2012 United States Presidential Election

[Troy]

I am still waiting for Michael Bloomberg to make a run as an Independent or as head of a third party, he could really shake things up. Now that he can't extend his run as New York Mayor he needs to find something to do and it is always easier to try to run when there is no incumbent. This time it would have been really tough for him whereas next time with two new faces challenging it makes it easier if he does want to do it.

As for this election it looks like Obama has this, media talk it up as 50/50 but I still think that he will do it quite easily. Won't be anywhere near as easily as last time but he will get a second term. It is weird though as in every poll outside the US it is 75/25 Obama's way, it is clear cut to those outside the US. Romney making comments that the hope of the world rests on the US doesn't help. People just need to be reminded about all the crap he inherited from Bush and it takes longer than four years to fix that. It should have been an easy campaign for Obama so Romney has done well to sow a bit of doubt.

Called it. Easy win for Obama in the end, one of the earliest calls for a presidential election it was that easy. Plus he didn't just win the electoral college by a huge margin he is winning the popular vote by millions as well.

There are just so many flaws with this whole system though. Two years of campaigning and $2 billion being spent is an absolute joke and US citizens should actually vote to scrap that. Ridiculous waste of time and money especially when the president is supposed to be running the country he has to worry about fundraising and campaigning. Make it a couple of months, absolutely no need for anything longer than that and then a ton of money can be saved as well.

Also running it on a Tuesday is one of the most baffling things ever. Really smart to run it on a day that people work!?!? Run it on a Saturday so that everyone is free to vote. Also make it compulsory, everyone that is a citizen should have a say in who runs the country rather than having it dominated by the extremes from both sides.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

[MENTION=2]Troy[/MENTION], they wanted to cut out absentee ballets, they wanted to have the deadline moved to 5pm(so you could only vote while people are working), and I even heard something about changing the required ID to vote, which would limit those eligable to vote.

 

[Ryan]

Called it. Easy win for Obama in the end, one of the earliest calls for a presidential election it was that easy. Plus he didn't just win the electoral college by a huge margin he is winning the popular vote by millions as well.

There are just so many flaws with this whole system though. Two years of campaigning and $2 billion being spent is an absolute joke and US citizens should actually vote to scrap that. Ridiculous waste of time and money especially when the president is supposed to be running the country he has to worry about fundraising and campaigning. Make it a couple of months, absolutely no need for anything longer than that and then a ton of money can be saved as well.

Also running it on a Tuesday is one of the most baffling things ever. Really smart to run it on a day that people work!?!? Run it on a Saturday so that everyone is free to vote. Also make it compulsory, everyone that is a citizen should have a say in who runs the country rather than having it dominated by the extremes from both sides.

For all intents and purposes, this actually wasn't a landslide victory. FDR's win in 1936 and Richard Nixon's in 1972 were landslide victories. In fact, if you look at every presidential election from the 20th century, if I'm not mistaken only 3 were closer in terms of the popular vote but we've become so used to presidential elections that are dead even up until the last minute, that we consider this to be a runaway victory for Obama when it wasn't. Regardless though, I'm disappointed in the outcome but not at all surprised. The GOP picked a very weak candidate this year. In an attempt to choose someone who was more middle of the road, I really feel like they lost this election. Why choose someone who is closer to the middle when you're up against probably the more left leaning president since FDR? I expect these next 4 years to go like the last 4: not well. At least the House is still a Republican majority to keep the Democrats in check. I just hope that not too many Supreme Court seats need to be filled or we could switch the court to a liberal bias which would be disastrous for any cases that come on abortion, same sex marriage or Affirmative Action.

At least I know the chances of another Democrat being elected in 4 years are slim. Hopefully Chris Christie runs in 2016 as I, along with a few Democrats I know, believe he would've won had he ran this year.

 

[Troy]

@Troy, they wanted to cut out absentee ballets, they wanted to have the deadline moved to 5pm(so you could only vote while people are working), and I even heard something about changing the required ID to vote, which would limit those eligable to vote.

I don't see much of an issue with getting people to have ID to vote, surely everyone has some form of photo ID on them? Or they could apply to vote and get a slip from the electoral commission that they then show when they vote. I just find it crazy that they vote on a working day, surely you want as many people to vote as possible rather than making it harder to vote. Being Australian I also find it strange that there isn't mandatory voting, everyone that is a citizen of a country should have a say in who is running it.

For all intents and purposes, this actually wasn't a landslide victory. FDR's win in 1936 and Richard Nixon's in 1972 were landslide victories. In fact, if you look at every presidential election from the 20th century, if I'm not mistaken only 3 were closer in terms of the popular vote but we've become so used to presidential elections that are dead even up until the last minute, that we consider this to be a runaway victory for Obama when it wasn't. Regardless though, I'm disappointed in the outcome but not at all surprised. The GOP picked a very weak candidate this year. In an attempt to choose someone who was more middle of the road, I really feel like they lost this election. Why choose someone who is closer to the middle when you're up against probably the more left leaning president since FDR? I expect these next 4 years to go like the last 4: not well. At least the House is still a Republican majority to keep the Democrats in check. I just hope that not too many Supreme Court seats need to be filled or we could switch the court to a liberal bias which would be disastrous for any cases that come on abortion, same sex marriage or Affirmative Action.

At least I know the chances of another Democrat being elected in 4 years are slim. Hopefully Chris Christie runs in 2016 as I, along with a few Democrats I know, believe he would've won had he ran this year.

It was still comfortable in the end, they called it really really early whereas even in the days before the election there was talk that both parties had a bunch of lawyers ready to call for recounts.

I just hope that Republicans don't block everything just for the sake of blocking everything which is what they were doing before. For once it would be nice if both parties worked together to fix the country. There needs to be tax increases and also welfare cuts, everything has to happen as it is too late for just one or the other.

Things like abortion and same-sex marriage shouldn't be the huge issues that they are. Women should be allowed to have control of their body. If two people love each other, and are of sound mind and age, then I have no idea why they shouldn't be allowed to be married. Straight people have done a terrible job with marriage, 50% end in divorce, how can same-sex couples do any worse.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

They wanted to create a new form of ID that would basically only allow you to vote, I only heard bits & pieces of the report, but it honestly sounded like they wanted fewer people to vote.

And by having it on a workday, they limit the voters to the elderly, unemployed, uneducated, & single parents who have better things to do than follow politics. When you think of the people from those groups that would actually take the time to vote, you have elderly, & unemployed who are only going to vote either A) for the same party they have supported all their lives, or B) for the party that wants to create jobs in the states. If you can grab an uneducated voter, its basically a free vote.

If the working class is in a situation where they couldnt get the time to vote, then the chances of Obama winning would surely plummet.

 

[Troy]

Is there any reason as to why they don't just change the day to a Saturday? Surely it would be better for both parties in the long run if everyone has the best opportunity to vote rather than making it so hard for those that have jobs to vote.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

One would think so.

I cant remember parties for the life of me, but Romney's party seems like they are struggling for every advantage they can get come election day. It sounds to me like most of their voters are stuck in their ways and have always voted for that party, so chances are these are the retirees, not the workers who would want to make sure their jobs stayed in the country and didnt get outsourced.

 

[Troy]

It is normally the case where the majority of the people vote for the same party election after election. That is what I find out about voting on a work day, I would have thought that a much bigger fuss would have been made about it in the US. It is a tough working environment in the US, and has been for a long time, since the US has been outsourcing jobs for decades now and haven't done much about keeping them there other than bailing out the car industry to keep them alive. The workers are the ones that should really have the say and yet quite a few probably don't bother because of work. I get that they can vote early in a few states but making it a Saturday would make so much sense.

 

[Ryan]

I don't see much of an issue with getting people to have ID to vote, surely everyone has some form of photo ID on them? Or they could apply to vote and get a slip from the electoral commission that they then show when they vote. I just find it crazy that they vote on a working day, surely you want as many people to vote as possible rather than making it harder to vote. Being Australian I also find it strange that there isn't mandatory voting, everyone that is a citizen of a country should have a say in who is running it.



It was still comfortable in the end, they called it really really early whereas even in the days before the election there was talk that both parties had a bunch of lawyers ready to call for recounts.

I just hope that Republicans don't block everything just for the sake of blocking everything which is what they were doing before. For once it would be nice if both parties worked together to fix the country. There needs to be tax increases and also welfare cuts, everything has to happen as it is too late for just one or the other.

Things like abortion and same-sex marriage shouldn't be the huge issues that they are. Women should be allowed to have control of their body. If two people love each other, and are of sound mind and age, then I have no idea why they shouldn't be allowed to be married. Straight people have done a terrible job with marriage, 50% end in divorce, how can same-sex couples do any worse.

That's just it, people who are legal citizens have photo ID so who would be hurt by us requiring valid photo ID to vote? Maybe the illegal people who do leech off the system that the liberals fight so desperately to keep in place. Romney was damn right when he said 47% of this country feels like their victims and that 47% doesn't even really include illegals because technically illegals can't get government assistance. In fact, that whole comment was so extraordinarily accurate, I can't believe no other politician has ever had the balls to say it cause you know they were thinking it. Then the liberal media vilifies him for making that comment like he's out of touch with America when he's got his hand on exactly what is wrong with this country. This country was built on the idea that if you work hard, you will be rewarded and this idiot in office is making it into a welfare state. I'm just glad that the Democrats still don't have the majority or Lord knows, we'd need to sell our asses to China by the end of this Presidency just to be able to pay the salaries and pensions of the same ass holes who messed everything up in the first place.

If the Republicans agree to allow a tax increase, the Democrats better agree to stop handing out assistance to every person that comes knocking on Uncle Sam's doorstep acting like the system has wronged them. And for God's sake please stop helping other countries. We have our own problems to worry about.

As for abortion and same sex marriage, I'm firmly against abortion except in cases of rape or incest and firmly against same sex marriage. It's one thing to be raped and get pregnant. There is no reason any woman should have to deal with the psychological toll of having a child conceived through rape or incest but using abortion as a back up for of birth control is appalling and the fact is that there are woman who do that.

EDIT: Oh and one more thing, I know people have defended unions in this thread so here's some proof of what unions do:

http://www.hostessbrands.com/Closed.aspx.

Yea, now all 18,500 of you don't have a job anyway and guess what even if someone buys Hostess they certainly aren't going to hire back unionized workers.

 

[Troy]

Lol don't get me started on unions, I can't stand them. I can see why they may have served a purpose half a century ago but now they do a lot more harm than good. They promote inefficiency and their bully tactics are pathetic. Plus their demands are 99% of the time ridiculous, more needs to be done to protect businesses after all they create the jobs.

If US withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan soon that will save a ton of money plus as you said cut foreign aid just to countries that desperately need it. Israel getting $3.5 billion a year to build up a weapons store and Egypt getting $250 million a year to keep Palestine and Israel in check just doesn't work. I firmly believe that all countries should look after their own first before focussing on other countries.

 

[Ryan]

Lol don't get me started on unions, I can't stand them. I can see why they may have served a purpose half a century ago but now they do a lot more harm than good. They promote inefficiency and their bully tactics are pathetic. Plus their demands are 99% of the time ridiculous, more needs to be done to protect businesses after all they create the jobs.

If US withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan soon that will save a ton of money plus as you said cut foreign aid just to countries that desperately need it. Israel getting $3.5 billion a year to build up a weapons store and Egypt getting $250 million a year to keep Palestine and Israel in check just doesn't work. I firmly believe that all countries should look after their own first before focussing on other countries.

You seemed to be more left leaning so I figured you were in support of unions like deezy seems to be. Now I am basically tolerant of most people's political views but I don't see how anyone can feasibly think that unions are good for America. They're slowly losing support though so although I don't ever see an America without unions again, I think the future will be much harder for them which will be good for everyone else.

 

[Troy]

You seemed to be more left leaning so I figured you were in support of unions like deezy seems to be. Now I am basically tolerant of most people's political views but I don't see how anyone can feasibly think that unions are good for America. They're slowly losing support though so although I don't ever see an America without unions again, I think the future will be much harder for them which will be good for everyone else.

I don't like to restrict myself but I am basically a centre-right. I don't care about the environment, I hate unions, but I also don't see the point in big defense spending, I am pro-abortion, pro death penalty, pro gay marriage. I am a bit of a mixture, I just decide each topic on it's own merit rather than liking everything the right does or everything the left does. In Australia both majors parties are pretty close to the middle with slight edges towards the left or right, in America they are pretty extreme to the left and to the right in my view.

 

[Deezy]

Just want to say, that it isn't prudent to paint people with broad colors.

I miyself don't lean left nor right, I'm a person not an ideology. I got some shit I'm liberal about and some shit I'm conservative about.

Like I'm for gay marriage, but I'm not for equal treatment of transgendered people. They are still what they were born to be and should not be allowed in my bathroom or my womans if they weren't born with the equipment.

 

[Ryan]

I am right leaning on most issues, but I do think we could afford to spend less on the military at this point and that we really need to stop the bureaucratic bullshit within the educational system and just get it fixed at this point because it's pathetic.

 

[Deezy]

I am right leaning on most issues, but I do think we could afford to spend less on the military at this point and that we really need to stop the bureaucratic bullshit within the educational system and just get it fixed at this point because it's pathetic.

One would still think it would be up to parents to help their children and not just drop them off at schools as some sort of babysitter and expect teachers to raise them, which in most schools are the case, I'm not excluding my own country on this issue, education took a backburner to cost cutting. Raise taxes, pay for more programs and maybe, just maybe the problem could be resolved enough so that large companies don't have to hire somebody from a different country because they are smarter than their North American counterpart.

Private schools have better test scores simply because the funds are there, public schools get more and more shit taken away due to budget constraints since the 90s and look what happened?