

Also, we can rip on Romney all we want and it is all valid but he had a better plan than anything Obama gave or uhh not gave. Where were his hard mathematics? Neither was good. Neither ever will be. But I think Romney would have been better. Guess I am minority. 

 

[Cero]

my only question is why is guantanamo bay still open ?
I recall that he promised a long time ago to close it within like 1 month
why would anyone trust a politician, let alone one who is proved that he is lying

but whatever, I pity those who think that the election and position of president is actually of any meaning - its just a big scripted theater...

[sproingie]

Policy discussions on a game programming board are turning out about as well-researched and reasoned as I expected, sorry for having jumped in in the first place.  Y'all have fun with it.

[Grunnt]

I'm sure happy. Less chance of us (a.k.a. Netherlands or Europe) being pulled into another senseless war.

[Eli Delventhal]

It's true Obama didn't really present any new stuff, he more just said "I'll keep doing what I've been doing." Which is probably okay, because the economy does seem to be getting better, but you're right that Romney did have a proposed plan in mind, and Obama didn't.

@Damocles, I think you're forgetting that democrats control the senate? No matter what, half of congress is going one way and the other half is going another way. Neither president would have an easy time doing much of anything if the other side decides to be a roadblock. I'm hoping Boehner will chill out this next term.

@Cero, very good question about Guantanamo. I was reading an interesting article about how historically presidents never keep their pre-campaign promises. The interesting part was that this guy argued that the reason was because, as a candidate, you have no idea what the actual office is like. When you come into office you are immediately briefed by the CIA for an entire day (24 hours). Many candidates suddenly realize "shit I can't actually do that." Theoretically this is the case with Guantanamo. It also points to a major problem in the system, where hype is allowed to rule and presidents are mostly crippled once they come into office.

[Grunnt]

Here is a fun fact for those Europeans here. According to the US census report, our "poor" people live as well as the average middle class person from Europe. This is based off of living space per occupant, income per occupant, luxury items like internet access, computer, flat screen tv with its size, appliances, cars/car models....etc

I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear that: the US are a country with a (very) high standard of living. Given the huge differences between European Member States, however, such a comparison is not really meaningful. Instead try to compare the US with Germany, Sweden or Slovakia. Totally different outcomes, resulting from totally different policies and different economies.

[Cero]

"shit I can't actually do that."

My point exactly about presidents...
Well I guess sometimes they actually do shit they can't or shouldn't normally, see JFK but he did pay the price =P

[StumpyStrust]

@sproingie Haha this is the inter webs...what do you expect? And I guess you are referring to me....not like you cited any sources.

http://www.census.gov/   can find the stuff there yourself
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

Yup wikipedia is a nice starting point for research. It is by no means accurate but can give you a general direction on what to googlefu/library-fu Go ahead and be all like, "oh em gee you put wikipedia? what is wrong with you?"
Yeah I also put stuff up from a site that leans against the left but you can take out the whole, "Obama sucks" and look at things for your selves.

I seriously doubt anyone here has actually read the healthcare bill...I know I have only gotten maybe 100 pages into it and was like  
I don't blame the politicians for not reading it either.  

Another fun thing. The Obamas have spent 1.3 billion alone this past year.

http://joemiller.us/2012/09/us-taxpayers-spent-an-enormous-1-4-billion-on-the-obama-family-last-year/
http://www.realnewsreporter.com/?p=10047

You can also read the book but I guess that he has had to tighten his belt like the rest of us. I don't know if that is more then previous presidents but kinda seems excessive.

Anyways sorry for being rude and ranting alot but I am very frustrated right now as this was the first time I got to vote and my vote was basically meaningless. And boy how I hate it when someone on the internet is wrong.   sarcasm

[StumpyStrust]

Have to remember that many of those countries do not have a strong army because the relay on the UN which is basically the US as we fund everything. Because there has been loose peace for so long it seems like a waste of money to invest in new bombs. I kinda agree on that but then again, 911.

[theagentd]

Here is a fun fact for those Europeans here. According to the US census report, our "poor" people live as well as the average middle class person from Europe. This is based off of living space per occupant, income per occupant, luxury items like internet access, computer, flat screen tv with its size, appliances, cars/car models....etc

That's a pretty arrogant statement. I'm in no way nationalistic enough to be insulted by your "my country is better than yours" crap, but I really can't stand it when people think they're better or worth more because they were born in some specific place, and that's the kind of impression you gave me. I'm sure I can count in some way to make America look a lot worse than "those Europeans". For example, I didn't know internet access, computers, flat screen TVs and cars were so common among the homeless. 

Have to remember that many of those countries do not have a strong army because the relay on the UN which is basically the US as we fund everything.

America also controls the UN, so I don't see a problem?

[StumpyStrust]

Woh not trying to be rude at all. I am by no means saying America is better. I am say that Americans complain about being "poor" when they are not. We have some public housing systems that give unnecessarily large houses to people who need them. Would be better to make 3 houses out of one and use the space better.

If you look at the homeless people here you will see that most have some form a mental illness that prevents them from getting off the streets. I actually see homeless people with iPhones around my campus. I don't even know how they got them but damn.

America has its advantages but also has its disadvantages. Health care is horrible if you have a no insurance. I know from experience. But if you have insurance it can be better.

I think that America has to stop poking its nose into everyone else's business. I feel like we are trying to control the world.

[Grunnt]

Have to remember that many of those countries do not have a strong army because the relay on the UN which is basically the US as we fund everything. Because there has been loose peace for so long it seems like a waste of money to invest in new bombs. I kinda agree on that but then again, 911.

With UN you mean NATO I guess? The UN is a paper tiger. It's true that EU countries profit from the fact that the US spends such rediculous amounts of money on the military (and military campaigns). That makes comparisons unfair in a sense. On the other hand, whats stopping the US from shifting budgets from the military (a totally sick 41% of all the world's military expenses) to more social policies, or to getting the budget fixed? Somehow I don't see that happening, and least of all when a trigger-happy Republican is president. Still, it's hard to complain about that when the EU can afford to spend less on defense because of the US military umbrella.