2012 Election Results
President Barack Obama won surprisingly handily last night, gaining over 300 electoral points, far surpassing the 270 required to win. He won most of the key swing states, including the most crucial, perhaps, with Ohio, which was the one that, when announced, secured his victory. He also won Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia and New Hampshire. Romney, in the meantime, won North Carolina, and took back Indiana for the Republicans. He came close in some of the other states, but ultimately, he fell far short of what he would have needed. His wife insisted that this was the last ever political campaign that they take part in.
Florida remained a problem, once again, as the vote was too close to call there as of the time of my writing this. Last I heard, Obama had a slight lead here, although there were still votes to be counted. These problems in the Sunshine State come not long after it was the center of controversy during the 2000 election, when similar problems lasted for over a month and became a nightmare for many.
The Republicans also fell short in their bid to take back the Senate, which the Democrats will remain in control of. However, the Republicans did manage to hang onto control of the House of Representatives.
Gay marriage propositions were victorious in Maine, Washington, and
Also, in Washington and Colorado, the question to legalize recreational marijuana were passed, although it was defeated in Oregon.
In California, there was a vote on whether to make it mandatory to label so-called Frankenfoods in supermarkets, as a measure to keep consumer informed of what exactly they are potentially consuming. As of my writing this, the results were too close to call.
So, other than all of that, what else can be predicted for the next four years?
I think that, for one, this secures that Obamacare will become the law of the land, and that Americans will find out, once and for all, just how well it works, or doesn't. There has been a lot of fear-mongering in regards to the healthcare proposals, but the truth of the matter is that some degree of change was needed, in order to curtail the skyrocketing costs, and to insist on a higher degree of fairness. The changes that Obamacare ushers in are far more modest than it's critics would have you believe - they claim that it would give the United States essentially a Western European-style socialist healthcare system, but it falls far short of that. However, it seems like it will go some distance to make healthcare in this country both more accessible and affordable. Mitt Romney vowed that once in the White House, he would work to repeal Obamacare. He made it a big part of his campaign to essentially criticize it, and to be the loudest voice in opposition to it - but now he has lost. By all measures now, with the Supreme Court decision in favor of Obamacare earlier this year, and now with Obama's re-election, it looks like it will get a chance to be implemented, and Americans will finally see it for themselves, and be able to decide whether or not it is a good thing that they might want to keep, or a bad thing and a step towards dictatorship, like many of the most cynical elements (like the Tea Party) claim it to be. I, for one, will put my money on it remaining the law of the land from here on in. It was long overdue and, again, I cannot stress this enough: the changes it ushers in are modest, and far from as all-encompassing as opponents claim it is. God forbid we ever get something like universal healthcare in this country, right? Americans claim to be number one in everything, so we can continue to convince ourselves that we have the very best healthcare system in the world, even though we are the only one among industrialized nations to have such staggeringly high costs, or to have the tens of millions, including millions upon millions of children) where people do not have healthcare coverage. (Sorry, my own cynicism on a different end seems to have bled through, but this issue is one that I have always felt passionate about since a very young age, and I still feel that Americans are collectively missing the boat on this one). Here is a link to an article (One big winner in Tuesday's vote: health reform) that talks about this:
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/07/14982892-one-big-winner-in-tuesdays-vote-health-reform?lite
Supposedly, Obama will focus much more on the environment and a strong energy policy, leaning towards greater American energy independence, than he did in his first four years. If there is an issue that should receive far greater focus, then this is it. With the recent "Frankenstorm" Sandy, the third such freakishly strong "storm of the century" that this area has seen in about the last fifteen months or so, we really ought to be taking the possibility of climate change more seriously. We cannot know conclusively, beyond all doubt, whether or not the changes we are seeing are caused by humans, yet it seems that far too many Americans are absolutely convinced that it is not, to the point that they are putting all of their chips on the negative, and continually giving power to those who make a mockery of environmental regulations. What if they are wrong? What if time is indeed running out, and yet we are almost literally laughing at the rest of the world, as well as the vast majority of the scientific community, simply because some self-serving politicians in the pay of environmentally unfriendly corporations tell us that profits are more important than the planet. The whole world is responsible, but no country has done more to poison the world's land, water, and air, than we have here. No country seems as collectively cynical about it all as this one is, either, and it is offensive. I still remember some American athletes arriving in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games wearing masks, as a form of protest, if you will, against the allegedly poor environmental quality of air there. Yet, we had one of the worst environmental Presidents in office then for almost eight years, and that kind of protest was quite muted. Where were those Olympic athletes right here in their own homeland, protesting the poor environmental record right here at home, where they have more power of persuasion, presumably? I think of the arrogance and presumptuousness with which that was seen, to say nothing of the glaringly obvious hypocrisy. At the time, China had only recently become the most polluting nation in the world, but it had been only a year or two that they had replaced the United States, which had dominated this unfortunate category for decades and decades. Plus, China has about four times the population that the United States does, which means that, per person, we still cause more pollution, and waste more energy. No nations wastes more than we do. When we Americans do things like that, and collectively laugh at claims that we are doing irreparable damage to the environment, how do you think it looks to the rest of the world?
Otherwise, we shall see about Obama's ability to turn the economy around. The truth was that he was handed a horrible situation, and perhaps it does take more than four years to turn all of that around. He now has another four to make things happen, and after this election, he likely will not be able to keep reminding people of just how bad things were when he was elected. So, let's hope that the economy begins to be more favorable, and that the positive signs of recent truly do indicate a more positive trend.
I am not entirely sure whether this can be considered, truly, a mandate, or not. Obama's Democrats did not sweep into power, but are entering into a power-sharing mode. The Republicans and the Democrats should both shoulder the blame for what has gone wrong in this country politically for decades now. That much is true. But the obstructionist policies of the Republicans over the last two years in particular have been very detrimental, and it would have been a travesty, truth be told, had they been rewarded for that. They weren't, and so maybe the message will be sent that it's time to work together. I'm not holding my breath, personally. Let's see what happens. Here's one encouraging sign, that Boehner and his Republicans may actually be willing to work with Obama now:
http://news.yahoo.com/top-republican-obama-avoid-fiscal-cliff-203717611--finance.html
Another Storm
Yet another storm is hitting the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, dumping possibly up to six inches of snow in some parts of the region. Dangerous winds are supposed to add extra potential hazards, and some coastal communities in New Jersey and Long Island were already evacuated. Let's see how bad this storm is. It is not supposed to compare with Sandy, but since it comes so quickly in Sandy's wake, it is not helping matters here at all.
Around the World
South Africa - An investigation into the recent violence (most notably the shootings) during the mining strikes is ongoing, and results hopefully will be anounced in the near future.
South Africa - South African currency will soon portray the image of Nelson Mandela, the former President and antiapartheid activist.
Greece - Strikes against what are seen as too severe austerity measures continue, as a vote on the austerity measures looms. Evidently, Greece has passed one of the key measures to the austerity measures. A couple of articles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/07/eurozone-crisis-greece-strike-austerity-vote
http://news.yahoo.com/greece-narrowly-passes-crucial-austerity-bill-230328349--finance.html
China - Chinese submarines soon will carry nuclear weapons, according to a report.
http://news.yahoo.com/china-submarines-soon-carry-nukes-draft-u-report-020905569.html
Tibet - Four protesters self-imolated in one day today.
Czech - The United States was not the only nation that had elections. In Czech, Prime Minister Necas won a confidence vote, and will proceed now with proposed tax hikes.
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