If we’re going to keep calling him the first black president, at least a few of us should be acknowledging that he’s exactly as white.
Update: found the Gore Vidal interview clip:
Original post:
So this guy is now the most powerful person in the world:
BBC Interviewer: Doesn’t he have a problem, though, in that expecations will be stratospheric, that people will expect him to walk on water, and no politician can do that? Supporter: He’s black, he’s white, he’s old, he’s young… he can walk a little bit on something.
I said he’d win by at least 10%. There are still some big states to go, but at time of writing the very least he can possibly win by is 25%. It’s going to be a lot more than that.
The BBC coverage was a hilarious fiasco, riddled with awkward pauses, confusion, and an eternal quest for some footage of disappointed Republicans. It was capped off by an utterly extraordinary interview with Gore Vidal, whose answer at one point was simply, “I don’t know who you are.”
Anyway, for me the election was effectively over when this happened:
Akirasfriend: Personally, I loved watching David Dimbelby ramble his way through the whole thing. I didn't even care that much, other than passively supoorting Obama, before I watched the BBC coverage. By the time they'd gotten to 4AM I was anticipating California and Washington for Obama and getting all giddy.
That 3-pointer, though... Wow. Who needs an electoral college after that?
Itrade: Dang, I was eating lunch when it happened, so I just missed it. I hope they show a repeat of his acceptance speech.
spuzman00: Eating lunch? I'm about to go to bed!
Still, this makes me happy. I wish I had placed a bet similar to yours, Tom. As it is, I'll just have to deal with my new president being exactly the guy I've wanted since before the primaries.
Tux: I really don't know what the BBC were up to, their coverage was shambling and hilariously unprofessional. Thank god for CNN! Also: Obama=Win
Niteowl: Honestly, the BBC has crappier coverage than CNN, America elects a not-entirely crooked president? What gives?
Lack_26: I couldn't keep awake, I was listening on radio 4, so I was lying on my bed. Bad move, spent most of the next 3 hours after 2 am, drifting in and out of sleep, I woke for a couple of minutes at 5:25am, but had missed the speech. But still, I caught a fair bit. When I last woke up a 7:15 and heard that Obama had defiantly won, it was like Christmas.
Lack_26: Oh yeah, the BBC radio 4 coverage (well, what I remember) was excellent, can't comment on the TV coverage.
Justice: This is a good day indeed. Go Obama!
Iain "DDude" Dawson: Any time so many people are happy at an election result I get suspicious, but nonetheless, good luck to Obama.
Rei Onryou: A competent president? How did that happen? I'm glad Obama won. I was rooting for him once since he became a presidential candidate. Plus, who wouldn't want a President that gets nothin' but net?
"I think that's all I should do."
Yes. Yes it is. All presidential decisions should be based on basketball. Next up: the slam dunk decider for the credit crunch!
Lack_26: Everyone at school was really happy to day, there was just a feeling of general relief and elation (well, in post-16 anyway, we don't much mix with the lower uniformed years).
Newt Pulsifer: Amazing interview!!
Thanks, Tom!
Sheepye: Personally, the decision was moot for me. I am English but with an American girlfriend, which I guess means I have a bit of an insight? Despite McCain been severly misrepresented in Europe, he wasn't that bad a choice. Him and Obama are as bad really, just a case of deciding the lesser of two evils (I do like Obama, but general shadiness and his inexperience put me off him somewhat).
Basically, it worries me that America voted for Obama on the basis of idealism and the wish to change it's image to the rest of the world, rather than on his presidential values and capabilities. It might just be useful that idealism though for helping him initially, just have to see if he does good with it.
However, time will tell, and I can't be bothered to start serious political debate where I'm going to have to go into the murky waters of indepth detail and opinion. Instead, a rather more humorous view is summed up for me at the daily mash -
The last quote in particular from that article is something to warm the cynical comedic threads of anyone's heart : "If your life is such that you're placing all your hopes in a politician, then may I humbly suggest you get yourself a crate of superlager and a cardboard box and stop wasting everyone's time".
Always enjoying the website as usual, thanks Tom.
Jason L: I usually don't like Cracked.com, but my favourite comedy about USE2K8 was Cracked's time-travelling interviews with McCain and Obama: http://www.cracked.com/blog/an.....year-2012/
peterd102: Politics is Bunk. If the government was scaled down, a group of 12 rational people to decide everything. The world would still work. Stop worrying about it and enjoy life.
Alex Holland: Sheepeye - I sort of agree that McCain wasn't that bad, and that indeed both candidates were an improvement on the last run. However, Sarah Palin really -is- that bad, it's not a good idea to elect the oldest non-incumbent candidate for the US Presidency when, if he should cark it, an anti-enlightenment, willfully-ignorant fundie would get the nuclear button.
No idea how much this will effect me, but even if Obama's foreign/economic policy is as bad as Bush's, at least he'll sound eloquent and intelligent when discussing it, rather than like some retarded cowboy.
On a tangent, Bush was widely rumoured to enjoy the odd white line in his wayward youth, and Obama has also admitted trying cocaine at University. No wonder they call it Washington District of Columbia.
peterd102: I heard this great comment about Obama, he was asked if he tried 'weed' and he said yes, they asked did he inhale? and he said "That was the point".
DoctorDisaster: I also agree that McCain wasn't as bad as he looked, although it's his own damn campaign's fault for suppressing everything likable about him. However, I'm afraid Sheepye's "insight" falters when he suggests that I voted for Obama based on idealism and image. I think it's great that the rest of the world will hate us a bit less based on our choice, and it's nice to have a president who can inspire you, but those aren't the factors that drove me or the other Obama supporters I know to vote for him. These are the Obama virtues that meant the most to me:
-Community organization (confers practical leadership skills by forcing you to work with loose coalitions of self-interested parties whose goals may or may not overlap all that much)
-History of consulting experts with practical experience and insight into problems he faces as a leader
-Rejects polarized politics at a fundamental level
-Transparency exemplified in the two memoirs he authored
-Signifies a fundamental shift in race politics
-Perfect temperament for a national leader (and a genuine sense of humor!)
"Yes we can" is great, don't get me wrong, but I like a leader who actually knows HOW we can.
Ninja: Looks like from that video of the basketball, he shoulda skipped the electoral college and went straight to the electoral NBA.
Lame I know.
Dan: Ninja, that is the greatest thing I've ever heard.
Let Tom Francis tell you all what it's like, being male, middle-class and white.
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That 3-pointer, though... Wow. Who needs an electoral college after that?