OT: Election Thread

I voted in my first presidential election this morning. I’m proud to say that I voted for Obama and I’m hoping that all the polls predicting an Obama win will prove to be true. Regardless of who wins, though, I agree with John that it’s important for us as a nation to be able to discuss our differences without it turning into a name calling inflammatory mess. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing. What’s important is respecting each other and keeping an open mind, in my opinion.

PLEASE GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!
On a side note I think John, Myself and a few of us posters could sit down and solve the countries problems better than people who are in politics for a living. But thats a side note….
Your vote counts… You cant complain if you dont vote!

This is a very important day in American history. It’s just a complete shame that we have two terrible candidates to choose from. I am going with the “lesser of two evils” in McCain. I did not like his choice of VP in Palin at all, and she has proven to be a complete disaster for him.

My problem with Obama is simple. I live in Chicago – his home state and city. Chicago is probably the most politically corrupt city in the nation (scandals galore, with politicians being thrown into jail on a regular basis), and the state of Illinois is probably the most politically corrupt state in the country (thanks mainly to Chicago). Obama keeps preaching change – but what is he really going to do for the country if he has not even changed anything in his own home city and state? I really, really think those Americans that vote for Obama thinking he is going to change things are going to be terribly disappointed. I know he’s a wonderful speaker and all (reminds me a lot of Clinton actually), but is being a good speaker the main attribute we want in a President? Based on his track record, he is not going to change a darn thing.

I was supposed to be out of town today, so I obtained an absentee ballot. Turns out, I got home from my business trip early enough to do early voting if I’d wanted to. Maybe I should have voted twice! I think that’s a felony, though, and with Texas going big for McCain, it wouldn’t have been worth it.

I voted for Obama, mainly for McCain’s dive to the extreme right and his choice of Palin as VP. Had McCain stayed as moderate as he had once been and not listened to the Rovian crowd (well, he probably wouldn’t still be running, Romney would), I might have been persuaded to vote for him.

I’m no Obamaniac, and I am concerned that his demeanor will be not be conducive to working with Congress and forcefully pushing through a renewable energy, education, and affordable health-care agenda that is needed. I think he has the smarts to articulate his policies, and that his policies will be sufficiently well-thought out that they might actually work, but that it will require far better knowledge of the Washington system than he currently has to make them happen. Still, I can tolerate that better than McCain’s kowtowing to the Christian Right, with which I vehemently disagree on almost every issue. I also think we need a more internationalist, law-enforcement approach to dealing with terrorism, shoring up our alliances with the other western democracies and friendly Arab countries to get them to help us round up the worst of the worst. The unilateralist, military-heavy tendencies of McCain, while slightly less egregious than Bush, are still not the right way to go.

I EASILY voted for Obama!
The thought of Sarah Palin as president is embarrassing to me as a U.S. citizen.
And deep down, I think its time to get the democrats back in power as the Republican side just hasnt been getting the job done.

Voted for Obama. Would’ve loved to have had the chance to consider John McCain had he been content to run on his former platform of refusing to raise taxes while spending is through the roof. Unfortunately he caved to his party base and his adherence to Bushism economic policy just killed my enthusiasm for a guy who I used to see as one of the great hopes for transcending party lines in this country.

When I look back on this campaign and think of John McCain and his political legacy, I’m always going to be reminded that for all his talk of being a “maverick,” this guy has inexplicably reduced himself to pandering every single time the chips are down. For some reason he has never been able to say to the far right nutjobs, even after securing the nomination, “Wait a second, the people are voting for ME, we are going to do things as I want them to be.” He played a bizarre balancing act of attempting to repudiate the Bush years while at the same time trying to make nice with the party base, somehow managing to please nobody in the process. He switched his support to favoring Bush tax cuts when that was one of the few things that he could’ve made a clean break from the last 8 years on, not just on ideological terms but in terms of cultivating political support from real voters. Instead of choosing Joe Lieberman as his VP like he clearly wanted to, he chose somebody who was a virtual unknown to him and even less to the American people. She is ill-prepared by any standard, and there really is no comparison between her and Obama with regard to that criteria. I would feel comfortable asking Obama about any number of issues facing this country and getting an articulate, considerate reply – perhaps not the answer that one would be seeking (and there have been times in this campaign where that has happened in my case), but a reasonable answer. Palin is a bunch of talking points – I have no faith in this woman at all to approach the most pressing concerns of this country at this point. It doesn’t make her a bad person, it just means she shouldn’t be thinking about the highest offices in the land at this point.

I suppose one can make the argument that Palin’s biggest contribution to the ticket was financial – it’s not a coincidence that McCain had his best fundraising days after her selection. And certainly the money situation would’ve been drastically different had Lieberman been the pick (I suppose he would’ve seen very little/none of that money that poured out from the right wing of the party), but at the same time McCain would have seen money from other sources. In addition, his old argument that Obama is simply inexperienced would have retained its relevance, and personally I think it would’ve had considerable impact as the race dragged on.

Personally I voted for Obama because I tend to agree with most of his views, and – most importantly – I think he will be willing to shelve those views when necessary with a practical eye towards getting things done for the American people. But I will say this, and take note that I am someone who is admittedly very entrenched in his liberalism, the John McCain of 8 years ago would’ve been an intriguing and compelling choice as president. His old fiscal conservatism is something that would’ve been, quite frankly, refreshing given what we’ve seen out of our politics – and our economy, for that matter – over the last few years. Unfortunately, he never gave me that choice, and for that I have to say that I’m just really disappointed in how things turned out.

I can’t vote because I’m 17, but I would have gone for Obama. Take it as you want, I know some people here may not take me seriously, but I desperately feel as though Obama is what this country needs. I knew I was liberal in advance before this election, but a website, myelectiondecision.org, really re-affirmed this point. The site had quotes from both McCain and Obama, but didn’t say who it was, which really helped determine where I stand on issues. Though I am Christian, I disagree with many of McCain and Palin’s views on ethical questions, such as abortion, but also on the wars. I did score higher on McCain’s energy policy, but overall, it was a landslide in favor of Obama.

One thing that really scares me though is Sarah Palin. Much like what many other people have said, I would be very scared if something were to happen to McCain if he was in office.

Though many people may not agree with Obama’s policies, which, I admit, we have to see fullfilled first, he will truly unite the country, which is crucial at this moment in time.

Voted this morning in DC. Line was two blocks long. Didn’t get out for two hours. Definitely worth it though although I think the entire world knows how DC will end up voting.

As someone who has lived without health insurance (and who currently has a very limited, bare-bones policy), I can’t afford not to vote for someone who will remove the ability of insurance companies to deny health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions.

There are 50 million people without health insurance. If any one of them develops treatable illnesses that are fatal if untreated, they will never be able to receive medical treatment. Barack Obama has promised to change that. John McCain believes the free market will take care of all of our healthcare needs.

I quite literally cannot afford a McCain presidency, and I’m willing to bet each and every one of you knows someone in the same boat.

Kudos to everyone who waits on line to vote! I voted in my ninth presidential election today and have never had to wait more than 20 minutes to vote. My town on Long Island, New York has about 40,000 people. I’m wondering if my experience is rare or commonplace. Where do you live and how long does it take you to cast your vote?

I live in a northern suburb of Chicago and walked into the polling place at aroudn 7 AM. Although it helped that I only voted on a few contests (I don’t feel right voting in contests in which I know nothing about, so I stuck to the ones I was informed on.)

I agree with his ideological views on most things and really that’s all I am looking for in a candidate. Things change when they get in office and realize all they are up against in getting things accomplished but I feel good that his base he returns to lines up fairly well with what I hold true.

I’m also a firm believer that his background will allow him to overcome any real or perceived shortcomings in Foreign Relations. I think he has mixed and balanced cultural and racial beliefs his whole life and will bring an understanding of opposing views that we have been sorely lacking. As we see on this site every day, the best posters aren’t the ones who get on here and bash your head in until you agree with them but rather find the common grounds and agree to disagree where prudent and applicable.

Personally, I find people who use taxation percentages as a reason for their vote as laughable. 99% of America would not have a discernable difference in their lifestyle either way. Good grief, $4/gal gas (and all its raised prices for goods) didn’t change life for most. A percent or two on the tax code isn’t going to make a difference to you either.

Mainly because I’m a social and economic conservative. McCain is not perfect on either plank, but he’s way better than Obama.

I’d like to comment on what I consider deranged views of Palin. As far as I can tell, her unforgivable mistakes consist of a bad interview with Katie Couric, which looked even worse because of the editing. Well, this is easily explained. Usually, VP candidates are long-time political veterans who often were running for President themselves. They are usually “safe” choices. Palin was none of the above, so it’s not surprising that she had some bumps in the road, especially in dealing with the media at a national level. She seems to be acquitting herself rather nicely now.

She’s a very savvy politician, and to deride her political accomplishments is simply ignorant. How many politicians do you know who have quit their cushy high paying jobs in order to expose corruption in her own party’s ranks? That alone gives her more cred than any of the other candidates in my book. For all of the guffawing about the relevance of her status as commander of Alaska’s National Guard, that status did give her a higher security clearance than ANY of the other candidates had. She also has more executive experience than ANY of the other candidates.

Sure, she’s not a member of the Beltway “elite”. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Many of the charges brought against her by the media were so ridiculous, anyone of good will should have seen through them.

It would seem that before putting someone in charge of the most powerful executive office in the world, that one would expect some executive experience on his/her resume, or in the absence of that, at least a long record of experience to substitute in its place. Apparently, though, for some, a good GPA at Harvard is all one needs to be President. BTW, what is that GPA? I was under the impression that BO hadn’t released his academic records.

Seriously, are very many people here over the age of 25? I’m 43, and no one has given a rip about my college GPA for a very long time now. They just care whether I am getting the job done.

There are no circumstances in which I would have voted for Obama. He’s simply way too far left of center for me, with his former Communist connections in Frank Marshall Davis, terrorist connections in Ayers, socialist party membership in the recent past, etc. He’s a typical Chicago Machine pol.

Anyway, I think this race is going to be a lot closer than the polls are saying. We’ll see what happens tonight.

You pass off on character views of Palin, which is really all they are, nothing that has ever been criminal or particularly viscious in any way.

Then you proceed to call Obama a Communist, Socialist Terrorist.

5 Votes for Obama in CA.

5 Votes for No on 8. No on 4, and 5 votes for yes on 2.

…reminded me why i liked him so much before this campaign. i think he’s a genuinely great american, but once the republican campaign machine got their hooks into him, he turned into something different in 2008. much of what’s happened in the past 11 months left a bad taste in my mouth, but hopefully we can just put it behind us. congratulations to president-elect obama.

I didn’t vote for him, but I’ll get behind him.

Congrats Obama, and the DFL. your hard work has paid off. Enjoy.