I Am Thrilled To Hell

I think his win was more a backlash against 8 years of Bush than anything. I don't care what colour he is. I'll give him a chance.

I feel your enthusiasm is of the 'one-in-fourteen million chance of winning the lottery' kind. Many people were thrilled when Labour won in 1997. A foppish Tony Blair visited the deprived Aylesbury Estate in South London to proclaim 'There would be no more forgotten people'. Eleven years on I live on the Aylesbury estate and will for a short while longer. It is finally being demolished. After 52 million pounds of government money, the lifts don't work half the time and people piss (or worse) in the stairwells. In the two years I lived on the estate, the building has had three flats burned out in seperate incidents, I was burgled once and flooded three times because the people who live above me have no idea how to live in a civilised society. I will escape, not just because we're being rehoused in new housing association flats but through my own endeavour. Anything I achieve will have had absolutely nothing to do with that 52 million or any other government initiative or policy. I am optimistic about Obama's foreign policy but I think the change in the domestic situation will be like it was in the UK under Labour - minimal and at huge cost to the public purse. jude

I don't think US domestic and foreign policies can be easily separated jude. Oil, war, the Middle East all have an effect on the economy. I'm hoping Obama can do something about it but I'm holding off on the excitement for now.

I hope it gets better with BO, it can't get worse. Sympathies with Jude, I thought they'd have got rid years ago, after all they have been planning to demolish for four years plus, in the meantime running the area down more. Lets hope BO is different, live in hope, my dog's called OB and he's alright, though he's not initialed by a smelly problem! Craig

When I initially moved in, it wasn't choice... I was recovering from a stroke and had limited income. The choice based system for letting social housing in Southwark meant I only had enough points to get the shittiest places so I went for one that's being knocked down soon, knowing I would get the most points and highest priority when being rehoused under a redevelopment scheme. Admittedly, I could afford to move out now, but my next place (and I'm scheduled for a move this year) which will be mine for life, will be a nice flat near London Bridge/ Borough for very low rent. Lots of gentrifiers have rented flats on the estate before me. They are popular with artists because of the large amounts of natural light they get, the views across the city are stunning and they are very large. Also, most of my neighbours are really very nice... it's a minority being antisocial. It's not all bad! jude

Look at the other options they had - geriatric or woman... yeah, America is soooo advanced. *bites tongue* p.s. terrifyingly, the sixth form girls have a topless Obama pic up in the common room...! Right next to somebody called Zac Ephron (isn't that part of a kidney)?

Still can't believe it's really happened. I feel like any moment I'm going to wake up from an amazing dream. You're right ShyAssassin, you white folks (well your American counterparts) deserve a lot of credit for doing this.

Obama was indeed a backlash against Bush, however, I think he would have won against anybody. The first good sign was his sobering speech on the Mall before millions expecting the more fiery rhetoric style of the campaign. There was no JFK, FDR, MLK, or Reagan-like memorable tagline moment in that speech that we can iron on tee shirts like dopes. He made a conscious choice not to do this. In the first day he made some good faith moves by eliminating pay raises for White House employees and limiting access to the Capitol by lobbyists. If he remakes fiscal policy by reinstating regulations that control the credit model and prevent bank speculation, he will succeed economically. The bank bailouts over here so far have been squandered on executive bonuses and buying other banks when the intent was to write down bad loans and prime lending markets. We went through this identical cycle in the thirties. Banks need to be on a leash of they will behave like criminals, pure and simple. If he gets the hell out of Iraq, a ridiculous and tragic episode costing $300 million per month, he will have a basis for coherent foreign policy, so there are a handful of things that can make a ripple effect turnaround. Regarding race, even the pickup and shotgun crown voted Obama because survival is color blind. If he brings back or remakes the manufacturing sector and is video’d in a flight suit dragging Bin Laden’s bones out of a cave, he’ll be headed for Mt. Rushmore, or at least his own stamp.