Let's all just calm down a little shall we...please.
Okay, I so wanted obama to beat McCain. It seemed a 'no-brainer', but let's get a little perspective on today. For all of Obama's qualities and to be elected President you certainly need some, even George did. I sincerely hope that Obama will be proved a capable and innovative, perhaps even revolutionary president. But that is all it is at the moment, Hope. There is no way you can judge Obama on an inaugeration day event. For those who stated 8 years ago that George W had bought the presidency and was therefore in debt to all the multinationals that funded his campaign, let's us look at some cold hard facts, shall we, just so we can perhaps get it into perspective.
In 2008, Obama raised throughout the election, (21months) $770m, more than half a billion dollars in donations. This figures dwarfs the combined candidate fundraising efforts in 2004, so double what Bush or Dean could raise between them. he spent $720m in total and now sits on a $30m cash pile. McCain raised $367M and spent $326m. A fairly huge difference. To someone used to british politics, we usually deal in millions more of the number around 15-20 for a general election. These figures actually stagger me. Yet one thing I would guess is that if you can spend 400m more dollars than your rival, you have a fairly healthy advantage.
This is not to say that I don't believe Obama bought the election. It was true that the americans voted for a radical change, the money though would have helped, yet they would still want change and I hope they have it. But let us be sensible and say that he must be given a year and then can we assess just how different an obama presidency is going to be.
In 2008, Obama raised throughout the election, (21months) $770m, more than half a billion dollars in donations. This figures dwarfs the combined candidate fundraising efforts in 2004, so double what Bush or Dean could raise between them. he spent $720m in total and now sits on a $30m cash pile. McCain raised $367M and spent $326m. A fairly huge difference. To someone used to british politics, we usually deal in millions more of the number around 15-20 for a general election. These figures actually stagger me. Yet one thing I would guess is that if you can spend 400m more dollars than your rival, you have a fairly healthy advantage.
This is not to say that I don't believe Obama bought the election. It was true that the americans voted for a radical change, the money though would have helped, yet they would still want change and I hope they have it. But let us be sensible and say that he must be given a year and then can we assess just how different an obama presidency is going to be.
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