[QUOTE="angryfodder"]

[QUOTE="fat_rob"][QUOTE="EMOEVOLUTION"]Obama wants to move troops from Iraq to Afganastan. He's not going to do it right way but over a period of time.fat_rob

TBH I have read a few books from soldiers over in IRAQ...and it doesn't seem like anything is the correct strategy.

Well yes, except that the Iraqis are still dependent. I believe it hasn't really brought them any closer to independence. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course. But violence being down doesn't mean mission accomplished. It's also cost a TON of money.

It was pretty obvious even before they showed it that it wasn't "real". I mean CNN can't use technology (projecting an image into plain air) that doesn't yet exist.ThePlothole

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisco_Telepresence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfNC_x0VvE

What's most interesting about early results is not just how many people voted but the shifting demographic of American voters, said Stephen Ansolabehere, a political science professor at Harvard and MIT.

Using exit polling data, Ansolabehere determined that whites made up 74 percent of the 2008 electorate. That's down considerably from 81 percent in 2000 because of increase in black and Hispanic voting, he said.

"That's a big shift in terms of demographic composition of the electorate," Ansolabehere said early Wednesday.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i34ao3tow5yhj2v7v24HM_wbT8JQD948LJRG0

Can we find any other stats on demographic turnout change?

Again. It's great that people are involved. It's interesting to see the demographic shift in this years election.

effthat

lol that's the same link I found.

It's simple algebra, but I'm really really too tired to do the math here. We know the total votes in 2004 and 2008, we know the percentage of the overall vote that was white in 2004 and 2008, we can find the percentage increase overall from 2004 to 2008 we know there was about 75% black turnout in 2008 compared to 65% overall... what we really need is "white vote increased by x" "black vote increased by y." Otherwise the numbers don't really mean much.

was there ever a doubt? They did say that it was a hologram, but they also explained how it worked... I think they made it clear, that it was not an actually, real hologram. But they did get some fun out of it, I guess :P Steingrimur

Only reasons there might be a chance of it being real:

1. The technology does exist

2. When they were interviewing the second 'hologram' the anchor heavily implied that he could see the guy, talking about what it looked like to him and such. Not cool.

[QUOTE="Torftw"][QUOTE="effthat"][QUOTE="Torftw"][QUOTE="Vfanek"]

I doubt it's the main factor. But it is a factor, and there are definitely plenty who voted for him based on his race. Not everyone, not the majority, but plenty. I am not saying the results aren't legit because of it, again, it's a minority.

Still, it's there.

effthat

We'll probably never know how many there were exactly, but considering the turnout for this election was huge and Obama won by so much, I doubt it's more than about 5%. My apologies for mistaking you for one of the idiots going 90%!!!!!11one Racism! without realizing that blacks vote dem anyway.

Again, the popular vote was MUCH closer than the electoral college votes. WE'll probably never really know and I'm fine with that. I'm not racist. I'm excited to see history just as much as everyone else is. I think that the path for the next 4 years was really decided before nov. 4th and either way we were heading for stormy waters.

I guess I was an idiot for thinking that someone who isn't racist could have a conversation about racial issues. I'm glad that we had record turn outs. I'm glad that the process is working like it should. I just find it staggering that one demographic is so homogenized.

Am I the only one who genuinley doesn't care about the history thing? I really don't see the big deal. Yeah, you guys elected a black president, which is nice, but I don't understand why everyone's going crazy over it. I guess it shows that the country's gone a long way towards eliminating racism, but still... Seems a little pointless to get so excited.

Let's look at it this way. 1965 Blacks gained the right to vote. 48 years (12 presidential elections) later there is a black man in the white house. Race issues have always been high in the land of opportunity. For the first time ever (in 176 years of existance) our president isn't going to be an rich old white guy.

Yeah, it's a big deal.

Fair enough. I'm just glad they (mostly) waited until the election was over to talk about it.

[QUOTE="Torftw"]

"But would Hillary carry the same numbers? I haven't looked at the numbers, but even though the electoral college was a landslide, the popular vote was much closer so it's very possible that it was a significant amount in key battleground states. Also, Obama got more votes than Kerry or Gore sure, but we're talking percentages here. In the actual numbers of black votes cast you have 90% of the black voting population which has swelled by 80% since the 2004 election. That is a significant difference even for the democratic vote. You're looking at Obama effectively getting a 100% increase in support from a single demographic."

I disagree with the 100% increase thing. Of the blacks who didn't vote in the last election, if there was mandatory voting, I'm sure almost all would've voted democrat. So the whole "more blacks voted" thing is irrelevant. This election had everyone excited and everyone energized.

I know we're talking percentages. Obama got a far higher percentage of the overall vote than Kerry or Gore. Sure, the popular vote was somewhat close, but it's still a big increase for Obama. No doubt that accounted for some of the increase in the black support.

Goddamn, I'm tired. It's 3 AM here, I gotta sleep soon.

effthat

But there is not mandatory voting so who they would have voted for if they HAD to is irrelevent. Now the increase from the usual 80% to 90% can be accounted for with the overall increase in Black votes cast. But an 80% increase in votes cast is very significant. Can we dig up some stats that show that this kind of voter turn out was common in this election? If so then race is clearly not a significant factor in this. Post it here if you find it. I'll be looking to. (Yes I actually am curious about this.)

I'm kinda curious too.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i34ao3tow5yhj2v7v24HM_wbT8JQD948LJRG0

Says record turnout. Minority voting IS up more than white voting, forcing the overall white vote down from 81% of the overall vote to 74%. Now the question is whether the minority turnout increasing slightly more than the white turnout was caused by race or just the fact that Obama energized the base. I'd say it's a bit of both, but how much is the real question.

[QUOTE="Torftw"]

[QUOTE="Vfanek"]

No worries. And yep, I agree. If Obama was white he would still have about the amazing amount of support he has now. He knows how to talk to the people, no one can deny that.

Only have to wait and see if eh can deliver what's promised. Personally, I'm not in doubt. But only time will tell.

chesterocks7

lol the funny thing is I followed this election so closely and I'm not even American. Your elections are always so entertaining though. People like Palin and Bush are great to laugh at. Congrats on your new president and good luck.

Did you really follow the election or do you just laugh at the politicians that every other liberal kid on this website laughs at?

Both. Laughing at politicians is fun, but you guys ARE the most powerful country at the moment, and what you do WILL effect me. So yeah, I follow pretty closely.

[QUOTE="Torftw"][QUOTE="Vfanek"]

I doubt it's the main factor. But it is a factor, and there are definitely plenty who voted for him based on his race. Not everyone, not the majority, but plenty. I am not saying the results aren't legit because of it, again, it's a minority.

Still, it's there.

effthat

We'll probably never know how many there were exactly, but considering the turnout for this election was huge and Obama won by so much, I doubt it's more than about 5%. My apologies for mistaking you for one of the idiots going 90%!!!!!11one Racism! without realizing that blacks vote dem anyway.

Again, the popular vote was MUCH closer than the electoral college votes. WE'll probably never really know and I'm fine with that. I'm not racist. I'm excited to see history just as much as everyone else is. I think that the path for the next 4 years was really decided before nov. 4th and either way we were heading for stormy waters.

I guess I was an idiot for thinking that someone who isn't racist could have a conversation about racial issues. I'm glad that we had record turn outs. I'm glad that the process is working like it should. I just find it staggering that one demographic is so homogenized.

Am I the only one who genuinley doesn't care about the history thing? I really don't see the big deal. Yeah, you guys elected a black president, which is nice, but I don't understand why everyone's going crazy over it. I guess it shows that the country's gone a long way towards eliminating racism, but still... Seems a little pointless to get so excited.

No worries. And yep, I agree. If Obama was white he would still have about the amazing amount of support he has now. He knows how to talk to the people, no one can deny that.

Only have to wait and see if eh can deliver what's promised. Personally, I'm not in doubt. But only time will tell.

Vfanek

lol the funny thing is I followed this election so closely and I'm not even American. Your elections are always so entertaining though. People like Palin and Bush are great to laugh at. Congrats on your new president and good luck.