[rockdoc123]

As I watch the projections that Obama will win through Electoral College votes as someone not inside the US I have to say...WTF?
Ok, this guy has spent more time on the golf course than any other president (at least that is what I am led to believe).
He has taken more non-working holiday time than any other president (Bush Jr at least was working when he was at the ranch I am led to believe).
Yes he inherited a bad situation but what has he done? Unemployment is worse, not better. The stock markets took a sound thrashing during his term, the stimulus has run out without having the effect it was supposed to. And, I need to repeat, there are way more unemployed people.
So he had this GREEN idea....sent some of that stimulus money to a bunch of companies (apparently his friends) many of which declared Chapter 11 after not very long (where did that stimulus money go?). And it seems it didn't help employment or the economy.
I really have to ask what has he done for the US other than be "the first black president"? For a practical person who doesn't live there and has never been really exposed to all of the race stuff I have to so ....so what? Personally, if I were you US folks, I would take a purple or green or chartreuse colored person as long as he had some understanding of economics and actually wanted to work for a living (doing the job you hired him to do).
The only thing I can think is that Americans as a rule feel so bad for the things their ancestors did in terms of race discrimination that they now feel it is appropriate to forgo any possibility of economic improvement as a means of penance. I view with utter amazement the proclamations from famous black people suggesting anything other than a black president will put them in chains.What i is wrong with your society and why haven't you been asking yourselves that question?
Which to me begs the question...how in Gods name did you ever become the "worlds superpower"?

Just an observation from someone whose only vested interest is in the markets....and I have to tell you with an Obama win, they are going down (maybe not tomorrow but over the next few weeks once everyone gets over the relief of the election ending).

Just a Scots Canadian opinion of course.....take it for what it's worth.

[dissident]

Perhaps the fact that his opponent was a corporate raider had something to do with his win. What was Romney's big plan? Outsource more jobs to China?

[Keith_McClary]

I remember it was a big deal when they elected a Catholic president.

[Plantagenet]

Good points rocdoc: You make astute observations, as always, but this election wound up not being about the issues at all.

At the end, after Obama spent half a billion dollars on TV ads attacking Romney, more people liked Obama than Romney.

And no one wanted to see him cry again. Please, no matter what happens, we don't want Obama to start crying again.


They like me.....they really like me.....!

[Plantagenet]

What was Romney's big plan? Outsource more jobs to China?

More to the point, since Obama won---what is Obama's big plan?

He's created another 2.5 TRILLION in new debt since mid 2011, and we're going to blow past the debt ceiling he requested from Congress by the end of the year. The fiscal cliff Obama put in place last year is also coming due, with billions in tax increases and spending cuts. What is Obama's big plan to deal with that? And how about the big tax increases coming in January when Obamacare gets fully instituted? Are we going to have those tax increases on top of the fiscal cliff tax increases?

What is Obama's big plan?

[SpringCreekFarm]

I guess you guys are just wrong. You sound ridiculous actually. Always have.

[WildRose]

Prime Minister Harper would rather have seen Romney elected, I'm sure.

But not this canuck - I'm very pleased with Obama's re-election.

[SeaGypsy]

As a long time expat American; this is a good thing. Obamacare is messy and could have been done a lot better, but socializing medicine is just plain correct. Next term how about deleting the waste?

[EdwinSm]

Four years ago I would have said that Obama would be a one term president. With the economy in the mess it was when he took over it seemed clear that the increasing unemployment and economic fall out would make him too unpopular to be re-elected.

I thought that Obama was being given the poisoned cup - and that after 4 years of economic problems the Republicans would sweep then board in this election. I was wrong! Maybe this is because the double-dip has not yet arrived in the States, or it could be that there are not enough angry young white males to elect a Republican President.

[SeaGypsy]

I think too little credit is given to the wisdom of ordinary Americans on this site. Maybe people are starting to realize the perpetual growth game is over and it's time now to vote on key policy rather than spin, per-se. IMO health care is the key to Obama's re-election, plus a less gung-ho approach to starting wars. Most people by now would know someone whose life has been ruined by essentially useless wars started by the GOP and someone else ruined by the pre-obamacare medical insurance system. When you have family or friends destroyed by policy, it makes you think about those policies, not so much about complete spin based rhetoric about "12 million new jobs" or whatever.

[WildRose]

I think too little credit is given to the wisdom of ordinary Americans on this site. Maybe people are starting to realize the perpetual growth game is over and it's time now to vote on key policy rather than spin, per-se. IMO health care is the key to Obama's re-election, plus a less gung-ho approach to starting wars. Most people by now would know someone whose life has been ruined by essentially useless wars started by the GOP and someone else ruined by the pre-obamacare medical insurance system. When you have family or friends destroyed by policy, it makes you think about those policies, not so much about complete spin based rhetoric about "12 million new jobs" or whatever.

I think you nailed it, SeaGypsy. The people who voted for Obama are tired of seeing the growing gap between rich and poor, did not go for Romney's plan to reduce taxes to the rich even though they are at almost record lows. The industrial heartland was won by Obama; that says a lot about what those people need. Add to that the health-care issue (which Romney wanted to scrap) and the fact that women did not want to go back to the stone age with regards to the abortion issue, and the Republicans appear to be really out of touch with the changing demographic in the nation. Not everyone is a rich, old, white man, nor do they want to be.

[rockdoc123]

Again, not living there so don't have a great understanding but it seems to me based on several comments here from Obama supporters, that side of America is interested in the free handouts without any compensatory suffering (i.e. hard work).
With a tanked economy (Obama has done nothing whatsoever to improve what was a bad situation, it is clear he doesn't know how) where is the money going to come from for the bigger government, improved health care etc? The idea that you can somehow tax the rich without any consequences is absolutely absurd. How do you think jobs are created? Government spending with this intention has been an absolute failure through the past 4 years, why would the next 4 be any different? If business owners are suddenly confronted with higher personal and business taxes how will that inspire them to hire more people? What would keep the wealthy in the US from simply moving their money offshore and perhaps just packing up and moving their entire families to an investment friendly jurisdiction? In what way does this help business grow? Have you had a look at the markets today? The Obama pro press are trying to explain this away as being all due to Europe or other external factors but to my mind it isn't just a coincidence the market dropped broadly across all sectors right after the election, regardless of some good third quarter reports coming in. Oil is down nearly 5% even though the build in inventories is less than predicted. It seems to me the message is the market sees no improvement in the economy coming down the pipe given the election results.
Again where is that money coming from to supply you with all of those wonderful promises from Obama?

[seahorse3]

This election wasn't based on economics. Americans could see there wasn't any difference between the two on economics. Everyone in the world knows the US won't stop spending regardless of who is in power. Republicans never have. They are not fiscally conservative, only morally conservative, and Americans are tired of that moral crap Republicans espouse like that Republican Senator saying there is "legit rape" or the other who rape is "God's Will" (thank God the Americans weren't stupid to elect those two clowns either). So, Romney aligned himself with a lack of morality and paid the price.

As for Romney, what has he done for his country? Nothing. On the moral side, he never served his country. All those conservative ass clowns that want strong military never spent a day in the military. People see through the bs. Romney has several sons, none of whom served. In fact, back in 2008, when asked if any of his sons planned on fighting, he gave the typical Cheney answer "they have better things to do." Really, what higher calling than to serve your country? It's bs and people see through it.

In the end, the only difference between the two, after Romney backtracked on healthcare and said he would keep the provisions he liked, was nothing. The only difference was that Obama is ok with gays, Romney wasn't. Obama, like Clinton, as least espouses the American dream that even a child from a broken home can one day be President. Romney just shows that it still takes more than riding your daddy's coat tails to get elected.

The moral majority won.

[dinopello]

What would keep the wealthy in the US from simply moving their money offshore and perhaps just packing up and moving their entire families to an investment friendly jurisdiction?

Absolutely nothing is keeping our Bazillionaires in Greenwich, Conn. from packing up and moving wherever they please. Nothing at all.

Where do you think they will go to ? I will buy land there.

Actually, I think the opposite is going to happen (and would happen with Romney or Obama) and that is a lot of overseas money is going to be brought back into the US because the US is the best place to invest.

[Lore]

If people care more about their money then country, then I say please go somewhere else. Specially when there are young men and women willing to lay down their lives for it.

[Pops]

I think this might be informative:
How Conservative Media Lost to the MSM and Failed the Rank and File

Conservatives were at an information disadvantage because so many right-leaning outlets wasted time on stories the rest of America dismissed as nonsense. WorldNetDaily brought you birtherism. Forbes brought you Kenyan anti-colonialism. National Review obsessed about an imaginary rejection of American exceptionalism, misrepresenting an Obama quote in the process, and Andy McCarthy was interviewed widely about his theory that Obama, aka the Drone Warrior in Chief, allied himself with our Islamist enemies in a "Grand Jihad" against America. Seriously?

Conservatives were at a disadvantage because their information elites pandered in the most cynical, self-defeating ways, treating would-be candidates like Sarah Palin and Herman Cain as if they were plausible presidents rather than national jokes who'd lose worse than George McGovern.

Read the article but this from the comments by Walter Hall is good:

This is the most salient point: "the conservative movement is now led by Fox and Limbaugh". The Republican Party is now centered in a media universe that thrives on outrage and self-induced hysteria. You don't get ratings by emphasizing restraint and nuance. You get ratings by creating an "us vs them" world where the other side isn't merely wrong but evil.

I think the key thing to understand about US politics and conservatives in particular is how large is the business that has grown around pandering to their baser instincts. Not saying that liberals don't have baser instincts but Democrats aren't homogenous. Republicans are the remnants of the group that ran things here for a long time. That includes upper class whites who've always been Republicans of course but since the 60's also poor whites who in the past got to send coloreds to the back of the bus but since the Dems went all Civil Rights back in the 60's have switched to the right.

Unfortunately there are a lot of moderate conservatives, the majority actually, who don't hold those extreme views and I feel sorry for them because the current say anything, denigrate the opposition, scorched earth claptrap is a disservice to them.

[careinke]

As a long time expat American; this is a good thing. Obamacare is messy and could have been done a lot better, but socializing medicine is just plain correct. Next term how about deleting the waste?

Socialized medicine does have a lot of advantages. I feel the biggest advantage would be for people who want to start their own small business or change jobs. It gives you the freedom to change jobs without having to worry about being trapped in a job you no longer like, but have to stay, in order to keep your family covered.

Unfortunately, Obamacare is not socialized medicine. It is a subsidy for the insurance industry.

If you really wanted universal healthcare, you would establish a "Health Force", with a structure similar to the military.

Of course you would have to overcome the drug industry, the insurance industry, and lawyers to ever make it happen.

[Keith_McClary]

What would keep the wealthy in the US from simply moving their money offshore and perhaps just packing up and moving their entire families to an investment friendly jurisdiction?

They could go to some tax haven island that enjoys US military protection without contributing to the cost. If there is a coup or pirate invasion, Commander in Chief Obama will come riding to the rescue. They hope. They would still have to find somewhere investment friendly to invest their money.

Or they could move where their money is invested. Which investment friendly industrialized countries would you suggest? All those I can think of have serious disadvantages.

[Pops]

What would keep the wealthy in the US from simply moving their money offshore

Nothing, just like Romney, they do that now, the plan is to make the US the banana republic with no taxes.

[Plantagenet]

Actually, taxes are set to drastically increase.

Going over the fiscal cliff will result in the repeal of the "Bush tax cuts" and Obama's social security tax cut. Those are both tax increases. And the AMT exclusion will go, resulting in large income tax increases for many people.

That will be followed by new Obamacare taxes in January, including taxes on middle class people who have healthcare through their employers and new taxes on the rest of the middle class to buy Obamacare. There are also much higher taxes on profits from house sales, stock sales, etc.

And, of course, there is Obama's 2012 campaign pledge to raise income taxes on the "rich" which in practice may hit families earning down to ca. 200k/yr.