2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[IDS2 3,453]

I had the interesting experience of working as a student election judge in my local precinct today. I spent about 95% of the time working as a registration judge, and though I'm not old enough to vote, it was kind of neat to be the one that registered some of my friends to vote. I learned a lot about the process, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good look at a ballot.

Too bad I have a march birthday. I really wanted to vote no on that god awful marriage amendment...

Update: the marriage amendment was successfully struck down Legalizing same-sex marriage in Minnesota is within reach!

[hym 358]

My understanding is that all kinds of squeaky wheels find themselves on the ballot. Isn't this rather silly when the Presidency is up for grabs? Why not put these things on the State elections (I suppose they do that too).

Federal election law governs the election of federal officials, and it stipulates the day that elections are to be held. The states are free to develop their own election laws to govern the election of state and local officials. Despite the fact that they are generally free to conduct elections when they wish, most choose to conduct their elections on Election Day. It saves voters the frustration of having to vote more times than necessary, and it saves the state and local governments the costs of conducting multiple elections for the varying levels of government. (The cost of conducting a local election can be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $1 million.)

While I can't comment on what the ballot looks like in other jurisdictions, the ballots I have cast have been abundantly clear about what I was voting on. The first box asks if you want to vote a straight party ticket. The second box asks who you want to be President. If an individual can't manage a ballot as plain as that, I have doubts as to whether he should be voting at all.

[Meg 368]

While I can't comment on what the ballot looks like in other jurisdictions, the ballots I have cast have been abundantly clear about what I was voting on. The first box asks if you want to vote a straight party ticket. The second box asks who you want to be President. If an individual can't manage a ballot as plain as that, I have doubts as to whether he should be voting at all.

It's the questions that get a bit odd. http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2012/general_ballot_proofs/02.pdf

(That's a paper version of the ballot. Most people used a touchscreen.)

We had a lot of questions on the ballot. Some of them obviously worded, some not so much. Try reading these to a little old lady (which I got to do tonight)

[Haljackey 17,438]

Congrats to the States for re-electing your president, approving the new Can-US bridge and legalizing pot in some states!

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I've been seeing so many upset people about Obama on my Facebook. Several people even think Obama is actually Communist and about to take over the Country and convert it to Socialism or Communism. I've found it quite hilarious.

I mean, I thought I was a conspiracy theorist but apparently everyone on my Facebook was in a Conspiracy Closet.

Congrats to Obama though. I was hoping for Gary Johnson to get at least 5 percent of the popular vote. Ah well. Always next election.

[hym 358]

I guess congratulations are in order for having secured another 2 years of the status quo...

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Mr. Romney gave a gracious concession speech. Obama gave probably the most powerful address of his career. He now has four years to finish his agenda and pass the torch to his successor. Well, done.

[GreekMan 246]

haha obama is going nowhere...the house is still in the hands of republicans...obama will move this country towards european levels...that will happen...i don think hes a communist but i dont like big governments and obama is going to try to make this happen. back in 1961 kennedy said "ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country" you know what that means??? you wanted ppl to not rely on the govt so much but as the years passed it happened more and more. i agree with that 47% remard...too many ppl use the govt and we taxpayers have to provide for them

obama will place millions more of ppl on food stamps and hes not going to fix the economy....there is no hope for america and 50 million ppl made a wrong choice and if you cant understand that then im sorry. i dont mean to offend you but having half the nation depend on the govt is wrong....ppl want more and more from the govt and mitt romney said no to that...2016 will have a republican in office. mark my words.....

[astronelson 339]

Congratulations to President Obama on four more years. Were the election held outside the US it wouldn't have been quite so close.

The economy has generally done better with the Democrats in charge.

As for the famous quote from the inaugural address of President Kennedy (who I note was a Democrat), I personally believe that he was wrong in that assertion - what you should ask is what you and your country can do for each other. The primary reasons for the existence of government are to provide for the safety, wellbeing, and quality of life of the people, be it through defence, healthcare, education, transportation, or any of the other services a nation requires.

[Easy Bakes 253]

[Ceafus 88 1,929]

Well, guess we gotta put up with hypocrisy, violations of our freedoms, even more debt, unemployment, people taking advantage of government assistance by not getting a job, lies, terrorists killing Americans then listening to our government apologize to said terrorists about "offending" them, cover-ups, and our President going on talk shows instead fixing all these problems for 4 more years! Yay for America! -_-

I'm sorry, but we're done for. Obama may have taken the troops out of Iraq and gave the OK to kill Bin Laden, but tell me. What else has he done? He doubled our debt, violated some people's freedom of religion, and didn't do anything when 4 people died in Libya because of terrorists. My grandfather lost a job closer to home partly because of him. Now he's in Ohio on a job for 2 years or so, and who knows when I'm gonna see him next? Most middle class families, who don't qualify for government assistance, are actually in worse shape then they were 4 years. But go ahead, by all means, cheer for Obama getting reelected. Just remember...our "precious" President that "understands you" won't be here 4 years from now. He lied to us enough during the last term, and that was when he was worried about getting reelected. What do you think he's gonna do now that whether he does good or bad, this is the last term? Of course, from what I've seen on interviews, who cares! He "understands" us! He may not salute the flag to his own country that he's running, but he "understands" us!

I've officially lost any kind of hope I had left for America.

Everyone saying that Bush created this and Obama couldn't have fixed it completely in 4 years..just so you know, when Ronald Reagan became President, he faced the same kind of situation. He had to fix Jimmy Carter's mess. Not only did he do it before the next election time, he did it in THREE YEARS and had one year to spare. Plus, he was a Republican. Ya kno

w...that party some people think are too rich and selfish to care about the middle class? Yeah, he was one. Obama could've done it. But guess what? He didn't. He was probably too busy going on talk shows and acting like a celebrity instead of acting like a political leader to remember his responsibilities.

Just a thought you might wanna know.

Just my 2 cents.

[Duke87 1,070]

It's the questions that get a bit odd. http://www.elections...t_proofs/02.pdf

Wow, those questions are awfully wordy. Every referendum I've ever seen in Connecticut has been one quick sentence with yes or no as options.

Sometimes it's silly stuff. There was a referendum this year on whether to make a few grammatical corrections to the city charter. Of course, any revision to the city charter must be approved at the ballot box, so...

[metarvo 712]

I just have to wonder what our president has done to deserve another term, to be honest. It's not just the Congress's fault, either, because he has shown his willingness to use executive orders to get past them. We'll still be blaming Bush four years later when the economy is still in shambles, I suppose.

[Jazzmaster 716]

OK, time to re-compose myself, after staying up until 2 in the morning local time...

First of all, has Florida called their electoral votes yet? My sources seem to tell me Florida is neither red nor blue.

As far as the election goes...I'm not really sure how to feel. The state of the country is not much better, and with the way congress is divided right now how much can really change? I can't help but feel a lot of the Romney support is because "at least he's not Obama", but maybe I'm wrong. I just got the impression that many Republicans didn't even like Romney, until the election drew closer and they were forced to sort of get used to it and accept him as their 'new leader' or otherwise 'endure' another four years of Obama. The same can be said for many people though; I don't really remember this many people liking Obama.

Obama is a celebrity, Romney is too socially conservative to take seriously...there were going to be a lot of upset people regardless of outcome. Maybe some day the country won't be divided and we can actually work as Americans, instead of working under party affiliations and caring about nothing more than making sure our team wins.

I can dream, can't I?

[Ion_Cannon 677]

Well, guess we gotta put up with hypocrisy, violations of our freedoms, even more debt, unemployment, people taking advantage of government assistance by not getting a job, lies, terrorists killing Americans then listening to our government apologize to said terrorists about "offending" them, cover-ups, and our President going on talk shows instead fixing all these problems for 4 more years! Yay for America! -_-

I'm sorry, but we're done for. Obama may have taken the troops out of Iraq and gave the OK to kill Bin Laden, but tell me. What else has he done? He doubled our debt, violated some people's freedom of religion, and didn't do anything when 4 people died in Libya because of terrorists. My grandfather lost a job closer to home partly because of him. Now he's in Ohio on a job for 2 years or so, and who knows when I'm gonna see him next? Most middle class families, who don't qualify for government assistance, are actually in worse shape then they were 4 years. But go ahead, by all means, cheer for Obama getting reelected. Just remember...our "precious" President that "understands you" won't be here 4 years from now. He lied to us enough during the last term, and that was when he was worried about getting reelected. What do you think he's gonna do now that whether he does good or bad, this is the last term? Of course, from what I've seen on interviews, who cares! He "understands" us! He may not salute the flag to his own country that he's running, but he "understands" us!

I've officially lost any kind of hope I had left for America.

Everyone saying that Bush created this and Obama couldn't have fixed it completely in 4 years..just so you know, when Ronald Reagan became President, he faced the same kind of situation. He had to fix Jimmy Carter's mess. Not only did he do it before the next election time, he did it in THREE YEARS and had one year to spare. Plus, he was a Republican. Ya kno

w...that party some people think are too rich and selfish to care about the middle class? Yeah, he was one. Obama could've done it. But guess what? He didn't. He was probably too busy going on talk shows and acting like a celebrity instead of acting like a political leader to remember his responsibilities.

Just a thought you might wanna know.

Just my 2 cents.

1. Please list the freedoms that Obama has taken away.

2. All countries have debt, even China. Obama has increased the debt, but decreased the deficit - and it's the deficit that matters. I don't know why people seem to think Romney could decrease the debt/deficit, he proposed tax cuts of 20% and an additional 2trillion in military spending.

3. Unemployment is down, there has been 32 months of job creation. In the past month alone the US economy added 171,000 jobs.

4. The situation facing Ronald Reagan and Obama was very different, this is not just a localised single factor recession, it's a worldwide interconnected globalised problem. People didn't just lose confidence in the markets, they lost confidence in the banks, we came very very close to the whole system crashing down. I understand you want a quick fix, but it simply doesn't exist.

America made the right decision, whats funny is that if Romney had run as the moderate his record would suggest I believe he would be in the white house now. However because of the lunacy of the tea party and the lurch to the right by the republican base to get the nomination he had to pander to them and in doing so scuppered his chances of winning. It's only going to get worse to for the republicans, the demographics of the US are changing, by 2016 the vote will be 2% less white and 2% more minorities - which favours the democrats.

The republican party needs to reform, they need to form a credible right wing opposition with realistic and modern goals, currently they are to divided to do anything.

[LexusInfernus 908]

To all you people who are wondering what Obama has done, this site might be interesting: Edited for language. If you want to link to the PG-13 version of the site, that's cool.--hym (excuse the strong wording of the link itself)

Also

http://www.politifac...mises/obameter/

As you can see, he kept his promise in 38% of the cases, 20% is still in the works and only in 17% of the cases he has actually broken his promise. The rest of the cases are either compromises or being stalled by congress. Not a bad job Id say.

As for your breach of liberty, the only thing that comes to mind is the NDAA or something. Admittedly, that one is bad, yet I find it rather hypocritical that you think a good alternative are the guys that brought you the Patriot Act and have a history of screwing with everyones liberty if they are not heterosexual rich christian white men.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The current unemployment rate increased recently. More people were entering the workforce than the amount of jobs were created.

--Ocram

[hym 358]

As for your breach of liberty, the only thing that comes to mind is the NDAA or something. Admittedly, that one is bad, yet I find it rather hypocritical that you think a good alternative are the guys that brought you the Patriot Act and have a history of screwing with everyones liberty if they are not heterosexual rich christian white men.

It's also worth noting that Obama signed an extension of the Patriot Act, so he is just as guilty as Bush.

[Ion_Cannon 677]

The current unemployment rate increased recently. More people were entering the workforce than the amount of jobs were created.

--Ocram

Indeed, but that is because there is optimism that jobs are out there hence people who had given up have entered back into the market. If the US continues to create 150,000+ jobs a month in time the unemployment rate will drop. But let me reiterate, there is no quick fix.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Don't kid yourselves about unemployment. The current economic model actually needs an unemployed pool of around 6% in order to provide for growth. The 6% is supposed to be skilled workers who are transiting from one job to another, not uneducated, unemployable high-school drop outs who are employable only as floor sweepers and burger flippers. The oh, so industrious Republican capitalists are supposed to keep this going, not send jobs overseas.

So, now the time has come to shut up, and pull together instead of all this stupid factionalism. The next chance for adjustment is the mid-term election in 2014. The time for that campaign to start is sometime in the summer of that same year. How about some political togetherness for a while?

Oh, and to Greek Man, might I refer to to Aesop's tale of the Fox and the Grapes?

[Linoa06 1,374]

I just have to wonder what our president has done to deserve another term, to be honest. It's not just the Congress's fault, either, because he has shown his willingness to use executive orders to get past them. We'll still be blaming Bush four years later when the economy is still in shambles, I suppose.

And the rest of the world. And Republicans vetoing every bill. Perhaps it's just the fact that with a "normal" Republican candidate that is moderate but more conservative, and isn't tainted with a history of changing seven times his opinion on any given subject, or that other parties had any chance at all, someone else would have got the job?

Either way, I think what helped Obama is the fact that he is emphatic. Besides, I'm sure Romney was just in it for the talk shows. His economic logics are completely flawed. I also wish to second a Nonny Mouse's comment to Greek Man...and really, stop the taunting. You're just making yourself look worse.

And European levels? Unofficially Germany is the 1st largest economy, well at least we got jobs, lol. I think that just shows the mindset of Republicans...the mindset that lost you.

[Jasoncw 12,060]

I thought that Romney's concession speech was very gracious, and also very genuine. I think he stepped out of candidate-mode and spoke from the heart about what the election meant to him.

Obama's speech was very good. I think that it was nice that he took the time and was thoughtful enough to give more than a generic 'good game' to Romney. He mentioned his and his father's civic service, and even mentioned his son in it, and that's an important part of why Romney was running.

The election doesn't change much, but I think overall it was a Democrat victory. Democrats gained in the senate, and aside from the numerical increase, the quality of the candidates is better too, with several "rising stars" of the party like Elizabeth Warren winning. These victories will help today, but they'll help even more down the road. There was a lot of success for gay marriage. And last but not least the president was reelected, with a strong electoral college map, which because of demographic changes will be even harder for the next Republican presidential candidate to overcome.

Hopefully next congress will be at least a little more productive than the last one, but I guess we'll just have to see. We won't have to wait too long to find out either.

[Meg 368]

A friend of mine posted this on facebook:

To my Republican friends:

Please come back to Earth. Seriously. You put on the ballet a remarkably bad candidate who carried a remarkably bad running mate. Use this opportunity to look upon yourselves and ask what you can best do to help this country for the next four years, but after that.

No more Romneys, Ryans, Cains, Perrys, Bachmanns, Trumps, Palins and other political jokes. Bring us more McCanns, Doles, Eisenhowers, and Reagans - and I am talking about the real Ronald Reagan, not the fictional one who was created 10 years ago.

No more birther BS, no more cries of socialist/communist/nazi, no more obstructionist politics - work for the good of the entire country, not just your little party. It would be a rather good idea to say goodbye to the destructive ideology of the tea party.

My personal view is this:

To every politician in the country:

Discuss the issues, not each other. An actual dialogue might occur. Perhaps some problems could get solved instead of just finger pointing.

A website full of teenagers can (usually) manage to follow that rule. Our (theoretically mature) elected officials should be able to do the same.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

I agree with Meg. As an outside observer and an amateur historian, I see the political efforts in the U.S. becoming more and more absurd.

Quit taking potshots at each other, and try talking. You might be amazed if you listen to what the other guy is saying instead of thinking about what you are going to say next. Get rid of all the spin doctors, and come out with some forthright and sensible things. Most of you have been sounding like cartoon characters or have been jammed into such politically correct attitudes that you have nothing to say but platitudes. This isn't what the country needs. It needs people in government who care about the country and the political party policy can go hang out the window. Do well while doing good.

[Haljackey 17,438]

The election in a nutshell:

 

 

[JayStimson 212]

This election now marks the point of no return. Passing beyond the event horizon of the financial black hole from which there will be no escape. Believe what you want ... which is what most Americans are best at ... and continue to ignore reality when it doesn't feel good. Those of us who have had the courage to apply our intellect and read the "handwriting on the wall" will be prepared when the inevitable economic demise of western civilization comes. We will survive. The rest of you will perish at your own hands.

[Meg 368]

Oddly, and sadly, I think it came down to the fact that more people are afraid of Mitt Romney than there are people afraid of Barack Obama. and there are a lot of people who are afraid of Obama.

[Haljackey 17,438]

Ya it's pretty sad that it pretty much came down to voting for who you think sucks less.

Do you think there will ever be another main party or two in the US elections? The constant back and forth can turn your mind to mush... And as Meg put it, they need to "Discuss the issues, not each other."

I think the last time there was a 3rd party candidate in the US debates was in 1992 with Bush/Clinton.

---

By contrast here in Canada we have 5 main parties: left, centre and right wing parties plus greens and separatists (Quebec only). The roundtable debates are truly a 'round table' as there are enough of them to actually sit all the way around it. They each get 1/5 of the speaking time and thus use the little time they have to talk about the issues rather than blame the other parties.

Just food for thought.

[Jazzmaster 716]

^^^

I've never understood this burning desire for more, more, more political parties. What sense does it make to further divide people even to even more specific brackets based on ideologies? I don't see it really improving the quality of the political system...just giving people the idea they have a choice because, well, they can join a team that agrees with them.

[Duke87 1,070]

I just have to wonder what our president has done to deserve another term, to be honest.

A lot of it has to do with social issues. The fact that Obama has been blatantly pro-gay has helped him in a country that is increasingly rainbow-tolerant. And then you have Obamacare, which, while tons of people were up in arms about it a couple years ago, nowadays a lot of those people have realized that while it is not the most well put together plan out there, it isn't as horrible as they thought it would be. And the fact that Obama had the cajones to do something as opposed to let it sit untouched like politicians are apt to do with controversial issues turned out to be a net positive.

I myself went from saying "meh, he's imperfect but tolerable" in 2008 to hating his guts in 2010 and then back to "meh, he's imperfect but tolerable" in 2012. I suspect my opinion of him will hold where it is so long as congress remains split but decay again if it all goes blue in 2014. One party controlling both houses and the white house is not conducive to everyone having a say in things.

Do you think there will ever be another main party or two in the US elections?

Not so long as the mainstream media continues to frame the debate as having only two contestants.