A Surge of Hope from the US

[Rejuvenated]

rather than a complete moron as we have had for the past 8 years.

He was already a moron 4 years ago. Many people already knew that back then but 51% still came to the moronic decision to re-elect him.

[StarFeat]

Gas prices in the U.S. continues to plumment. Don't know if this is tied in any ways to the fact GWB will soon be out of the office.

[sqforever]

I had a feeling Palin was also picked to appeal to Middle America in general.

I am not sure if there's much leakage of votes from jilted Clintonites though there were many in the initial stages of the campaign who'd declared that they'd vote for McCain after Obama got the Democratic endorsement. However, some of the previously red states Clinton won in primaries did turn blue eventually (PA for instance). Either people decided the Obama ticket was lesser of 2 evils after observing Palin, or they'd realised that they still want a Democratic President over a Republican one. I was initially quite surprised at the extent to which politics in the US is tied to personalities rather than the political parties per se. Personally I could never bring myself to support people from "the other side."

Their actually was quite a few Clinton supporters who went pro-McCain. Even at a Sarah Palin rally I attended (I did attend an Obama rally as well, for a fair perspective), there was a huge group of people called "Democrats for McCain" which had come from another state to see her speak.

Regarding the past 8 years, I have a few comments to make:

1. Congress-many foreign observers of American politics and American citizens are not quite aware of the power that they truly have....which has been Democrat controlled for several years now and is an un-constitutional disgrace IMO.....
2. Bush is not the best president the US has seen, however, the country has been safe for the past eight years and he has worked hard to protect the nation (and clean up the economic mess that Bill Clinton, yes, Bill Clinton created that was coming into affect towards the end of his term/beginning of Bush's term).

[upright man]

The trouble was that she was supposed to appeal to too many categories which of course in the end clashed.

Her very conservative attidutes towards abortion, gun control etc were supposed to appeal to the far right of the party who thought McCain was too liberal. Her avergage Joe Hockey Mum style was supposed to appeal to Middle America but of course this clashed totally with her conservative views which put Middle America off (as well as her total incompetence). Then as she is a women she was supposed to capture all of the votes from women who would have voted for Clinton. Of course this idea is just totally insulting to women as it supposes that they are so politically naive that they don't care about policies at all.

Is Sarah Palin really that incompetent ?
How did she become the Governor of a state in the USA then ?
True she did make some verbal boo-boos on TV, but how come the veteran Joe Biden couldn't destroy her in the entire hour of their debate ?

[Rejuvenated]

he has worked hard to protect the nation (and clean up the economic mess that Bill Clinton, yes, Bill Clinton created that was coming into affect towards the end of his term/beginning of Bush's term).

He has worked hard to clean up the economic woes?

Yes it was near the end of the Clinton era when the downturn began but he has had 8 long years to get things straight. But instead of doing so, the economic situation has worsened with his approval rating dipping to a record low 19% two months ago (well actually it was the 2nd time this year he's hit that rock bottom). Very unproductive if you ask me.

[KeithMEL]

Is Sarah Palin really that incompetent ?
How did she become the Governor of a state in the USA then ?
True she did make some verbal boo-boos on TV, but how come the veteran Joe Biden couldn't destroy her in the entire hour of their debate ?

State politics have a different focus than federal politics, and the issues at stake are more localised and arguably smaller at a state level. For all we know Palin might just have a modicum of competence for running a state. However in terms of the VP office, her lack of requisite experience was a concern.

Debates are well-rehearsed, with speechwriters and PR managers doing a fair bit of work - right down to planting Dorothy Dixies in the crowd if there's a Q+A session after the debate. Unscripted media appearances are a different ball game. Even the best orators make gaffes from time to time but Palin's efforts have been more than mere 'boo-boos.' The interview with Katie Couric was nothing short of disastrous, both for her own credibility as well as the Republican ticket politically. And it isn't just the comments about Russia either. That the McCain campaign severely restricted her from unscripted interviews with the media speaks volumes OTOH.

The factional blame game has already begun for the Republicans and unsurprisingly Palin is copping a lot of flak:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/palin.tension/

one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her media interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.

They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain's record.

"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."

And this amusing article:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/200...s-a-continent/

[jjpb3]

1. Congress-many foreign observers of American politics and American citizens are not quite aware of the power that they truly have....which has been Democrat controlled for several years now and is an un-constitutional disgrace IMO.....

Hmmm, yes, in contrast, Bush's actions showed tremendous respect for the Constitution.

Even at a Sarah Palin rally I attended (I did attend an Obama rally as well, for a fair perspective)

'Nuff said -- the parenthetical comment doesn't quite balance things out. I do wonder if an equally 'fair' reading was applied to economists' views about how the economic crisis came about.

[flo]

hmmm I am not certain how to take Obamas election. This guy has charisma and it's great to see a guy up there who is not old and white.

On the other side, I can't really tell whether it's a good thing he got elected or not. I guess we will see in a few years if he holds up to his promises or if he was just a very well marketed guy. But seriously, with McCain you would have exactly known in which direction his politics would have gone - with Obama, I have my doubts whether he will really turn around America for the better. After all, Bush leaves us with many problems ahead to be solved ... I just hope Obama can make it and a mere "yes we can" (what exactly, anyway?) won't do the trick when real problems need to be tackled.

Anyway, he's better than Bush ... but who knows ... maybe McCain would have been better than Bush too.

[HUGE AL]

I would be surprised at all if Palin made a run for the Senate with the Alaskan Seat becoming available soon...

[upright man]

I would be surprised at all if Palin made a run for the Senate with the Alaskan Seat becoming available soon...

Which post, Governor or Senator, would position her in a better for another shot at national office (President, VP, Cabinet etc.) ?

I wonder what she can do to repair her damaged image though (the Katie Couric interview, the Tina Fey spoofs, Colin Powell saying she's not ready to be VP) etc.

[HUGE AL]

Which post, Governor or Senator, would position her in a better for another shot at national office (President, VP, Cabinet etc.) ?

I wonder what she can do to repair her damaged image though (the Katie Couric interview, the Tina Fey spoofs, Colin Powell saying she's not ready to be VP) etc.

In Alaska, I think Senator would carry more weight.

Only time will tell. Others have recovered before. We'll see what happens...

[KeithMEL]

http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008...f_state_report

My turn to have an adrenaline rush. Yay to Hillary as Secretary of State!!

As much as I supported a Democratic White House and hence the Democratic candidate's victory, I am not one of those who've seen the man walk on water. A large part of that was due to concern about the President-elect's foreign policy positions (no doubt he'd make an excellent President otherwise). However, his choice of Senator Clinton as Secretary of State even though they disagree fundamentally on various issues, eg she once effectively called him a softie over his various foreign policy positions to do with Iran and Syria, shows that he's a pragmatic leader who recognises talent and the right person for the job.

[Nick C]

History is written. The 44th President of the US of A - Barack Hussein Obama II.

[Kyo]

Great speech - promises alot of proactiveness, here's to hoping he delivers!

[jjpb3]

Inspiring speech indeed.