UNITED STATES - Barack Obama has taken the White House and John McCain has conceded defeat. Obama won 52% of the popular vote.McCain encouraged Americans to set aside their differences and work together for the betterment of the United States.
Numbers are still coming in but right now:
OBAMA: 62,983,132 votes.
MCCAIN: 55,786,766 votes.
McCain's defeat can be blamed on a variety of factors:
#1. Sarah PalinHis last minute and rather poor choice of the Alaska governor, who ended up being a hindrance to his campaign was an attempt to win more female votes following the popularity of Hillary Clinton. Palin's various gaffes, her daughter Bristol's pregnancy and shotgun wedding, the prank call from two Quebec comediens, the Saturday Night Live spoof, Troopergate, the Hustler spoof, and a slew of other scandals. Sarah Palin's magnetism for scandals ended up making her a negative to McCain's campaign.
#2. Bush Clone
McCain failed to distance himself from the policies of George W. Bush. His stance on America's recession and economic failures, on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a possible war with nuclear power Iran, and his stance on free health care in America ended up drawing more people to Obama on the issues.
#3. Poor Health
McCain's age (72) and experience ended up being a negative. He seems to be going senile in his old age and his health isn't spectacular. The possibility McCain might kick the bucket suddenly and leave extremist Sarah Palin in power scared quite a few Americans.
Obama meanwhile had a number of things running in his favour:
#1. Large TurnoutRecord numbers of young Americans and Afro-Americans turned out to vote in this election, spurred by Obama's promises of Hope, Change and YES WE CAN and the possibility of making American history. Voter turnout in some states were 80%, a number which hasn't been seen in a hundred years.
#2. Good Policies
Obama's eloquent words on the economy, on solving the wars in the Middle East, bringing US troops home from overseas, on the environment, fix the broken American health care system and making sure people knew he was running to change things in a positive way.
#3. Polls
The polls were predicting Obama would win 280 to McCain's 258. Poll results can make a big difference to lending support to a candidate, although its not the be-all-end-all because polls and actual votes can vary wildly because of low voter turnout.
#4. No Gaffes or Scandals
Obama ran a flawless campaign. He had no gaffes, no scandals and the only things against him was a name that sounded like Osama, his skin colour, bullshit rumours that he was a Muslim when in reality he's a church-going Christian and more lies that he's a communist, a jew, a socialist and terrorist sympathizer. Evidently American voters saw through these lies and saw the leader he truly is.
NOTES:
#1. When America's troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan they will be bringing home approx. 6 years worth of combat pay. They will be buying homes, cars, new TVs and computers, entering the workforce, starting small businesses or going to university. This will be a HUGE economic stimulus to America. The same thing happened after WWII when American troops came home from overseas, the economy started booming.
#2. Its nice to know Americans have voted based on Obama's character, and not just the colour of his skin.
#3. The Democrats also had a fabulous night, winning a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This will be a boom to Obama who will be able to pass laws and make changes faster with Senate and House support.
80% turnout in some states? Where did you find that? This resource:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nonprofitvote.org/voterturnout2008
shows that a few states had turnout about 70%, but none above 80%. Plus, the state with the highest turnout, Minnesota with 78.5%, was roundly criticized for having same-day registration, which was widely credited for helping elect Jesse Ventura as governor way back when.