Sorry for the politics friends.. But as a long suffering American I am very pleased and hopeful that the U.S.A will move in a direction that brings together our alliances with Europe and the rest of the world. A stronger dollar so I may visit more kamers and not get that dirty look that I get every so often when I visit and utter the words " I'm American" ouch....

Don't celebrate just yet, but I too hope Senator Obama wins.

I know it is against the board but I am breaking the rules. Obama is in. Hope is a great feeling.

Peace,
Paraquat

That stupid CUNT Palin can go back to Alaska and into oblivion. Congratulations AMERICA!! Maybe now I won't have to use the disclaimer "I'm Canadian" whenever I am in Europe.

One thing that didn't get much media coverage, a very frightening fact: Joe Biden is one of the architects of America's war on drugs. Lets hope he has matured since then, and that Obama will reign him in.

Yeah, off topic, but this requires an exception ;-)

I've been watching this all night...it's 5.34 am now. McCain seemed a decent fellow, but watching his gracious concession speech just now, it's appalling to see how ungracious and crude many of his supporters were---the booing at Obama's name, the creepy chanting, etc. I'm sure McCain was appalled also, decent guy he seems to be.

They're celebrating here in Amsterdam...and many Obama signs up in windows.

I too congratulate you americans to the new president, and the possibilities of new changes that he can do. I was watching it all night and just now heard his first speech to the nation as the new president. Impressive!

I too congratulate you americans to the new president, and the possibilities of new changes that he can do. I was watching it all night and just now heard his first speech to the nation as the new president. Impressive!

As a fellow American, I am thrilled to see Barack elected tonight! Change is in the air, the American people have spoken....it's a great moment and I look forward to our reputation being healed all over the world

From the first few times I heard Obama speak in 2006 I hoped such a day might come. After 8 dark and depressing years of the well-meaning imbecile and his evil overlord Darth Cheney... tonight's historic events seem almost too good to be true.

I agree with Paraquat & the other Americans on this thread;
"Hope". Nice to feel you again.

Sorry to piss on everyone's fries, but long-term it really won't make any difference who gets in.

The UK had all this "things can only get better" bull with Blair in '97 - and then, pedictably, everything slowly went to rat-shit. The US, too, in '60 - Kennedy's legacy was to get the States bogged down in Vietnam. Hardly a success story.

The sad truth is that all politicians - however well-meaning they start out (and that's not much!) - piss in the same pot. And choosing between one candidate and another is, as the old joke goes, like being forced to choose between contracting syphills or gonorrhea.

Or, as an old beat poet once said: "Don't follow leaders".

Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.

sorry, but i really couldnt give a toss as to who the American president is !!

We have had blanket coverage of the elections here in the UK for the last 3 fookin days on TV........ YAWN !!

Does America have blanket TV coverage of the UK elections i wonder ?

highly unlikely !!

This is just MY opinion ok

Greenhoff...you echo my feelings as well....Living here in the US I have been overrun by political advertising and phone calls for the past 2-3 months it seems. Glad its over now to paraphrase Ronald Reagan...."Mr Obama....lower those airfares.....!!!"

Thanks Axxxtw, I agree with you about McCain who is a true American hero.

During his campaign he actually told his own supporters that they would be wrong to "fear" an Obama Presidency. This was said after some in the crowd chanted slogans of Obama being a terrorist or that he should be killed. McCain did this to the detriment of his own Presidential bid, but knew it was important to quell such calls for a man who would be the first black US President. McCain ran a uniquely honorable & dignified campaign.

The pessimists and detractors can say what they want, but this celebration is too big and meaningful for them to piss on. The coming years will be a very difficult and bumpy road, no doubt. Still, the ride is a lot less stressful when you have confidence in the person who's driving.

Now, if they will just put that apostrophie back in and spell it correctly!

This election seems to have sent a message to the new president that the US needs to change direction in both domestic and foreign policy matters. The Bush doctrine has been so bad that just about anything other than Bush doctrine would be perceived as fresh breath of air. Time will tell. But, it cannot be worse, IMHO.

If you look at the numbers of popular votes, this is a decicive victory but NOT a landslide by any means. This only means that about half of the population still agrees with the Bush road. That is the scary part. That same half also would gladly hand over the country to Ms. Palin and her likes, a scary thought.

The Democrats cannot handle power and they have a tendency to botch things up. The Republicans, on the other hand, have a tendency to abuse power and are too controlling. Sen. Obama, still, has some unique credentials to tread softly and get some really needed reforms done and restore some huge wounds on the Constitution.

The real power of the presidency is in appointing the right people. Judiciary has been replete with neo-conservative young Federal judges under Bush; these judges serve for life. But still, it would have been a disaster to see McCain-Palin ticket win. And yet, she will play a huge role in next several years because she is the "chosen one" and the "blessed one" by Jesus himself and one who can get mobs of people on the high.

US, too, in '60 - Kennedy's legacy was to get the States bogged down in Vietnam. Hardly a success story. (quote)

I was very young-5 years old when Kennedy was elected,but do remember great changes happenning after the Eisenhower regime was over which just from researching since i was just born then there were similiar or worse acts of US repression similiar to Bush regime.The greatest change i remember was 1967-San Francisco-the summer of love which led to the repelling of many repressive consebnting adult laws.

"sorry, but i really couldnt give a toss as to who the American president is !!

We have had blanket coverage of the elections here in the UK for the last 3 fookin days on TV........ YAWN !!

Does America have blanket TV coverage of the UK elections i wonder ?

highly unlikely !!

This is just MY opinion ok"

It does matter, because the world looks at the US as making this whole mess--the past 8 years-- and now they look to us to clean it up. When it comes to the financial markets, the world takes America's Lead. If we can work together with the socio-economic builders of the great countries of Europe to make this world a better place, your life will drastically change for the better in the next 5-10-20 years.

Thats the problem though; too many people YAWNING and not enough people doing something about the problems in the US in the past 8 years.

For the first time in 8 Years Im proud to call myself an American for the simple reason that enough of us finally did the right thing, and we made a huge statement along the way.

"some in the crowd chanted slogans of Obama being a terrorist or that he should be killed."

Obviously, Obama is no terrrorist - in fact, it's the terrorist threat now facing him personally that is most worrying. It's interesting that no political pundits, in the States or elsewhere, will actually come out and say that the greatest danger to Obama now is some loony right-wing neo-Nazi crazies plotting to assassinate their "first black President". (Wasn't there a scare a few months back leading to some arrests?). I'm sure that the Secret Service are already overhauling their procedures and practices to account for this threat. A horrible thought, but then they are paid to think the unthinkable.

Even weirder is the fact that Obama is half-white (black father / white mother). Why is it that if someone - anyone - is of mixed-race in this way they are classed by others, and class themselves, as "black" (Bob Marley comes to mind)? I don't get it. He's as much white as he is black. And, as Martin Luther King said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Perhaps some people - black or white (or both!) - are forgetting that.

Terry Sleeper, I am not naive to think that some of the extreme right wingists are not capable of taking Mr. Obama out as they would do to a doctor who performs abortions LEGALLY but remains to be their favorite target. The Secret Service is in charge of protecting the president or would-be president and I am sure that they would have computed the chances of such an attack on a man of not their choice. After all, the pro-lifers have a terrible problem with "choice", do they not? They would take an adult life in a heart beat and still call themselves as pro-life.