To see a black (well, half black, half white) man become the most powerful man in the world... I wouldn't have believed that a year or two ago. Congrats, America. Inspire the world, if it be only for a day.

...for one welcome our new Democratic overlords

Seems like nice enough man that Mr Obama, but the real reason I'm pleased is because of people like this:

http://rr-bb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4

http://www.conservapedia.com/Barack_Obama

http://fstdt.com/fundies/latestcomments.aspx?archive=1

If by that you mean, America doomed to socialist hell!

Goodbye, "El-Reg", I'm done with your political bullcrap!

Deleting my once-liked El-Reg bookmarks, saving storage I can still afford before the socialists tax me to oblivion!

Awesome!

And I want an El Reg raised middle finger icon here... for those red neck racist idiots in the south that made comments that Obama is a terrorist, that a nigger could not be president, that he was not filled with the holy spirit like Palin... etc.

In your effen faces you stupid dumb bastards!! Change has started to happen.

We'll see if it changes much.

It would be nice if, in no particular order they:

Fix the economy,

Fix the damage form Hurricane Katrina

Stop sticking their noses in other countries business

and stop treating the rest of the world as terrorists.

Will we see an end to the endless torrent of ridiculous laws curtailing our freedom?

Will we see America regain its once-respected position on the world stage?

Will we finally be free wars on terror and sacrificing liberties to save the children?

Will we see an end to poverty at least in the West?

Will we see a return of our freedoms in the collapse of the neocons?

Will we see the burgeoning New World Order collapse in its own filth and the beginnings of a Utopian enlightened society?

I say these things because this is the impression I've been getting from people hoping and praying that Obama would win the election. Sadly, I have come to believe that the most likely outcome is - meet the new boss, same as the old boss. That's not to belittle Obama - I wanted him to win and I confess for similar reasons to others. But however noble Obama's intentions, the reality is that the office of the President of the US is controlled by powerful special interests who will make sure that Obama toes their line and keeps feeding them their pork and gravy while tightening the noose of despotism around everyone else's necks - or else he'll end up like President Kennedy.

Given the man's determination to make a difference and improve the lives of the common people, I now have a bet on him being assassinated within the next 6 months. Of course, it'll be just some lone nutbag who "just happened" to slip past security, and anybody connoting that it was the work of high-up powers displeased with his going against their elitist grain will be dismissed as a tinfoil-wearing conspiracy theorist. And the real instigators will never be brought to justice because they're above the law. Remember, you read it here first.

What does this mean for IPV6 adoption?

That is all.

While I think that calling America "saved" is premature, would you REALLY have been accusing the Reg of "political bullcrap" if the article had been, say, commiserating with McCain? Obvious which way YOU voted, matey, and equally obvious sore loser.

What does Paris have to say about all this?

and unreported in the mainstream news, several states including California are passing anti-gay-marriage laws that outlaw the whole practice. People in California who married (ie: George Takai, amongst others) might see their marriages retroactively made illegal.

Welcome to the most hypocritical theocracy on the planet.

Isn't that a zebra? :-)

Mine's the one covered in chad..

PS: I'm happy with this result:

1 - he's unlikely to die of excitement and thus leave the US in the hands of Palin (nice gal, but not quite ready for that role)

2 - Obama was right with his "more of the same" claim. However, it's now up to him to prove he can make a difference. I think he can, and will - besides, making more of a mess of the country and the world is hardly possible..

easy credit being dumped into monetary system to cover other easy credit mistakes, greater debt when the problem was too much phoney debt paper (?!)

there may be some temporary rebound from printing up yet more paper, but it really exasperates the underlying problem of having too much debt and it's enormace current and ludicrous future costs .. basicly, there must be a credit contraction to correct this

Obama and a Democrat Congress are not going to solve that, leading to a worse crash in year 2 or 3 of his Presidency

nor will they promote policies that will keep energy costs low, nor go full on with nuclear tech for electricity .. we will be more dependent on foreign oil ( luckily most from Canada ) with more motivation to *protect* middle eastern, mexican and south american supplies .. electrical costs will sky rocket ( Obama's terms) with his CO2 Cap and Trade plan

as a world recession / depression unfolds, there is much more likelyhood of regional unrest with quite a few places that could explode into a wider conflict / war .... can guarantee you won't be a ground war in the USA ...

it's an awful time for a young man with high expectations and social justice ideology to be taking office .. I hope he's strong enough to overpower the witch Pelosi and the mortician Ried and their minions Todd and Frank respectively .... nothing will get done of consequence in the first 100 days with that power struggle going on .. Obama has both Hillary and McCain who will subtlely make his life hard .. Slick Willi will always be implying his Presidency was better

It will be influence bought ... no real change guys .. sorry ..

Americans as a whole have short attention spans, *we* will be very irritated after a bitter long winter when things don't turn up dramaticly in the spring, just as the 5 and 7 year ARMs all start resetting at about the same level in dollar volume as they did earlier this year

won't be out of Iraq .. maybe there will be a couple of bad months there, maybe worse in Afganistan .. not wishing for it, but it's likely

lot's of bad shit still to happen .. Obama couldn't have picked worse time since 1932 to be President, almost makes me feel sorry for him

I am certain that this election result will have wide-ranging effects in many areas of life for people in the USA and throughout the world. Those effects are quite likely to include IT-related issues but this article does not cogently discuss or even wildly speculate about them.

Never thought I'd see it in my time, an African-American President. I didn't vote for him b/c of his skin color, however, I voted for him in the hope that the neo-con, totalitarian mentality will be reversed and we can stop "fearing" all the evil-doers in the world; ie: stop starting wars, get back my right to privacy, perhaps a couple war-crime trials(riiiight), reign in the Corporate Cleansing of my wallet, clean up the international messes Butch has made. Maybe just 1 or two would be good.

Keep in mind, kids, hold onto those tinfoil hats. Butch still has 76 days to set his very own "Reichstag Fire".

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html

...rotted and shrivelled scrotum about this?

I look on the front page of El Reg, and I see no fewer than FOURTEEN articles about this fucking election. FOURTEEN?!

I live in Australia. This is a British owned and run website. WHY THE COCKSUCKING HELL am I seeing more coverage about this god damned election - that will have absolutely no direct consequences to me or you Poms - on an IT WEBSITE than the frontpage of news.com.au, which is owned and run by Americans?!

Please keep the god damned propoganda to a minimum.

AC for damn obvious reasons. Fucking Yanktards.

People voted for Obama because they think they're going to get something like that guy on 24.

At the end of the day though, all politicians are lying b*stards.

That being said, I probably would've voted for Obama but one chrome turd is the same as another.

more abortions, more crime, more drugs, more corruption, more... not only them usa are doomed, no, we are doomed, too.

Hmm, in the pic chosen is Sarah Pailin winking, or is that a permanent squint from looking through the telescopic sights of her rifle collection. Not sure, do you need sights on an elephant gun?

You forgot to tag that with joke ahead for the ones who are suffering from humour deficiency and cannot recognise sarcasm even if it hits them at terminal velocity. So I will tag that for you. Enjoy.

Nearly 45% voted for the Palin woman, what the fuck are you thinking? Best of luck to Obama, he will need it with the mess the neo-cons have left behind..... still dont think he will prove to be the lefty all the Europeans are looking for!!!

To keep running the "bob the Builder" theme tune through my head every time he said "Yes we can"?

.. Scoop Muck and Dizzy, Rolly too...

I'll get it while I hum my way out...

Thank you America, for not being totally braindead for once.

short, sweet and to the point. i'm impressed.

What, not even some niggardly acknowledgement that the people expressed their will or something like that.

(what? I'm using the word the right way, aren't I?)

Hang on a second. Given that the majority of people now officially consider Barack Obama to be the better man, surely El Reg must now begin a negative reporting campaign purely for the sake of being contrary?

... there's now a barack man in the white house (groan).

Mine's the one made of Alaskan seal fur with permits to drill right through to Russia and steal their oil reserves stuffed in the pockets, a Walther 22, 500 rounds and a donkey shaped range target.

It is always a relief to know that no matter the event or situation, there will always be a solid, reliable, core of folk who are ready to go that extra yard to blow it all out of proportion and have a tanty on a public forum.

So many people today cop out and simply "suck it up" or "take it like a man". Others are obsessed with "perspective" and "proportion" and never commit themselves to the sort of irrational knee-jerkism required to really fuel a decent dummy spit.

Still more have an intellectually rich and interesting "real" life where their ideas can be intelligently expressed, and discussed, and informed, and molded, and revisited to the point where they just dont have the energy or inclination for anonymous hissy fits in front of strangers.

So a salute to you, the irritable cranks of the world. You show your caliber - like the princess and the pea - by railing at the slightest irritation of your regally sensitive hide. Your thin skin and short temper, and disproportionate response, set you apart as folk of noble, or at least unusual, breeding.

Roll on, anonymous petulant tantrums! Roll on!

"more abortions, more crime, more drugs..."?

Why, is he personally going to go around and impregnate half the US while breaking windows and throwing in free bags of illicit drugs?

It's just as well I'm misanthropic, or else I'd find it so unfunny just how doomed to fecking failure the human race is.

And we will again in two years, and again two years after that. Etc.

Life goes on. The life of me&mine[tm] isn't going to change meaningfully overnight. Or even this week. Or this month, or year. Hopefully, things will become better with time.

Same as any other general election.

> Palin stood beside him, but did not speak.

Uh ... she tried, but her husband moved her away from the mics.

Smart man, that. Has he considered politics?

As chairman of the welcoming committee, it's a pleasure to present a Laurel and Hardy handshake to our new....

...President

That's the only word for it.

At best, Obama does a good job. But this won't be enough to measure up to the expectations a lot of people seem to have and they'll end up disappointed. Really he should have started to manage the expectations to match reality, though I guess the main thing was getting the job!

At worst, he turns out to be even closer to the Blair model than he currently appears and either turns out to be unable to turn vague talk into implementable policy, or even turns out to be actively destructive while doing what he thinks is 'right'. Like Blair he'll have enough of a party majority in the legislature to get things through whatever they may be.

I don't think there was much of a choice, neither candidate was exactly great but the level of hype that grew up around the Obama campaign - both inside and outside the US - is scary.

Hope it turns out well. I fear the fallout if it doesn't.

On the other hand at least it isn't more of the same so there's a possibility some of the policies and measures of the past few years may be reversed. Unfortunately I don't hold out much hope as all governments ultimately end up being much the same; only the level of incompetence varies!

I wish you all the best.

@ 1# AC Bye Bye have a nice day, now you wont be reading El Reg you can concentrate on Genesis.

@ Steve Roper:- Wot you said!

@ Who gives a rats:- You are clearly not too interested in politics, unfortunately what happens in the USA now affects all of us including Barby 'n tinny land. Particularly as you have most of the world's currently known Uranium supplies, if Obama should turn out to be pro-nuke power,beware friendly yanks carrying shovels.

@ sauerkraut:- life's a bitch but at least we're one short in the White House. Clinton was a democrat, his sexual appetites may have played too big a part in his presidency but he left the US in a fairly good condition after his two terms. Overall he wasn't a bad president. Maybe you have been listening to AC #1 too much.

Quote=Who gives a rats...

By Anonymous Coward Posted Wednesday 5th November 2008 06:38 GMT

...rotted and shrivelled scrotum about this?

I look on the front page of El Reg, and I see no fewer than FOURTEEN articles about this fucking election. FOURTEEN?!

I live in Australia. This is a British owned and run website. WHY THE COCKSUCKING HELL am I seeing more coverage about this god damned election - that will have absolutely no direct consequences to me or you Poms - on an IT WEBSITE...<

Why are you so pissed? because you have to read a British website about IT? Or because your own government are about to go Chinese on your web access? We Brits know nothing happens in a vacuum, our access to IT info, and freedom of web privacy is all tied into Yank policy. Where they go our fearful leaders follow - generally six months to a year later, but still...

Barac <sp?> winning is good for the world (including Australia), even if he only begins talking to those parts of the world that we're now at war with. Take away the fear of terrorism and you remove the need for ID cards and policing the www. And there's your IT angle.

Was there a presidential election in the US?

How come there was nothing in the papers about it?

but a landslide anniliation of McCain/Palin.

And to AC#1"It's called a democracy- if you don't like it, move to China"

Howabout because, whether you like it or not, the outcome of the US elections affects *everybody*?

Aw, did the nasty democracy not make the same choice as you? Diddums.

A couple of questions...

1. Will Barack Obama be able to clean up George W Bush's mess?

2. Will he be able to bring stability back into the world?

3. Is he the Golden Child who will bring prosperity to America and the world?

Mr Obama, the eyes of the world are watching you, especially on every mistake that you will make. Just make sure they are few and far between.

Apart from, that is, the millions of babies killed for being inconvenient. Not, of course, that the UK is any better.

that Obama really does turn out to be what he promised and nothing like the last elected leader to make such promises and claims, back in 1997, in the UK.

I do feel like change could well be coming and am pleased with the result but I hope he's no Tony Blair....

Simple, if you do anything online that the US think is serious then you'll be extradited and you might then be interested in how you will get treated.

Something like cracking the protection on Blu-ray (even though they may be a legit reason, to watch films on Linux) would be enough to get you over there these days given how well represented the media giants are in the senate.

It's all too reminiscent of Blair's triumphalist victory in '97. And look how badly that turned out!

I also remember the last time a radical young president was elected. Despite his mastery of rhetoric, despite his popularity, despite being hailed as the saviour of the free world, he was assassinated.

That said, it's deeply satisfying that Bush and the fascist neocons who pulled his strings have been roundly trounced: it's a testament to common sense that Palin couldn't fool most of the people; and it might even be true that American racism has suffered a body blow.

Bush was a belligerent moron who did enormous damage to America's standing in the world and I am not yet convinced that Obama can undo it. Besides, my enemy's enemy is not necessarily my friend.

What I find interesting about this is that lots of people in the comments above are saying how thankful they are that the 'neo-cons' have been voted out of office. Thankful because they believe Obama is not going to take as much tax and give up as many of their freedoms as the current administration are doing.

To me this just proves that America and the UK are not really governed by the elected party occupying the offices of state.

The observation I am making here is between citizens of the UK complaining about loss of freedoms and very high taxes while the citizens of America are complaining about exactly the same thing. Therefore, Britain and America are being run by the same people with the same agenda.

In Britain we believe our next administration will be conservative rather than socialist (the opposite of the American cycle) and that this change will do for us what those American commentators above believe this election will do for them.

And let the sad disillusionment of Obama-adherants begin... The last time I saw a politician with a campaign as slick as that, campaigning on soundbites of "hope" and "change" it was a guy called Tony Blair. And Obama *should* have had a slick campaign, it did after all cost over a billion US dollars. A couple of million to Google, US$40 budgeted to "win Florida", it all added up. It was a neat trick to present oneself as the underdog and the radical whilst at the same time outspending his opponent by millions in marketing.

So very much discussion of what he represents, what he believes, what he feels and so little fucking discussion of stated policies. On critical matters such as Israel, Iraq, national debt, there was nothing much to choose between them. But few people seem to have noticed amidst the soundbites of hope and change and photos of a confident male.

As to the issue of his being part-black, does it really matter the colour of the president's skin? It IS a good thing that there is a positive role-model for young black people, (though he's not the first ever successful and intelligent black person, so let's not ignore everyone else). But it's a bad thing that people assume that they have some connection with him because of a shared ethnicity. Rich and poor are the natural divisions of commonality in the US, not black and white. A higher percentage of black people are in poverty in the US than with white people and that should change. But a poor black person has more in common with a poor white person than they do with a rich black person. There should be no confusion on that.

Paris - because I'd genuinely have preferred it if she won.

We currently have a socialist administration? Could have fooled me...

The last US pres dragged your PM and mine into a war that's killed a fuckload of people, and has raised such ire that islamist terorrism, once confirmed to Israel, is now killing australian tourists in Bali and commuters in London.

By rights you should weep with joy at the election of a moderate whose policies will have the single biggest effect on the planet, in an election 95% of the planet had no say in. Thanks, yanks, and I really mean it.

Anyway I was in Sydney for your election and I loved it. - Johhny had been embarrasing you for far too long. Embrace the globalization, bitch.

That noise that woke you up in the middle of the night, was a million comedians realising they have lost McCain and Palin, said goodbye to Bush and are actually going to have to do some work, rather than let the jokes write themselves.

I hope I'm the first to describe Obama as a "president of colour".

On a serious note: amazing how the world has changed. When he was born, only honkies had the vote. At least some things have improved.

However, not much else will change. The style, maybe; but not the substance. When oh when will they have the "none of the above" vote?

-- Jon

When Barack finally makes his first appearance as White House resident, and starts talking in short, stinted sentences (oh so similar to his forbear), then you know the puppet masters have him under their control...

We're damn lucky it's not McCain anyway. That one even walks like a puppet.

The world sighed in relief.

Shame she didn't learn to do that a bit earlier in the proceedings, eh?

Paris, cause she knows when to open her mouth...?

Never mind the photoshop, where's the Playmobil?

Welcome back to the world, you muppets.

Try not to screw us over for the next few years, 'kay?

Kudos, Vulture Central, for that twins-separated-at-birth photo: Palin, aping her BFF Cheny with "the smirk" in the oh-so-tragically-hip-but-oh-so-metro-hip fashion. So what does a MILF have to do wit-- *BRRRZZZZZZTTT*

Ooooh ZOMG lookie there, demagogic Beltway Bandit Butterflies! Gah, using underground green stutters even. Downing St. rozzers can start to begin to shun both thirds for this frumious Bandersnatch, meh? I told you butter wouldn't suit the works.

what he dose now, I think we will see a change in America, not because of Obamas work, but because the disenfrachised in the US, and around the world for that matter, now feel that they can change things. They no longer feel that the rich man rules, and they have a real feeling that democracy works.

I dam well hope that Obama dose come through, otherwise he has given these people power and they are no longer going to sit on there hands and say "well what can I do?".

The president's a n*****!

The president's near?

:D

The feeling in the US after the 2008 election seems remarkably similar to that in the UK after 1997 election. Things are only going to get better, no more boom and bust, time for a change etc. Fast-forward 10+ years and see where it got us.

Careful what you wish for.

There's this little thing called democracy, see.

Of course if you don't like the idea of democracy you could go and live in China.

...before the poor bugger is assassinated.

I wonder if he will even make it into office, theres gonna be a lot of outraged racist red necks in the States, the same people you usually see with very large high caliber rifles etc did anyone else notice the bullet proof glass at his acceptance speach? Or is this just normall these days? either way i wont be surprised if someone has a go:(

Never mind the election... who's impersonating me on my birthday??? He really is taking the "P"...

"more abortions, more crime..." Actually (read the book Freakonomics) it has been shown that in the USA, the crime rate drops 16-18 years after a state legalises abortion. It is conjectured that poor pregnant women choose abortion, and thus avoid contributing to the crime-prone underclass.

If you're going to fake it, at least use playmobils!

Mmm. Palin Playmobil. Almost as hot as a Palin Pez dispenser.

Haven't seen this much self-congratulatory bullshit in years. OMGZORG, black people can do things too!!! Yeah, way to be patronising, guys. This election once again speaks for the intelligence level of humanity - a guy got elected because he was black, rather than because he's any good at the job. Sounds familiar and yet slightly different.

Yes, I would rather have Obama than McCain, but I like to think I made that decision on a bit more than "ELECT THE BLACK GUY WOWZORS!"

Now we get to put up with months of smug Americans on TV. And the worst bit has already started - on BBC this morning, the person interviewing a couple of smug Americans came out with "so, do you think the next PM should be black?" ARRGGHH! The next PM should be *competent*, you fuckwit!

Racial equality - you're doing it wrong.

Apologies for the level of my cynicism, but can you blame me?

Somebody please point out to the republicans that Palin lost it for them? Seriously she has all the charm and social graces of Arnold Rimmer at his worst.

Not to mention all those black comedians, now unable to complain about how Whitey is keeping them down.

With all the Obama publicity today, I hope somebody is keeping a very close watch on what Gordon Brown & co are gettting up to.

" A good day to destroy more civil liberties"

Whether or not Obama lives up to the hopes people have, it's still a win for the hope itself.

"Apart from, that is, the millions of babies killed for being inconvenient. Not, of course, that the UK is any better."

I agree!1

The Americans liked our Tone so much they built a bigger one!

The bitter Republicans' (hi, Webster!) main point seems to be:

"Now taht Barik Osama iz prezident we wil see him cuming tu yore hous and raiping yore wife and geting yore childrens on drugs and kiling alll teh wite fokes in teh town and murderings yore kittehs and helping teh terryrists bom yore skools and taikng yore jobs and razing yore taxes cos hes a LIBERAL!!! AND TAHT'S WOT LIBERALS DO!!!!!!"

Please. He's not the Messiah (oblig: "He's a very naughty boy!") but I will be sleeping more soundly knowing that McCain & Palin don't have their fingers on The Big Red Button, at least.

Apologies to all those Republicans who have the balls to say "OK, he wasn't my choice, but he's been democratically elected, so I'll make the best of it rather than whining and shouting FUD."

...that the new president will actually start working for the best interests of the USA instead of for his buddies. The outgoing dynasty is a bit icky that way...

"America doomed to socialist hell"

In other words: "Waaaah! Not fair! Obama got made president and all I got was this slightly-less-rampantly-right-wing economy."

Ha ha don't make me laugh mate; your idea of socialist hell clearly differs from the rest of the world's. Calm down. You've a long way to come before you'll have to cut back on the fries or downsize from your XXXL sweat pants.

I'm self-censoring the rest of this post as there's no way it'd get past the Moderatrix otherwise.

so the "baby killer" and "moslem" folks will be out in force I suspect...all AC'ing too in their commmitment to their 'cause' at least have the courage of your convictions and use a name why don't you?

Also, I don't want to go into the "baby killing" issue but I have known a person who was raped and became pregnant as a result....what is your stance on the abortion she had? I suppose she's a baby killer too eh?

all said, I'm glad Obama is in if it prevent people like you making the decisions in the world

"We currently have a socialist administration? Could have fooled me..."

I only meant in the sense that Labour (currently holding office in the UK) are the equivalent of the US Democrats. So as the US switches to Democrat we are switching to Conservative. i.e. my point is, does not matter which flavour of administration you have, both types will rape your wallet and erode your freedoms. The same guys are still running the show no matter who's elected.

Too little.. too late...

....ok, maybe not ;o)

We are not governed against the manifesto of the elected party but by both the interpretations of the civil servants in Government and the pressure groups that have influence over the politicians. No sane (?) politician would willingly introduce ID Cards or allow the Banks the latitude they have, would they??

The General Public need to respect, but more importantly correct and empower their Politicians or we will continue with "Machine Politics" and the oil will be provided by greasy nerdowells. Don't rely on "the Media" to accurately reflect what politicians say they mean. Find out for yourself and then assertively nail YOUR representatives until they get it right. You may not agree with what they say but it will prevent them hiding too many of their twists and will force them to confront their, and your, civil servants and unrepresentative pressure groups.

Comparisons with Blair are fair, but you're being a little harsh. Yes he went off the rails with Iraq but we're no longer worrying about Northern Ireland, largely down to his first term. Anyone believe the conservatives could have done that? Didn't think so.

After ten years in power, you lose sight of the fact you get it wrong sometimes...

...when people (mostly in the US tbf) refer to Obama as a left-wing socialist radical

Compare this: http://www.politicalcompass.org/images/uscandidates2008.png

...with say this: http://www.politicalcompass.org/images/internationalchart.gif or perhaps http://www.politicalcompass.org/images/enParties.gif

What a relief, I can stop the digging for that nuclear shelter now that the lunatic Palin is going to be nowhere near the Whitehouse.

USA welcome back to the World now that we know you are not a bunch of right winged, neochristian racists with an itchy trigger finger (we hope)

Americans are sick of the neocon agenda.

Americans are sick of the unregulation of wallstreet.

Americans are sick of the middle east.

Americans are sick of the economy and McCain doomed himself when he said he didn't know

much about economics.

Americans are sick of being taken for granted.

Americans are sick of our foreign policy being dictated by Israel and religous nut jobs.

I agree that this article has no IT angle whatsoever. It's not as if there isn't stuff to talk about. What about the CNN magic touchscreen microsoft surface wall thingy? And even better, the Jessica Yellin "hologram".

Who cares about who's president when there are gadgets to play with!

Hopefully this will mean we can welcome the US back in to the family of democratic nations which don't lock away foreign citizens in off shore legal limbo, and don't fingerprint anyone wishing to visit their country as if they were a common criminal. With any luck that will also discourage the UK from going down that path, and maybe then I'll consider travel to the US for business or pleasure again.

Little Old Lady: Good evening Sheriff.

Sheriff Bart: Good evening.

Lady: Sorry about the 'Up yours, nigger.'

Morbo is pleased by the puny human voting system! may death come quickly to our new overlords enemies

His concession speech hit the tone he should have gone for throughout the campaign. Respectful, patriotic, and of course "Palin stood beside him, but did not speak". If he'd managed those throughout the campaign things might have been a lot closer.

@h4rmony: "US$40 budgeted to "win Florida""

Damn. If I'd known it was so cheap, I'd have run for president myself!

@Anonymous Coward: "Apart from, that is, the millions of babies killed for being inconvenient."

Nice to see the single-issue fundamentalists are still trying to change the English language for their cause and pull made-up and unsupportable statistics out of their rear ends. Proof that *some* things won't change with an Obama victory.

@ChrisG: "@ 1# AC Bye Bye have a nice day, now you wont be reading El Reg you can concentrate on Genesis."

Now did you read the news today? They say the danger's gone away - but I can see the fire's still alight, burning into the night. Too many men, too many people making too many problems and there's not much love to go round.

Hold out, just keep on hoping against hope it's gonna get better. Don't worry, there's no hurry for you, for me everything's gonna come around. Shout out, someone will listen to you, to me, someone's gonna see.

All the result has shown is that a country gets the government it deserves (not the one it needs). This is a victory for the advertising and spin merchants only. Neither candidate had anything going for them in a political sense. Where else in the world is the leader of the country selected by the media?

When the dust settles and Obama is in power we will all see him doing the bidding of those that payed him and I don't mean the people.

Will anything change? I doubt it. It will be business as usual from 'merica, the world recession that started over there will continue, maybe getting worse because of 'democratic' policies. The days of true 'statesmen' are gone and the western world is sliding into mediocrity following the example of the USA (Idiocracy anyone?).

"Palin stood beside him, but did not speak"

Lol right there for me.

They used to not let Africans or Austrians be President even if they spend a lot of time in the USA. This is a real breakthrough for Kenyan-Americans and maybe all African-Americans and possibly in future Austrian-Americans (Arni) and British-Americans (Tony?)

This will be a government for the people by the people with a very popular leader. The people worship him at huge rallies. Next thing we know he will have a Obama-Youth movement.

I for one welcome our new global facist overlord.

AC: "If by that you mean, America doomed to socialist hell!"

No, you might think they mean "socialist hell" - but since 'merkins have got no idea what socialism means, you've got "socialist" confused with "completely and utterly right-wing but not as right-wing as the other lot of right-wingers".

Right now, your overlords are probably laughing with glee at your ignorance of world politics. They're probably also plotting the best way to put an "I love jesus" chip into your head but that's another story...

Hmmm one of these days someone really should take the time to explain to the Merkin knee-jerk reactionaries what 'socialism' actually is. I mean come on, guys, it's not fair to them, they're only 100 years behind the rest of the Universe on understanding this.

All the more hilarious, of course, as in Europe Obama would be considered centre-right.

IT angle: Obama seems like a sensible guy, here's hoping for a more pragmatic approach to RFID and Eye of Sauron and all that sci-fi-film-inspired crap.

"Apart from, that is, the millions of babies killed for being inconvenient. Not, of course, that the UK is any better."

Ah well, just balance that against the millions of Iraqi babies who were slowly, painfully "sanctioned" to death or who were never even conceived because their potential parents got a white phosphorous suntan, a lungful of DU dust, or anything else you ignorant, god-bothering buffoons inflicted on them. Swings & roundabouts, eh?

The Civil Rights Act was passed in my lifetime, and now a black person is heading for the White House. I for one welcome the demise of our WASP overlords, you fucking dinosaur.

Now he's in charge, what do you think will happen to the net...

IPV6? (finally)

ICANN becomes a totally autonomous entity? (we can hope)

The UK has had a ridiculous amount of coverage. Bored - and now glad its over. Not sure about some of those policies but we can see what happens.

Hopefully he can shore up the US economy a bit.

Isn't palin-tology to do with the study of dead things, old dead things? And so she should be

Nice one Steve, I'm so glad the Christians in the UK are not so zealous, very disturbing indeed.

Love this link ( well, actually I don't, I think it's very sad and shows just how f**ked up some people are)

http://www.conservapedia.com/Barack_Obama

If you want to know if Obama is a muslim, why not just go and f**ng ask him, instead of listing all the so called evidence.

Funny, but I though Obama had a pastor...didn't think there were any pastors in the religion of Islam????

I think the people spewing out this crap must have less IQ than I've got in my k**b.

This is some kind of clever comment about abortion, isn't it? Perhaps they'll make them into Soylent Green, if that helps.

I have no illusion that Obama will bring much change for the better; he's inherited an empty treasury in the middle of a financial crisis. Still, change is as good as a rest eh?

I'd go and get a cup of tea to celebrate, but it means wading through all those millions of dead babies again.

You must be completely clueless sunshine, you think the person elected in the USA won't have any effect on you because you live in Oz?

Why not take a moment to think about it? It's highly likely the election of the president will have an effect, on the entire world particularly in the area of foreign policy.

Look at Iraq, Afghanistan, wars started by the personal decisions made by the president himself.

So australia didn't send any troops then? You may not have been personally affected but I can assure you there are people with families in Australia that have been directly affected by the decisions made by the president of the United States.

And, what about the world economy? America's economy has a big influence on the economies of many counties of the world, the decisions made by the president can and will have an effect on your life mate. That's why it's so f***ng important to get the right person in the job at the Whitehouse, not just for America's sake, but the for the sake of the whole world.

How will the president deal with the Iran situation? And Israel? Will Iran get nuclear weapons and what effect will that have on the Land of Oz.. start using your head mate.

This is why is was so important not to let Palin get in to power: she's doesn't have a clue about the world, not even a clue about what the role of the vice president is, has no previous foreign policy experience, and she takes out personal vendettas, revenge against people in her personal life and tries to get them fired, when she discovers she can't fire them, and their manager won't fire them, she fires the manager ( in this case police officer) to seek her revenge. She's more interested in setting personal scores than allowing a qualified, highly experienced police offier to do their job in protecting the public - which she supposedly represent. Do you really want someone that uses her power of office to seek personal revenge on people in her own personal life?

This is just one reason why this election was so important.

and they got one. But lets leave the 'saviour-of-the-universe' shit somewhere else.

As a previous commenter pointed out ..chrome turds. I think we'll see a much more articulate and charismatic leader, but underneath the same old self interested US remains....

They've got Black and we've got Brown :o(

What parallel universe do you live in.? When Bliar took over the Labour party he turned it into just another Tory party. Your belief that our current government is in any way socialist is so laughable that it immediatley voids any other comment you may have on politics.

There are far more news stories on the front page than the ones about the US election, it's just that your government decided to filter them.

"more abortions, more crime, more drugs, more corruption, more... not only them usa are doomed, no, we are doomed, too."

For your sake I hope there will be more education, wherever you are.

murka has elected a black mans. the world is saved coz black mans is cooler dan white mans!

sorry if that level of political debate was too high-brow for most of el reg's murkan readership.

wake me up when the honeymoon is over and britain is once more 'standing shoulder to shoulder' with america and that nice mister obama-lama-ding-dong as they bomb some other third world country back to the stone age.

At least the US has the leader the people actually voted for.

Unlike the UK.

({Yes, I know we don't *officially* vote for the PM in general elections, but that is *effectively* what happens. Anyone seriously believe NuLabour would be in power if Prescott was party leader at any of the last 3 elections?}).

"On critical matters such as Israel, Iraq, national debt, there was nothing much to choose between them. "

--

Beg to differ... AFAIK, Obama said that he wants to withdraw troops from Iraq (several hundred thousand dead Iraqis and one country turned into a breeding ground for terrorists too late) and use that money to help USA citizens.McCain would further bleed USA economy by staying there.

Also, Obama was firm on his plans to fix the economy, while McCain changed his course daily. McCain's choice of Palin and the running of his entire campaign shows how lousy he chooses people that work for him. Add to that McCain's firm stance on deregulation of Wall Street - that led to the Great Depression of 2008 - and I don't see how Obama could be a worse choice than McCain.

BTW, I can't find fault at Obama's idea to actually talk to Iran, and not push the entire Western world into a Christian/Muslim world war. Today, Croatia isn't one of targets of Muslim extremists... I wouldn't like a future where Croatian soldiers would die in Syria, Palestine or Iran so USA companies could pay a bigger dividend to their stockholders.

Well congratulations to the American public for once again failing to do even any basic research on who they're voting for.

In charge of one of the most powerful countries in the world is now an anti-white, racist, muslim terrorism sympathiser (self confessed).

Enjoy the next four years America - Rest of world too.

Bed made - Sleeping within to commence.

-- Richard

>......... and has raised such ire that islamist terorrism, once confirmed to Israel, is now killing australian tourists in Bali and commuters in London.......<

Recommend you read 'Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam' by Jason Burke. Should broaden your views about being 'once confirmed to Israel' a little....

legalise all drugs and the world might finally start being a better place.

Mines the one with the untaxed blim in the pocket.

I know it's historic cos he's the first black president, but really, WAAAAAAAY too much emphasis put on how it's great he won because he's black. His skin colour has no bearing on his policies, or at least it shouldn't. Race is irrelevant. I'm still curious to see some real policies, hopefully this is a turning point for the US and things will improve, not just in their own country but around the world since as much as i hate to admit it, the state of the US has a knock-on effect on the rest of us.

Also, since i refuse to post something entirely serious, willies.

Let the Rapture begin! AntiChrist can wait.

"millions of babies killed"

So, AC (it would be, wouldn't it) when is a baby a baby? When it's a cluster of tissue in utero, or when it's born? I have to tell you that fertilised eggs are flushed down the pan quite regularly, and quite naturally, when they fail to attach. And as for all that DNA you leave lying around...

"Palin stood beside him, but did not speak."

Probably should've tried that approach a little sooner.

Re: "America 'saved'"?

I would like to take the opportunity to say what a refreshing suprise it was to see such a sincere and finely crafted "I'm deleting my Reg bookmarks with immediate effect" comment.

It's been a while since I saw one with such obvious feeling. I'm not sure where you think the extra storage is going to appear from but well-done-you. Now don't let the door smack you on the arse in the way out :)

If you're not wealthy, but simply comfortably middle-class, in America, and black, your life will be affected a lot by the fact that so many black people are poor, and so people will start out by automatically assuming you are poor and therefore dangerous too. It will affect where you can live, and how you must dress.

So it isn't just a divide between rich and poor.

can we at least wa8 24hours before we become jaded and cynical?

It was what the people want, if given a choice no one would have a leader, it is only leaders who think leaders are necessary.

Everyone else is kinda happy doing their own thing, I sometimes wonder if we could just create a country of leaders, pile them all in and let them go about trying to lead each other. I bet nothing would get done, but then again I could be pleasantly surprised. These are the types of experiments we should be doing, it would make for good TV as well, that could be there export if they could figure out how to use a camera between them.

they don't hand over te same way as in the UK...

you WIN, your IN (NOW) gettawork....

and yes i think everyone was humming bob the builder all last night,,,, just a pity he didn't have a good rework of the lyrics...

It's all over, hooray. Now begins four years of the new media presidential fight of Clinton vs Palin. Gah!

Thank god we got this guy in office. His very election should hopefully show the world that we are not *all* a bunch of gun toting, god-loving lunatics with buck teeth and banjos. There are allot of very intelligent, moderate, pragmatic people here too. Unfortunately there are allot of those other people too :-(

Anyway, Its great to celebrate and all, and contrary to what allot of people say, O'Bama being elected does do something. It is a symbol, and it is a message. Now the tough part happens though. Somehow this guy must take his overwhelming popular support and translate it into policy, battle the influence of entrenched lobyists, power hungry and corrupt politicians, slash military and entitlement spending *before* inflating the dollar, and turning America back into a production oriented competitive country. We'll see how he does.

Why are you always soooo fucking worried about unborn 'children'? You should look on the bright side, more abortions means fewer of those poor, non-whites you're all so scared of.

Every child born should be loved and wanted. It's funny how you lot stop giving a shit about them as soon as their little heads are out in the world. Your own precious Palin cut funding to programmes that help care for teen mothers and their kids, and to organisations that shelter those who chose to keep their babies. Take it up with her.

Happy Brit Geekette.

(Dismayed at Prop. 8 and their ilk, but praying for change)

"Clinton vs Palin"

That I'd like to see - especially in mud.. :-)

I had hoped that we could finally kill the elephant, destroy the Republican party. The remaining bigots, torturers, and war criminals ^H^H^H^H^H members of the party would likely join the neo-nazi party where they would feel quite at home. Until the new administration is inaugurated, we still are threatened by a Bush coup d'etat, with "the Decider" declaring himself "War President For Life".

I hear black helicopters....

Yes - that probably is the average US family.... retarded enough to kiss a cardboard cutout.

If this isn't about race, why are they all at pains to point out he's black? (Actually he is mixed "race")

And the IT angle here?????? Yet another El Reg "jumping-on-the-bandwagon" tabloid wannabe....

>> Hang on a second. Given that the majority of people now officially consider Barack Obama to

>> be the better man, surely El Reg must now begin a negative reporting campaign purely for the

>> sake of being contrary?

Surely they've got to give any new incumbent 24 hours in the job before they start complaining - obviously GWB was an exception to that rule. There are limits even to El Reg's contrariness.

"Of course if you don't like the idea of democracy you could go and live in China"

Oh YES, you beauty. Epic IFLISMWDYGLT WIN!

"Comparisons with Blair are fair, but you're being a little harsh. Yes he went off the rails with Iraq but we're no longer worrying about Northern Ireland, largely down to his first term. Anyone believe the conservatives could have done that? Didn't think so."

Apart from the fact that Blai built on the groundwork laid by Major, yeah, you're right. So "not at all" then.

I'd like to thank El Reg and the staff for yesterdays 24 Hrs in America. Sarah and Paul did a bang up job with the blog and the video feed. The people in chat were great as well. Some good discussion, a couple debates but all with the spirit and humor that is classic Register and it's readers. It was the best way I could think of to spend that historic night and I thank you all sincerely.

It's amazing to see how much spin has been sent out of the USA via the different media outlets (McCain bad, Obama good). We will be lucky if the country (and world?) is not driven into a depression soon.

Changes to come:

1. HIGHER taxes - the promises about cutting taxes for 95% notwithstanding. Currently over 40% of the people do NOT pay taxes, so any "cut" for them is a payment back (can you say "welfare").

2. "Spread the wealth around" - also called Marxism or Socialism.

3. Curtailment of freedom of speech - already during the campaign, it has been visible from the Obama side. He has also promised the reinstatement of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which will be used to muzzle talk radio in the States.

4. Appeasement to terrorists - didn't work with Chamberlain in the 1930s.

For those of you who have been spouting off how wonderful this democracy is, please be advised that the United States is a democratic republic - somewhat different.

Now I'll go off and get my mourning togs on!

and up and down times. Its going to be more of the same. unfortunately the politicians here are all generally cut from the same cloth. Things will eventually recover and it probably won't be anything that Obama did and everyone will praise him for fixing it. But I accept that he was elected and I wish him the best of luck.....also I hope he doesn't really fuck things up

Didn't take long :-)

http://todayfm.com/goout.asp?u=http://audio.todayfm.com/celente.wma

Buh-bye, and good riddance. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

don't forget, it's a whole two years until the Clusterfuck To The Whitehouse circus starts again: use your time wisely...

>> "With atypical American family" does not mean the same thing as "with a typical American family."

You committed the same typo as the writer of the article: you typed "atypical" instead of "a typical"--they are not the same thing.

What's that? You actually meant to write "atypical"? Oh. You mean there are legitimate uses of the word? Could irony be one of those?

-dZ.

Er... FYI, Obama is not Kenyan-American, he is American. He happened to have a Kenyan father, but I guess you knew that and is just being a troll for fun.

Kenyan- (or Austrian-) born people still can't be president of the USA, by the way.

Good luck to the Obama administration (they'll need it, after the Dubya train wreck) , and please, Obama, avoid open spaces and large crowds from now on as much as possible. You might catch a cold, y'know.

"Yes he went off the rails with Iraq but we're no longer worrying about Northern Ireland, largely down to his first term"

Sorry it's taken so long to respond, but it's taken that long to stop laughing. Blair had f*ck all to do with that deal. There was only one person on the British side responsible for the NI peace deal, Mo Molem, she did all the work deal then Blair all but sacked her for it and took the credit.

Blair was always willing to take the credit for his ministers good works (rare though they were) and equally eager to blame them when things went wrong (much more common). One of his favourite statements in interviews was "I'm afraid you'll have to ask the minister concerned" which meant "if I don't answer I don't have to take the blame." Slimy. Cowardly. Shit.

adn now a rebutle

"1. HIGHER taxes - the promises about cutting taxes for 95% notwithstanding. Currently over 40% of the people do NOT pay taxes, so any "cut" for them is a payment back (can you say "welfare")"

yes wwwwweeeeeellllffffaaaaarrrrreeee ...... sometime it is a good thing to help the less fortunate

"2. "Spread the wealth around" - also called Marxism or Socialism." seepoint 1

"3. Curtailment of freedom of speech - already during the campaign, it has been visible from the Obama side. He has also promised the reinstatement of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which will be used to muzzle talk radio in the States."

no coment do not know what it is refering to but it is sometimes usfull to have some limites on what pepol can say that is why we have lible laws

"4. Appeasement to terrorists - didn't work with Chamberlain in the 1930s." point of order germany was a country not teriost orgnisations so the comparisions are not valid and even if you are talking about "teroist" contrys (iran, north kora) just cos it did not work for chamberlin dose not mean it will not work for omaba it 1930's war healy 80 years ago times change

"Comparisons with Blair are fair, but you're being a little harsh. Yes he went off the rails with Iraq but we're no longer worrying about Northern Ireland, largely down to his first term. Anyone believe the conservatives could have done that? Didn't think so"

Bollocks. John Major did all the work for that, Bliar just stepped in and took the credit. As usual.

I find it somewhat ironic that some people in the US consider Obama to be a socialist. They ought to come visit Europe (the top-left part of that big landmass to the right of the US east coast) and see proper socialism. What you think of as socialism is still well into the capitalist part of the political spectrum.

the day the merkins who won't even post under their own names stop seeing Obama as a black man will be a great one. Politics is the strangest thing because so many of these fools are more worried about not getting what they want (and the subsequent rattle throwing) than the good of their country and the world at large. Look at the UK to see how important and pointless party politics actually are these days (oh and the twats who keep saying "we didunt vote fer Gordun Braan" are stupid! We didn't vote for John Major either but had him for a couple of years....it's how it goes, like in the US, if anything happens to the president, the VP takes over, simple)...look at the man and what he can or cannot do for the country and the world eh?

Not "'ee be a-killin' a baybees!" or "ee be a berlaak feller" or "'im be a muzzerlim commie socialia-thingy" in fact he's the democratically elected president so live with the fact, you have at least 4 years to get used to it! A lot of people didn't like what Bush did but again, he was voted in so what can you do?

Aside from that I do hope Obama helps move the issues of racism forward...no-one refers to me as a slightly darkskinned man or a brown-hair do they? So roll on the day when skin colour is really as important as the colour of your eyes or your hair....that's why people are so hopeful, because it could change the world, this

By michael Posted Wednesday 5th November 2008 20:53 GMT

"adn now a rebutle"

Spelling obviously isn't your forte. However I won't complain.

""1. HIGHER taxes - the promises about cutting taxes for 95% notwithstanding. Currently over 40% of the people do NOT pay taxes, so any "cut" for them is a payment back (can you say "welfare")"

yes wwwwweeeeeellllffffaaaaarrrrreeee ...... sometime it is a good thing to help the less fortunate"

There is a huge difference between the "less fortunate" and those whose whole life is rooted in welfare - i.e. no work. (on the dole for 3 generations).

""2. "Spread the wealth around" - also called Marxism or Socialism." seepoint 1"

Is there a reason that the government has to take my money and give it to others? If they want money, they can work for it, just like I do.

""3. Curtailment of freedom of speech - already during the campaign, it has been visible from the Obama side. He has also promised the reinstatement of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which will be used to muzzle talk radio in the States."

no coment do not know what it is refering to but it is sometimes usfull to have some limites on what pepol can say that is why we have lible laws"

I believe that you are referring to slander, not libel. Slander is the spoken form of defamation, while libel is the written form. Hard to see people on the radio libelling others! I agree, if there is a problem, then use the defamation laws as they are intended intended. Forcing others to give time to present opposing viewpoints flies in the face of (dare I say it?) capitalism. The "liberal" talk radio shows CANNOT sustain an audience, so advertisers will not pay for their ads to run on these shows. The only way that the Democrats have of "competing" with conservative talk radio, and other outlets of the real truth, is to force stations to carry their unwanted messages. No-one tunes in to hear them, so advertisers don't run ads, so the station loses money. Ergo, no more talk radio.

""4. Appeasement to terrorists - didn't work with Chamberlain in the 1930s." point of order germany was a country not teriost orgnisations so the comparisions are not valid and even if you are talking about "teroist" contrys (iran, north kora) just cos it did not work for chamberlin dose not mean it will not work for omaba it 1930's war healy 80 years ago times change"

As recently as the 1990s, Bill Clinton tried appeasement - 14 years ago. North Korea now has nuclear weapons and chemical weapons, and rockets to deliver them. So much for appeasement. Bill also tried appeasing the terrorists - Yemen, 1st WTC bombing, etc. Only effect was to make them bolder.

For those who voted to have no Bush III, welcome to Clinton III. You won't have to be concerned with the freedoms lost under Bush, you won't have the money to enjoy them after Clinton III raises your taxes.

1. again not knowing the detailes of his plan but most goverments and I think the usa dose have rules restricting benifets so pepol who have been on the for 3gen usuley have a reasion

2. maby they can not for reasions beyond there control and. why dose my bosses boss who dose not work anymore hours or have any more technal knolage than me eurn 10-100x as much as me? if I am following obamas plans then his taxes will only efect pepol earning over $250,000 a year and thouse pepol are wealthy not poor pepol eather way taxes are the price you pay for all the inteagle benfits you get for living in a socity

3. cos pepol actuley like being fooled you some times need to force pepol to be fair and having seen some of the "unbised" opinions of the usa I am of the opinion some more ristrictions are in order

4. and bushes confrentnational aproch has been working soooo well has it not? and why are you trying to FORCE inderpendent nations to follow your will?

lastley not leastley I am using my name plese use yours I h8 shadow boxxing

It's kinda funny from this perspective that neither the right wing nuts nor the left wing nuts have a clue about punctuation, syntax, or spelling. Methinks they could better spend their time getting an education, rather than arguing about stuff that they can't change in a forum that nobody in power reads.

"...why dose my bosses boss who dose not work anymore hours or have any more technal knolage than me eurn 10-100x as much as me?..."

maybe it's because your inability to string two words together coherently makes you come across as a fucktard - and they're generally lower paid.

The United States spends more per head on healthcare than any other nation on earth, yet the amount of Americans without any health cover at all is nine times the entire population of my home country.

You only have the freedom to blow smoke out of your arse.

or maby it is cos I am serviley dyslexic and find spelling and sentence struture harder than anything else (spelling is not importent to a computer)

America as the greatest nation on earth will witness real,and new changes with a great man like Obama.American people are encouraged by his general tenor on economy,and both domestic politics,and foreign policies.Let's hope that America will overcome economic financial crisis with Obama's testing his mettle,and with American people will to be patient in such transitional period.

Yep!!

Black scores 7, Brown scores 4 (snooker)

while I keep a close eye on my spelling and grammar and have taught the English language for many years (thus am annoyed with bad use of both as a rule) I do not see why people who are losing any form or argument, or cannot refute another's points must always resort to making fun of their grasp of the English language in it's written form? Seems infantile to me.

We're talking Politics here, not erudition surely? If someone cannot spell or structure well, as long as it can be understood, why make issue? I can only guess that, while their ability to spell or structure linguistically is lacking, perchance your ability to reason/argue coherantly is perhaps as limited? I see this tactic as simple trolling, if not purile schoolyard bullying tactics; throw an attack they cannot refute or defend, be it related to the topic or not, because that stops them being clever.

While not dyslexic myself, I have suffered dyspraxia, which has not stopped me doing rather well in life nor has it limited my intelligence, same applies to dyslexics....did you know that Einstein, Newton and Da Vinci we all supposed dsylexics?

Anyway back to politics please, children

Mr. Fisher I looked it up on Google but I still don't know what it is.

Please forgive me