According to the BBC, Obama has been re-elected, and re-elected as US president. I'm not sure what the firstelection was for, but I'm sure he's very happy nonetheless.

(And the world breathes a sigh of relief!)

Perhaps the second one is a clarification, in case people thought he'd been re-elected as treasurer to the local tennis club or something.

And yes phew. Thanks, Americans, you ain't so bad!

An American woman that I work with here cast her ballot by mail, and this morning had a 'thank you' email from the Obama election office.

They had a graph in the paper today showing that ~80% of the rest of the world would have voted for Obama over the lying mormon nutter.

Which would still somehow have translated into a Republican majority in the Senate.

I think the Coptics had the right idea: blindfold a small child and make them choose one of three pieces of paper. Would save a lot of money.

Had there been any competition other than a fucked up, lying Mormon I guarantee Obama would have lost.  I have no idea why you, and the rest of the world think he's doing such a good job.  As it is, the Republicans chose an ass clown to run against him, and I don't vote for ass clowns. 

I never said he is, or that I think he is. But as you note, the opposition was such a scary fucker that Obama was the de facto choice.

What Bastard said.

Haven't the Republicans in the Senate(?) blocked most of his policies from being implemented?

And I thought you didn't like big government, so surely the less he does the better he is? Or does that only apply to issues that don't immediately and directly affect you?

They have blocked some, but not all.  Obama care is going to be fun.

Have I ever given the impression that I'm only looking out for me?  I'm not a big political person, and I don't keep tuned into the news like I should, but the overall well being of the country is pretty important to me.  I have kids, and I don't want them inheriting this mess we've made.

Granted, none of you really know me, so I could make anything up really, but when I vote, I vote for the person I think will do the best job, regardless of party.  I'm registered independent and have voted for people in both parties and also people who aren't a member of the big two. 

Can you explian why Obama care is a good or bad thing? What it actually means to you? And I guess what it'll cost you personally?

With having the NHS I find it hard to not think some sort of public health support is a good thing, but the more I try and understand the American system the more I think it's impossible to put into practise.

I feel the perfect situation would be to get rid of the insurance companies and have this money paid to the government and they run the health system (like here), but that will never happen when there's people making fucktonnes of money from health insurance.

I can't help but think that the NHS is hardly a paragon, and the idea of healthcare being run by govt is a bit alarming.

Yeah it could definitely be run a lot better, but I can only see the privitisation of the NHS resulting in more profits for the private health companies and a lower level of care for the public.

well, that's already provably the case with the bits they've managed to privatise so far. But our fine government doesn't seem to be letting it stop them.

I guess my question Ken, if you feel like doing this and I'd understand you not, is what you base that thinking on to work out who'd be best. I'm kinda bewildered that nearly 50% of Americans can do that and come out with "that rich guy who wants to ban abortions and several other batshit crazy things, he'd be the man to help me out".

Let me wake up and I'll try my best to answer these. But really no matter how I answer it won't really make sense to you guys. Just like how your setup doesn't make much sense to me.

Ask us what you like too.

My bit of the NHS is damn near perfect. But then I'm not allowed near sick people, which is probably a good thing.

"Pay a whole lot for health insurance and still get fucked when something serious happens" won't make much sense to us, no.