amazondebs i completly argree although for a debate spot you seem very giving to the other team ;) but nice article, i dunno why it has such a low rating sophie, shame about that

harold I agree with your initial statement, as I didn't vote for Obama; I voted for his party's platform. But the economic aspect of the Democratic platform is of little concern to me, particularly relative to the civil liberties and the welfare of the not-upper-classes, which to me are far more important. The implication of your statements is a little disturbing to me: that people would vote for a candidate because he was black or because they "liked him". You present the "center right" Democratic party, as well as the non-existence of a "left", as established fact. Would you care to provide arguments for these? Note that Roosevelt was elected during the Great Depression, and that he was elected on the basis of his economic platform, not his social policies. Hoover was very socially progressive, but his attempts to help the economy recover weren't happening fast enough for the electorate. Note, too, that the Great Depression continued through the first two terms that Roosevelt was in office; the economy didn't recover until the US joined the fighting of World War II. In addition, many Congressional offices are elected on a different cycle than the Presidential office. That means that only a minority of Congress changes with each Presidential election. For example, Democrats have held a majority in Congress for the last two years. The only thing to change with this election is the party of the Executive branch. Of course, when the parties are so closely balanced as they are today, even the few seats in the Legislature that are elected with the President could make a difference, if they all changed from one party to another. That hasn't happened, but it could. I suspect that the economic crisis has hit the US harder because of higher credit-earnings ratios in US consumer spending. The collapse of the US housing bubble is not going to have the same effect in other countries, particularly when the citizens of those countries have not dug themselves into deep, deep debt. I agree that the world will judge the intentions of the US (not the American hemisphere) by its President, and why not? He has an opportunity to repair much of the damage/rescind many of the policies that have so deteriorated world opinion of the US over the last decade or so. I'd be interested in knowing what your premise that you'd like to debate here is. Is it "will the US occupation of Iraq cease during the next four years?" Or is it "Will the US cease its War on Terror over the same period?" Or is it "Will US foreign policy change with Obama as President?" Or is it "Is there a political left in the US of 2008?" Edited to clean up pronoun confusion.

amazondebs ooooo interesting points there harold *claps* this could be interesting debate :D i love how specific your edited is too lol

sophieDP sorry many of the ideas are translated from french to english..:p

DietCokeGirl I do agree that Obama won votes due to democratic economic polieies, but isn't that simply because they were better? From what I saw, McCain's policies would have worsened the already fragile situation so it's unsurprising that Obama's policies helped to seal his victory. I was also convinced that Obama would fall victim to the Bradley effect, but I was thrilled when he didn't. Nice article though, especially since it's translated. Well done! edited: spelling!

sophieDP @ harold! I congratulate u on an excellent critque on my article, the main idea i was trying to illustrate was that Firstly they did vote for obama but for his party and that secondly now he has been elected the rest of the world will assume just because this kinda 'cool, mixed race, layed back' guy is ruling america that the USA's foreign policies will doubtfully change (iraq is an example but I could have also used the US' approach to third world developpement)... as for the aabsence of the left in the US,I assumed that was general knowlegde and hardly an outlandish statement!

hispanicdiva1 :O :P NEVER