The Final US Election Thread

[CountArach]

TBH... that's entirely true.

[CountArach]

I have to say it.

HOW IN THE HELL IS SENATOR TUBES STEVENS STILL WINNING!?!?!

[Kagemusha]

Congratulations to US for getting a new president. Hopefully all the neocons and their unilateralistic policies will be thrown in the garbage and the new US government will turn the country back to US into the US, which the rest of the world has become used to know and love. Hopefully this change will also remedy the trans atlantic relations so US and EU can work together to fight off the world wide depression and any other threats glooming in the horizon. Hopefully this will mean real change.

[naut]

I have to say it.

HOW IN THE HELL IS SENATOR TUBES STEVENS STILL WINNING!?!?!

Well, despite the charges against him he's still a respected figure there. Plus the "Palin effect" probably has something to do with it.

[Andres]

Okay, this is really petty, but the theological/grammatical side of me is really pleased when a politician uses the correct formulation: "May God continue to bless the United States of America," as opposed to "God bless America." You're not pretending to know God's will, you're just saying that you hope God will look favorably on your nation.

A minor quibble, but it drives me nuts when politicos get it wrong.

-edit-

Just to make it crystal clear: the inclusion of the word "may" is what sets the correct version apart from the idiot version.

But when he uses "May God continue to bless...", he also pretends to know God's will, namely God's will in the past, since by using "continue to bless", he implies that God is blessing America now and has been blessing it in the past.

I think the correct version should be "May God bless the United States of America".

[Xiahou]

I have to say it.

HOW IN THE HELL IS SENATOR TUBES STEVENS STILL WINNING!?!?!

Well, were I in Alaska, I'd probably vote for him with the knowledge/hope that once he goes to jail and resigns, Palin will get to appoint his replacement.

[CountArach]

I just... am so amazed that anyone could vote for a man who is a convicted felon... I mean... seriously... it boggles my mind...

[Ronin]

Congrats to America on your new president..

and a deep thank you for keeping that woman out of the oval office....you can actually hear the world give a sigh of relief.

[Pannonian]

A final pre-bed thought: I know the odds were always low that the Dems would achieve the magic 60 in the Senate, but still I'm glad they didn't get it. That would have been too much temptation for any party. Which is not to say that they may not already have too much temptation, what with holding both houses of Congress and the Executive. But I have some degree of faith that President-elect Obama will whip his unruly party into line and get them doing something productive.

Forcing the Dems to move their party headquarters to Chicago was a masterstroke.

Can you explain to a Brit?

[CountArach]

Can you explain to a Brit?

Washington is full of people who have distinct ideas about how to win an election and about how things should be done. Chicago on the other hand, is underutilised by campaigns as it has a lot of very highly educated professionals (lawyers, etc) who can give a fresh perspective on things. Plus it borders on Indiana, which apparently helped.

[OverKnight]

If Stevens wins and then resigns, Palin could appoint herself as his replacement, correct?

Whilly stunningly Machiavellian, I could see it happening.

As for electing convicted felons: I give you a local Massachusetts folk hero:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Michael_Curley

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He served in various municipal offices and one term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1902-1903). He is noted for having been elected to the Board of Aldermen in 1904 while in prison, having been convicted of fraud. Curley and an associate, Thomas Curley (no relation) took the civil service exams for postmen for two men in their district to help them get the jobs with the federal government. Though the incident gave him a dark reputation in respectable circles, it aided his image in working class or poor circles because they saw him as a man willing to stick his neck out to help a poor man.

. . .Curley's popularity within Boston remained high – despite even a felony indictment in 1943 for influence peddling, which stemmed from his involvement with a consulting firm seeking to secure defense contracts. On the slogan "Curley Gets Things Done" he won an unprecedented fourth term as mayor of Boston in 1945. A federal jury then found him guilty of the felony charges, but he remained mayor even after he entered a federal penitentiary in 1947, serving until 1949.

In 1947, during his last mayoral term, he was convicted for a second time on federal charges of official misconduct, including mail fraud. He spent five months in jail during this term, but still retained a considerable degree of popularity with the working classes. Out of political expediency and because of pressure from the Massachusetts congressional delegation, President Harry Truman pardoned him, enabling his release.

He was a corrupt politician, but he was their corrupt politician. I'm sure the same thinking applies in Alaska.

[Beirut]

Yeah baby!

God bless the United States of America!

[Hosakawa Tito]

Can you explain to a Brit?

The "magic 60" refers to a filibuster-proof majority of 60 Senate seats and would virtually prevent the minority opposition party from blocking legislation on the Senate floor.

Definition of filibuster: The legislative tactic of delaying a vote on a controversial matter through protracted debate. A tool occasionally used by the minority party in the US Senate where unlimited debate can be ended only by a successful cloture vote.

Not putting words into Lemur's mouth, but what he means is that he'd rather not see the Democratic Party majority have unopposed power to ramrod their agenda through the House & Senate without having to "reach across the aisle" to the Republican Party minority. Legislate by consensus and deference, not by fiat.

I agree with Lem. This kind of legislative dominance really brings out the dark side of political human nature and partisanship.


GLAD TO SEE YOU BEIRUT!!!

[Beirut]

You too, Hosa.

Couldn't pass the day without a hello to my American friends on this incredible day.

Excelsior! I think the whole world is happy today.

[InsaneApache]

Yeah baby!

God bless the United States of America!

I concur. Congratulations to the Democrats, commiserations to the GOP. Fascinating to follow from the 'right' side of the pond.

BTW. Nice to see you around Beirut. You've been missed.

[CountArach]

BTW. Nice to see you around Beirut. You've been missed.

Yeah IA said it. I hope your life is shaping up as you have wanted.

[LittleGrizzly]

Ahh my favourite middle eastern place, your wit and intelligence has been greatly missed!

[Hooahguy]

well, obama is our new president.
now i wonder if ill keep my job.......
(the buisness i work for is one of those "big" small buisnesses that obama promised to raise taxes on.
but now, IMO, obama built himself up so high and promised so much, i dont think half of what he said will be carried out.
anyhow, obamaran a great campaign and i congradulate him and his supporters. may the next 4 years be prosperous for everyone.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Hey Beirut, wonderful to see you popping by. You have been hugely missed.

[PBI]

So I was wondering, what exactly happens next? Am I right in thinking that although the election is over, Obama will not actually be in power until he is sworn in in January, so the next two months all he will be doing is to decide what he will do once he does take power?

I.e., if there is a big crisis in the next month, it will still be Bush's job to deal with it, not Obama's?

Apologies if these are silly questions, it's just that in the UK power changes hands quite quickly after an election so it seems a bit odd that in the US there is a two-month delay; I wasn't sure whether this is purely a ceremonial thing and Obama, although not technically President yet, has actual control between now and January.

And as others have said, it is great to see you again Beirut.

[seireikhaan]

Nice to see the friendly, neighborhood lumberjack. Welcome back Beirut, even if only for a moment!

[Ice]

At least the election is over. Now I won't be harassed daily by Obama people asking me if I have voted or who i am voting for on the way to work.

Oh yeah, glad the marijuana thing passed in Michigan. One more state thumbing their noses at the Feds.

[Lemur]

An interesting take over at Beliefnet:

1. The modern conservative movement began with the crushing defeat of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. The modern conservative movement ends with the crushing defeat of Arizona Sen. John McCain -- who took Goldwater's Senate seat upon his retirement -- in the 2008 presidential race.
2. Modern liberalism began its implosion with riots in Chicago's Grant Park at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Tonight, modern liberalism is reborn at Chicago's Grant Park, where a black Chicago Democrat will celebrate winning the presidency.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

At least the election is over. Now I won't be harassed daily by Obama people asking me if I have voted or who i am voting for on the way to work.

Oh yeah, glad the marijuana thing passed in Michigan. One more state thumbing their noses at the Feds.

Well, they aren't thumbing their nose at the feds anymore


Interesting tidbits:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581

* The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.
* On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers—Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons—met to decide whether to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."
* The Obama campaign's New Media experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"—the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day—to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.
* Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.
* McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a campaign issue. The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).
* Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Sen. Joe Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.
* McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing the GOP nominee with former Alabama governor George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters," and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.
* On the night she officially lost the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a long and friendly phone conversation with McCain. Clinton was actually on better terms with McCain than she was with Obama. Clinton and McCain had downed shots together on Senate junkets; they regarded each other as grizzled veterans of the political wars and shared a certain disdain for Obama as flashy and callow.
* At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys' club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.
* The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I -------- changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today.

At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved.

Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.) A security firm retained by the Obama campaign took steps to secure its computer system and end the intrusion. White House and FBI officials had no comment earlier this week.

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

A Palin aide said: "Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin."

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

[Andres]

Good to see you again, Beirut

[Seamus Fermanagh]

So I was wondering, what exactly happens next? Am I right in thinking that although the election is over, Obama will not actually be in power until he is sworn in in January, so the next two months all he will be doing is to decide what he will do once he does take power?

I.e., if there is a big crisis in the next month, it will still be Bush's job to deal with it, not Obama's?

Apologies if these are silly questions, it's just that in the UK power changes hands quite quickly after an election so it seems a bit odd that in the US there is a two-month delay; I wasn't sure whether this is purely a ceremonial thing and Obama, although not technically President yet, has actual control between now and January.

And as others have said, it is great to see you again Beirut.

Nice to hear from you tree-killer!


PBI, you are correct to wonder. Technically, President-Elect Obama was not elected last night. US citizens chose a massive slate of electors who are committed to vote for Obama in the College of Electors. This College will meet in December and cast the actual votes that will name Barack H. Obama President of the USA. However, that vote will not be certified until 6 January 2009 as -- mandated by the Constitution -- the first item of business for the new Congress. Only then will Obama have been elected President. In practice, however, it is a done deal and he will take a week off to recover and then begin his transition to power.

President Bush will continue to exercise all of the Presidency]s executive powers until Noon on 20 January 2009. He will then, in that moment, have no powers other than those possessed by any other ordinary citizen. In practice, however, the "lame duck" President wields very limited influence and carries little weight in any role aside from Commander in Chief. He can still sign executive orders and issue sweeping pardons, but the incumbent's ability to influence the agenda of events is very limited. The outgoing President usually works with the President-elect to promote a smooth transition, but not always. I would predict that George Bush will be very supportive and helpful to Obama -- though the Obama team may prefer to thank him for that effort but do things a different way.

The President-elects influence over things begins immediately -- he will be consulted in all things -- but his power to make decisions etc. will not begin until January. No appointment he makes, no directive he issues, no order he signs is valid as a Presidential order until his innauguration. However, the informal power he wields as the up-and-coming leader and his influence over his party's agenda and the decisions made in Congress in the "lame duck" session start immediately.

Be happy, though. In the old days, the innauguration was on 4 March!

[PBI]

Thanks for the concise yet complete answer Seamus.

[Lemur]

Wow, if you want to see the textbook definition of "bitter," just spend some time reading the NRO's reactions today.

I extend my congratulations mainly in the same sense that elderly British veterans of my acquaintance like to express their admiration of the marvelously innovative ways their Japanese captors found to torture them. The President-elect ran rings round our side, and found many novel ways to torture us.

[Prince Cobra]

For me the struggle for the President post was over before it began. It was quite obvious Obama will win (mainly because of the financial chaos in USA)... As far as Bush failure in the foreign policy, his reelection made me think most of the Amercians vote not for foreign policy but for better internal policy... McCain could not persuade most of the voters in better future with the Republicans(how could he in this crisis??) so I think it was quite clear who would win... I do not expect wonders but I am inquisitive what the first steps of the new US President will be.

[Fragony]

I am inquisitive what the first steps of the new US President will be.

Won't be long before he is tested, Russia, missile shield, probably hot talk in the Kremlin as I write this

Anyway congrats america a black president that is quite something. I hope it will be for the best and not kick back with a desillusioned vengeance.