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Old President, New America?
Copyright 2012 Firstpost
Table of contents Election Day Who will be American President

How the election unfolded Who said what during the US presidential elections US Elections 2012: Check out this real-time Facebook map Full text: Mitt Romneys concession speech Full text: Barack Obamas victory speech Not just in US, Obamas victory celebrated across the world In Obamas Kenyan village, locals celebrate reelection and progress Guess who Obama called right after winning? Are Republicans being sore losers by crying media bias? 04 05 07 08 10 14 16 18 19
Day After: How and why Barack Obama won

Obama won because his gut instinct was right Why Brand Obama trounced misbranded Mitt Romney The new Republican party: old, white and entirely blind Sluggish economy gets Obama second term Volunteering in Chicago: It was about the people, not the president How Obama won: with help from Dubya Obamas victory shows a more liberal, tolerant America 22 24 27 30 32 34 36
What Next - Obama's Challenges

Man without a mandate? The challenge of Obama 2.0 Fiscal cliff issue top priority, says Joe Biden Obama must show bravery in the next 4 years: Washington Post 38 40 41
What this means for India:

President Obamas win means great bonhomie for India Wrecked by Barack? IT captains hope for a softer Obama All said and done, Obama a hard-nosed leader who is good for India Indo-US ties to be stronger with Obama re-election: FM What India can teach the US about electoral process Obama, Romney, whoever: Why do we even care? 43 46 48 50 51 53
Election Day Who will be American President
How the election unfolded

Click here to know
Who said what during the
US presidential elections
Obama stands for most of the same things I do. He inherited a mess and he needs more time to fix it, said a first time voter in Ohio.
Reuters, Nov 7, 2012 Im also looking forward to tomorrow, because tomorrow were going to start the work. John Boehner, Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, on Republicans maintaining House majority: The American people want solutions and tonight they responded by renewing our House Republican majority. With this vote, the American people also made clear theres no mandate for raising tax rates. Americans want better solutions that will ease the burdens of small businesses, bring jobs home and let our economy grow. We stand willing to work with any willing partner who shares a commitment to getting those things done. Scott Brown, Massachusetts Republican, on losing Senate seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren: We stood strong in the fight and we stand strong now even in disappointment You all sent me to Washington to be my own man, and Ill be returning my own man. And for that, I am very, very proud. Sarah Palin, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor:
mericans went to the polls to vote for president on Tuesday after a tightly contested race between incumbent Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. Below are some comments made by the candidates, observers and voters: Obama, tweeting after MSNBC projected his victory: This happened because of you. Thank you. Obama, speaking to WJLA TV in Washington:
Weve laid out the choice very clearly for the American people, and now the question is going to be people showing up to the polls. I want to make sure people show up to vote and if you do whatever the outcome, thats how our democracy works. And I think well all come together to move America forward. Romney, speaking to the press in Cleveland: This is a great day with great opportunity, but
I just cannot believe that the majority of Americans would believe that incurring more debt is good for our economy, for our childrens future, for job creators. I cannot believe that the majority of Americans would believe that its OK not to follow the Constitution and not have a budget. And I cant believe that the majority of Americans would say its OK to rely on foreign sources of energy instead of drilling and mining our own natural resources. Its a perplexing time for many of us.
Symone Villalona, call-center worker in Nevada, first-time voter who backed Obama: I like someone whos for the people, the middle class. Romney didnt seem like he cared that much. Melanie Katsur, attorney, Romney backer in Washington, DC: I think that the rate with which the deficits have grown is not acceptable. I am fortunate enough to have a job, but I know a lot of people who dont. Lyda Swogger, first-time voter supporting Obama in Ohio:
Obama stands for most of the same things I do. He inherited a mess and he needs more time to fix it. Paul Dirks, retired mathematics professor and Obama supporter in Florida, on this years ad barrage: Its been the ugliest campaign Ive ever seen in my life and Im 71 years old. I felt like throwing stones at my TV. Noreen Taylor, Democrat voting in Nevada: Elections used to be about stuff, about issues and specifics. We used to have statesmen. Now we just have salesmen.
US Elections 2012: Check out this real-time Facebook map

Facebook has gone a step ahead and created a map showing in real-time how America is voting in this presidential election. Heres why you must check out this map.
FP Staff, Nov 7, 2012 matches the number of people voting in that s America goes to vote today, social region. The map is definitely worth checking out media sites such as Facebook, Instaas it gives a very cool macro perspective of how gram, Twitter etc are also seeing a huge amount of activity. But Facebook has gone a America is voting. step ahead and created a real time map which shows how America is voting in this presidential You can also click on a state and the map zooms election. You can check out the Facebook voting into that particular state. The blue bubble bursts continue and the map shows you the number of map here. statewide voters and the peak time for voting in that particular state. According to Facebook, the map is a representation of people on Facebook who clicked an Election Day prompt to share with their friends Facebook has also broken down the votes polled each hour for each region of the United States that theyre voting in the 2012 US election. The information displayed on Facebook Stories have on a graph just below the map. It also shows the number of male and female voters who been anonymized and aggregated. voted and have shared their story on Facebook and has a pie-chart of the different age groups Which means of course you know they voted, whove done the same. but dont know who they voted for!
The cool thing about the map is that you will see a blue bubble bursting as people share the fact theyve just voted. The size of each burst
Its clear from the continuous activity on the map, that its not about voting anymore. Facebooking about votes is also a given now.
Full text: Mitt Romneys
concession speech
FP Staff, Nov 7, 2012
hank you. Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Thank you so very much. Thank you. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you. Thank you. I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory. His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. I wish all of them well, but particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters. (Applause.) This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation.
I want to thank Paul Ryan for all that he has done for our campaign (cheers, applause) and for our country. Besides my wife Ann, Paul is the best choice Ive ever made. (Cheers, applause.) And I trust that his intellect and his hard work and his commitment to principle will continue to contribute to the good of our nation. (Cheers, applause.) I also want to thank Ann, the love of my life. (Cheers, applause.) She would have been a wonderful first lady. (Cheers, applause.) Shes she has been that and more to me and to our family
and to the many people that she has touched with her compassion and her care. I thank my sons for their tireless work on behalf of the campaign, and thank their wives and children (cheers, applause) for taking up their slack as their husbands and dads have spent so many weeks away from home. (Cheers, applause.) I want to thank Matt Rhoades and the dedicated campaign team he led. (Cheers, applause.) They have made an extraordinary effort, not just for me but also for the country that we love. And to you here tonight and to the team across the country the volunteers, the fundraisers, the donors, the surrogates I dont believe that theres ever been an effort in our party that can compare with what you have done over these past years. Thank you so very much. (Cheers, applause.) Thanks for all the hours of work, for the calls, for the speeches and appearances, for the resources and for the prayers. You gave deeply from yourselves and performed magnificently, and you inspired us and you humbled us. Youve been the very best we could have imagined. The nation, as you know, is at a critical point. At a time like this, we cant risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the peoples work. And we citizens also have to rise to the occasion. We look to our teachers and professors. We count on you not just to teach, but to inspire our children with a passion for learning and discovery. We look to our pastors and priests and rabbis and counselors of all kinds to testify of the
enduring principles upon which our society is built honesty, charity, integrity and family. We look to our parents, for in the final analysis, everything depends on the success of our homes. We look to job creators of all kinds. Were counting on you to invest, to hire, to step forward. And we look to Democrats and Republicans in government at all levels to put the people before the politics. I believe in America. I believe in the people of America. (Cheers, applause.) And I ran for office because Im concerned about America. This election is over, but our principles endure. I believe that the principles upon which this nation was founded are the only sure guide to a resurgent economy and to a new greatness. Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this campaign. (Cheers, applause.) I so wish I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction. But the nation chose another leader. And so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation. Thank you, and God bless America. (Cheers, applause.) You guys are the best. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, guys. (Cheers, applause.) (Transcript courtesy the Federal News Service).
Full text: Barack Obamas
victory speech
FP Staff, Nov 7, 2012 Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward. (Cheers, applause.) It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family, and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people. (Cheers, applause.) Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to
bamas victory speech might not have packed as much punch given the context and the generally sober victory, but the American President still seemed to have saved the best punchlines for this one address. From everyone can make it in America catchphrases that prop the American dream up again to aww-worthy till-death-do-us-part ones for wife Michelle, Obamas speech was stuff Hollywood scriptwriters dream of. Following is the full text of the speech. Audience members: (Chanting.) Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! President Barack Obama: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. (Sustained cheers, applause.)
come. (Cheers, applause.) I want to thank every American who participated in this election. (Cheers, applause.) Whether you voted for the very first time (cheers) or waited in line for a very long time (cheers) by the way, we have to fix that. (Cheers, applause.) Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone (cheers, applause) whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard and you made a difference. (Cheers, applause.) I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign. (Cheers, applause.) We may have battled fiercely, but its only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service. And that is a legacy that we honor and applaud tonight. (Cheers, applause.) In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward. (Cheers, applause.) I want to thank my friend and partner of the last four years, Americas happy warrior, the best vice president anybody could ever hope for, Joe Biden. (Cheers, applause.) And I wouldnt be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago. (Cheers, applause.) Let me say this publicly. Michelle, I have never loved you more. (Cheers, applause.) I have never been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you too as our nations first lady. (Cheers, applause.) Sasha and Malia (cheers, applause) before our very eyes, youre growing up to become two strong, smart, beautiful young women, just like your mom. (Cheers, applause.) And I am so proud of you guys. But I will say that for now, one dogs probably enough. (Laughter.) To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics (cheers, applause) the best the best ever (cheers, applause)
some of you were new this time around, and some of you have been at my side since the very beginning. (Cheers, applause.) But all of you are family. No matter what you do or where you go from here, you will carry the memory of the history we made together. (Cheers, applause.) And you will have the lifelong appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the way (cheers, applause) to every hill, to every valley. (Cheers, applause.) You lifted me up the whole day, and I will always be grateful for everything that youve done and all the incredible work that youve put in. (Cheers, applause.) I know that political campaigns can sometimes seem small, even silly. And that provides plenty of fodder for the cynics who tell us that politics is nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests. But if you ever get the chance to talk to folks who turned out at our rallies and crowded along a rope line in a high school gym or or saw folks working late at a campaign office in some tiny county far away from home, youll discover something else. Youll hear the determination in the voice of a young field organizer whos working his way through college and wants to make sure every child has that same opportunity. (Cheers, applause.) Youll hear the pride in the voice of a volunteer whos going door to door because her brother was finally hired when the local auto plant added another shift. (Cheers, applause.) Youll hear the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse whos working the phones late at night to make sure that no one who fights for this country ever has to fight for a job or a roof over their head when they come home. (Cheers, applause.) Thats why we do this. Thats what politics can be. Thats why elections matter. Its not small, its big. Its important. Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy. That wont change after tonight. And it shouldnt. These arguments we
have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter (cheers, applause) the chance to cast their ballots like we did today. But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for Americas future. We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the best schools and the best teachers (cheers, applause) a country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation (scattered cheers, applause) with all of the good jobs and new businesses that follow. We want our children to live in an America that isnt burdened by debt, that isnt weakened up by inequality, that isnt threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. (Cheers, applause.) We want to pass on a country thats safe and respected and admired around the world, a nation that is defended by the strongest military on earth and the best troops this this world has ever known (cheers, applause) but also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war to shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being. We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America open to the dreams of an immigrants daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag (cheers, applause) to the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the nearest street corner (cheers, applause) to the furniture workers child in North Carolina who wants to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president. Thats the (cheers, applause) thats the future we hope for. (Cheers, applause.) Thats the vision we share. Thats where we need to go forward. (Cheers, applause.) Thats where we need to go. (Cheers, applause.)
Now, we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there. As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. Its not always a straight line. Its not always a smooth path. By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams wont end all the gridlock, resolve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward. But that common bond is where we must begin. Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. (Cheers, applause.) A long campaign is now over. (Cheers, applause.) And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you. I have learned from you. And youve made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead. (Cheers, applause.) Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. (Cheers, applause.) You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together reducing our deficit, reforming out tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil. Weve got more work to do. (Cheers, applause.) But that doesnt mean your work is done. The role of citizens in our democracy does not end with your vote. Americas never been about what can be done for us; its about what can be done by us together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self- government. (Cheers, applause.) Thats the principle we were founded on. This country has more wealth than any nation, but thats not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military in history, but thats not what makes us strong. Our university, our culture are all the envy of the world, but thats not what keeps the world coming to our shores. What makes America exceptional are the bonds
that hold together the most diverse nation on Earth, the belief that our destiny is shared (cheers, applause) that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations, so that the freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights, and among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. Thats what makes America great. (Cheers, applause.) I am hopeful tonight because I have seen this spirit at work in America. Ive seen it in the family business whose owners would rather cut their own pay than lay off their neighbors and in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see a friend lose a job. Ive seen it in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb and in those SEALs who charged up the stairs into darkness and danger because they knew there was a buddy behind them watching their back. (Cheers, applause.) Ive seen it on the shores of New Jersey and New York, where leaders from every party and level of government have swept aside their differences to help a community rebuild from the wreckage of a terrible storm. (Cheers, applause.) And I saw it just the other day in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story of his 8-year-old daughter whose long battle with leukemia nearly cost their family everything had it not been for health care reform passing just a few months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care. (Cheers, applause.) I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father but meet this incredible daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd, listening to that fathers story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes because we knew that little girl could be our own. And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright. Thats who we are. Thats the country Im so proud to lead as your president. (Cheers, applause.) And tonight, despite all the hardship weve been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, Ive never been more hopeful about our future. (Cheers, applause.) I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope.
Audience member: We got your back, Mr. President! President Obama: Im not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path. Im not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. (Cheers, applause.) America, I believe we can build on the progress weve made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunities and new security for the middle class. I believe we can keep the promise of our founding, the idea that if youre willing to work hard, it doesnt matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love (ph). It doesnt matter whether youre black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight. (Cheers, applause.) You can make it here in America if youre willing to try. (Cheers, applause.) I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests. Were not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and forever will be, the United States of America. (Cheers, applause.) And together, with your help and Gods grace, we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you, America. (Cheers, applause.) God bless you. God bless these United States. (Cheers, applause.) (C) 2012 Federal News Service
Not just in US, Obamas victory
celebrated across the world
Students hold a poster of US President Barack Obama as they watch the US election vote counting at SDN 01 Menteng elementary school that he was once attended in Jakarta, Indonesia. AP
Indian students celebrate Obamas win outside the US Embassy in New Delhi. AP
In Kenya, Sarah Obama, step-grandmother of President Barack Obama, waves her walking cane towards supportersin celebration. AP
Obama supporters celebrate in Singapore. AP

locals celebrate reelection and progress

At a brief press conference Mama Sarah says this years election is even better than the first. This is more meaningful because it is the decision of the American people after seeing his work.
Jason Patinkin, Nov 7, 2012 ogelo, Kenya: In Barack Obamas ancestral village, locals held election watches Tuesday night and jubilant celebrations after his reelection. Though some locals recall larger parades in 2008, the election repeat is as sweet here as the first, pushing aside doubts about villagers support for Obama. Some Kenyans have criticized Obama for not visiting the country as president. But in Kogelo, where the presidents fathers family lives, people have seen real change ever since Obamas ascendency put the tiny hamlet on a global stage.
In Obamas Kenyan village,
Crispin Ochieng, a subsistence farmer, danced all night in a floppy red, white, and blue hat while watching the polls, and remembers the celebrations four years ago. This road was very bumpy in 2008. We had no electricity, he said. Now we are getting them all. In addition to paved roads and power lines, the rural western Kenyan village has a new police station by the house of Mama Sarah, third wife of Obamas grandfather. And a new upscale resort employs seventeen people, hoping to capitalize on a minor tourism boom. The development comes mostly from local Kenyan government eager to
promote their association with Americas first black president. Mary Achien, a mother who owns a small general store, thinks Kogelo will receive more benefits because of the reelection. We may even get clean water in the villages, she hopes. Today, though, she is focused on celebrating after a sleepless night watching the polls. Im going to slaughter a sheep. This is a big and very happy occasion. Nearly everyone here supports the villages most famous grandson. In a mock election that took place by the village market Tuesday morning, Obama beat Romney 146 votes to twelve. Roads and the local school in Kogelo are named after Obama, and everyone beams with joy over the son of this land. There were three election watch parties planned for Tuesday night in Kogelo, where due to the time difference the first polls didnt close until after midnight. But thunderstorms and power outages limited the festivities Tuesday afternoon to one outdoor gathering at the resort. By 11 pm, restored electricity allowed steady viewing of election coverage on flat screen TVs. Still, most people danced to a Luo drum group instead of watching. By dawn, only a few dozen people sat in rows of plastic chairs, watching results on a single screen. More villagers filtered in, when Obama took a lead in the electoral college, and the crowd began clapping for each state victory. With the announcement of reelection, everyone leapt to their feet and broke into traditional songs and dancing, holding their chairs aloft and pouring into the street as a cadre of reporters recorded the euphoria. When Baracks half-brother Malik drove past, he beamed and waved, shouting thank you! thank you! to the adoring crowd.
Malik drew on his half-brothers fame to open a community center and restaurant in Kogelo called the Barack H Obama Foundation, but he is quick to point out that the towns association to Obama can be overstated. We have our own lives, he said, explaining that the foundation does not rely on Barack. I dont know if [the connection] has helped much other than the link in name. This year, the election parties are smaller than in 2008. Razick Magak is a cousin of Barack Obama who remembers the parties last time. The field was full of big crowds at Mama Sarahs place, and bulls were slaughtered here. This year, many villagers stayed home. Maybe there was fear he wont claim presidency, he said. Also since he was elected he hasnt come to Kenya. Indeed, Obama traveled to Sub-Saharan Africa just once in his first term, to Ghana in July 2009. And others are disappointed in his African policies that they say focus on fighting terror rather than poverty. Yet in Kogelo there was little if any bitterness. An elder named Sylvans Joseph Oyengo explained Obamas absence over the past four years. He was a little busy, Oyengo said. Still, Oyengo hopes Obama will find time to visit in the next four years. The crowd paraded to Mama Sarahs house, where police carefully guarded the ninety-yearold matriarch from the hundreds of cheering well wishers. At a brief press conference Mama Sarah says this years election is even better than the first, even if the celebrations are smaller. I rate this one higher because it was euphoria that brought him to office the first time, she said. This is more meaningful because it is the decision of the American people after seeing his work.
Guess who Obama called
right after winning?

The first call Barack Obama made after winning the election was to someone who had been the backbone of his poll campaign.
fter taking a call from Mitt Romney, the first congratulatory call that Barack Obama made to anyone was addressed to Bill Clinton. Fox News reports:
are now the last two Democrats to win two terms. Theres little doubt about the fact that the mood around Obamas win was one of relief more than overwhelming euphoria. The President, who was elected to office for a second term, said more than once in his victory speech that the several stretches of his last term was frustrating, depressing and difficult. He even made the election out as some sort of a way to overcome the failures of the past. The hard road Obama referred to in the speech, however, was traversed successfully, as many would agree, thanks to former president of America and fellow Democrat Bill Clinton.
Obama then hung up the phone (Romneys call) and immediately dialed Clinton to thank him for his work on the president re-election campaign. The warm embrace between the two presidents is a far cry from four years ago; when Clinton called the first Obama campaign the biggest fairy tale hed ever seen. Clinton and Obama
From the impassioned appeal that he made at the Democratic National Convention, as Firstpost editor Sandip Roy points out, by calling Barack Obama My President to working for the future of America, Bill Clinton gave the campaign the zing it was missing when it started. No wonder it was Clinton who got the first call from the re-elected American President!
Are Republicans being sore losers by crying media bias?

Conservatives have decried the liberal media as one of the reasons for their candidates loss in the presidential election. Do they have a point?
itt Romney may have been gracious in his defeat in the presidential elections and called for an end to partisan posturing, but pro-Republican news outlets are still licking their wounds and blame the liberal media for the partys loss in the elections. Fox News carried an editorial written by Richard Noyes of the Media Research Centre, in which he came up with five reasons why the liberal medias alleged bias against Romney could be one of the main reasons the Republican candidate lost. In a scathing editorial, Noyes said that the lib-
eral media had gone after Romney when it came to hunting for facts or making him sound like hed made errors, something they didnt do as much for Obama. He also argues that the moderators in the televised deabtes fought more in favour of the President than his contender, at times going out of their way to bail the president out of uncomfortable spots: Moderators are supposed to ensure both sides get a fair hearing, not pick sides. By leaping into the fray, Candy Crowley epitomized the medias itch to tilt the scales this year again,
in Obamas favor. He also pointed to the media ignoring Obamas poor handling of the economy and the incident in Benghazi, Libya, where the US ambassador was killed. Boosted by the media? Can Obamas victory really be attributed to the media? AP Conservative media outlets have been seething at what they see as biased coverage of the presidential poll throughout the campaigning. But according to John Ziegler, a conservative commentator on Huffington Post, it wasnt so much that the liberal media was against Romney, as much as the conservatives were unwilling to accept the truth that their presidential candidate needed something special to swing the elections in his favour. In his blog on the site he wrote: Related to this is also the commercial aspect of the modern news media. There is absolutely no doubt that partisan outlets (which now describes about 100% of the media) do far better with their audiences when they tell them what they want to hear. I personally got an enormous amount of irrational grief (and actually lost twitter followers!) because I dared to write about how I thought Obama would win, even though my predictions were actually more optimistic than what the Left was tending to portend. The fact that I was correct will mean absolutely nothing to my detractors because credibility no longer has any currency in this celebrity driven culture.
He also felt that blaming those who said Romney would lose isnt the answer, as much as understanding why the party lost. Even Thomas Friedman from The New York Times was of the same opinion, and said the loss should perhaps encourage the Republicans to embrace an attitude that is more centre of right in order to stand a chance in the next election. In his editorial, after the Obama win he wrote: The G.O.P. has lost two presidential elections in a row because it forced its candidate to run so far to the loony right to get through the primaries, dominated by its ultraconservative base, that he could not get close enough back to the center to carry the national election. It is not enough for Republicans to tell their Democratic colleagues in private as some do I wish I could help you, but our base is crazy. They need to have their own reformation. The center-right has got to have it out with the farright, or it is going to be a minority party for a long time Perhaps Ziegler and Friedman have a point. In an age when voters depend as much on social media, to foist the blame for an electoral loss on the liberal media is a little too easy. Instead of merely shooting the messenger, perhaps the Republicans need to be looking closer at why the ignored the message that was being given to them.
Day After: How and why Barack Obama won
Obama won because his gut instinct was right

He focused on regular Americans the middle class and the poor while Romney dissed them as the 47 percent who didnt matter. His cool, non-fussy way of governing won him more support than Romney had imagined.
Seema Sirohi, Nov 7, 2012 ashington: I got this will be Barack Obamas most famous words. It is a phrase he has used to calm his supporters and his team when they thought he wasnt all there or having a bad day. He certainly got this a second term and saved himself from that special binder meant for one-term presidents. Americans voted and despite Sandys immense
fury. They went to makeshift tents in New Jersey, stood for hours in long lines in Florida and braved innovative voter intimidation tactics in Pennsylvania by enterprising election officials. Razor thin, too close to call and a toss up were all terms that were repeated breathlessly in the wall-to-wall coverage by cable news networks. But Obama maintained his pace, hastening it in the last phase to reach the finishing line rather
comfortably. Women, Hispanics and African Americans voted overwhelmingly in his favour. The coalition was a clincher. Many pundits had it wrong, especially those speaking from the Republican side. They should not get a second term. In the waning days of the campaign, Fox News, a pro-Republican channel, tried to whip up anger against Obama by repeating horror stories from victims of Sandy. It did not work. Obama four years later is not the soaring orator Americans had elected in 2008 but over the past four years they saw he performed under tremendous pressure. AP The world is relieved since almost all the countries polled by the BBC recently came out in favour of Obama. A collective sigh of relief could be heard from Europe to Asia. Even the Chinese preferred him to Mitt Romney. It seemed New Delhi was also holding its breath. The alacrity with which congratulatory messages flew from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee was record-breaking. No sooner had Romney conceded the Indian government warmed up the communication lines. Obama won because his gut instinct was right. He focused on regular Americans the middle class and the poor while Mitt Romney dissed
them as the 47 percent who didnt matter. Obama had a rather un-revolutionary message to deliver stick with me and things will steadily get better. His cool, non-fussy way of governing won him more support than Romney had imagined. Yes, Obama four years later is not the soaring orator Americans had elected in 2008 but over the past four years they saw he performed under tremendous pressure. There was no rush to rash decisions. This resonated. In the end ordinary, middle class voters decided another term was necessary for his policies to really take effect. It is safe to wager Obama will govern differently in the second term. He will reach out to Republicans in the US Congress who had made it their aim to limit him to a single term. He will meet and greet more no more Mr Aloof guy who sees deal-making as alien to his brand of politics. There will be more White House invitations and golfing rounds. In his first term he is said to have played about a 100 rounds and only one with a Republican leader. He can also try to earn his Nobel Peace Prize. Remember the Middle East peace process and the Palestinians? The plate is full.
Why Brand Obama trounced
misbranded Mitt Romney

Barack Obama won the battle of perception because he got his political message and branding right, says marketing guru Al Ries
FP Staff, Nov 7, 2012 What are the three characteristics that you would attribute to him? Consistent. The three characteristics I would attribute to Barack Obama are (1) Consistency. (2) Consistency, and (3) Consistency. He took office promising change. And the major changes he promised include creating jobs, reforming the health-care system and reducing the deficits by increasing taxes on the wealthy. He has never wavered from these three basic principles. Brand experts talk about a strong story accompanying a brand. What do you think is Obamas story?
l Ries is a marketing consultant who coined the term positioning and is the author of such marketing classics (along with Jack Trout) as The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. He is also the co-founder and chairman of the Atlanta-based consulting firm Ries & Ries with his partner and daughter Laura Ries. Along with Laura he has written bestsellers like War in the Boardroom and The Origin of Branding. In this interview he speaks to Vivek Kaul and analyses why brand Barack Obama emerged stronger than brand Mitt Romney. How would you define Brand Barack Obama?
His story is his climb from poverty to a law degree from Harvard, our most-prestigious university. It includes his birth to a Kenyon father and an American mother, one black and one white. He is unique. Very few politicians have a story quite like Barack Obama. One exception is John McCain, who was defeated by Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential elections. John McCains story is the five-and-a-half years he spent in Vietnam as a prisoner of war and the torture he endured. This created a tremendous amount of sympathy for him. But he lost the election because he was handicapped by the negative reaction to the eight years of the previous President, George W. Bush. What are the right things that Obama did to build brand Obama in the run up to the elections? His entire campaign was built around a single idea and he expressed it with a two-sided slogan. A two-sided slogan is like a two-sided knife. It cuts both ways. It says something positive about your brand and something negative about the competition. Could elaborate on that? Take Believe in America, Mitt Romneys slogan. Its a nice thought, but its a one-sided slogan. It says something positive about Mitt Romney, but what does it say about his opponent? That Barack Obama doesnt believe in America? A country that educated him at Harvard. A country that elected him to the Senate and the Presidency. A country that made him wealthy and world famous. Barack Obama doesnt believe in America? Highly unlikely. What does Obama believe in? The number one issue among voters is jobs, but he couldnt claim much progress on this issue because of the economy. His best approach was to plead for more time to finish the job. So he used the slogan Forward. And what did that imply? His Forward slogan implied that Republicans want to go backwards to policies that failed in
the past. Forward is a great slogan because it cuts both ways. This makes two in a row for Barack Obama. His 2008 slogan, Change we can believe in, was also a two-sided slogan. With the Republicans in power, John McCain couldnt exactly advocate change, because that would offend his base. The best he could do would be to imply that he would do the job better than Bush. What are the things that went wrong for Obama? Nothing. The American economy is in bad shape. Deficits are enormous. The Republicans should have won in an easy election, but their marketing strategy was bad. Which is the brand that you think comes closest to Brand Obama? Virgin might come close because its a brand associated with Richard Branson, a unique individual with many stories. When it comes to brand names the brand name Obama is fairly different from the usual. How does that work/not work? What many companies forget is that a brand name should be unique and different. The biggest mistake companies make is trying to create a brand name that says something about the product or service they are offering. A typical example is Seattles Best Coffee, a high-end coffee chain launched in America. But the competitor was Starbucks, a unique and different name unrelated to coffee. Starbucks is a far better name than Seattles Best Coffee, which is a generic name. Ask people, What is Seattles Best Coffee? And they are likely to say, Starbucks. Could you give us another example from business to substantiate your point? Google is a typical example. When you start with a unique name without any specific meaning, you can make the name mean whatever you want it to. Yesterday, Google meant nothing. Today, Google means search and its become one of the most valuable brands in America. On the stock market today, Google is worth $220.1 billion.
How would you define the Brand Mitt Romney? What are the three characteristics that you would attribute to him? Romney is a business leader and the attributes voters attribute to him are all based on his business experience. Businesses should (1) Make money, (2) Reduce expenses, (3) Avoid taxes legally. What about Brand Romney made it attractive to the white American male? And what is it that made him unattractive towards everyone else? The white American male is focused on becoming a business success. He expects to work hard and be rewarded when his hard work pays off. The white American male resents having to share the rewards of his hard work with the government in the form of higher taxes. Women are more family oriented. They dont mind sharing with less-fortunate individuals. Thats why many of them voted for Barack Obama. Which is the brand (or even brands) of a product or a service that you think comes closest to Brand Romney? And why? You could list almost every American corporation from IBM to Microsoft. The general perception is that companies want to increase profits, reduce expenses and find a way to avoid taxes (legally.) You have always said that marketing and branding are all about focus. So who do you think had more focus Obama or Romney? And why? Barack Obama was focused on just one thing: Let me finish the job. That idea was expressed in his slogan Forward. Mitt Romney was focused on attacking Obama for the lack of jobs and the high deficits. All true, of course, but thats a losing political strategy. A politician needs to first have a positive focus. I think Mitt Romney should have focused on his business experience and then used a slogan like Lets run the government like a business. I was reading somewhere that both
Obama and Romney employed a technique called brand hijacking in the elections. People who type one candidates name into Googles search box in some markets have seen ads for his opponent. A search for Barack Obama, for instance, has yielded ads for Romney, while entering Mitt Romney has resulted in ads for Obama. Romney has used a similar tactic on Facebook. How does that help? Would you advocate something like that in the future? I would not advocate something like this. While it might be effective with some people, it might turn off others. What are the branding mistakes that Romney make? How difficult was it to beat an incumbent President who was struggling with the economy and most of everything else? Mitt Romney spent most of his time attacking Barack Obama. Thats the wrong strategy. What a politician needs to do is to offer a positive concept first (business experience) and then point out that his or her opponent lacks this concept. (Barack Obama has never worked in the private sector). It should have been easy to beat an incumbent President with his track record. I was reading an article on Fast Company and it said politics, after all, is about marketing about projecting and selling an image, stoking aspirations, moving people to identify, evangelize, and consume. Would you agree with something like that and why? Absolutely. Its all about perceptions, not reality. Thats what marketing is all about, creating positive perceptions in the minds of consumers. What are the branding lessons that companies can learn from Obamas successful campaign? Years ago, Bill Clinton became famous for running a campaign which his consultants dubbed: Its the economy, Stupid. Today, a company should adopt something similar. Its what I call the KISS approach. Keep it simple, Stupid.
old, white and entirely blind

In the days to come, conservatives of various stripes will ponder the mystery of Obamas victory. Whatever the path of blinkered reasoning, it will lead to the same, wrong conclusion: Rightward ho!
Lakshmi Chaudhry, Nov 8, 2012 n the days to come, conservatives of various stripes will ponder the mystery of Obamas victory. Birthers will offer colourful conspiracy theories that explain why America voted for a Muslim/black man/foreigner not once but twice. Some will blame it on Sandy, others on Romney. Still others will opt for denial like Karl Rove having mini meltdown on Fox News over Ohio turning blue. In the end, the Republicans had to cede the numbers, but they will be damned if theyll give him a victory. An election has to have a consequence. Voters have weighed in tonight and both the Republicans and Obama have to respect their view, says old Democratic hand James Carville, a patently absurd idea that House Speaker John
The new Republican party:
Boehner was quick to dismiss. And never mind that he won the majority of the popular vote contrary to rightwing prediction conservative commentator Tunku Varadarajan underscores the real lesson of this unambiguous victory: Lets not forget: HALF of America did not reelect Obama. He needs to digest that. Whatever the path of blinkered reasoning, it leads to the same, wrong conclusion: Rightward ho! The day after is exactly as Brookings Institution scholar John Hudak already predicted: If Governor Romney loses on Tuesday, the partys reaction will be stinging. They will not blame conservative principles, the isolation of large portions of the American electorate, or
the inability to convince voters of a suitable plan for economic recovery. Instead, they will blame Moderate Mitt for the loss. Ultimately, the party will claim their mistake was nominating a man who lacked truly conservative bona fidesa candidate who once supported gay rights, abortion rights, and universal health care. A Romney loss will ignite passion within the GOP to move ever rightward. Never again will the most vocal in the party settle for a moderate candidate. The path to Republican presidential success will not be to redefine its appeal, but to double down. Doubling down on a losing hand may seem like madness, but it is preferable to acknowledging that far more frightening truth. A truth that New York Times commentator Ross Douthat spelled out: The age of Reagan is officially over, and the Obama majority is the only majority we have. Say farewell to riding into the White House on the coattails of born-again Christians, rural whites, and fiscal conservatives. Back in August, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) read out the writing on the wall: The demographics race were losing badly Were not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term. One Donald Trump shrieking revolution does not a winning coalition make. But why join the reality based community when its easier to pretend, as Bush advisor Ari Fleischer, that the 50-plus white guy is a ticket to the White House. Far better to insist that its Obama who has to worry about losing out on all those white folks in Indiana and North Carolina the only two states he lost this year compared to 2008. Demography is destiny, observed CNN pundit Gloria Borger. And so it is, and will be in the years to come for the Republicans who find themselves saddled with the grand old white mans party. Its extremely unhealthy for the nation to have one party that relies primarily on whites for votes, and the other is based on inclusive big tent politics, says David Gergen, a selfidentified right-of-center conservative. Well,
its certainly unhealthy for the GOPs electoral prospects. Barack Obama owes his victory to three constituencies: women, people of colour, and the LGBT community. Or to put it differently, Mitt Romney and the Republican party were defeated by the very same constituencies. And the reason they lost their vote isnt hard to discern. The calendar may say its 2012, but the partys most prominent and visible leaders are still partying like its 1955. Over the past decade, the Republican rhetoric has moved backward in time. George Bush entered the White House in 2000 with the promise of a compassionate, more diverse conservatism the kind that flaunted Condi Rice and Colin Powell, promised immigration reform, and wore its pro-life beliefs lightly. The traditional Democratic bastions such as the Latino vote were suddenly under threat, and the Donkey became the symbol of outdated identity politics the kind that relied on sops and quotas to keep the minorities in line. Then 9/11 happened and the Republican party Bush included collectively lost its mind. The hyper-patriotism that reenergised the base also demonised and alienated everyone else with its virulently white brand of xenphobia. Compassionate conservatism was consigned to the history books, and Bushs victory in 2004 seemed to confirm every white conservatives wet dream of a Rightwing nation, driven and defined by the Bible belt. What appeared to be a long conservative boom turned out to be a mirage. A lost war and burgeoning deficits made the impossible possible a black president with a foreign-sounding (read: Muslim) name. What ought to have been a reality check for the conservatives drove them ever loonier, bringing out in the open the Birthers, Tea Partiers, and outright misogynists. They drew exactly the wrong lesson from Obamas victory: The Republican party needed to move further to the right. An error of interpretation reinforced when the Tea Party candidates won big in 2010. An error the conservatives seemed determined to commit once again even though those very same Tea Party candidates have cost the GOP at least six seats in the Senate.
The American people have spoken, but the Republican party seems in no mood to listen. Rare Republican analysts like Margaret Hoover have already seen the writing on the wall, writ large in the seismic shift in party identification among young Americans: This generation is lost to the Republican party. And party identities solidify over time. Its not just about geography, its about demographics. The Republicans have lost not just the women, Latinos, but also the youth. And were not counting the ones they never had, ie the African Americans, gays, lesbians et al. To rephrase one Democratic consultant, Obama is winning the America of the future, while Romney lost with the America of the past.
crush or separate themselves from a radical base that has forced Republican candidates into a war against math, physics, biology, Hispanics and gays and lesbians all at the same time. Well, good luck with that. The next generation of Republicans i.e Bobby Jindal, Jeb Bush, Marc Rubio, Tim Ryan etc are not exactly moderates, except by lopsided Republican standards, and none have a solution to GOPs biggest problem: The base is growing more conservative, while the country is steadily moving towards the centre. Republican primaries throw up candidates that are too rightwing to be elected or as in Romneys case, candidates too fake to be elected. The result is a party that is out of touch with mainstream America a charge once smugly leveled at liberals by the very same party. For all the talk about introspection and selfcorrection, it is likely that Hudaks assessment will hold true: In the immediate aftermath of a second Obama term, Republicans will do some soul-searching. That search may come up empty. Rather than changing with a changing nation, the Republican Party will reflect the proverbial definition of insanity The Republican Party is not doomed. It will not disappear nor divide. It will come to grips with the realities of a changing society. It will learn that a changing electoral map will work against them in the futureno matter the outcome of the 2012 election. In time, they will realise their path to survival. Just dont expect it to happen any time soon.
Some are predicting a civil war within the GOP, but those are the optimists like Tom Friedman: Granted, the morning after an election defeat, angry G.O.P. hard-liners would surely vow to obstruct Obama more than ever. Im not afraid. Because the morning after the morning after, G.O.P. governors, mayors and business leaders would see where the country really is and finally do what needs to be done: either
Sluggish economy gets
Obama second term

In the end, President Barack Obama won the re-election on the issue that was supposed to send him packing: the sluggish US economy.
Reuters, Nov 7, 2012 year. That pattern appears to have held for Obama. If the economy is not exactly roaring ahead, it improved steadily over the course of the year.
ashington: In the end, President Barack Obama won the re-election on the issue that was supposed to send him packing: the sluggish US economy. The United States is still digging out from the deepest recession in 80 years, and employers are barely adding enough jobs to keep pace with population growth. Trillions of dollars of household wealth have vanished in the housing bubble, while the gap between rich and poor widens. But historically, voters have given a second term to incumbent presidents who preside over even modest economic growth during an election
It was never going to be a landslide, said John Sides, a political science professor at George Washington University. But it was always his race to lose. The Democratic president took major steps to boost the economy, but they did not seem to help him much in the eyes of voters. Polls show deep divisions on the merits of his 2009 stimulus, his Dodd-Frank financial reforms and the
auto industry bailout. But they made a difference in one important place. Obama campaigned heavily on the auto bailout in Ohio, where 1 in 8 jobs is tied to the industry. That may have helped him limit his losses there among white men, a slice of the electorate that Romney won heavily elsewhere. According to Reuters/Ipsos exit polls, Obama lost white men nationwide by 21 percentage points. In Ohio, he lost white men by only 12 points. Obama was also helped by the fact that voters largely blame the recession on his Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush. Obama made that a central part of his campaign message as he argued that Romney would bring back policies that precipitated the crash. If the Romney campaign wanted to focus the election on Obamas economic stewardship, the Obama campaign wanted to make it a choice between two candidates. Obamas campaign attacked early with a barrage of negative advertising that painted the multimillionaire former private-equity executive as a corporate raider with little concern about the fortunes of ordinary people. The attacks drew unflattering comparisons to Obamas historic 2008 run for office, but they discredited Romney in the eyes of many voters. A lot of middle-class white people who dont have a college degree came to the conclusion that Romneys just not one of us, said Potomac Research Group analyst Greg Valliere. Obamas narrow re-election victory will not strike fear in the hearts of Republicans, who remain in control of the House of Representatives. Obamas Democrats held on to the Senate, but fewer moderates of either party will be in the mix. That is a recipe for more gridlock and whiteknuckle showdowns over taxes and spending. Reaching consensus on even the most routine
legislation will be difficult. Theres not going to be a lot of goodwill on the Hill, said Princeton University history professor Julian Zelizer. The party lines will be hardened after this election. The increased polarization may make governing more difficult, but it made campaigning easier for Obama. In an age of intense partisan sentiment, Obama enjoyed more reliable support from members of his own party than his Democratic predecessors Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. There are just a lot fewer people who are going to shift from one candidate or another. Theyre just a lot more hardened on either side, said Taylor Griffin, who advised Republican nominee John McCain during the 2008 campaign. For Republicans, Obamas re-election poses uncomfortable questions. For the second election in a row, the Republican presidential candidate has been unable to win more than 1 in 3 Hispanic voters, and the party could have an increasingly difficult time competing in national elections if it fails to make inroads among that rapidly growing slice of the electorate. The partys gravity center now rests in the House of Representatives, where many lawmakers represent solidly conservative districts. They face little incentive to compromise on issues like immigration reform that could anger their base of older, white voters. Romney had to overcome lingering suspicion from conservatives during the drawn-out battle for the Republican nomination, and he was unable to appeal to independent swing voters until the campaigns closing month. But many in the party are likely to conclude that they will be better off nominating a more conservative candidate next time, said Brookings Institution fellow John Hudak. The party is going to move right, he said. The line is going to be, See, we shouldnt have nominated a moderate.
Volunteering in Chicago:
It was about the people, not the president
One of Amith Prabhus secret goals of wanting to be in Chicago was to be involved in a personal capacity with the re-election campaign of President Obama.
Amith Prabhu, Nov 7, 2012 ne of my secret goals of wanting to be in Chicago was to be involved in a personal capacity with the re-election campaign of President Obama. Not being a US citizen has its limitations but fortunately my office is adjacent to the Obamas campaign headquarters and my zip code in their database came with some benefits. Benefits of being invited to exclusive opportunities to participate in some of the campaigns crucial activities. Thus began six months of interesting interactions with the Obama Campaign. It started with an initial online donation and a merchandise
purchase mainly for the experience of understanding how these things work and then on there was no turning back. I did 4 out of 6 things I could do to support the campaign the highlight being a fundraiser with Michelle Obama in June and canvassing in the neighbouring battleground state in Iowa. The two I could not do was working the phones and obviously voting. Social media skills were put to good use to keep up the momentum because in the 2012 election every little thing could make a difference. Attending neighbourhood watch parties durCopyright 2012 Firstpost
ing the convention and debates was another great experience. The best they say is reserved for last. When volunteering to door knock we were not told about a possible opportunity of attending the election night rally. On the eve of the elections I realised that I must find a way to attend this once in a lifetime opportunity and as I have learnt unless you ask you never get. So I walked to the reception of the campaign headquarters adjacent to my office building at lunch break and was pleasantly surprised to find out that my name was in the guest list by virtue of having volunteered and there I was with that prestigious credential all set to witness the absolute stunning finale to a battle well fought. There is so much to learn from the campaign, the elections and the dignity with which the leaders carry out their tasks. That shall be tackled in another post. Here are twelve thoughts from the night of 6 November 2012 (7 November morning to readers in India). 1. People walked in like they were attending a funeral or a prayer meeting for Sandy victims. There was no festivity and the body language was giving it away 2. It was a great decision to restrict crowds to a few thousands and have it indoors compared to the 2008 election rally which was outdoor in Grant Park 3. The evening began with the national pledge, national anthem and a very inspiring prayer which started getting people charged up 4. There were large screens displaying news from different screens and when the news was not favourable they would play videos from the campaign trail which was a smart move to lift
spirits 5. The invitation-only event had three categories of passes guests, special guests and honoured guests 6. It was about the people rather than the President all the way 7. The not so good part was a thirty minute wait for the President with a filler in the form of a medley of songs at 12 midnight after Romney delivered his concession speech 8. When the first family finally got on stage it began to sink in that Barack Obama had won a second term and drove people wild yet composed 9. I think Obama had prepared a concession speech and Romney an acceptance speech from what I could gather 10. The discipline with which people gather, respect each other and assemble with dignity is really admirable 11. It seems like business as usual and some aspects of the election are indeed fascinating like the speed at which results come in and the fact that both candidates organise a rally win or loss. 12. Lastly, I was glad I volunteered in Iowa a battleground state that the President had to win in order to make up the big numbers and that act of volunteering was rewarded with a guest credential to attend the Election Night. So much to learn from the way America acts and reacts!
with help from Dubya

By voting against a return to the flawed economic policies of the Bush era, US voters have sent a powerful message about their past and their future.
Venky Vembu, Nov 7, 2012
How Obama won:
emories dont leave like people do. And as US President Barack Obama steps up to rejoice in the success of his re-election, he can be thankful for the persistence of memory. And in particular, that a sufficiently large number of US voters still remember George W Bush, the previous President, even four years after he left office. Nothing else can account for how an incumbent President, presiding over an enfeebled economy, with unemployment running at over 7 percent for four straight years, could possibly secure re-election against a man running on his record as a successful businessmen who could create jobs. As voters went to the polling stations on Tuesday, exit poll surveys confirmed that the state of the economy was uppermost on their minds. That ought to have been bad news for Obama, given that he has not had much signal success in fixing the economy in the four years since he inherited the mess from Bush following the financial meltdown of 2008. Although the US economy has averted a repeat of the very real risk of another Great Depression, and has recovered marginally during Obamas four years in office, it is still on life support. For millions of Americans, it doesnt feel like their country is on the mend. And, as the Republican party keeps reminding them, even the weak recovery has come at the cost of ramping up debt to unsustainable levels. But, strikingly, the same exit polls from Tuesday also confirmed that although many voters felt that the US economy had a long way to go towards recovery, they were less likely to blame
President Barack Obama for the economic troubles than to point the finger at his predecessor, George W. Bush. Even though Obama secured far fewer popular votes and electoral college votes than during his election in 2008, his re-election today, and the sentiment underlying the exit poll surveys, reflects a rara sagacity among US voters that allowed them to frame the weak economy in the right context in a way that seldom happens in the heat and dust of a combative election cycle.
After all, it was the go-go years of the George W Bush years, during which the rich got tax breaks, and the poor and middle class got shafted, that led up to the colossal crash-bang of the US economy in 2008. And particularly after the 9/11 terror attacks on the US, Bush blundered recklessly into war in Afghanistan and Iraq and ran up sky-high deficits. All during his term in office, Bush also advanced the callous deregulation of the financial services industry (that has been going on ever since the Ronald Reagan presidency, and continued even under Democractic Presidencies), which contributed to the
collapse of the financial markets in 2008. Obama has been fairly successful in winding down the US military machine overseas , one of the legacies of the Bush era. But his efforts to roll back the fiscal excesses of the Bush era have been stymied at every stage by the Republican party, particularly after the latter took control of the House of Representatives in 2010 on the strength of the far-right fringe Tea Party movement. It is another matter that for all his rhetoric, and the colourful fat-cat names he called them, Obama has not exerted himself fully in the cause of taming Wall Street excess. Mitt Romneys economic philosophy was, in large part, centred around returning to the same Bush era template: of lowering taxes on the rich, and cutting back on social welfare entitlements for the poor and the middle class. During one telling moment during the Republican primaries, Romney was asked if he would agree to 1 dollar in tax raises on the rich in return for 10 dollars in entitlement cuts. In his eagerness to pander to the extreme right wing, as happens during every primary race, Romney, to his eternal shame, said he would not.
Obamas campaign theme therefore revolved around the folly of returning to the old Bush-era ways of running the country, and the unwisdom of not making long-term investments in enhancing the skills and capabilities of the middle class. It may not have been the most persuasive defence of his own record in office, but it was a valid case nonetheless. It is a measure of the maturity of US voters that in large part, and despite the close nature of the race, sufficient numbers of them were persuaded by the merit of the Obama campaigns argument and voted to exorcise the spectre of George W Bush. Given the arithmetic of the new Congress, and given that Obama returns to power a somewhat diminished President, there is still a political battle ahead, particularly as they grapple to make the cutbacks necessary to lighten Americas debt burden. But merely by voting against a return to the Bush era policies, US voters have sent a powerful message about their past and their future.
liberal, tolerant America

In a blog post for the New York Times, Krugman says that what this victory has done most significantly, is debunk the theory of a real America that consists of partisan white voters who are more conservative in nature, and show that the country is becoming more liberal and tolerant.
FP Staff, Nov 7, 2012 bamas re-election has been attributed from everything to healthcare, changing demographics in swing states and even Hurricane Sandy. But according to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, the biggest story of Obamas victory is not what helped him win, but what his win signifies. In a blog post for the New York Times, Krugman says that what this victory has done most significantly, is debunk the theory of a real America that consists of partisan white voters who are more conservative in nature, and show that the country is becoming more liberal and tolerant. He says: For a long time, right-wingers and some pundits have peddled the notion that the real America, all that really counted, was the land of non-urban white people, to which both parties must abase themselves. Meanwhile, the actual electorate was getting racially and ethnically diverse, and increasingly tolerant too. The 2008 Obama coalition wasnt a fluke; it was the country we are becoming.
Obamas victory shows a more
Notice too that to the extent that social issues played in this election, they played in favor of Democrats. Gods, guns, and gays didnt swing voters into supporting corporate interests; instead, human dignity for women swung votes the other way.
Read the full article here
What Next - Obama's Challenges
Man without a mandate?

The challenge of Obama 2.0
Sandip Roy, Nov 7, 2012 perhaps with an additional seat or two. But Republicans held the House comfortably, so their agenda was hardly repudiated. Barack Obama after winning the polls. Reuters. This has become the kneejerk mantra of the punditry the president without a mandate. Its back to square one for Obama says Reuters. He faces a difficult task of tackling $1 trillion annual deficits, reducing a $16 trillion national debt, overhauling expensive social programs and dealing with a gridlocked U.S. Congress that kept the same partisan makeup. But the fact is the man won. As political commentator James Carville barked on CNN: The man has won reelection. Thats got to count for something. Well, what does it count for?
onight you voted for action, not politics as usual, Barack Obama told a cheering crowd in Chicago in his acceptance speech. But now that the confetti has settled, a new day in America looks remarkably like well, yesterday once more. Barack Obama remains president. Republicans remain in control of the House of Representatives. The Democrats hold onto the Senate. In short, its politics as usual. If Mitt Romney was gracious in his concession speech the Wall Street Journal didnt bother to hide its disappointment. Mr. Obama will now have to govern the America he so relentlessly sought to divideand without a mandate beyond the powers of the Presidency. Democrats will hold the Senate,
Commentators think it means Obama 2.0 needs to sit down with House Speaker John Boehner and work things out across the aisle. That actually sounds a lot like Obama 1.0. Obama 1.0 floundered not because he didnt reach across the aisle but because he spent way too much time reaching across the aisle, behind closed doors, and trying to accommodate everyone from Republicans to lobbyists to blue dog conservative Democrats. Obama 2.0 can make his case to the people and take his cues from them because he doesnt have to worry about being re-elected. Take taxes and the expiration of tax cuts for the very rich. The Speaker has already signaled he hopes Obama is not thinking of raising taxes on anyone, including the very rich. What Obama will need to remember in his second term is what the people think. The New York Times points out: Significantly, 60 percent of voters said taxes should be raised either on the rich or on everyone. Only 35 percent said they should not be raised at all; that group, naturally, went heavily for Mr. Romney. The voters, in electing Barack Obama to a second term in a bad economy, signaled that they believe that the man is honourable and trying his best even if they didnt think they were seeing results quickly enough. Obama has an ethical core that is his greatest asset. That needs to be at the centre of his second term, not focus groups. He, alone, and rather uniquely among politicians, has the ability to cast an issue in moral terms, to position it along the arc of justice. That is something he cannot squander. He will need to hold fast to those principles as he takes up the issues he rattled through in his acceptance speech. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. Weve got more work to do (an America) that isnt weakened by
inequality, that isnt threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. Obama needs to get out in front of those issues. The chattering pundits think he is hamstrung because his party does not control the House. But actually he can, if he chooses, consider himself unfettered. He can take on these issues and cast them as moral imperatives, not just voting bank deliverables. He can take them directly to the people through speeches, townhalls, or his own version of fireside chats. Obama 2.0 can be an Independent in the way Obama 1.0 could not. The Republicans are waking up to the fallout of their intransigence on immigration reform because they realize that its costing them the Latino vote. Mitt Romney lost the race in the primary, said Republican analyst Ana Navarro. He self-deported from the White House. But they dont see immigration as a moral issue. They see it as a numbers issue and are worried that they are on the wrong side of it. Tunku Vardarajan tweeted If the GOP isnt careful, the Latino vote could turn Texas blue by 2020. #WakeUpRepublicans. Obama frames it differently. We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America, open to the dreams of an immigrants daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag. Barack Obama came to be president on the audacity of hope. That he won reelection is a tribute to the stubbornness of hope. People placed their hope in him, even in the middle of economic doldrums, because they trusted his values even if they disagreed with his policies. Obama is aware of that. As he said: And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and youve made me a better president.. Its time for him to prove that thats not just empty words. Thats one campaign promise he must keep.
Fiscal cliff issue top priority, says Joe Biden

PTI, Nov 8, 2012 ashington: Addressing the issue of fiscal cliff is going to be the first and top priority now, the US Vice President Joe Biden has said listing out the priorities of the re-elected Obama Administration, wherein he would continue to play the same role as in the past four years.
calls. Im not going to get into who. But I think people know weve got to get down to work and I think theyre ready to move, he said. Biden said the Obama Administration is willing to compromise with the Republican leadership on key issues facing the nation. Were going to have to compromise too. Its not like were going to go in and say, this is our deal. Take it or leave it. And I still think thats there, were now 55 seats (in the Senate). And the House as well. Theyre going to have to take a look at like we did back when I first got started take a look at will the same formula work? he said. The Vice President expressed optimism about addressing the issue of immigration reform and said that the administration is going to take adequate steps in this regard.
Getting down to the business, not only the US President Barack Obama, but also Biden called a number of top Congressional leaders to discuss with them the issues on hand and how to address them. My takeaway is that weve got a lot of work to do. I talked to the President. Were really anxious to get moving on, first of all, dealing with the first things first, this fiscal cliff. I think we can do it, Biden told a vice president poll reporter on Wednesday. I think the real takeaway is what is the takeaway going to be on the part of our Republican colleagues. What judgment are they going to make? And having been a Democrat elected in 1972 by 3200 votes, I know it takes a little time to kind of digest whats going on. But Ive been talking to a lot of people, made a lot of phone
Biden said that they are prepared to work with Republican leadership to actually deal with the two overarching problems- the whole sequester piece and the other is the tax piece. Its possible you can bifurcate them. Its possible, theres all kinds of potential to be able to reach a rational, principled compromise. But its going to be an interesting I think the most interesting caucus is going to be the Republican caucus, he said. Responding to a question, Biden said his role is unlikely to change in the Obama Administration. I think it will be the same. Look I am, the relationship is the same, one where the president and I have become good friends and confidants. I think Ill probably be asked to play a similar role on the debt issue as we did last time, he said.
Obama must show bravery

in the next 4 years: Washington Post
IANS, Nov 7, 2012 ashington: Now that he has won a second time, President Barack Obama needs to show bravery to take on issues he avoided the last time, the Washington Post said on Wednesday. It will be more important to know whether Obama will demonstrate more willingness more bravery, actually to take on issues he ducked the first time around, the Post said in an editorial. These, it said, included reforming entitlements, particularly Medicare, and reducing the unsustainable debt. Obamas promise of a balanced, long-term combination of spending cuts and tax increases is the correct one. He will have to bring his own party along on entitlement reform, and persuade a dug-in Republican Party of the need for increased tax revenue not based on the wishful assumption of faster economic growth. The influential daily, which had endorsed Obamas candidature, said there were other important pieces of unfinished business too, both in America and abroad. At the top of the list are comprehensive immigration reform, an enterprise that Republicans would be wise to join if they hope not to be made obsolete by changing demography, and climate change Overseas, the Iranian nuclear programme will pose a fateful challenge, possibly within months. Obama will have to ensure that gains in Afghanistan and Iraq are not erased in the aftermath of US troop withdrawals. His dithering in Syria as 30,000 civilians have been massacred is a particular blot on his firstterm record, one for which he could begin to make amends in the second. The Post said the American economy was recovering, but far more slowly than anyone imagined in 2008. The re-elected president, it said, needed to get to work quickly. After the briefest of celebrations, the president will have to pivot to the looming fiscal cliff of scheduled tax hikes and spending cuts, lest the country veer back into recession. Still, the prospect of four more years offers Obama a chance to conserve the accomplishments of his first term and to complete its unfinished work. But the real measure of Obamas success, and the ultimate assessment of his presidential tenure, will be in whether, in a second term, he can fulfil some of the promise that made Americans so excited about his candidacy four years ago. Will an Obama second term allow him to transcend the ideological divides that he vowed to bridge but instead found so daunting? That is a tough order in a partisan age and with a divided, gridlocked Congress; there is no indication that the intransigence Obama encountered from the opposition party will diminish. But Obama has had four years of seasoning; one question is whether he can demonstrate the political canniness and legislative finesse that too often eluded him during the first term.
What this means for India:
President Obamas win means
great bonhomie for India

Obama has now built on the Bush era bonhomie with New Delhi so his presidency means continuity. More to the point, the longer Obama is in office, the more his administration realises how much it needs India.
Uttara Choudhury, Nov 7, 2012
ew York: The race was tight from the start. But in the end sitting President Barack Obama held on to win in key battleground states on Tuesday trouncing his Republican rival Mitt Romney. Within the context of expectations created upon assuming the presidency, Obama overpromised and under delivered in foreign policy. His 2008 campaign agenda remains largely unfulfilled, particularly in the Middle East which was central to the final debate between him and Romney. The Obama presidency even started off on the wrong foot with India when he initiated a courtship with China that was later abandoned. Then sensing a growing nostalgia for former Republican president George W Bush in New Delhi,
Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a charm offensive to India and he himself visited Mumbai and Delhi early in his presidency to elegantly and effectively dispel Indian apprehensions about an Obama administration. Obama has now built on the Bush era bonhomie with New Delhi so his presidency means continuity. More to the point, the longer Obama is in office, the more his administration realises how much it needs India. As one White House adviser put it: India is one of our five most important interlocutors on almost every global challenge you look at whether it is combating terrorism, managing the rise of China, building the G20 or helping to stabilise Afghanistan. Earlier in the year, New Delhi may have sulked after Obama accused it of dragging its feet on
free-market reforms. But real economic ties between India and the US, as opposed to the formal frictions at the World Trade Organisation, get closer every year. India-US total merchandise trade was $57.80 billion in 2011 making the US Indias third largest trading partner. Tough line on terrorism emanating out of Pakistan Analysts say an older and wiser Obama is likely to tweak policy on South Asia and adopt a tougher line on Islamic terrorism emanating out of Pakistan. The past four years have shown that Obama views military-dominated Pakistan with deep distrust and in this area his impulses are completely in synch with New Delhi. Forget aid, Obamas tough call against Pakistan is underscored by a surge in drone attacks. As a result of these attacks, the US has been able to achieve at least 41 high value targets, according to estimates by the New American Foundation. Even Obamas critics dont doubt his commitment to using military pressure on terrorist groups in Pakistan after the daring raid on Osama bin Laden. A second Obama administration will pursue the same foreign policy and economic policies as during his first administration. It is a known quantity, Mira Kamdar, a fellow at the World Policy Institute, and author of Planet India, told Firstpost. She added that although there may be small frustrations, US policy toward Pakistan and toward Iran would not be pursued in a way that threatens fundamental Indian interest. Obama is the favoured candidate all around the world, including in India. Its the first time a Democratic candidate has bested a Republican candidate in India sentiment polls in recent memory, said Kamdar. It means that Obamas unique trajectory, his becoming the first black president of the US, his being elected with the name Barack Hussein Obama, resonates with people around the world who believe democracy can sometimes deliver unexpected victories, that an aam admi can make it to the very top. At least thats what
Obamas victory meant in 2008. In 2012, for India, it means continuity, she added. Obama will want India to replace Pakistan in Afghanistan Overall, the India-US relationship is a sturdy one today. Obama has maintained that deepening ties with India are a first-order of priority. The team that Obama has assembled knows how to deal with India. They have certain expectations, understanding of how India works, and what might be accomplished with India. It is better than a new set of people who will have to acquaint themselves with Indian expectations, said South Asia expert Sumit Ganguly, who is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Obama administration wants India to fill up a post-US vacuum in Afghanistan and to play a bigger role training Afghan security forces as a Nato deadline to withdraw all its combat troops from that country by the end of 2014 draws near. There is irony in the situation as the same US administration earlier wanted India to downsize its footprint in Afghanistan till a couple of years ago for fear of offending Pakistan. At the cost of sending Pakistan into a paroxysms of rage, the Obama administration has instituted a trilateral engagement between the US, India and Afghanistan. It is foolish to say there is no difference between Mitt Romney and Obama when it comes to Iran. I disagree with other analysts who have suggested there is a complete bipartisan conCopyright 2012 Firstpost
sensus when it comes to India. No there isnt, because Romney made very strong statements about Iran. It was totally unclear what Romney intended to deal with Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Ganguly, who holds the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University in Bloomington. Obama will have to learn to work with the Republicans Ultimately, voters in a handful of battleground states had the final say in what has been the most expensive presidential contest in history. Despite lavishing $3 billion into attack ads, voting went down according to predictable fault lines and vote banks. Exit polls showed Obama won 55 percent of the female vote while Romney won 58 percent of the white vote. Obama had the support of 93 percent of black voters and 69 percent of Latinos. Four years ago, Obama become the first African American to win the countrys presidency after pushing a reformist message of change that resonated across America and well beyond its shores. Surprisingly, he is now one of the most polarising presidents America has ever seen. He has pushed through measures like Obamacare with no Republican support. Also controversial are his record government spending and what critics claim are Obamas efforts to grow big government. Americans are now hoping a second-term Obama will maneuver toward the centre, seek-
ing compromise with Republicans on major issues as did his Democratic predecessor, former President Bill Clinton. They are hoping he might rethink his call for raising taxes on wealthier Americans to pay for deficit reduction and come to a compromise with the opposition on tackling the fiscal cliff in the interest of getting things done for the American people. Obama has been unable to make any headway with Republicans in addressing the fiscal cliff, at least to date, and the looming deadline is spooking the financial markets. World leaders urged the US this weekend to act decisively to avoid a rush of spending cuts and tax hikes. The fiscal cliff is the biggest short-term threat to global growth and has much to do with US taxes. If the Bush-era tax cuts expire as scheduled in December this year, most Americans will face a crushing tax bill on 15 April, 2014. Americas bitterly divided Congress has to move swiftly to reach a deal after the US elections on Tuesday, about $600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes which are otherwise set to kick in from 1 January. Economists have warned that if the Bush-era tax cuts expire it could push the US economy back into recession. Obamas victory in the bruising campaign marks a landmark in modern election history. No sitting president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 has won re-election with a higher unemployment rate, which stands at 7.9 percent, said The Wall Street Journal.
IT captains hope for a softer Obama

Indias $100 billion IT services sector has seen a sharp slowdown in growth in recent quarters as Western clients hold back on spending.
Reuters, Nov 7, 2012
Wrecked by Barack?
ew Delhi: Indias outsourcing chiefs crossed their fingers that Barack Obama would take a less hawkish stance on the industry during his second term, as they cheered his re-election as a possible boost to the US economy.
ing industry, Phaneesh Murthy, chief executive officer of iGate Corp., said in response to Obamas victory. We need to understand how much of the election rhetoric continues into 2013 and that will determine the full implications to us, Murthy said in a statement. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had criticised Obamas administration for a hike in visa charges for companies that have the majority of their employees overseas as highly discriminatory and detrimental to the profitability of
Obama sharpened his rhetoric against industries that move jobs out of America during his re-election campaign, and his administration has been criticised by outsourcing industry bodies in India for tightening visa rules. Not the best news for India or the IT outsourc-
Indian IT companies. I am hopeful there will be more pragmatic approaches to some of the problems, Kris Gopalakrishnan, executive co-chairman of Infosys Ltd said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum on the outskirts of Delhi. I am hopeful that the US government will do the right thing. Indias $100 billion IT services sector has seen a sharp slowdown in growth in recent quarters as Western clients hold back on spending. Europe and the United States account for around threequarters of the industrys revenues. I think that there will be a lot of economic activity, N Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer of Tata Consultancy Services , the industry leader, said in response to Obamas re-election. That translates into significant opportunities for the technology sector. HCL Technologies , Indias fourth-largest software services provider, said in a statement that it hoped Obamas second term would uplift the business sentiment and lead economic resurgence in America.
With unemployment a crunch issue in the election, President Obama stepped up his criticism of US firms exporting jobs early on in his campaign, seeking to tax them more and use that money to help those companies that keep jobs at home. Adi Godrej, president of trade lobby group the Confederation of Indian Industry, described that stance as election rhetoric. Every time theres a US election, these issues are raised, he told Reuters. But some Indian business leaders said Obamas stance on outsourcing was a worrying trade issue. I would prefer Romney and the Republicans to Obama and the Democrats on trade policies, outsourcing and economic matters, said Rahul Bajaj, chairman of the Bajaj Group industrial conglomerate. Democrats and Obama think you should not outsource more. That is bad. There Romney would have been better.
leader who is good for India

ashington: Barack Obama, who won a second term to the White House today against all odds, is a hard-nosed leader with an even-keel temperament, charismatic speaking skills and a knack for consensusbuilding. 51-year-old Obama, who defied a stiff challenge from Mitt Romney to win a presidential term again, faces thorny four years ahead amid concerns over sluggish economy while his foreign policy may continue to focus on Asia-Pacific where India is being seen as a linchpin in the US strategy.
All said and done, Obama a hard-nosed

PTI, Nov 7, 2012 disaster in a rare bipartisanship. He earned praise from the public for his response to the disaster, which claimed over 90 lives and caused an estimated economic damage of up to $50 billion. Born Barack Hussein Obama, Jr, to whiteAmerican Ann Dunham and Kenya-born Harvard-educated economist on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he was elected the 44th President of the US on November 4, 2008 after he defeated then Republican candidate John McCain and was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Obama had reached the White House exactly 45 years after the Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King challenged Americans to embrace his dream of equality. Seeking to bring in the real change in the US, Obama, who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, would take the oath of office for his second term on January 21, 2013 as the Constitutionally-mandated January 20 inauguration date falls on a Sunday. However, he faces a daunting task ahead, especially on the front of economy. The US economy has struggled a lot since Obama took office amid one of the worst economic recessions in decades, with a slow job growth and the unemployment rate remaining over 8 percent. Earlier, the Democratic Party suffered historic losses in the mid-term polls in November 2010, with the Republicans appearing more determined than ever to promote their conservative agenda and stymie the Presidents plans. On the foreign policy front, however, Obama managed to earn crucial points by dispatching a team of commandos to kill al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad, bringing the US war in Iraq to
A votary of strong ties with India, domestic compulsions forced him to raise his voice against outsourcing jobs to India during his election campaign. Obama, the first ever US President to travel to India in his first term, has endorsed New Delhi for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Notwithstanding strong dissatisfaction with his handling of the struggling economy, voters still remained loyal to him. Obama recently toured the New Jersey coastline ravaged by megastorm Sandy along with its Republican Governor, with the two leaders praising each other for their response to the
a close and striking a new nuclear arms treaty with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Married to Michelle and father of two daughters Sasha and Malia, Obama realised the importance of the US ties with India from the very first day of his presidency. Even before he was sworn in as the US President in January 2009, Obama as president-elect had personally called the then Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen to extend his condolences over the Mumbai terrorist attack and vowed that the US would provide all help to bring its perpetrators to justice. Obama showed the significance he attached to India-US relationship by hosting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his First State Dinner in November 2009. A year later, he became the first US President to travel to India in his first term during which he not only declared India-US relationship as the most important relationship of the 21st century, but also endorsed India for the UN Security Council Permanent Membership, recognising the growing stature of the country at the world level. Obama has appointed a record number of Indian-Americans to top positions in his Administration including Raj Shah as USAID Administrator and also personally lit the traditional diya inside the White House to celebrate the Diwali. It was during his first term that the India-US bilateral trade crossed the $100 billion mark. On the domestic front, the Democrats, since Obama took office, have overcome Republicans opposition to pass an economic stimulus programme, overhaul the US healthcare system, lay down new rules for Wall Street and the banking industry, and rescue the US auto industry from collapse. Obama along with other Democrats also overturned a two- decade-old law banning openly gay Americans from serving in the US military.
Ahead of the Presidential poll, Obama did not lose his patience and worked to a game plane and strategy, that ultimately led him to win. Obamas first tryst with power came in 1996 when the low-paid community organiser on Chicagos south side was elected to the state Senate of Illinois. He made it to the federal Senate in 2004 after a landslide electoral victory. While many had scoffed earlier at Obamas experience as a community organiser saying community work experience did not count in the making of a US President, analysts felt that it had helped the black American leader to reach out to individual voters during his campaign for his first presidential election. Obama, whose first name Barack in Arabic means the blessed, in his first term, was hard pressed to fend off rumours that he was a Muslim and said he was a practising Christian. Obamas biological parents had divorced after his birth and his father died in 1982 in an auto incident. During his childhood, Obama spent some time in Indonesia where his mother moved after marrying Stanley Dunham. He was then raised by his grandfather, who served in Pattons army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to become Vice President at a local bank. After completing his school, Obama moved to Chicago where he worked as an organiser to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants. Obama went to Harvard Law School, where he was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he came back again to Chicago, which he made his home town. He continued his legal work as a civil rights lawyer and professor teaching Constitutional law at the University of Chicago.
Indo-US ties to be stronger with Obama re-election: FM

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today expressed the hope that economic ties with the United States would improve with the re-election of Barack Obama as the US President.
PTI, Nov 7, 2012
ew Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today expressed the hope that economic ties with the United States would improve with the re-election of Barack Obama as the US President. I congratulate President Obama. I hope that Indo-US relations (will) get strongerespecially economic relations, he told reporters here. Obama won the election to get a second term as the US President overcoming a stiff challenge from Republican Mitt Romney.
A votary of strong ties with India, 51-year-old Obama, the first black American to occupy the White House, scored the victory after a bitter and costly campaign running over months. Leaders of India Inc too have welcomed the reelection of Obama saying that continuity would be good for bilateral relations, but some of them expressed concerns over the outsourcing issue.
What India can teach the US
about electoral process

For all its technological prowess, the US is still in the stone age in terms of how it votes. Many states still vote on paper ballots.
FP Editors, Nov 7, 2012
s this any way to run an election in the worlds oldest democracy?
thing or two. Here are some of them. First, electronic voting. India is 100 percent on electronic voting machines (EVMs). We use EVMs in every election. In the US, while some states (Ohio, for instance) are using EVMs this time, two-thirds of the voting will still take place on old-fashioned paper ballots. Several square miles of trees are still being killed in the name of democracy. The reason: America has too much democracy, where every county or district can choose its own method of voting paper or electronic ballot.
There are many good things that can be said about the US electoral system its presidential debates, its robust two-party system, its unique conduct of primaries that allow parties to choose their candidates, and its professional approach to campaigning but when it comes to the actual act of voting, America is in the Stone Age. Our Election Commission can teach the Yanks a
Second, all voters get a level information field. Our votes are counted only after the polling is over. Thus, voting patterns in one place will not influence voting behaviour in other places. For example, the Himachal elections are over, but the results wont be out till the Gujarat polling is over in December. In America, poll results are declared in the early voting states even before people start exercising their franchises in states featuring in the later time zones. Results on the East Coast of America can be pronounced or called based on margins when Californians are still heading for the polling booths. This can completely change results in a close race since people may not bother waiting in queues to vote when it appears that their candidate has already won or lost. Third, Indian voters get a holiday to vote. American voters dont. While some companies do give their employees a day off, Tuesday, 6 November, is not a national holiday. States, however, give employees the right to take a day off if they want to. To enable people to vote, some American states also allow voters to exercise their franchise before D-day. Four, unlike India, the US does not have an independent election commission. Local officials, who are often blatantly partisan, are given enormous powers to determine the
outcomes of close elections. This is one reason, apart from a flawed paper process, that ended up sending George W Bush to the White House in the closely contested 2000 elections. A few counties in Florida put paid to Al Gores hopes. Five, voting is often more tedious in America. For a country with less than a fourth of Indias population, the voting queues are longer in the US. Even in India, queues can be long. But in America, it can be excruciatingly long, especially given the cumbersome processes. This year the Florida ballot runs into more than 20 pages and TV interviewers talked to voters who said they had joined queues twice over two days, but still had to give up after waiting for two hours each time. It seems it takes 15 minutes for each Florida voter to read and complete his ballot, which contains choices for other races beyond the presidential one. Yesterday, there were seven hour-long lines in Florida. Six, in the US presidential race, even losers can win. Thanks to the system of electoral college, where states have a fixed share of electoral votes, it is the candidate who crosses the halfway mark in terms of electoral votes (270 out of 538) who wins. But the candidate who wins in the electoral college could actually get less popular votes. Al Gore in 2000 was one such case. He got more popular votes, but George Bush won more electoral college votes. And that, as we all know, changed the course of recent history.
Why do we even care?

Why do people who have no votes in the US election care when barely 50 percent of American voters do? 2008 made history. 2012 is just another presidential election. But this is why it still matters.
Sandip Roy, Nov 6, 2012
Obama, Romney, whoever:
have one indelible memory from election night 2008.
A gay man was standing outside the grand ballroom of the St Francis hotel in San Francisco where the Democratic Partys election result watching jamboree was in full swing in front of giant television screens. He had one finger in his ear to block out the bedlam inside, and an iPhone clamped to the other. Honey, he hollered into the phone. I cried. When Obama spoke I cried. It was a bittersweet moment for him and many others in the ballroom. As Obama was giving his victory speech in Chicago, voters in California were narrowly rejecting same-sex mar-
riage. But the man on the phone was not crying for that loss. He was moved to tears by the jolt of possibility that rippled through the country when the televisions called the election. When Barack Obama strode onto the stage to give his acceptance speech a friend messaged me from Mumbai. It was as if there was a kind of whoosh heard all over the world the sound of millions of people, who had been holding their breath, finally exhaling. I had not meant to be at that ballroom. I was generally not that interested in being in a political crush whatever its denomination. But this was one election that you just could not watch alone in your living room and then turn off the television and head to bed. If you were in America on election night 2008, you just had to be
outside, whether you were a voter or not. Lets go to the St Francis, I told a friend. Even if Obama wins again in 2012 it will never be like this time again. It was a chilly night. I think it even rained. But as I walked down the streets of downtown San Francisco, there were long lines at the pizza joint. The crowds at Union Square were hollering and shouting though the night was getting cold. People smiled at strangers, giving each other a thumbs up. Everyone was twittering, texting, calling. Next day was a working day but no one cared.
erties is disappointing. The Mideast process has not inched forward. In India the elections are analysed in more mundane terms outsourcing, Pakistan, trade deals. Who is better for India Democrats or Republicans? Or is India so important now that it doesnt really matter who sits in the White House? But still Swapan Dasgupta tweets out If I was an American my vote would have gone to Mitt Romney in this election. Or take my friend Harsha, a gay activist in San Francisco who wears his preferences on his sleeve, or at on least his Facebook status. I am 30 years old and in my lifetime I have not had an opportunity to vote. Though I am not a US citizen, I have worked this past weekend, knocking doors in Nevada and calling voters to make sure we re-elect President Obama. Why do people who have no votes in the election care when barely 50 percent of American voters do? Having watched the elections up close in America and now from far away in India, I think its not just about the candidates but also about the institutions. Its about a certain faith in the process even when that faith hangs on a chad. We think of elections as being rigged in Russia, rubber stamped in Africa, bought in India. But it gives some hope that every four years ordinary Americans have the chance to throw the most powerful man in the world out of office and they often do. Or elect a man who came from nowhere, with no dynastic privileges or huge corporate coffers, named Barack Hussein Obama. For many of us, especially middle-class Indians, who grow up thoroughly disengaged from the political process, thats whats eyeopening the feeling that the aam aadmi holds the levers. Its out of my hands now, Obama said in his final rally in Iowa this week. Its in yours. All of it depends on what you do. Just reading it gave me goosebumps. In the deep hush that follows weeks of frenzied and rancorous campaigning and the relentless din of TV ads and robo-calls, you can finally hear the ticking heart of democracy.
This election I will be watching from thousands of miles away. I set my clock alarm to watch the debates. Now Ill set it again to watch the results, bleary-eyed, in my pajamas. There will be election-watching parties organised by diehard expats, perhaps even with bagels and cream cheese to try and create a little makebelieve bubble of Americana. But like the Durga Puja celebrations of NRIs in American suburbs they will have the feeling of rituals-in-a-box, pre-packaged and trying a little too hard. It will be morning in India and the world outside the bubble will not care. Obama in 2008 was making history, not just in America but around the world. In 2012 its just an American election whether Obama wins or Romney pulls a surprise. It is front page news because its happening in a superpower but the importance the world places on these elections sometimes feels a little misplaced in the post Cold War world. Critics complain that it doesnt matter who wins Obamas record on civil lib-
When I watched the elections from India, I always thought the action was in Washington DC in the White House. But in 2008 I realised it was really in little basement garages turned into makeshift polling booths. To be honest, I was a little flummoxed. This didnt feel like history in the making. I was looking at a sign that said Polling Place stuck on an orange traffic cone. Inside the garage, American democracy was at work alongside two pink little girl bikes, a microwave oven on its side, and a car seat (also in pink). It was 7:30 in the morning and people had brought
their kids, grandkids, even a small fluffy white dog. Why is this an important election? asked a little curly-haired boy. Because we are electing the President, said his grandmother. Indeed. That must feel special, I thought. Its a feeling every country aspires to. And some of us outside America understand it better than many Americans do.
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Old President, New America?

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Table of contents Election Day Who will be American President

Day After: How and why Barack Obama won

What Next - Obama's Challenges

What this means for India:

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Election Day Who will be American President

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How the election unfolded

Click here to know

Who said what during the

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US Elections 2012: Check out this real-time Facebook map

Full text: Mitt Romneys

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Full text: Barack Obamas

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Not just in US, Obamas victory

celebrated across the world

Obama supporters celebrate in Singapore. AP

locals celebrate reelection and progress

In Obamas Kenyan village,

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Guess who Obama called

right after winning?

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Are Republicans being sore losers by crying media bias?

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Day After: How and why Barack Obama won

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Obama won because his gut instinct was right

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Why Brand Obama trounced

misbranded Mitt Romney

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old, white and entirely blind

The new Republican party:

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Sluggish economy gets

Obama second term

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with help from Dubya

How Obama won:

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liberal, tolerant America

Obamas victory shows a more

Read the full article here

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What Next - Obama's Challenges

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Man without a mandate?

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Fiscal cliff issue top priority, says Joe Biden

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Obama must show bravery

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What this means for India:

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President Obamas win means

great bonhomie for India

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