The Guardian: They Did It!

[JHB]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/06/barackobama-uselections2008

President Obama
Editorial The Guardian, Wednesday November 5 2008

They did it. They really did it. So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in the eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world. Though bombarded by a blizzard of last-minute negative advertising that should shame the Republican party, American voters held their nerve and elected Barack Obama as their new president to succeed George Bush. Elected him, what is more, by a clearer majority than one of those bitter narrow margins that marked the last two elections.

Having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in 2000 and 2004 it felt at times fated that the Democrats would somehow complete a hat-trick of failures on election day 2008. Instead, fuelled by unprecedented financial support, the key things went right for them yesterday, from the moment just after midnight when Dixville Notch voted 15 to six for Mr Obama (the first time the early-voting New Hampshire hamlet had gone for a Democrat in 40 years), through to the early Obama success last night in the prized swing state of Pennsylvania and on into the battleground areas of middle America.

In the last two presidential elections, the American people divided down the middle, producing a both a geographical and a demographic divide that seemed increasingly set in stone. Blue Democratic America consisted of the west and the east coasts plus the upper Midwest. Red Republican America covered the swaths in between. Women, minorities, the poor and the highly educated voted Democratic. Men, white people, the rich and the religious delivered for the Republicans. In the mind of Mr Bush's strategist Karl Rove this division was the template of 21st century American politics, a base for a conservative counter-attack against 20th-century liberalism.

Rove's America was not just turned on its head yesterday. It was broken up and recast in a very different mould. One of Mr Obama's many achievements has been his refusal to accept the permanence of the blue-red divide. He has reached out across the divide to states and voters that the embattled Democratic party of the Reagan-Bush years had forgotten about, places like the South and the Rockies, voters like farmers and small business people.
------the rest at the link------

[ogminlo]

1. ...and the world exhaled!

K&R

[BanTheGOP]

2. We MAY celebrate...but we must NOT REST!

It is IMPERATIVE that we ****NEVER AGAIN***** let the republican party ever...EVER!!...win another presidential election, establish another congressional majority, or appoint another judge to the bench. We must NOT STOP NOW. We must do EVERYTHING WE CAN to fully DEMORALIZE, OSTRACIZE, and OBLITERATE the feces known as the GOP.

Start thinking about Congressional inquiries into the Bush administration once we take power. EVERY republican who was involved with the leadup to the Iraqi war MUST be investigated, indicted...and imprisoned for life.

We will accept NOTHING LESS OF THE NEW CONGRESS....NOTHING!!

[truedelphi]

4. I am so happy right now. I feel like all of this was a bad dream. But you are Correct

We need to see that Bush/CheneyRove, Andy Card and others pay for their serious crimes. The war they got because they lied. Also, for the financial nightmare now in its infancy because they stripped away the historic protections the LAST DEPRESSION brought about.

THe orphans, dead, homeless and injured of Iraq. And those who have lost their nation. They deserve justice.

Those who innocent and yet were were detained in Gitmo. They deerve justice.
The citizens of New Orleans.

The teachers and children who were left behind because of "No Child Left Behind"

[Number_Six]

5. And that's what Jefferson meant....

...when he offered:

"The price of peace is eternal vigilance."

We cannot rest. Okay, we all need some shuteye, me, I'm up and coffee in me, ready to head out the door to make that diminishing paycheck.

But, DAMN...I am going to hold my head UP.

Still, accolades aside, we now proceed forward. Notice the electoral map. We've still got plenty to do, kids.

[truedelphi]

6. Welcome to the DU choo choo!

Tonight we are not chugging along - it is like going so fast on the rails and feeling that this locomotive is gonna get us there in half the time with lots of hot egg nog with rum all along the way.

CELEBRATE THE WIN!!

[DUlover2909]

8. I like your enthusiasm.

Let's kick them hard in the groin while they're down, and show them that there's a new sheriff in town. Let's not be very nice to them.

[JHB]

10. That's right. Let's NOT be nice to them

That was Bill Clinton's tactic in '92, and look what it got him.

It's not a witch-hunt to end a crime spree.

[BanTheGOP]

11. BULLSHIT!!

"It's not a witch-hunt to end a crime spree."

What are you TALKING ABOUT?? The republican party is the BIGGEST CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION in the HISTORY of the PLANET! Is it a "witch hunt" when we try serial murderers? Is it a "witch hunt" when we try bank robbers, not of thousands, or millions, or even billions, but of TRILLIONS of dollars?

"Witch hunt"...???? It's called JUSTICE FOR HUMANITY!!

We MUST NOT LET UP...we must DESTROY ANY REMNANTS of the party NOW!

The DIFFERENCE is that we have a REAL PROGRESSIVE in office, NOT some loony, horny centrist with a witch (talk about "witch hunt") for a wife. I know that Hillary is on our side of the aisle, but I look at her warily. We have ENOUGH democrats who are pseudo republicans.

But the republican PARTY APPARATUS MUST BE DISMANTLED. Its officers MUST BE INDICTED. We should stifle republican debate on the issues that need to be implemented and facilitate their enactment, such as corporate taxation, the signing of the Kyoto Treaty, the return of the Fairness Doctrine, an initial foray into socializing health care, and, of course, setting the stage for true economic justice.

We can THEN indict the elements of the party that will shame ANYONE from even being ASSOCIATED with the party. We need to arrest, and imprison these individuals for crimes against humanity. Finally, we need to consider extraditing the heathens to the WORLD court, and let the WORLD CITIZENS PROPERLY ADMINISTER JUSTICE!

Yes, I advocate letting the WORLD try the republican scum who had taken over the party the past forty years and turned it into the criminal organization it had become!

THANK GAIA the destruction is over...but the CONDEMNATION and PUNISHMENT STAGE has ONLY STARTED.

Bill Clinton was a piker. Barack Obama should NOT let anything stop the democrats from putting the final nail in the coffin!

NEVER LET UP...JUST NEVER LET UP!! IT'S CRUNCH TIME!

PS...Would you PLEASE FIX THE SPELL CHECK on Barack Obama?? Thanks.

[JHB]

12. I think you're misreading me

I expect the Cons to dismissively label investigations into their misrule and malfeasance as "witch-hunts". They're not. The investigations (and long-delayed prosecution) of these criminals won't be "criminalizing the political process" (a phrase they have already used and we will surely hear more of), it will be to end their crime spree.

So I stand by my statement: "It's not a witch-hunt to end a crime spree."

[BanTheGOP]

13. Fair enough

I thought you were advocating "live and let live" with regard to the party, in order not to "stir the base." But you actually agree with my assessment, which is fantastic.

As you may know, the republican base is a MYTH. It may SEEM like it exists, but it doesn't. As long as we have the BALLS to go forth with indictments and investigations, their criminal influence will be exposed like cockroaches, and we should duly stomp their slimy carcasses out of their misery.

[JHB]

15. I've seen these rats dodge scrutiny and justice since Reagan's first term...

So believe me when I say I'm in no mood to see any more the sort of capitulationist "bipartisanship" that's been the hallmark of Democratic leadership in Congress from then til now.

[FatDave]

3. I'm so proud to be an American tonight.

It's been awhile since I could say that.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. Also from the Guardian ... here's at least one other nation

that is celebrating BIG-TIME!

Kenya has even declared a national holiday in honor of Obama's Kenyan roots.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/barackobama-kenya

It is wonderful to see so much joy on so many people's faces, no matter where in the world they are. :toast:

[SeattleGirl]

9. YES WE DID!!!!!!!

One of the most awesome days of my life!

[babylonsister]

14. Remember the headlines from 4 years ago? I'm so happy to read this! nt

[ailsagirl]

16. I love this last part...

Today is for celebration, for happiness and for reflected human glory. Savour those words: President Barack Obama, America's hope and, in no small way, ours too.


:bounce: :applause: :patriot:

[live love laugh]

17. "In the last two presidential elections, the American people divided down the middle..." NOT nt