McCain and Obama

[dr.umer]

World hopes for a 'less arrogant America'​

4 Nov 2008

BERLIN – A world weary of eight years of George W. Bush was riveted Tuesday by the drama unfolding in the United States. Many were inspired by Barack Obama's focus on hope, or simply relieved that — whoever wins — the current administration is coming to an end.

From Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to the small town of Obama, Japan, the world gears up to celebrate a fresh start for America.

In Germany, where more than 200,000 flocked to see Obama this summer as he moved to burnish his foreign policy credentials during a trip to the Middle East and Europe, the election dominated television ticker crawls, newspaper headlines and Web sites.

Hundreds of thousands prepared to party through the night to watch the outcome of an election having an impact far beyond America's shores. Among the more irreverent festivities planned in Paris: a "Goodbye George" party to bid farewell to Bush.

"Like many French people, I would like Obama to win because it would really be a sign of change," said Vanessa Doubine, shopping Tuesday on the Champs-Elysees. "I deeply hope for America's image that it will be Obama."

Obama-mania was evident not only across Europe, where millions geared up for all-night vigils, but even in much of the Islamic world, where Muslims expressed hope that the Democrat would seek compromise rather than confrontation.

The Bush administration alienated Muslims by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

"I hope Obama wins (because) of the need of the world to see the U.S. represent a more cosmopolitan or universal political attitude," said Rais Yatim, the foreign minister of mostly Muslim Malaysia.

"The new president will have an impact on the economic and political situation in my country," said Muhammad al-Thaheri, 48, a civil servant in Saudi Arabia. Like so many around the world, he was rooting for Obama "because he will change the path the U.S. is on under Bush."

Nizar al-Kortas, a columnist for Kuwait's Al-Anbaa newspaper, saw an Obama victory as "a historic step to change the image of the arrogant American administration to one that is more acceptable in the world."

Yet John McCain was backed by some in countries such as Israel, where he is perceived as tougher on Iran.

Israeli leaders, who consider the U.S. their closest and most important ally, have not openly declared a preference. But privately, they have expressed concern about Obama, who has alarmed some by saying he would be ready to hold a dialogue with Tehran.

Taking a cigarette break on a Jerusalem street corner, bank employee Leah Nizri, 53, said Obama represented potentially frightening change and voiced concern about his Muslim ancestry.

"I think he'll be pleasant to Israel, but he will make changes," she said. "He's too young. I think that especially in a situation of a world recession, where things are so unclear in the world, McCain would be better than Obama."

Even in Europe, McCain got some grudging respect: Germany's mass-circulation daily Bild lionized the Republican as "the War Hero" and running mate Sarah Palin as "the Beautiful Unknown."

In Berlin, Republicans Abroad organized a "November Surprise Election Party" to watch live "how the Republican ticket McCain/Palin comes from behind and leaves the 'liberal elite media' in Europe and the United States puzzled."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown clung to convention by refusing to say which candidate he wants to see win. Regardless of the outcome, he told Al-Arabiya television while on a tour of the Gulf, "history has been made in this campaign."

In Baghdad, a jaded Mohammed al-Tamimi said he didn't think U.S. policy on Iraq would change. Even so, "we hope that the new American president will open a new page with our country."

Kenyans made their allegiance clear: Scores packed churches on Tuesday to pray for Obama, whose late father was born in the East African nation, and hailed the candidate — himself born in Hawaii — as a "son of the soil."

"Tonight we are not going to sleep," said Valentine Wambi, 23, a student at the University of Nairobi. "It will be celebrations throughout."

Kenyans believe an Obama victory would not change their lives much but that hasn't stopped them from splashing his picture on minibuses and selling T-shirts with his name and likeness. Kenyans were planning to gather around radios and TV sets starting Tuesday night as the results come in.

"We will feast if Obama wins," said Robert Rutaro, a university president in neighboring Uganda. "We will celebrate by marching on the streets of Kampala and hold a big party later on."

In the sleepy Japanese coastal town of Obama — which translates as "little beach" — images of him adorned banners along a main shopping street, and preparations for an election day victory party were in full swing.

Election fever also ran high in Vietnam, where McCain was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years after being shot down in Hanoi during a 1967 bombing run.

"He's patriotic," said Le Lan Anh, a Vietnamese novelist and real estate tycoon. "As a soldier, he came here to destroy my country, but I admire his dignity."

 

[Myth_buster_1]

lol did some one watch obama vote live? cuz it took him over 20 mins to cast his vote! and lol he kept on peeking on his wife!

 

[RabzonKhan]

Pigs, pastors, Paris: Top 10 election moments

In no particular order, here is a selection of some of the best:

1. Crying game: Back in January's New Hampshire primaries, Hillary Clinton welled up with emotion, almost crying into her coffee cup during a chat with voters. This unexpected exposure of her human side was credited with winning back some women supporters. Read more

2. McCain bombs: John McCain displayed rather off-key singing and diplomacy skills when asked if there was a plan to attack Iran back in April 2007. Changing the words to the classic Beach Boys' song "Barbara Ann," the Arizona senator responded: "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." Read more

3. Pastor disaster: Proving once again that religion and politics don't mix, Barack Obama was forced to distance himself from his former pastor and mentor Jeremiah Wright, after a series of pulpit fulminations in which he made racially-charged criticisms of Hillary Clinton and said of the 9/11 terror attacks: "American's chickens are coming home to roost."Read more

4. Ramblin' man: Garrulous "gaffe machine" Joe Biden got the last word in a primary debate about his tendency to speak his mind and not shut up. Asked if he could hold his tongue enough to "reassure your voters in this country that you have the discipline you would need on the world stage," Biden replied succinctly: "Yes." Read more

5. The pig issue: Obama may have been hoping to generate oinks of outrage when he commented in September that McCain's policies were like "lipstick on a pig," after the Arizona senator named Sarah Palin as running mate. But an unperturbed Palin defused the row by declaring herself a "lipstick pitbull." Read more

6. Miss-firing: Hillary Clinton had her campaign guns blazing in March when she described the drama of a visit to Bosnia 12 years earlier. "I remember landing under sniper fire," she said. Clinton was later forced to admit "misspeaking" after video footage of the event showed her strolling leisurely from the aircraft. Read more

7. Ordinary Joe: First there was Joe Biden, then there was Palin's mythical beer swiller Joe Sixpack and finally there was Joe the Plumber -- just a regular guy worried about his business going down the drain. Despite not actually being a licensed plumber, and not even being called Joe, he has been seized on by McCain as an everyman hero. This endorsement sprung more leaks when Joe failed to appear on cue to a recent McCain event. Read more

8. Bad business: Neither presidential candidate makes claim to being psychic, but McCain might have done better consulting his tea leaves rather than the advisors who led him to say "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" on the eve of America's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Read more

9. Palintology: Her political skills aside, moose-shooting Sarah Palin has been an unfortunately prolific headline generator for the Republican campaign, whether eyeing Russia from her Alaskan home, shopping for suits, stumbling over questions from Katie Couric or introducing her pregnant teenage daughter. Read more

10. Barack=Britney: Celebrity endorsements are one thing, but McCain's campaign ad comparing his rival to pop star Britney Spears and heiress Paris Hilton was seen by at least one person as taking things a little too far. A swimsuit-clad Hilton responded by launching her own campaign for the presidency: "Hey America, I'm Paris Hilton and I'm a celebrity too. Only I'm not from the olden days and I'm not promising change like that other guy. I'm just hot!" Read more

 

[pkpatriotic]

Obama takes lead in historic US elections
Wednesday, November 05, 2008

* Republican John McCain battles for upset
* Get-out-the-vote efforts expected to result in a record turnout
* Obama wins two Republican New Hampshire towns

WASHINGTON: Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama appeared close to victory in his historic bid to become the first black US president on Tuesday, while Republican John McCain battled for an upset as Americans cast their votes in the final day of the struggle for the White House.

Heading into Election Day, Obama continued to lead in the polls and both campaigns launched get-out-the-vote efforts expected to result in a record turnout.

An early indication of where the election is headed could come shortly after 2300 GMT, when polls start to close in the traditional Republican stronghold of Indiana, where the two candidates are tied. “It’s going to be tight as a tick here in Indiana,” Obama told volunteers in Indianapolis. “So the question is who wants it more.”

Two New Hampshire towns: Obama won the day’s first contest, in two small New Hampshire towns where voters traditionally cast ballots shortly after midnight. President George W Bush carried both towns in the last two elections.

Voters in Virginia, New York and other East Coast states lined up outside polling places hours before they opened at 1100 GMT. Polls showed Obama with an advantage in many of the battleground states that both campaigns have targeted in the race’s final weeks.

Virginia, where no Democrat presidential candidate has won since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, is one of eight key battleground states that could determine the winner. The others include Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and Nevada.

About 29 million people have already cast ballots over the past few weeks in 30 states that allow early voting.

Obama voted early on Tuesday at Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in Chicago, with voters cheering him when he held up a validation slip. “The journey ends,” he told reporters later, “but voting with my daughters, that was a big deal.”

In Phoenix, Arizona, McCain voted at a church before preparing to fly to Colorado and New Mexico, two battleground states where he would need to score an upset victory. He gave supporters a thumbs-up and was in and out of the polling place within minutes.

“I’m very happy with where we are,” McCain told ABC television’s Good Morning America in an interview hours before polls opened. “We always do best when I’m a bit of an underdog.” Both the 47-year-old Obama, and McCain, a 72-year-old veteran senator from Arizona, pledged to bring sweeping change to Washington and close the door on the two-term presidency of Bush – whose approval ratings are near historic lows. agencies
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[muse]

California is projected to go for Obama -- That gives Obama the majority of votes in the electoral college.

An African, American is now to be President of the world most powerful nation - Perhaps the US will once again be the hope of Billions of people in the world, perhaps the US will change and once again hold it's head high in the world - at least I hope so.

And let this be a lesson to the Republican party, maybe it too will shed these equivalents of crazy skin heads and return to it's original ideas and will become the party of Americans not just of particular ethnic or religious groups in America.

 

[muse]

Courageous and honorable soldier John McCain has conceded the election. Obama will be president. Congratualtions to the people of the US

 

[Neo]

Congratulations to the Dems and Agno!

 

[RabzonKhan]

Bye bye bush!

Congratulations America!

This is wonderful for the US and the world. Hopefully the next four years will see an end to Bush’s (neocons) unilateralism, arrogance, hypocrisy, aggression and insanity. Let’s hope Obama can repair some of the damage that Bush has caused.

The future is uncertain, but now, at least there is hope.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Obama's victory speech

AMERICA IN THE WORLD

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those who would tear the world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you.

And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. More.

 

[khanz]

i'm glad he won

 

[dr.umer]

Virtual world celebrates Obama's victory​

​

November 5 , 2008

LOS ANGELES: From YouTube to Flickr, from Facebook to Twitter, images and sentiments from celebrations across the nation flooded into the Internet's media-sharing sites, just moments after Barack Obama clinched the presidential election.

Some were simple photos of TV screens claiming the Democrat's win. Others were unfiltered images of jubilant celebrations captured immediately after polls closed Tuesday on the West Coast, when Obama was declared the president-elect.

And while crowds gathered at public rallies and millions of others simply glued themselves to television news coverage, many spent election night online — and they had plenty of company.

Students at Navarro College posted a video of themselves reacting — screaming, jumping up and down, more screaming — to Obama's win. Another YouTuber uploaded his toast to Obama: He gulped a 2-liter bottle of soda.

Others used the moment to joke. One wig-clad man posted a YouTube video reminiscent of Chris Crocker's infamous Britney Spears rant, instead shouting "Leave McCain alone!" in front of a sheet.

Some shared impromptu songs about the election's outcome. One man at a piano sang: "You all wanted change/And that's what you're gonna get/But the change that you will see/You will most likely regret."

Elsewhere, dozens of Obama supporters clapped, danced and cheered inside the behemoth virtual world Second Life immediately after the Democratic nominee seized the electoral votes.

Many avatars were left out of the virtual celebration in Obama's unofficial Second Life headquarters because the digital enclave had reached maximum capacity Tuesday.

"The long nightmare is OVER!" an avatar named Jordanna Beaumont exclaimed.

The Straight Talk Cafe, a Second Life space supporting John McCain, was nearly a ghost town after McCain conceded the race. Volunteers for both campaigns had unofficially stumped for months inside the virtual world for the presidential and vice presidential candidates — collecting donations, registering voters, building monuments and handing out virtual hats and T-shirts.

Throughout the election, the nonpartisan site TwitterVoteReport.com aggregated micro-blog Twitter.com posts — called tweets — to monitor polling places and estimate voting wait times across the country. Into the evening, many people tweeted 140-characters-or-less dispatches from rallies, election parties and their living rooms using their cell phones and the Web.

"There were news people from all over the world at the Biltmore tonight," posted luv2shoppe in Phoenix, where McCain's camp was watching the returns. "It was quite an experience, even if the results were disappointing."

"Four blocks from Grant Park in Chicago," posted jordanlevy. "It's crazy down here."

Even Obama himself, whose campaign embraced the power of online networking going back to his primary race against Hillary Clinton, nodded to his tech-savvy supporters in the very moments before he took the stage in Chicago for his acceptance speech: Supporters who had signed up on his campaign Web site received an e-mail thanking them.

Those who were logged on at that moment got this message: "I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change."

Bloggers who had been posting about the election results in real time kept their comments brief after Obama's win. Liberal blogger Sara K. Smith at Wonkette.com, who kept a snarky eye on the proceedings, instructed readers to "raise a glass to your Republican friends because it was not so long ago that you (liberals) were precisely in their position, and remember how much it sucked."

Conservative bloggers also kept their reactions concise and polite. Carol Platt Liebau at Townhall.com posted: "We are Americans first, and therefore I wish the Obamas health and happiness. It's even possible to wish them success — so long as it is in keeping with the best traditions of American liberty, virtue and prosperity."

Not everyone was as cordial. At some point Tuesday night on John McCain's Wikipedia page, a racial slur was joined with an expletive and splashed across the screen in giant red letters. The word was quickly removed from the page and no longer appeared Wednesday morning.

And while Sarah Palin may not have won the vice presidential spot, she was popular as a doll. Out of the four one-of-kind Cabbage Patch Dolls crafted to look like the presidential and vice presidential candidates, her doll nabbed a $19,000 bid when the online auction closed Tuesday.

The lil' Obama, McCain and Biden impersonators only earned offers of $8,400, $6,000 and $3,500, respectively.

 

[Janbaz]

Courageous and honorable soldier John McCain has conceded the election. Obama will be president. Congratualtions to the people of the US

Very humble speech given by the senator from Arizona. Very gracious and much better than Hillary's primary speech's.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Obama, please

By Kamran Shafi
November 04, 2008

MY favourite Dubya photograph is on a birthday card that my American cousin (white, RC, mark) sent me this year.

It shows Dubya holding his right temple and grimacing, eyes closed and mouth open, as if trying to understand a simple sentence just spoken by somebody not shown in the picture.

My other favourite, but heart-rending this time around, is a photograph that appeared on the front page of one of our local newspapers. It shows a 10-year-old Iraqi boy, tears streaming down his face, kissing his grey-haired father who is weeping too, as they meet in one of the infamous prisons run by the Iraqi interior ministry. I have both these pictures pasted above my writing desk and whilst I can’t help bursting out in laughter at the first one, it is difficult to control my tears when I see the second.

Which immediately leads me to ask the question whether, a few hours after you read this, America the Beautiful will have turned the corner, and its back, on the unthinking, extreme-right, xenophobic and jingoistic Republicans and their neocon keepers and handlers.

Will America, the Land of the Free, have elected the bright and thoughtful and well read and organised and wise Barack Obama as its president or will it have instead sent the old and tired and angry John McCain to the White House, Sarah ‘The Barracuda’ Palin riding his coat-tails to wait out her turn to fight “God’s war” as she has characterised the ongoing massacres in Iraq and Afghanistan?

I think the former, Insha’allah, for every poll, every comment on TV, and by golly am I glued to CNN watching every move of the candidates and listening to everything the various pundits are saying, suggests so. Sinner that I am, I have scarcely prayed for anything as hard as I have prayed for Obama’s election.

For so much rides on his election. Most Pakistani pundits and commentators are saying his election will make no difference because America’s imperatives of state will remain the same. That is true, but surely Obama will bring more sense to it all? Surely he will reflect and consult a damn sight more than Dubya and Dick ‘The Sneer’ Cheney.

More than that everything one notes about Obama, his sincere smile, his intelligent and caring and compassionate reactions, his resolve to make America a respected nation, all points to the fact that his will be a healing presidency.

Note too, that despite the fact he was always being targeted by the Republican dirty-tricks brigade as a Muslim and a terrorist (I ask you!) he has always had the courage to say he will speak to ALL of America’s ‘enemies’, including Iran and Cuba. In the close-minded country that Dubya and Cheney Inc. have made of America it takes guts indeed to say what Obama said.

Here’s wishing him victory. And to America, the great country that it is, felicitations from the bottom of my heart for making it possible for a black man to reach for the stars. For it is generally a compassionate and a fair country.

A little anecdote here to bring out the compassionate nature of most Americans. It has to do with my old buddy Arif Aziz who and I could be seen on his NSU Quickly auto-cycle (yes it had pedals, and I swear it was called ‘Quickly’), I all of five foot six on the carrier (I did not say pillion seat: the carrier was a full 12 inches below the seat on which the driver sat!), all six feet two inches of Arif driving, all over Lahore in 1961/62. We were at FC College, two years after the Commando went there, and I have to report immediately that no one taught us how to make time bombs there!

Anyway, I went to the army and Arif went off to a college somewhere in a mid-western state and once happened to chance upon a house with an almost brand-new looking 1957 Chevy coupe parked in the driveway, a ‘For Sale’ sign on the car. Whilst he had not enough money to dare ring the bell, he used to walk past the house every day ogling the car.

One day, the porch door opened and a lady beckoned Arif over to ask him why he walked past every day looking at the car. When she saw that he was a foreign student she said that while it was priced at $1,800, Arif could have it for 1,600 if he wanted.

“I don’t have the money,” Arif stammered, “and even if I did I could not put 1,600 together.” The lady went into the house and came out with her husband — they were senior citizens.

The gentleman said to Arif, “Take the car son, it’s yours for 1,200, and you can pay us whatever you can afford every month.” And so saying he gave Arif a letter saying he had sold the car to him. Arif drove off in a beautiful ’57 Chevy with 12,000 miles on the milometer and in the event paid off in a couple of months after convincing his parents he needed a car.

Is this the America of Dubya and ‘The Sneer’ and ‘The Barracuda’? Hopefully Obama will bring some of it back.

Now then, gents, what is this about ‘temporarily’ suspending work on the new GHQ in Islamabad the Beautiful? Why is the utterly wasteful, completely extravagant project not cancelled completely? Why is the land taken over from the CDA at a pittance not being returned to the CDA to auction off and the money deposited with the Ministry of Finance for use, say, to provide clean drinking water to most of the country?

GHQ has plush quarters in Rawalpindi already, built to order over the years, even luxurious as luxurious can be. Also, will the government stop pussyfooting and tell the army once and for all that there are NO ‘lands of the army’ as the Commando was fond of saying. These are the lands that the army would sell to the highest bidder, give one-fourth to the federal government (Oh thank you, kind sirs) and use the rest for building the new GHQ! There are no ‘lands of the army’ just as there are no ‘lands of the customs service’. Come down to earth, gentlemen.

All lands in the use of government departments belong to the Government of Pakistan and the provinces and are leased to the departments concerned.Talking of luxury, what in the world were the Pakistan and presidential standards doing behind the ornate presidency sofa upon which sat the bride and groom at a recent VVVVVIP wedding held at the presidency? The president can hold any party/wedding/what he wishes in his private quarters, but why the national and presidential standards so prominent please?

Asif Zardari has the most media spin doctors in history, so why the faux pas? Or is it the case that no one simply gives a damn?