Obama Wins White House, Becomes First Black President
Barack Obama will become the first black president of the United States, with a sweeping Election Day victory.
FOXNews.com Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Change has come.
Barack Obama made history Tuesday night when he was elected to become the first black president of the United States.
The 47-year-old Democratic junior senator from Illinois swept to victory over his Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, building an Electoral College majority of at least 338 votes.
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama told a massive crowd of cheering supporters in Chicago's Grant Park Tuesday night.
"It's been a long time coming, but tonight because of what we did on this day, in this election, on this defining moment, change is coming to America."
With his victory, Obama, the Hawaiian-born son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas, is poised to turn the page on Republican policies of the last eight years, as well as some racial barriers that have stood for generations.
McCain, speaking in Phoenix, Ariz., said he called Obama to concede. He urged his supporters to move beyond their "disappointment," and said Obama was worthy of respect for the race he had run.
"Whatever our differences, we are all Americans," McCain said, with running mate Sarah Palin standing by his side. "Though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours."
President Bush also called Obama to congratulate him.
The Illinois senator climbed over the top at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday with victories in California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. It takes 270 electoral votes to win.
The crowd of tens of thousands in Grant Park erupted in cheers once it was clear the Illinois senator had clinched the presidency.
They were eagerly watching the returns build in their candidate's favor all evening. Obama delivered a crushing defeat earlier in the night by clinching Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, states that were key to McCain's electoral strategy. Obama later won the major swing state of Florida.
The Democratic nominee also took a commanding lead over his Republican rival with a slew of victories in reliable East Coast and Midwestern territory. In the end, he significantly expanded his party's 2004 electoral map.
Obama has so far won New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Vermont and the District of Columbia. He also won all four electoral votes in Maine and scored a victory in his home state of Illinois, as well as in Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and New Mexico.
McCain has won Texas and Georgia, as well as Idaho, Alaska, Arizona, South Dakota, South Carolina, Mississippi, Utah, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, Kansas, Wyoming, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky. He won three of Nebraska's five electoral votes.
The Democratic nominee has so far amassed 338 electoral votes to McCain's 158.
Pennsylvania, with its 21 electoral votes, was one of the few states that voted Democratic in the 2004 presidential election that McCain was actively pursuing. Another was New Hampshire, which Obama also won Tuesday. McCain aides initially objected to the Pennsylvania call, complaining that it was too early to project.
But McCain's narrow path to victory was made air tight after he lost Ohio and its 20 electoral votes, and Virginia's 13.
Races in Missouri and Indiana were still too close to call, as was the race in North Carolina.
Both candidates took their campaigns well into Election Day, as each battled for votes at the 11th hour.
McCain, who all along faced an uphill road to attaining the 270 electoral votes needed to win, first flew into Colorado for his final rally. Then he visited dozens of volunteers at a New Mexico phone bank, before finally heading home to Phoenix.
Obama, in an election day tradition that perhaps demonstrated his confidence, played basketball Tuesday afternoon in Chicago with friends and staff.
Both candidates and their running mates joined enthusiastic voters Tuesday morning in casting their ballots. An estimated 153 million voters were eligible, and in an indication of interest in the battle for the White House, 40 million of them had already voted as Election Day dawned.
You know I wasn't to sure about having a black pres., but how bad could it be, he's gonna good things for this country, I FEEL GOTTA BE BETTER THAN THE LAST 8 YRS
Or just sit back and wait for this to fall apart with all those idiot politicians spending money we don't have for their own persona gain; and see a political revolution in a few years.
America needs to find itself again. This so called "change" is the same old same old to the second power.
We might have a conservative party in charge now but we had socialism for 20 years and we have 2 communist parties in the parliament,so Greece is not a good choice
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Forgive any misspellings,English's not my mother tongue.
And this stimulus package is a joke and will be a burden on the US forever.
I will join Glenn Beck and call my Congressman and give them a piece of my mind.
I surely hope America wakes up quickly in the short time Obama has been President to realize he brings no real change except if you think socialism is good. Seems many people are already beginning to question him. The people he has chosen for his administration have been some of the worst politicians seen so far. What change? He is so ****y. Public support for his stimulus package has sunk so low in just a few days. I hope conservatives grow a backbone and stick up for what is true conservatism, not what we've seen in recent years. I can smell a change back to the right as in little as 2 years from now if the left continues this mockery.
You know what i love, is how all these liberal democrats want to raise everybody's tax's but don't pay there own.I just read that Al Franken owes over 70,000 in back taxes and penalties.And he wasn't paying workmen comp insurance on his employees at Air America,now he maybe a Senator,got to love this country huh.Plus look at how the media and democrats screamed about John McCain had lobbyist running his campaign,now Obama has filled his staff with lobbyist,politicians are such hypocrites.
Huge, the biggest hypocrites. And where is this change Obama spoke of? It's the same trash, even worse. Washington thinks they have a different standard. It's time to majorly overhaul that entire town.
And I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people voted for Al Franken. It baffles me.
Obama is a breath of fresh air, your Republican party has ruined America both at home and around the world, I dont think its fair that you use Tommys message board to call liberal voters bad people, there are more liberal voters out there than Republicans and that is probably reflected on this board, I dont want to come here and feel scared to talk because you have extreme political views, you should respect others more.
Let me tell you something which you should think about reading about, it will widen your political views. Probably the greatest economist of all time is John Maynard Keynes, he was not a politician but understood economics to a level which made him to this day known as the greatest economist of all time. His models bailed America out of the great depression. He said that in times of recession government intervention is the only way of survival. Left to the republicans, as things were heading, the US would fall so far behind it would be untrue, Americans are only able to run their own country when things are going well, thats not my views but what Keynes said, and that in difficult times if the government doesnt step in then the entire country would collapse. If you think you know better than the greatest Economist in history thats fine.
If you want to force opinions onto people on Tommys message board then Im sure you'll be interested in reading this:
In 1936 Keynes wrote A General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. It revolutionized economic theory by showing how unemployment could occur. In the book Keynes argued that the lack of demand for goods and rising unemployment could be countered by increased government expenditure to stimulate the economy.
In other words only Obama can get America out of the mess created by letting greed and poor government run riot, and America has seen sense enough to go with Obama thank god. You are entitles to your opinions but I dont like that you bashed liberal voters, its not like your party did America any favours and look how many Americans your great warlord Bush led to their deaths. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I dont like how you talked about me, Im a liberal voter and very proud American voted for change.
Obama is a breath of fresh air, your Republican party has ruined America both at home and around the world, I dont think its fair that you use Tommys message board to call liberal voters bad people, there are more liberal voters out there than Republicans and that is probably reflected on this board, I dont want to come here and feel scared to talk because you have extreme political views, you should respect others more.
Let me tell you something which you should think about reading about, it will widen your political views. Probably the greatest economist of all time is John Maynard Keynes, he was not a politician but understood economics to a level which made him to this day known as the greatest economist of all time. His models bailed America out of the great depression. He said that in times of recession government intervention is the only way of survival. Left to the republicans, as things were heading, the US would fall so far behind it would be untrue, Americans are only able to run their own country when things are going well, thats not my views but what Keynes said, and that in difficult times if the government doesnt step in then the entire country would collapse. If you think you know better than the greatest Economist in history thats fine.
If you want to force opinions onto people on Tommys message board then Im sure you'll be interested in reading this:
In 1936 Keynes wrote A General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. It revolutionized economic theory by showing how unemployment could occur. In the book Keynes argued that the lack of demand for goods and rising unemployment could be countered by increased government expenditure to stimulate the economy.
In other words only Obama can get America out of the mess created by letting greed and poor government run riot, and America has seen sense enough to go with Obama thank god. You are entitles to your opinions but I dont like that you bashed liberal voters, its not like your party did America any favours and look how many Americans your great warlord Bush led to their deaths. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I dont like how you talked about me, Im a liberal voter and very proud American voted for change.
First off i will apologize if you were offended,didn't mean to do that.(i only like to offend kevy)But i will tell you im an moderate independent.I believe in a womans right to choose and i also believe a person has a right to own guns,and i don't own any, but those are the two main issues that split liberals from conservative in this country. I also think George Bush was the worst president of my time,both his foreign policies as well as his domastic policies sucked.But Barrack Obama and his campaign destroyed John McCain for having lobbist run his campaign.Obama said himself he would have no lobbist in his administration, until he won now its load with lobbists.And that is what is wrecking this country, special intrest groups on both sides.And the republican's are hypocrites to,they voted for all of Bush's tax cuts but didnt care if we were running deficits now Obama is in office and suddenly they are worried about deficit spending.But Obama is just another politician that says one thing then does another. I will read and see what this Keynes has to say.Some people believe FDR's new deal prolonged the great depression and it was WW2 that is what got us out of it.I just don't believe a goverment can spend itself to wealth.
Yes, there was a lot of things wrong with FDR's New Deal. I still say he is officially our first socialist president. I also agree the Republicans including Bush were not being conservative in recent years and were acting more like Democrats and spoiled this country in a truly liberal manner. And now we have more of it and we will be burdened for the rest of our lives with this new spending. I cannot stand socialism but I can tell you right now a form of it is coming to America. It's a sad situation and it doesn't matter what party you belong to, Washington and all these state capitals need a major overhaul. America has lost its way.
FDR did do some good things to.But Bush getting us into Iraq was a big mistake and cutting taxes at about the same time was a joke.If your going to start a war a least you have to do is pay for it.Just like this new spending bill,some things are good but a lot of it is just pork,and wait for the inflation that will hit by the end of the year.
The spending bill is mostly bad and there will be a lot of waste and yes hello inflation. The US dollar will be worth crap. Cutting taxes actually did a lot of good but there were many other problems that were created that both sides should be blamed for. We need a new breed of politicians.
That was funny Shumer saying taxpayers don't care if the politicians waste some money.Funny how the politicians screamed about the CEO of Merrill Lynch spent over a million dollars redoing is office and he bought a trash can for 1,400 dollars.But none of the politicians ever complained about campaign contributions from the banks.
I don't think its a good thing,you have to hope they have understanding parents to help out.Because i think most teens aren't prepared to take care of a child.
Why not, there is lots of non-Shania talk here. I just thought as Sarah Palin's daughter is a teen Mom the republicans might have something to say about this, they usually have a lot to say about things and telling people how wrong they are.
I have no problem with it if they are legally old enough. The republican on here seems to not like children out of marriage yet Sarah Palin can do no wrong!
I like Sarah Palin because she is a Washington outsider,and she took on her own party in Alaska and cleaned up some crooked politicians. She wasn't ready to be VP.But Obama was only a senator for one year before he ran for president,so we will see if he's ready to be president.
I have no problem with it if they are legally old enough. The republican on here seems to not like children out of marriage yet Sarah Palin can do no wrong!
i for one have no problem with babies outside of marriage i just wouldn't want that for myself. but i have a problem with 13 year old kids having babies,and even if they are inside of a marriage,i'm just worried about those babies and their future.
-- Edited by Country gal at 17:29, 2009-02-17
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Forgive any misspellings,English's not my mother tongue.
What does 2nd Amendment think about children out of marriage? Im asking because I think he shows double standards by mocking other peoples views and beliefs but then can not answer these questions without contradicting himself.
I like Sarah Palin because she is a Washington outsider,and she took on her own party in Alaska and cleaned up some crooked politicians. She wasn't ready to be VP.But Obama was only a senator for one year before he ran for president,so we will see if he's ready to be president.
You got that right.
And I think Sarah's daughter did a fine job in her interview last night with Greta Van Susteren as did Sarah herself. She wants to become an advocate.
Teenage sex and pregnacy is a human problem, not liberal or conservative. The only difference is most likely the liberal will terminate (kill) the baby while the conservative will bring the baby to this world. Fortuantely for Sarah's daughter, she has a lot of good family and support around her. That makes a world of difference.
What a load of crap! My point is if Palin is so goddam perfect how did she bring her daughter have a baby out of wedlock? I saw you post here about having children outside of marriage is wrong, now you say its ok?! Personally I think theres no problem to have a child out of wedlock but Im saying you said it wasnt, and now its ok?
So stop preaching to everybody and labelling us for having other opinions to yours.
Why do you dislike Sarah Palin so much?
I dont. 2nd amendment hates Obama, I was responding saying their candidates aint exactly perfect. Theres no shame in voting Obama. Im sure Im not the only one here who did so it was uncalled for to talk about Obama voters like that.
Well i New the republicans didn't stand a chance this year.But i just thought Obama didn't have the experience.I would have rather had Hillary Clinton,i didn't like her as first lady.I gained a lot of respect for her has a senator.I think she could have done a good job.
He has Hillary on board, he will use her experience. It will take to get out of the mess and people have to give him that, judge him at the end when you can look back and see what he did and Im totally sure America will be in a better position than now which means he did a good job.
And what about all the Bush and Republican bashing from the left from day one? I don't agree with socialist ideology, my parents sacrificed a lot to come to this nation to get away from it and now America is heading down that road thanks to these corrupt politicians. It is well noted this nation is central right so it should be interesting to see how the next 2 years unfold if we continue this path.
I dont know what you mean Ive only posted a few times and you posted about liberal voters before I even said anything, I didnt bash republicans from the start I only responded to being bashed by you. Everyone here can see it. Anyway I have no problem with you I just had my say as I'm allowed to.
Its obviously going to get worse first, but it wont be Obama's fault although Im sure opponents will use this to blame him, but one thing is for sure you cant blame Obama for anything right now, he is nothing to do with the state of the country. As Bush has been judged as a failure you can judge Obama at the end of his presidency. I believe he will turn America around, its a long time off but in 4 or 8 years if we are both still here I think you will say I was right, he did a good job and America is in a better position than the start of 2009.
I meant in general, or what I have seen in the media, bashing has gone on since 2000 towards the right, so the left should be able to take the heat as well.
I see Democrats and especially Obama taking us closer to socialism. I can't believe America is going this direction, but it was bound to happen, the whole world is socialist right now to some extent. I have also shown criticism to certain Republicans for not acting conservative, abandoning the true beliefs. I also said Washington needs an entire overhaul from the ground up.
Obama promised change, not the same old politics, but the people around him are just that. Nothing different. Now Sarah Palin was someone of a different flavor, but she doesn't stand a chance in Washington until they are all ousted.
I thought McCain was ok actually and humble in defeat, I wouldnt have minded him being president, I didnt care for Palin but McCain was ok to me. I'm not a socialist but I saw the need for a strong leader and Obama was that man in my eyes. You have to give him chance anyway, whatever happens he is president now and everyone has to work together to get the best we can with Obama as president.
Well i agree Obama didn't get us into this mess.But after this new bill and they still have to fix the banks and the home problems he owns the economy.Voters have short memories and if by the middle of 2010 were still in bad shape the democrats will have big problems in the 2010 elections
I think Bush and Obama come from the same system, only Obama is way too much on this big government thing I fear. I am with Rush, do I want him to succeed, no, not if he takes us to a far left area which so far he has. This stimulus thing is a very bad idea.
McCain was very humble in defeat and that showed class. He was not my first choice, but to me it was a pick of the lesser of two evils. Sarah I liked very much though.
Well for a president to be popular they have to try and stay in the center, little left or a little right.If he goes far left he will have problems.And the democrats have promised green this and green that but the technology just isn't there,and if the price of oil skyrockets they will have big problems.Remember Obama said during the campaign it didn't mind the price of gas going up,just that it went up to fast.That could come back to haunt him
Just like when the communists promised people bridges and the people said, but we don't have a river in town. The communists replied, WE'LL GIVE YOU A RIVER THEN.
Its kind of weird that Obama talked about Hannity and Limbaugh by name, and than his press secretary called out that reporter from CNBC for his rant on the housing bailout,i think he maybe thin skinned.