Barrack or Mccain?

[tomcat360]

Oh the other thing, I really didn't see it being such a deal being black. I understand, there hasn't been one, but I guess just to me, it's another dude. He could be purple (wouldn't that be sweet!?) he's still the president.

[twerked]

^ yeah. the very fact that people keep pointing out 'he's black!! omg!!! lol wut??? woot!!!' shows that we really aren't past the point of seeing past the colour of people's skin and who they really are....and in obama's case, a scheming, lying politican that will 'change' nothing because he is part of the same two party system as his 'enemy' mccain and the republicans. nothing will change...except maybe for the worse. or it will look like we've made changes but underneath it all it's actually much worse. if we wanted real change we would've voted for an independent candidate.

i'm not an obama supporter, if you can't tell, but i didn't support mccain either. i liked ron paul.

the scariest part for me is the near super majority of democrats that is taking place in the senate, and obama's voting record in relation to his party lines. checks and balances? all aboard the fail boat....

but alas, he is going to be my president in 2 months, so i gotta go with it and accept it. i hope nobody is stupid enough to try to assassinate him, because as much as i dislike the man, there is no reason to kill him. i just hope the people that were expecting sweeping changes accept the fact that most, if not all of them, won't happen

[tomcat360]

if we wanted real change we would've voted for an independent candidate

Thank you.

I actually voted libertarian for NC senate.....pretty much threw my vote away but over my dead body was I voting for those other two.

So even if he does change things--who's promising success? Go for it dude, that's fine. But everyone needs to be realistic and realize that our government is set up for status quo.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

sounds like youre a mccain supporter to me. even during the third debate mccain was trying to push his negative "terrorist" agenda. 20 percent less? what are you talking about? sure, if youre making 250k + then youll be taxed more yes but not 20 percent more. i hope he tries to put a cap on pay for CEO's too that other countries have, where the highest paid employee of a company cant be paid more than 15x that of the lowest. him being black is a big deal to blacks because some of them didn't really feel that america was as much of their country as it is a white mans country. im sure you can understand that they wouldnt fel welcome because of how much theyve been through, and some individual cases of racism and institutional racism that still goes on today.

[Brent]

If I might comment on this?
As an "outsider" living in a liberal stable country that likes to think it's the switzerland of the south pacific.

What your new President offers is hope & self-belief for a tired country.

Hope that with a fresh start your country can rise from the mess it's got itself into. What was the country the western & educated world looked up to for it's politic & policy previously has become a running joke. In one term.

Hope that the world isn't as bad & dangerous as GWB painted. And shortly you'll see the smoke & mirrors lift & and realise a bunch of men on horses riding around Afganistan & living in caves with AK 47's pose no legitimate threat to you. Only implied & cultivated...by your own leader.

He also offers self-belief.

Self-belief you can rescue your own democracy & freedoms.
With a born-again christian in the white house the United States has witnessed a campaign of intimidation against the secular state almost gob-smacking in it's completness.
In the rein of King George you've willingly allowed your civil rights to be trashed (Homeland Security legislation etc) , your constitution has been rendered an ironic bad joke (treatment of illegal detainees around the world) and you've allowed one of your country's darkest events (9/11) to be perverted in the name of a "war on terror" - your president squandered everything.


To quote journalist H.L Mencken "We posture as aspostles of fair play, as good sportsmen and professional knights-errant - and throw beer bottles at the umpire when he refuses to cheat for our side...we deafen the world with our whoops for liberty - and submit to laws that destroy our most sacred rights. We play policeman & sunday-school superintendent to half the world - and lynch darkys in our own back yard".

Sums it up nicely.

I just hope nobody shoots him :-)

[pkbum]

Hey why is this moved to the general section? I just mentioned bodysurfing so that should constitute as "surfing topic"

[Milo]

As a outsider, seems to me that a large majority of people voted for him based on the colour of his skin. Or am i way off, as i did not really follow the lead up.
More to the point does anyone know his faith belief. Have heard he comes from a muslim back ground

[tomcat360]

I moved it because it's not a surfing topic even though it mentions a presidential candidate (elect) bodysurfing.

Milo, I feel the same way. Black voting historically has been under 40% while this election was over 90%, which is way above the national average for any racial group. Sorry but wearing shirts that says "Obama is my homeboy" doesn't say "I believe in the policies that he HOPES to implement in HOPES of changing the country."

He was raised as a Muslim, which is making a bunch of ignorant people label him as a "terrorist". I've heard a lot of surprisingly conservative things about him. There's a kid on my hall that legitimately thinks he's a terrorist and that he is going to take over the country and give it away. His source? Youtube

I say 20% less because of the sharp rise in welfare money that he proposes. It was an exaggeration. But look how many presidents have really gotten their tax plan approved. I think it's 2.

I understand what you are saying about them thinking it's a white man's country.

And yeah I voted for McCain, but I'm really tired of being labeled a racist rich boy that is afraid of change because I voted for him. To be honest, I want to see a libertarian. I hate big gov't but it's not going away. I think party lines are the stupidest thing ever.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

both parties are just as bad, i mean calling us socialist like being a socialist is anti-american. pleease, loving the people in your country is not anti-american. brown nosing rich corporations is. libertarian? well we can agree on that. party lines are stupid, and so is the electoral college, which is why a libertarian will never even come close. there are 3 things i hate about america, private healthcare, marijuana criminalization, and the electoral college.

[Real Pol]

I always laugh at the way American media/politicians treat people with socialist tendances. I mean what type of person would think a system where the rich don't exploit the poor and everyone gets a fair chance as abhorrent?
I'm not a socialist but there are many principles of socialism which work. I never had to use the health system in the UK until this year when I had to go to the physio for 8 months and also had and operation. I personally thought it was fantastic (not the fact that I had to use it but it worked).
I also guff when people around the world moan about tax increases. How the fu*k do they expect the town/county/country to work if we/business don't pay the council/government money to run it! Personally I think we should be taxed more, dependent on pay.

[Sar]

I agree with realpol. - I am a bit of a socialist but know complete socialism very rarely works and the capitalism has to pay for it anyways

I dont think that you should vote for a person on the basis of their skin colour - such an arbitury absurd measure to pick/not pick a president, its like picking one because of eye colour or something! but i do think its a measure of how far the society has come in a relatively short period of time and Im pleased to see it.

Hopefully one day we will be able to get to a point where skin colour isnt a talking point - we're not there yet though. getting labelled as a racist for voting for mccain is equally absured.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

realpol- youve never visited a doctor before, or do you have to pay for that? cause ober here it costs you $100 + just for a short visit, even if the doctor doesnt do anything

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

tomcat - obama as not raised a muslim. that is the kind of ignorance youve been speaking out against on this forum. (not that being a muslim is bad) but obama was raised by 2 white women, first his mom when he was born in hawaii, went to indonesia when he was 5, and moved back to hawaii when he was 10 and lived with his white christian grandparents in honolulu until he graduated. the only reason people can say that is because he went to indonesian public schools for 5 years. that doesnt mean they practiced it at home, and considering the fact that he may have practiced muslim holidays at school the way our public schools celebrate christmas and easter, and yet he was raised a christian, he must be pretty open minded which is a good thing.

sarah palin took 6 years to graduate with a BA in journalism. republican presidents and vice presidents lately are more homely that educated. i dont get that.

[Milo]

He lived in Hawaii, lucky man did he surf

[tomcat360]

Sorry that his religion wasn't the deciding factor of my vote, it's political ignorance I was speaking of.

[stuzzy07]

Personally i agree with what has been said about ignorance. Unfortunately people vote based on other people's opinions, color of skin, who has the best slogan, who speaks better and what graceful words they use; without doing their own research on policies, moral stances, or political ideaology. Personally i think it's great that a "black" man was elected into office, however i don't think that with the 4 years he has he will be able to do much to "change" our situation. Look at what a hard time Clinton had at getting policies passed and accecpted as a democrat. It will take more than just one man to fix this. Personally I do think he's a socialist,(just look at the people he's associated with) however his ideas first have to go through other filter before they could ever be passed. I'm not saying i am a mccain supporter because i didn't like him much either. I'm just saying politics will always be just that politics.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

Sorry that his religion wasn't the deciding factor of my vote, it's political ignorance I was speaking of.

political ignorance?? you mean inexperienced? seriously? i think the mccain supporters lost the right to say that after sarah palin got vp. im not joking, it took her 6 years to get a BA in journalism, then she worked as a sports caster and got her popularity in alaska up, she ran for city council and did that for 3 years in wasilla (which has a population of only 6,000) and she served for 6 years as wasilla mayor, (again, the population is 6,000, seriously, what kids of issues are you gonna have to deal with? bears on the road again???) then was the governor for 2 years probably because of her popularity.

now for obama, he was poor so he had a scholarship to punahou which is a private school that very rigorous and hard to get in to in honolulu, then ge went to harvard and no daddy bush bouthgt his way in there. he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in international relations in 4 years while he worked as the president of harvard law review. then he worked as a professor after being recruited by university of chiago law teaching constitutional law and writing his book thats now widely popular. then he worked as a board of directors in 'developing comminities' prijects in the south side of chicago.

then he was a state legislator for 8 years, then a senator for 4 years.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

im not saying mccain isnt quilified, he is. i just disagree with him on his values. but palin and bush are a joke, and for republivans to call obama inexperienced after considering those two is just insane

[Real Pol]

realpol- youve never visited a doctor before, or do you have to pay for that? cause ober here it costs you $100 + just for a short visit, even if the doctor doesnt do anything

The doctors is free as are drugs (you have to pay a flat rate per prescription £6ish).

[tomcat360]

Sorry that his religion wasn't the deciding factor of my vote, it's political ignorance I was speaking of.

political ignorance?? you mean inexperienced? seriously? i think the mccain supporters lost the right to say that after sarah palin got vp. im not joking, it took her 6 years to get a BA in journalism, then she worked as a sports caster and got her popularity in alaska up, she ran for city council and did that for 3 years in wasilla (which has a population of only 6,000) and she served for 6 years as wasilla mayor, (again, the population is 6,000, seriously, what kids of issues are you gonna have to deal with? bears on the road again???) then was the governor for 2 years probably because of her popularity.

now for obama, he was poor so he had a scholarship to punahou which is a private school that very rigorous and hard to get in to in honolulu, then ge went to harvard and no daddy bush bouthgt his way in there. he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in international relations in 4 years while he worked as the president of harvard law review. then he worked as a professor after being recruited by university of chiago law teaching constitutional law and writing his book thats now widely popular. then he worked as a board of directors in 'developing comminities' prijects in the south side of chicago.

then he was a state legislator for 8 years, then a senator for 4 years.

Sorry dude I wasn't talking about inexperience at all. The only good thing about Palin is that she's pretty darn attractive (for a grandma, hahaha). I didn't understand that pick at all, other than maybe trying to grab the woman vote. It's not like she was carrying all, what, 3?, votes from Alaska.

I was just talking about people voting not knowing policies and stuff, that's it. Sorry I worded it poorly. Don't hate

And sorry I was misinformed about the Muslim thing. That's pretty dumb on my part. I got my facts straight now.