What are the chances?

Last night finally ended the longest political campaign cycle of our lifetime.

Fortunately, a clear and unambiguous decision was made!

Barak Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America.

And while he did not earn my vote, he did earn the opportunity to take the reigns of power and take his shot at governance.

Last night Obama said:

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

As an American, I am prepared to give him that chance. That is how our political system was designed, and I think doing anything less is UNAMERICAN.

So, I get the impassioned arguments against the man during the campaign. And I get the disappointment of those who chose someone else. But what I don't get are all of the posts on this board that obsess over the negative "possibilities" yet unrealized. If the man actually missteps, I'm sure there will be plenty of us to point it out.

So can we skip for a change the 'paint-by-numbers' political opposition approach?

I think at one time we actually called that maturity...

My $0.02.

[edit on 5-11-2008 by loam]

Agreed.

I've posted a response similar to this already today. (linked in my sig)

You're spot on though.

I think its commedable that you, like mccain, regardless of who won is putting your country first


in reality that what counts, and who makes up the country?

its people

i really like how obama has said before that we are the united states of america and not liberal or conservatives but people

im not for everything obama is for but to me he seemed the better choice, i just hope he can deliver

edit, I want to add I did vote Obama

[edit on 5-11-2008 by MurderCityDevil]

I agree. Last night while at work I heard some people make some remarks about how whites are now going to be feeling a pinch and racism will be more pronounced and more mindless drivel. I mentioned in another post this elections really made me see things that I would have preferred to never see from people I respected. I will never get over the things I have heard and I am white both sides of this should have people who should be ashamed of themselves. Regardless I think that anyone who thinks Obama is going to side with one group is in for a surprise. I think that things will remain much the same as we see them now (I hope I am wrong).

I am not an Obama supporter simply because of some of the places he stands on issues. I do though have respect for the man for taking a position that will surely put his life at the most risk since possibly Kennedy or maybe even more. I am not sure where things are headed in many areas (though really I doubt the President can do much more than foreign relations). I can only hope that things do not get to terribly bad. I hope he does everything to create change and make things better like he promised, for the most part though sadly I feel that a politicians promise is always empty (many have left a sour taste in my mouth). I also think though within the next two years many people will be highly disappointed (again I hope I am wrong). But in order to truly get change started things have to be laid out on an equal plain for all races, sexes, and religions. We are all here for the American dream no matter the amount of work it takes for so few to achieve it (and yes it takes work to get there).

When it comes down to it though I am happy that Obama has taken a step that many have worked hard for.


Hopefully he will do well for the country; you can bet all eyes are on him for some time now. May he be safe during that time.



Raist

It's nice to see I'm not alone.

i cannot say one way or another whether this man will be a bane or a boon for this country. what i can say is that no matter what, we are alive in this world during this time in history to see firsthand what he as a man and we as a people are made of.

i was born in 1979 and had to suffer through the entire 80's and 90's.don't cry for me, there are not tears enough to ease the pain.

for me, those were some of the most boring times in the history of our country and now, for once i feel like we may be seeing something truly unique to this new century. for once, no matter the outcome, i see that we as a nation have the ability to try something new. though i cannot say that i am for or against this man now, i can say that i am more than willing to see what he is capable of accomplishing as the president of the united states.

never before have i seen people so excited and so scared and so anxious and to me, that is very exciting.

for the older members, they now have a new piece of history to reflect on and for the younger members, those in their late teens to early 30s and maybe beyond, we might finally have memories as exciting as those of our parents and grandparents.

i can't wait to see what will happen

reply to post by Barathrum


As I have said here and elsewhere, I really do hope for the best.

This country needs the break. If it takes Obama to achieve that, then so be it. I will have no issue supporting the man if he is capable of improving things. If he does so, he deserves the credit and I will have no qualms with giving it to him.

I think most of us are willing to give him a chance. Even with me disliking Obama, I will say I do want to give him a little chance.

The thing is intuition tells a lot of us that even being given a chance, Obama fail us. Intuition has been blinded greatly by Obama's wonderful speeches. As a pre-primary Obama supporter, I will admit I used to get goosebumps from his 2004 speech. Then, research and intution came into play.

The odds of him not failing us are pretty low.

Too much is expected from this guy, setting him up for failure from the beginning.

reply to post by AndrewTB


Given our current situation, even the greatest of all leaders would have an uphill battle to improve things. If Obama fails at making things better, I will not be surprised in the least. Frankly, I wont even hold that against him. I just don't want to see things made worse. Hopefully, he can avoid that.

Originally posted by AndrewTB
I think most of us are willing to give him a chance. Even with me disliking Obama, I will say I do want to give him a little chance.

The thing is intuition tells a lot of us that even being given a chance, Obama fail us. Intuition has been blinded greatly by Obama's wonderful speeches. As a pre-primary Obama supporter, I will admit I used to get goosebumps from his 2004 speech. Then, research and intution came into play.

I recall Jim Jones having some intuition as well.... what was that again?

Seriously though. There is no possible way Obama can fail us. If something were to happen to him tomorrow, he has already suceeded at:

1. Being the first African American President (who is the son of an immigrant at that!)
2. Truly showing the greatness of this country. No one can feel they have limitations now.
3. Causing the majority of the world, not just the nation, to dance in the streets in celebration of unity and diversity.
4. Proved that Hope can triumph over fear.


As an independent, that's all I wanted. He succeeded. Point blank, period. Anything else past this is gravy, and anything which might cast a negative light on his future cannot take away what I experienced on the night of November 4th.

God Bless America!

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

Originally posted by MurderCityDevil
I think its commedable that you, like mccain, regardless of who won is putting your country first


in reality that what counts, and who makes up the country?

its people

i really like how obama has said before that we are the united states of america and not liberal or conservatives but people

im not for everything obama is for but to me he seemed the better choice, i just hope he can deliver

edit, I want to add I did vote Obama

[edit on 5-11-2008 by MurderCityDevil]

McCain has a political career to look forward to. Of course he's going to urge "Unity". If he didn't he would be limiting his own career now wouldn't he?

I for one choose NOT to give the criminal a chance. I will not acknowledge him as my President, nor will I have anything to do with him. But I will be there to point out each and every time that he goes back on his word and takes away yet another freedom and forces this country one step closer to socialism.

reply to post by loam


Excellent post, Loam.

I can understand people making judgments about him before he's done anything, but I think the more mature and "American" thing to do is to set aside the differences that we always have and come together as a country. But it's clear not everyone thinks that way. And MY goal is to accept that, too, and not resist those who still want to hate on him.

I can relate because I refuse to forget how I felt about Bush. Granted, I gave him a chance and it was only after he started showing his true colors that I really came out against him. So I have a lot of respect for people who were really against Obama, but are willing to give him a chance before making the judgment. I know how hard that is to do.

And I will be critical of him if I really think he's messing up.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by AndrewTB
I think most of us are willing to give him a chance. Even with me disliking Obama, I will say I do want to give him a little chance.

The thing is intuition tells a lot of us that even being given a chance, Obama fail us. Intuition has been blinded greatly by Obama's wonderful speeches. As a pre-primary Obama supporter, I will admit I used to get goosebumps from his 2004 speech. Then, research and intution came into play.

I recall Jim Jones having some intuition as well.... what was that again?

Seriously though. There is no possible way Obama can fail us. If something were to happen to him tomorrow, he has already suceeded at:

1. Being the first African American President (who is the son of an immigrant at that!)
2. Truly showing the greatness of this country. No one can feel they have limitations now.
3. Causing the majority of the world, not just the nation, to dance in the streets in celebration of unity and diversity.
4. Proved that Hope can triumph over fear.


As an independent, that's all I wanted. He succeeded. Point blank, period. Anything else past this is gravy, and anything which might cast a negative light on his future cannot take away what I experienced on the night of November 4th.

God Bless America!

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

If that's all you wanted, then you've JUST proven that this country elected a man because he was black over his policies. You said it yourself in your first two points.

Nice bit of ignorance on your part.

Originally posted by loam
As an American, I am prepared to give him that chance. That is how our political system was designed, and I think doing anything less is UNAMERICAN.

Glad to see some reasonable voices here. Too much of politics during the election has been about fully supporting or fully ridiculing a candidate...it's good to see some people willing to be swayed one way or the other based on the reality of what the gov't does and how it acts. American citizens should operate beyond simple party lines (the positions of parties constantly flip over time anyway) and focus on results. Hope and fear have a place in politics, but results should trump both.

Originally posted by sos37

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

1. Being the first African American President (who is the son of an immigrant at that!)
2. Truly showing the greatness of this country. No one can feel they have limitations now.
3. Causing the majority of the world, not just the nation, to dance in the streets in celebration of unity and diversity.
4. Proved that Hope can triumph over fear.


As an independent, that's all I wanted. He succeeded. Point blank, period. Anything else past this is gravy, and anything which might cast a negative light on his future cannot take away what I experienced on the night of November 4th.

God Bless America!

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

If that's all you wanted, then you've JUST proven that this country elected a man because he was black over his policies. You said it yourself in your first two points.

Nice bit of ignorance on your part.

So because I wanted the tone of politics to change from fear based to hope based that makes me wanting to elect him because he was Black? I don't think so.

Just because so many people are happy that we have elected the first African American President of our great nation, does not mean that he was elected because he was Black.

Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who campaigned with Palin was happy that our nation had broken the race barrier to the White House.

Anyone can see how great that is, regardless if you supported McCain or not. It's simply a great milestone in this great experiment we call America.

God Bless America!

He is the President-elect, so regardless of whether we voted for him, or not, if you respect the Constitution of the United States, you have to treat him as that. A house divided cannot stand, and given the current situation, there is enough going wrong in the nation and the world, to be concerned about. Reliving an election is just a waste of valuable time. I hope that the 435 members of Congress believe that also. We cannot afford to have partisan bickering continue.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by sos37

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

1. Being the first African American President (who is the son of an immigrant at that!)
2. Truly showing the greatness of this country. No one can feel they have limitations now.
3. Causing the majority of the world, not just the nation, to dance in the streets in celebration of unity and diversity.
4. Proved that Hope can triumph over fear.


As an independent, that's all I wanted. He succeeded. Point blank, period. Anything else past this is gravy, and anything which might cast a negative light on his future cannot take away what I experienced on the night of November 4th.

God Bless America!

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

[edit on 6-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

If that's all you wanted, then you've JUST proven that this country elected a man because he was black over his policies. You said it yourself in your first two points.

Nice bit of ignorance on your part.

So because I wanted the tone of politics to change from fear based to hope based that makes me wanting to elect him because he was Black? I don't think so.

Just because so many people are happy that we have elected the first African American President of our great nation, does not mean that he was elected because he was Black.

Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who campaigned with Palin was happy that our nation had broken the race barrier to the White House.

Anyone can see how great that is, regardless if you supported McCain or not. It's simply a great milestone in this great experiment we call America.

God Bless America!

Sorry, but even MSN Slate agrees that Obama's being black was his "Ace in the hole".

www.slate.com...

You just can't stand to admit that his being black is what got him elected. But you know and I know it and the rest of America knows it.

The historical aspect of this election wasn't that Obama was elected BECAUSE he is black. It is becasue he was elected DESPITE THE FACT that he is black. It shows we have come a very long way as a people. That's important, believe it or not.

Intuition? Where was all that intuition before Bush ran? Or at lest before he got elected to a second term?? Give the man a chance. He is facing one of the single most difficult sutuations in the history of this country. The fallout from the economic unravelling has hardly yet begun. This wasn't his doing yet he is going to be held to task to fix it. They don't make majic wands that big. There are extremely difficult times ahead. We can either help fix things or bitch-and-moan while they get worse.

Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
He is the President-elect, so regardless of whether we voted for him, or not, if you respect the Constitution of the United States, you have to treat him as that. A house divided cannot stand, and given the current situation, there is enough going wrong in the nation and the world, to be concerned about. Reliving an election is just a waste of valuable time. I hope that the 435 members of Congress believe that also. We cannot afford to have partisan bickering continue.

Incorrect, sir! Absolutely and completely incorrect! If what you say is true, then this country would have never been formed in the first place. He may be elected, but he is not MY president.

If those seeking a new world had your mentality, they would have never broken away and sought out a new land to call their own.

Also, the framers absolutely would not condone us to sit back and just take it up the backside as an evil man and his minions ruin this country from the inside out. That is why we have the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble!

Call him your president if you will. He is not mine.

Originally posted by jtma508
The historical aspect of this election wasn't that Obama was elected BECAUSE he is black. It is becasue he was elected DESPITE THE FACT that he is black. It shows we have come a very long way as a people. That's important, believe it or not.

Great points JTMA! It is amazing that a country which not only 30 years ago eliminated the legal form of racial segregation which had existed for over a hundered years, would elect a Black man to the highest office in America.

If that doesn't spell out how great our country is, how quickly our society can change once the legal obstacles are removed, then I don't know what is.

God Bless the USA!!!