President Obama reelected to a second term

Obama has been said to have won last nights debate. Who knows if it will help him? The consensus seems to be that there a few undecided voters left in the race at this point. The polls are still tied nationally but Obama retains a 2 point average led in Ohio and a few other swing states such as Nevada and Wisconsin so he is still ahead. If the debates can budge those numbers, if only by fractions, then it may be enough to be reasonably confident of an Obama victory.

I think that there is a growing perception in America that things are improving but slowly. It's a bummer because the election has probably come a bit too soon for Obama, the unemployment rate is falling a bit too close to the election to have a big effect. Romney could well reap the benefits of an improving economy in the same way Obama got the bill for the banking bailouts.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Damien

Obama has been said to have won last nights debate. Who knows if it will help him? The consensus seems to be that there a few undecided voters left in the race at this point. The polls are still tied nationally but Obama retains a 2 point average led in Ohio and a few other swing states such as Nevada and Wisconsin so he is still ahead. If the debates can budge those numbers, if only by fractions, then it may be enough to be reasonably confident of an Obama victory.

I think that there is a growing perception in America that things are improving but slowly. It's a bummer because the election has probably come a bit too soon for Obama, the unemployment rate is falling a bit too close to the election to have a big effect. Romney could well reap the benefits of an improving economy in the same way Obama got the bill for the banking bailouts.

Well put, My home state will no doubt go for Mitt. Not sure if Obama will be a lame duck anyway If the Senate & the House end up with the republicans

Originally Posted by Itshim

Well put, My home state will no doubt go for Mitt. Not sure if Obama will be a lame duck anyway If the Senate & the House end up with the republicans

He won't be a lame duck in that he would retain the power of the White House still. It's difficult to say how much he could achieve with a hostile congress. That said it's not certain the senate will fall under Republican control at the moment, the tides have shifted since August to the point where the Democrats would retain a narrow majority. However it doesn't really matter since neither will have a outright majority (2/3rd) to overturn vetoes from the White House or to overrule filibusters. The senate will be, for a lot of purposes, a draw no matter what happens.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Damien

He won't be a lame duck in that he would retain the power of the White House still. It's difficult to say how much he could achieve with a hostile congress. That said it's not certain the senate will fall under Republican control at the moment, the tides have shifted since August to the point where the Democrats would retain a narrow majority. However it doesn't really matter since neither will have a outright majority (2/3rd) to overturn vetoes from the White House or to overrule filibusters. The senate will be, for a lot of purposes, a draw no matter what happens.

Ok perhaps Lame duck is to strong a term.............

Originally Posted by Itshim

Making a hash comes to mind

Ahem....

From the NY Times.



And from Fox News Fact Check (words I never thought I would see together....)

ROMNEY: "The people of Iowa and America have watched President Obama for nearly four years, much of that time with Congress controlled by his own party. And rather than put out the spending fire, he has fed the fire. He has spent more and borrowed more. ... When you add up his policies, this president has increased the national debt by $5 trillion."

THE FACTS: Much of the increase in the debt is due to lower tax revenues from depressed corporate and individual incomes and high joblessness in the worst recession since the Great Depression. The recession officially began in December 2007, when George W. Bush was president and the national debt stood at just over $9 trillion. Financial bailouts, stimulus programs and auto rescue spending that started under Bush and continued under Obama contributed to the run-up of the debt.

But so did the Bush-era tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003. With bipartisan support, Congress has extended the tax cuts until the end of this year, and Romney's proposals for big cuts of his own would risk another squeeze on revenue.

Also from that article

Romney's tax and spending plans don't support his vow to dampen the debt fire. He proposes to cut taxes and expand the armed forces, putting yet more stress on the budget, and his promise to slash domestic spending isn't backed by the big specifics. Romney's tax plan would cut the top income tax rate to 28 percent from 35 percent and other rates by 20 percent each. He says he'd broaden the tax base and eliminate many deductions in the process, but details are missing.

A study by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget concluded earlier this year that Romney's plans would not make a dent in deficits, and could worsen them considerably. That study was done before Romney upped his tax cuts, inviting even deeper debt.

For pity's sake, even Fox News don't believe him....

Yet the Republicans are running on the platform that Obama has 'exploded' the debt, mostly by assigning the 2008 stimulus as his spending.

To be fair, their rhetoric is aimed at the same people who believe Obama is a Muslim Socialist Communist Terrorist who was born in Kenya - also, a Nazi....

Obama starting to do better, the damage from the first debate has been done and Romney's numbers are receding. Not enough to be confident either way though but Obama is now up by 2.1 on average on Ohio, a 0.5 increase.

[MalteseFalcon]

I heard on one of the News channel earlier tonight that the way Obama has handled the Sandy crisis has won him some new voters, many of whom intended to vote for Romney before Sandy hit.

I think Obama has responded much better than Bush did to Katrina, lessons were learnt from that storm. It's a shame that Katrina had to happen to make people take seriously the threat of hurricanes and tropical storms.

Originally Posted by MarkC1984

I heard on one of the News channel earlier tonight that the way Obama has handled the Sandy crisis has won him some new voters, many of whom intended to vote for Romney before Sandy hit.

I think Obama has responded much better than Bush did to Katrina, lessons were learnt from that storm. It's a shame that Katrina had to happen to make people take seriously the threat of hurricanes and tropical storms.

It's very hard to quantify what bonus this has given Obama.

We do know that polls have said they a massive amount of Americans have approved of the way he has handled the issue and they he has been praised by a Republican governor. A new round of polls yesterday have shown that Obama has closed the gap on Romney in the national vote which he has been behind in by an average of 1% point for weeks. Obama has also maintained or extended his lead in Ohio which looks like will be the deciding state unless something amazing happens elsewhere.

These polls do not take into account the reaction to the storm response because it's too early for them to be in there. It's unlikely to swing anything a lot because we're so close to the election and there are few people left who are undecided. However even a very modest bump, given Obama's current position, could be massive for him. If this means most of those left to decide go to Obama then he has probably won the election given his position in Ohio.

It also stops the 'Romney momentum' and probably means the states where Obama may have been at risk to a late surge (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin) are out of reach for Romney giving him no other path to the White House than Ohio. He no longer looks like a failing candidate, he looks like a President.

I wonder if the FEMA thing will hurt him, the Democrats can't really bring it up without being accused of exploiting the storm and risk undoing any advantage Obama has gotten from it.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I watched Sky news this morning and l can tell you from the news reports are saying that Obama did have a tough fight on his hands but the way he has handled the Sandy storm, even political reporters are saying that Romney has shot himself in the foot by trying to get photo shoots out of passing out parcels at a Red Cross meeting for the survivors instead of doing the same as Obama. He went to stricken areas and wasn't concerned about the voting - he was caring for the people, and that's what counts.

I think it will be a tough fight and l think that providing Obama carried on doing what he is doing now - then he will win.

Sky have said that he even contacted Romney's running mate to find out if he needed any help in his county.

Romney needs a miracle at the moment.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Hugh

To be fair, their rhetoric is aimed at the same people who believe Obama is a Muslim Socialist Communist Terrorist who was born in Kenya - also, a Nazi....

Are you saying he isn`t

Originally Posted by Itshim

Are you saying he isn`t

No.

The facts are....

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Hugh

No.

The facts are....

Since when has that got to do with any thing