Democratic Agenda

A prominent blog author stated that he voted for Obama. That was not surprising. However he also said that he voted Republican for everything else. He explained himself by saying he just did not want a lot of tax increases. And that is what the Democratic party means to him.

The Obama vote was to keep the American dream alive that anybody can make it big. It was also because he believed that Barrack’s vision, leadership, and motivation would help the USA. The guy did not want to appear too far to the right with his Republican voting. So he did admit that he did not think tax cuts would help us at this point. But he definitely did not want any tax hikes either.

There was a lot of commentary on the blog post. There is a growing concern that with all the government bailouts, we are becoming a socialist nation. There is also worry that with the House, Senate, and presidency controlled by the Democrats, we have lost some level of checks and balances. Even Sarah Palin has come out and said that we cannot leave this happen.

Going further on the socialism idea, I keep hearing people say they don’t want the government to take from those who work, in order to give to those who don’t. Nobody likes free handouts like welfare unless it is you yourself who is on welfare.

And lest we get a little to serious here on this blog, I will say that I voted for McCain. However I hope that Obama can do a good job and get the United States out of the financial mess we are in. I liked one comment I saw recently that just said, “Gobama.”

Results Snapshot

I write this late in the evening on election day. NBC is calling Obama the winner. It is a tricky business to estimate who is going to win. However the outcome seems clear given the electoral vote advantage that Obama has. As of a little after 11PM, Obama has 284 electoral votes compared to 146 for McCain. You only need 270 electoral votes to win the election. It appears that Obama was victorious.

Obama won a number of key states that corresponded to many electoral votes. For example he won New York with 31 electoral votes. And he also won California with 55 electoral votes. McCain on the other hand, seemed to win smaller states with less electoral votes. The one big state McCain won was Texas with 34 electoral votes. The only state too close to call that had many electoral votes was Florida with 27 electoral votes.

It had been a long and hard race for McCain. He seemed to lose steam after the current financial crisis reached its peak. There was a blip in the radar with excitement over his choice of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential running mate. That did not last for long. Obama had the staying power. Record number of Americans came to the polls. I heard reports that this many voters had not come out since 1920 when women won the right to vote.

This event winds down the 2008 race. I might post some more about the events that lead up to the January inauguration of Obama. However the election portion is done. Who knows? Perhaps I shall start writing about Election 2012 a bit early. I feel like I want to do more for my chosen candidate than I did this time. Yes I went out and rocked the vote. Sometimes it takes more than that to get your candidate to win.

I Voted

Today was the big day. I actually woke up a little late. So I was worries that going to vote would make me really late. Nevertheless, I had to do my civic duty. The girlfriend tagged along. Last election I was in a different house in a different county. So this would be the first time I would vote at the local school by my new house. I was pleased to see that there was actually some parking near the school. I was in a hurry after all.

Outside of the school I saw a guy talking to people walking up to vote. When I got near him, I recognized him as a member of the local civic association that had come door to door. He asked us if we had any questions. I told him we were good. Maybe he was not one of those guys who try to harass you to vote for their choice. Perhaps he was just part of the election staff. Who knows. There were not any signs as directing your where to go. I just went inside one of the open doors.

When I got in, there was a large sign that said, "One line starts here". I stood in line. When my turn came, and a man shouted "next in line", I went up to him. However some lady cut in front of me. Normally that would mean she needed to get the beat down. But she was older, and was pushing an even older guy in a wheelchair. So I decided she would get a little grace. But by then I was in the middle of nowhere with nobody to service me. I decided to get back into line.

I told the guy who eventually serviced me my name. He did not ask for any identification which was strange. The only needed me to verify my birth date. I signed a paper that came out of a little printer. Then I got a voting card. And I went to stand in yet another line. I stepped to a voting machine when the time came. I put my voting card in the machine. However I knew something was not right when I tried to select English as the language. I had to keep hitting the button to start the voting session.

It was a total chore voting on this machine. I think the touch screen was totally hosed. Either that or the machine was very slow. I kept hitting the buttons I wanted. Somehow I got through all the questions and submitted my vote. It was a little confusing on the way out. I tried to give my stuff to a lady that looked like she worked there. But she said I needed to give it to the other guy that was handling the line coming in. Overall the voting experience felt a little more disorganized than at my last location in a different county. All of these people are volunteers. So I doubt much more can be done to improve this, unless I myself decided to volunteer and step in.