Obama wins 2nd term
 

According to NBC,

Obama wins his 2nd term thanks to Ohio.

I Want to remind everyone to keep this as civil as possible.

Did anyone NOT think he would win?

I thought it was fairly obvious he would win.

Given Romney's basically saying how everyone middle class and below were 'bums' and many other things he shouldn't have said, it's not surprising.
I'm not a fan of either side. In fact, this year's election was probably the most insane, in your face, annoying one in a long time.

Incoming Transmission...

I've never really cared enough to vote. I know it sounds horrible but it's just something I don't want to deal with and without taking the time to research either candidate or the issues at hand I feel like an uninformed vote is worse than no vote at all. In exchange, I waive my right to complain about anything the president does, who wins, etc. I simply adapt to whatever changes in life the presidency throws my way. -and to anyone who disagrees with me, I'd defend to the death your right to say whatever about me you'd like but keep in mind that people died for my right not just to vote, but for my freedom to choose not to if so I desire.

A wise Autobot once said that freedom is the right of all sentient beings.

Congratulations to Obama, his supporters and to everyone that voted for him! :tgrin:

(In an unrelated note, post 15 and upgraded to Random Punk! Hoo-ray!)

End Transmission.

I hope everyone sees ohio as victems! We have been hounded like know other. Every other commercial is about politics..... :cry:

I can not wait until this election crap is over. I am tired of hearing politians bad mouthing each other. It makes me sick to see the politics of this nations come down to high school tactis, pretty much a popularity contest....

I just want to return to a state of normallacy. I just hope we get out of this recession and I dont care who does it.

Well, considering that there has been hardly any changes in the makeup of the federal government since before the election, it's pretty obvious what sort of normalcy we're going to get for the next four years... :trazz:

Pretty sure he means "No more political ads! HOORAY!" when he speaks of normalcy.

And that makes me pretty happy.

Grats to Obama :) i would prefer him than our Julia Gillard. :x

No doubt. I was sick of them in August....

Congratulations to Obama and his supporters. Change is never immediate and requires hard work to see it through, glad Obama has longer to plant the seeds needed to get the country back on track.

I thought you hated America, based on previous posts?

And true leftists despise him more than any conservatives do.

Just a guy. I'm with those who are of the "this election season sucked and gave me a f*cking headache". The entire problem with a two-party system is that if you genuinely dislike both choices before you, people bully and force you to "Pick a side" and "make your voice heard" while telling you "Every vote counts!" and the old chestnut, "If you don't vote you have no right to complain!"

That's bullsh*t, I and everyone else has a right to complain about whoever and whatever we damn well please, and if our honest opinion is "Neither guy's worth voting for", that counts for even more than someone else's "lesser of two evils" half-hearted lip-service vote. At least my dislike and disinterest in both guys is genuine; a lot of people who vote only do it because someone tells them they have to or they're "bad" or "ignorant". Way too much like religion for me.

Obama's incapable of "fixing" anything aside from a TV interview, and Romney beat himself the second he opened his mouth. Both guys and their cronies are guilty as hell of saying anything and everything to distract people from the only thing that matters: Neither one of 'em has any clue how to fix the economy, partly because they're both really, really incompetent in that area. Think about this for a second: Did you ever in your life think you'd see a bunch of rich guys in suits - people who aspire to run this country, mind you - making public speeches for MONTHS about women and their reproductive rights? As if that's the issue crippling America right now. THAT is how far they all were willing to go, to avoid discussing the fact that unemployment is really 15% or more when you count the homeless and people whose unemployment benefits ran out a long time ago, and that none of 'em have a clue how to fix it. Pretty damn sad.

The best news of all is that if Chris Christie runs next election, he wins. Neither party can or should keep the Presidency for more than 8 straight years, not since the Reagan/Bush Dynasty. People are more cynical nowadays of one party staying in power for that long uninterrupted. Whoever the Republican candidate is in the next election, they're almost guaranteed a win; the last two elections, Democrats ran virtually unopposed (although I still maintain that if McCain had left Palin at home, he would have won in '08 and we'd all be a lot better off than we are now). If Christie runs, there are NO Democrats on the radar capable of beating him, except Hillary, and I think most people have figured her out by now. If the aftermath of the next four years is that we get Christie in 2016, it'll all be for the best.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

As far as the "no vote, no complain" comment, I think it's spot on. I've endured all kinds of hazing because I do choose to exercise my rights. Think I'm a "sheep" for going out to cast a vote? Sheep are skitish herd animals that pretty much just go along with wherever the herd takes them. Sounds like non voters to me. No opinion....just take what comes.

I don't care which way you lean or vote.....but think of all the sacrifices and wars and marches that have occured in history to allow us to have the right to choose our leaders. That's a rare thing in this world.

I vote to honor the men and women who believed I should have my chance to say who I want to represent me. In my mind, you are spitting on all their hard work if you choose not to vote and just go wherever the herd takes you.

I can honestly respect someone who says, "I'm not voting because NONE of these candidates really represents me."

Why does abstaining from the vote because the "big 2" party candidates aren't what you want make you a sheep? That's going against the herd, not going with it.

I'd love to finally be able to vote FOR someone, rather than holding my noes and voting AGAINST the other guy just to fulfill my "civic duty."

Well then I guess you're forced to respect me, Jester. What is the world coming to? :trazz:

Forced too? Sir, I respect both you and Leo. Always have. Leo and I disagree on a lot, but he's probably the best there is at telling you exactly what he thinks.

100% agreed, Jester. Freedom and respect is about making a choice, and more importantly, making your OWN choice. People did NOT fight and die so people could be given two options they genuinely dislike and be told "pick one or you're no good". I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who feels that is how democracy and/or freedom of expression works. I don't endorse or speak out in favor of anyone or anything I don't trust, approve, or believe in. Period. To vote under the current circumstances would be me betraying my honesty, and I refuse to ever do that. Especially not for a politician, of all things. For 3 and 1/2 years, we all always talk about how they're nothing but a bunch of selfish, greedy, lying corporate criminals, but then 6 months before an election people act like the sky's gonna fall if Their Guy loses, when those same people spend all the time blaming politicians and CEOs for all their problems. What kind of logic is that?

Fact: Me and my family are NOT better off than we were four years ago. That's not Obama or Romney's specific fault, but since they all try to make it about that, "Are you better off now than you were then?", I have to give an honest answer: NO. So there goes one choice. And Mitt Romney did everything he could to prove he's incompetent at best and a complete phony at worst. So there goes the other choice. And sadly, nobody who isn't one of The Big Two is allowed to win, so voting for a third party candidate is like a tree falling in the empty woods.

For me, having to choose between Barack Obama, a more or less fabricated creation of the media who made way too many promises and followed through on roughly none, or Mitt Romney, a crooked CEO who proved he would say anything at all regardless of how made-up or contrary it was to his own prior statements, well, that's no choice at all.

When someone comes along who I feel isn't completely full of it, I might be more active. For now, as I said, my right to abstain is equally important as your right to vote. I also don't pick a religious affiliation, although plenty of people have fought and died for my right to practice any faith I choose. I choose my own faith, and that faith doesn't include faith in politicians.

I also don't watch the Oscars or the Super Bowl. I'm truly an awful, awful person, I guess, me and my Genuine Disinterest in things others care oh so much about. And it's not that I'm disinterested in politics, I actually enjoy following and discussing them quite a bit, but I also feel like politics is the New Religion of the 21st Century, and it seriously disturbs me how deeply serious people seem to take it. It's not healthy. At all. People hero-worship Obama like he's their personal Jesus, and I've lost track of how many Facebook posts I've read calling Mitt Romney "The Devil". Neither guy is either, one's a Harvard law school grad and the other's a crooked CEO. Neither one of them has anything in common with you or me at all, and if you think they do, well... that's your problem, not mine. Neither one deserves to win American Idol, let alone try and run this country.

And by "Run the country", I really mean "do whatever the tobacco and pharmaceutical companies tell them to do," since they buy off all the elected officials and judges anyways. You think those corporations spend BILLIONS a year on Washington lobbyists because they want to see "Change"?

The system is broken and corrupt, and that's not an opinion, that's a fact. I will observe and comment on it, research and debate it, analyze and deconstruct and even criticize it, but I will NOT participate unless my support is going to someone who deserves it. THAT is the right to freedom of expression, the right to say "F*ck it, both these guys are idiots and I'm staying home and making tacos." Which were delicious, by the way.

If anyone firmly feels either candidate has their best interests at heart and decides to vote for them, in this or any election, terrific. That's their right to participate. And they all also have the same right to say they don't care, that they don't want to have to eventually answer for the mistakes Their Guy may make in the future if he turns out to be a joke. Freedom of expression includes NOT pushing your agenda on other people. Expressing an agenda is one thing; telling them they have no opinion because they don't think the same as you is another thing entirely.

And Jester: I'd honestly have to think long and hard to come up with any disagreements we've had about anything, difference of opinion, maybe, but that ain't no thang. The #1 thing I'm always telling everyone is it's ok to have an opinion as long as it's sincere and not just making noise. People aren't supposed to agree on everything, that's friggin' boring.

I voted for Gary Johnson this year. Was hoping to see him get enough of the popular vote so that the Libertarian Party could have access to federal funding in 4 years, and in turn make enough noise in the polls to be able to take part in the debates.

I called it. I knew Obama would get in because the election's rigged. I didn't vote because, like Leo, I wasn't interested in either party. I don't like politics at all and feel that the politicians are just liars and crooks. And if you voted for Romney, guess what? It didn't count, did it? Politics is a waste of time, and I refuse to vote for a bunch of liars and crooks who really don't care about the American people. If that makes me a bad person, so be it. I'd rather not vote at all than to get sucked into all the sh*t that the idiots spout. If you want to do that, go ahead, but I'm not going to.

And I can express my views all I want if someone asks me. I'm not going to out and out complain because this is the way it is. America has spoken, and we can't do anything about it. Everyone just needs to take it in stride and roll with the punches instead of b*tching that their candidate didn't get in. And we all know that's what's going to happen. That's what my dad's doing.

As someone in a country where voting is compulsory, I think you're crazy not to. I think sometimes it's not about how much better off you could be as how much worse you could be off. Sad but true. Thus the voting for the lesser of two evils.

Here, though, there is a lot less religious fanaticism involved in politics- actually virtually none. And there is nothing, nothing like the spectacle of American politics in voting season. I could see how it could be exhausting having to put up with that.

The economies problem is something no president could fix right away. I don't blame Obama because anyone in his place wouldn't have done any better.

Remembering the Reagan Presidency, I beg to differ. He fixed it long before four years; it's gotten worse under Obama, and shows little if any sign of improvement.

As for "lesser of two evils"; there have been plenty of elections where one candidate claims that they're going to be better and change things and don't. That doesn't mean voters will necessarily stick with the incumbent as a result. For example, the current president of Cook County, Illinois, campaigned as a reformer, but proved to be just a blowhard. I'm still glad to be rid of the old one though (as most voters were).

I really don't get that "The person you voted for didn't win! So it's a giant waste of time forever and you should never vote again." mentality. It's called a democracy. It's the most balanced system you could possibly have.

Whatever. Don't vote. Whatever floats your boat but that is the stupidest and most childish reason I've ever heard.

I thought the whole campaign on both sides was a drag. I love this country though. And I love my state a little bit more. (Most Texans do)

I love how Doc thinks it's crazy that he was President!

-ms

I didn't see the "Back To The Future" movies, if that is what the clip is from.

I wish THIS wasn't a stipulation to even be in the debates. It only perpetuates the 2 party, "Lesser of Two Evils," system....

Chris Matthews credits Obama's victory in part to Sandy. That's an example of someone who takes politics way too seriously.

Chris Matthews is the Lefts answer to Sean Hannity.

Both make me wanna face palm.

What? Those statements make no sense together.

Left or right, as a fellow blond, I am ashamed of Chris Matthews.

As a brunette, Sean Hannity brings shame to us all.

I usually don't vote because I care very little about the politic parties (to put it nicely) we have in Norway. Screw choosing lesser evil, it's better with the devil you know. Well it's better with no devil at all.

as for the US election, I'd rather see Obama in the seat as one of the world's most powerful people them Romney.

Cool. I thought Obama had little chance with all the hate I keep hearing, but I guess I forgot that I live in the south. Personally, I had no preference.

I'm just glad we kept the pro-marriage equality candidate. Many members of my family are LGBT people, so its been very disheartening for a political party that I once supported to try and do everything to hurt my family (not to mention the elderly and sick relatives who are benefited from the Affordable Care Act)

Peter Laird posted his thoughts:

Having seen what Obama accomplished in the past four years, it wasn't the Romney voters who were guilty of lies and stupidity.

I've always found the "there's no one good to vote for, so I don't vote," argument to be a cop out. Maybe it's different in other states/commonwealths, but here in Mass we have the option to write in anyone we want in any election.

Don't like who is on the ballot, then write in No Confidence. It sends a message that you showed up, participated, and still didn't find anyone worth backing.

If enough people did this it might get through the parties' thick skulls that there are more people in this country than their respective loony fringe.

But it'll probably never happen. Just like we'll never see the 75% voter turn out for any other election in the next three years. Which is sad, the local elections are the most important ones.

At any rate, I'm pleased with most of the outcome of yesterday's election.