Hard News: History is now
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Ah well, the demographic trends are fairly stark - old people voted overwhelmingly against, people under 30 voted overwhelmingly for.
Really? Or did you get that the wrong way round?
Put it on the ballot again in 5 or 10 years and they'll be able to repeal the amendment.
And if the exit polls cited here, perhaps "they" need to start doing some straight talking about minority homophobia:
According to exit polls, whites opposed the amendment 53-47. But blacks supported it 70-30, and Latinos supported it 51-49. The polls have blacks at 10 percent of the electorate for this issue, with Latinos at 19 percent and whites at 63 percent. (Asians, at six percent, opposed the proposition 53-47.)
Know hope. Unless you're a committed faggot or dyke couple in California. You can either sit at the back of the bus or lie under the wheels.
But please not, Eddie, I'm not bitching about the California Constitution. I'd have been quite happy with it, if the result was marriage equality by four points. I can't complain when the results aren't to my liking. You can campaign for change, but what you've also got to do is work with what you've got right now.
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jose said:
Did anyone else think Obama's speech was a bit lame? As in it could have been any speech during his campaign?
yup. i was not engaged at all until he got to the bob the builder bit.
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Did anyone else think Obama's speech was a bit lame? As in it could have been any speech during his campaign?
Except maybe the bits where he talked about being president.
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Neither man exactly produced "I have a dream"/'We will fight them on the beaches"/"Four-score and seven years ago..." level oratory. But I don't think that's what was required.
Yes. An acceptance speech is not too dissimilar from an Oscar speech, except they don't start the music halfway through it. You guys may want to wait until his inauguration speech for the rhetorical fireworks.
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You guys may want to wait until his inauguration speech for the rhetorical fireworks.
Bring it on!
Roll the turkey out by Thanksgiving! -
I think he was on verbal auto-pilot. The poor man looked so exhausted; at the very end of the speech he was even slurring some of his words, and he's usually so crisp.
I am hoping that he gets a chance to modulate a bit more in the inauguration speech, y'know? Changing his volume and (appealing but metronomic) rhythm for the bit about the 106 year old voter would have been a really nice touch.
But who am I to criticise; it's been a really long two years for him. I just hope he's taking a break today!
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Sorry if this is repeat info, but I cant be assed reading the ~200 posts that came in since I last looked...
A few of you were interested in the details of the demographic break-down from exit polls....
The fourteen slide graphic on the front page of www.nytimes.com/ called "the changes in the map" has some really interesting info, including demographic voter swings for several of the states that went to Obama after rejecting Kerry in 2004.
It's really interesting stuff... In Florida, whites voted only 1% more Dem than 2004, but black and hispanic voters swung it over..... while in New Mexico it was a massive white swing from 2004 that made the difference... In one swing state, race didnt appear such an issue, but people earning over $50k changed their votes, while in another, it was the under $50k earners that did the business for Obama....
Also, of the 20 states that went McCaine, about 14 were still far higher Democratic result than last election, and only 4 had a clearly stronger Repub result than 2004.
I'm sure the data geeks would prefer even more detail, but it's not a bad start... :)
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Did anyone else think Obama's speech was a bit lame?
No, not at all. This was not a time to repeat MLK. Those sort of speeches are now the job of the VP elect, which is why Biden was a pretty good choice (and Al Gore a lousy choice BTW).
Check the content.
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PS whoever said champagne doesn't give you a hangover was wrongity wrong wrong. Mind you, even the people who didn't drink last night are feeling it... aftereffects of spiritual intoxication & a general adrenaline comedown, I guess.
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I think he was on verbal auto-pilot. The poor man looked so exhausted; at the very end of the speech he was even slurring some of his words, and he's usually so crisp.
Josila: I still have burned on my memory a CNN story from the last day of the 2000 campaign. Both Bush and Gore looked corpse-ish and were incoherent. Do you get to a point in a campaign where you're running on your last nerve, and even if you're a total moron you can't stop - 'cause if you do, you'll never start again.
I've long said that whole primary/general circus is a health risk if you're the kind of person who needs to eat properly, sleep and do both at regular intervals.
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Mind you, even the people who didn't drink last night are feeling it... aftereffects of spiritual intoxication & a general adrenaline comedown, I guess.
More like pulling an all-nighter to do all the work that should have been done instead of pissing about on teh interwebz and watching Wolf Blitzer fondle his magic touch screen. In a previous life, I must have been one of those brainless kittens easily distracted by shoe-laces and dust bunnies. :)
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Oh well, there it is. America has elected someone who we really don’t know how he will govern. Will Obama be the guy he was from the day he announced he was running for president a couple of years ago, the moderate who will seek to bring everyone together, blah blah, or will he be the person he was for the entirety of his life prior to that point? A hard left activist who seemed to only associate with the most radical and dodgy of characters and voted down the line liberal (when he didn’t vote “present”). We hope for the former, but we really don’t know. If I was certain Obama, Pelosi Reid et al would govern like Clinton from 94 to 2000, or Clark or Rudd, or Blair or Brown, in NZ, Aussie or the UK, I would be quite relaxed, but we just don’t know.
Fortunately the Dems don’t have 60 seats in the Senate so with the filibuster rule there is a brake on their more radical aspirations, which is probably why the stock market rallied yesterday, but it is down today on uncertainty about an Obama administration. A good pick as Treasury Secretary would be a big boost, I read that Larry Summers is the current favorite which would be good, hopefully stop Obama going too nuts on taxes and cap and trade etc.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081105/wall_street.html
The other potential shocker is Card Check, which could be as devastating to the US economy as Smoot Hawley was in the 1930s, there really would be a giant sucking sound as jobs and capital left the US in the event it became law. While Obama promised the unions he would sign it, thanks to the filibuster, hopefully it won’t get that far. Hard to believe that a bill stripping the right to a secret ballot could even see the light of day in the year 2008, but then again we also have the “Fairness Act” the sole purpose of which is to shut down free speech the Dems don’t like, so it is not out there by itself.
As for New Orleans, it has always been a Dem stronghold, it is majority black. Unfortunately in the Dem primary, those same people just voted again for the super crim Bill Jefferson. Apparently having Jefferson’s family described as a “criminal enterprise” in an FBI indictment isn’t enough to get them to vote for another Dem (a quite exciting prospect too). How very embarrassing for the state and the city. I just hate my rep being such a piece of garbage. Ted Stevens and the other Repub crooks have nothing, I mean nothing on Dollar Bill. The FBI also stated that they wondered how he had time to do any duties as a congressman as his criminal activities were so extensive.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-11/122587207352760.xml&coll=1
As for hurricane responses, the last one went well. Amazing the difference a competent Governor makes. Thankfully “deer in the head lights” Blanco is long gone.
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I didn't think his speech was lame at all. But I am a 100% sentimental sucker for any 'little old Af-Am lady voting' story. That is just waterworks city.
My husband reminded me that Jesse Jackson was on the balcony with Dr King when he got shot at the Lorraine Motel in 1968. To see him last night in the crowd with tears in his eyes... that was incredible.
Also, like Gareth said, quoting Sam Cooke? Class.
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James, where have you been? We missed you! :)
(I forgot to say in my last post: Prop 8. Total bummer. And several other states passed similar measures? Ack.)
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Fortunately the Dems don’t have 60 seats in the Senate so with the filibuster rule there is a brake on their more radical aspirations, which is probably why the stock market rallied yesterday,
Or maybe, after responding to the result, they realised there were still over 2 months left of Republican rule.
James we can all play the game of making shit up.
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James Bremner
From: New Orleans, USASee, Sam, now here's somebody I'm happy to be schadenfreuden* about.
(*No idea if that's how you say it, but you know what I mean.)
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In a previous life, I must have been one of those brainless kittens easily distracted by shoe-laces and dust bunnies. :)
I dunno, my karma wheel must run the other way. In a future life I hope to be that kitten (if I'm good enough in this one).
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Josila
I'm running for mayor of that.
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James we can all play the game of making shit up.
Not to mention the fact that the market closed down, not up. So I think what our friend was trying to say is "market reacts badly at news of Obama election".
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Fortunately the Dems don’t have 60 seats in the Senate so with the filibuster rule there is a brake on their more radical aspirations
But the Dems do have the numbers to abolish the filibuster rule -- though that is a trigger they might not want to pull, considering you never know when it could come in useful.
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...or will he be the person he was for the entirety of his life prior to that point? A hard left activist who seemed to only associate with the most radical and dodgy of characters...
Just call him a Socialist who pals around with terrorists and be done with it, James.
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A comedy gem from last night's BBC coverage, that I caught while flipping around the Sky news channels waiting for Obama's speech ...
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Will Obama be the guy he was from the day he announced he was running for president a couple of years ago, the moderate who will seek to bring everyone together, blah blah, or will he be the person he was for the entirety of his life prior to that point? A hard left activist who seemed to only associate with the most radical and dodgy of characters and voted down the line liberal (when he didn’t vote “present”).
I can't see how you can construe anything in Obama's past as "hard left". He's been a community organiser - following a long tradition of grassroots politics that is quite the norm on both the left and right.
His politics are a bit eclectic - he's very pro parental responsibilty (esp for fathers) which is often characterised as more of a conservative position. He's favouably disposed to performance-based pay for teachers. He's quite firmly against judical activism.
There were some dodgy characters in his past but there were many more good people.
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Obama also eats doughnuts. Made of *babies*.
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Did anyone else think Obama's speech was a bit lame?
No, not at all. This was not a time to repeat MLK. Those sort of speeches are now the job of the VP elect, which is why Biden was a pretty good choice (and Al Gore a lousy choice BTW).
Check the content.
Agreed. I'm with Don & Danielle and those others who think the speech was pretty darn good, all things considered. I look forward to the speeches to come from this guy.
I used to look forward to G W Bush's speeches too, but for different reasons.
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