RT @MichelleObama: More than anything, I want to thank you all for everything. I am so grateful to every one of you for your support and your prayers. –mo

Good for the world, good for most Americans. Congratulations President Obama and thank you, American voters!!!

Why is this good for the world? I would like to understand your reasoning behind that assertion.

Sure. There are 2 reasons I can think of straight off the bat:

1) A more operational reason - it won't take a new president a year or so to get to know foreign leaders and situations before becoming amenable to them.

2) An ideological/strategic reason - less isolationist and nationalistic policies will continue to see engagement with foreign countries rather than escalating conflict, diplomatic and otherwise.

Obama was beatable. But the republicans picked the wrong candidate. Ironically, one of the few ones that could have beat Obama this time was Jeb Bush (still a Bush but so much better and smarter than his brother).

and he would have brought florida with him.

it's easy to forget that rmoney was the 'sane' choice out of perry, bachmann, cain, santorum etc.

Michael Yon's photo.

Quite hilarious and many things Right On! :-)

A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to gover... in yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

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1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

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2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'

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3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

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4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

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5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

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6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

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7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

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8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

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9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

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10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

---------------------

11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

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12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

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13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

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14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

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15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!See More

Many Americans are in celebration tonight while many concede defeat. Tomorrow let America wake up united.

Congratulations President Obama.

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

Thomas Paine

RT @SkyNewsBreak: David Cameron says "Warm congratulations to my friend Barack Obama. Look forward to continuing to work together."

Tomorrow usa will wake up with a Chinese flag in their a....

Good for the world, good for most Americans. Congratulations President Obama and thank you, American voters!!!

Why is this good for the world? I would like to understand your reasoning behind that assertion.

Simple answer: Obama is better suited, on several levels, for dealing with international relations. The articulate answer could go on for volumes. Granted, Romney might be ok for dealing with most int'l events and incidents. Yet (for starters) Obama has a cool-headed, intelligent and likeable Sec. of State in Ms Clinton. Who would Romney have appointed? Powell? No chance, he was already burned badly once by Bush Jr. and Cheney. Look at who Romney picked as running mate. Scary and unpredictable are the the nicest adjectives I can peg on Ryan. I hope the Republicans run Ryan in 2016, then whomever is his opponent (Michelle?) will have a walk-over.

RT @mpoppel: POOL REPORT: Obama has left en-route to McCormick Place to deliver victory speech - http://tinyurl.com/d5vwkv9

I am not sure if the American people know what they are in for. This guy has the potential to cripple the world economy, with his failed policies. Quantitative easing is simply a cowards way to deal with tomorrows problem today. It does nothing to address the root causes of the problems, nor does it address the deficit, and this guy has become addicted to deficit spending, like a crack whore is addicted to crack. If the same rate of deficit spending continues, we will be looking at 24 to 25 trillion, by the end of the next four years. How one earth is the US going to address that? What if the countries that are supporting our deficit spending lose faith? What then?

Let's hope this will lead to a recovery of the global economics.... and I have my job back.

what was your job, printing "made in China" stickers?

The two party system hardly represents the story of the US. Republicans are still in the mind set of the 50's. The republican party represents the white people and the 1% wealthy of the US not the minority's, gays/lesbian, immigrants, middle class. Until there is more than a two party system that is allowed to fully participate in media and debates, again this does not fully represent what the US stands for.

Obama is a better fit right now than Romney but as one can see by the numbers the US is heavily divided.

Good for the world, good for most Americans. Congratulations President Obama and thank you, American voters!!!

Why is this good for the world? I would like to understand your reasoning behind that assertion.

well world war 3 is a bit further away for one thing.

RT @mpoppel: RT @samsteinhp: Per Fox, the first call Obama made after talking to Romney was to Bill Clinton

I am not sure if the American people know what they are in for. This guy has the potential to cripple the world economy, with his failed policies. Quantitative easing is simply a cowards way to deal with tomorrows problem today. It does nothing to address the root causes of the problems, nor does it address the deficit, and this guy has become addicted to deficit spending, like a crack whore is addicted to crack. If the same rate of deficit spending continues, we will be looking at 24 to 25 trillion, by the end of the next four years. How one earth is the US going to address that? What if the countries that are supporting our deficit spending lose faith? What then?

Sounds like you're referring to Bush Jr.

If you think Obama's spending habits are derelict, you should be sorely glad that McCain didn't get the job in 2008 and that Romney and Ryan aren't going to the White house in January. Any of those big spenders (always using money borrowed from other people) would render the US in worse shape, plus they wouldn't have a clue how (or a willingness) to pay down the Nat'l debt.

I am not sure if the American people know what they are in for. This guy has the potential to cripple the world economy, with his failed policies. Quantitative easing is simply a cowards way to deal with tomorrows problem today. It does nothing to address the root causes of the problems, nor does it address the deficit, and this guy has become addicted to deficit spending, like a crack whore is addicted to crack. If the same rate of deficit spending continues, we will be looking at 24 to 25 trillion, by the end of the next four years. How one earth is the US going to address that? What if the countries that are supporting our deficit spending lose faith? What then?

I think I smell a sore loser.

Haha

not only Karl Rove

The Donald's come unhinged and tweeted for revolution! (then quickly deleted......what a wimp)

RT @mpoppel: RT @samsteinhp: Per Fox, the first call Obama made after talking to Romney was to Bill Clinton

I should hope so. I reckon he owes Bill big time.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

Memory is a strange thing. When George W. Bush snuck into the White House after the Florida

fiasco the US had a surplus in damnn near everything...including money. Things were looking

good. Then 9/11 happened and yes "W" had a right to invade Afghanistan which was backed

by almost every leader on this planet. Forget the exit strategy...there wasn't one. Then using a

pack of lies "W" invaded Iraq after convincing some folks the lies were actually truths. Again

there was no exit strategy. And this time most of the worlds leaders condemned the invasion

of Iraq. FYI the original acronym for the invasion of Iraq was...Operation Iraqi Liberation...or

OIL for short. Then some wise feller in the White House informed "W" this may not be a very

good acronym for the invasion in PR terms. So it was changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

At the time of the invasion of Iraq the financial coffers of the USA still looked pretty good.

About a year into the military presence in Iraq to include the time in Afghanistan also the

financial coffers were beginning to look...not so good. It costs a lotta money to prosecute

one "war"...not to mention two "wars"....mega bucks it was costing...per day. With hostilities

still growing in both countries the money to prosecute the two "wars" had to come from

somewhere and they came from many coffers that would originally have been for sole

usage within America (Social Security is just one)...and when they started to get empty

the fed took money from the banks and in order for the banks to to stay alive they began

to hand out mortgages that they'd never receive payment on. Banks worldwide collapsed

as a result of this and of indirect results and the world became a financial nightmare.

Plus....the tenuous grasp of a Good America in the eyes of the Muslim world was wasted

as soon as the Iraqi invasion became public knowledge. At the same time America lost

the confidence of many non Muslim nations also. Christ all mighty...the list goes on longer

than I want to hack out here....

Eight years of Clinton, a couple blowjobs, and the US was in great shape.

Eight years of George W. Bush, a couple of invasions and the US is in

sorry ass shape and despised throughout the world as never before.

A black man comes along proclaiming CHANGE and wins the big chair'in

the White House and begins to slow the George W. Bush/Republican Party

freight train/ CAT D9 bulldozer running full speed out of control, down.

People expect change, especially American people, to happen in similar

manner as did when ever Barbra EDden snapped her fingers in the TV

show I Dream Of Jeannie.

It don't happen that way friends & neighbours. And any man or woman who

can somehow stop that freight train/huge bulldozer moving at full speed in

ten feet hasn't been made yet.

It will take a long time for Obama to correct Bush's cock ups...I only hope

eight years will be enough because he can only have eight years to try and

stop it....I'm keeping fingers crossed he does...but logic tells me it won't

happen.

Bush screwed America and anybody who thinks otherwise is way off their

centre line in my books.

Like it or leave it...this is just my opinion.

I am not sure if the American people know what they are in for. This guy has the potential to cripple the world economy, with his failed policies. Quantitative easing is simply a cowards way to deal with tomorrows problem today.

You want to put off the problems?

BTW QE is a reasonable tactic among others.

It puts downward pressure on the $ and reduces money going abroad and makes exports more competitive.....very modestly.

It is essentially a modest tax across the board on those who have wealth in cash or earnings.

You know a fairer way to pay back the excess of previous years?

Barone: Going out on a limb: Romney beats Obama, handily

In recent weeks and days there have been soooooo many articles like the one above. This guy, Michael Barone is Senior Political Analyst for The Washington Examiner newspaper, puclishes his mega-wishful-drivel that his man Romney would sweep every remotely close state in the Union. He was so wrong, it's almost laughable. Let me make a prediction about the predictor: He and so many other right wingers who allowed their dogma to get run over by karma, will come out in ensuing weeks with endless bellyaching excuses and yet more (wishful) predictions of how bad things will have to be for Obama and Americans in general.

I am not sure if the American people know what they are in for. This guy has the potential to cripple the world economy, with his failed policies. Quantitative easing is simply a cowards way to deal with tomorrows problem today. It does nothing to address the root causes of the problems, nor does it address the deficit, and this guy has become addicted to deficit spending, like a crack whore is addicted to crack. If the same rate of deficit spending continues, we will be looking at 24 to 25 trillion, by the end of the next four years. How one earth is the US going to address that? What if the countries that are supporting our deficit spending lose faith? What then?

Another guy that needs to read some before he posts....FYI...The President has no say so over Quantitative Easing and congress controls the purse strings/funding for all laws passed.

Good for the world, good for most Americans. Congratulations President Obama and thank you, American voters!!!

Why is this good for the world? I would like to understand your reasoning behind that assertion.

well world war 3 is a bit further away for one thing.

I hope you're right.

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours"

Like it or leave it...this is just my opinion.

Funny thing to say on a forum of expats

RT@KristieKenney: President Obama, Michelle and their daughters arrive to address supporters in Chicago.

OOOHH!!

YUKK!!

Mean spirited FOX doesn't show the high point of the day, the new President coming out on stage with his family, but stays firmly on the stuffed shirt + modest miniskirt in their vulgar studio.

Christ!

Obama's making his speech and FOX is still in the studio!

Two minutes later:

STILL THERE!

They're ignoring the PResident's speech!

Two more minutes later:

They're STILL IGNORING the president's speech.

It's unbelievable........and Fox is the main news source for 45% of America....Sad

Three more minutes later:

Fox news goes to a roving reporter showing how votes are counted in an election centre.

Looks like he's suggesting there are "disturbing reports" of some people being double counted.

Oh and some machines were broken down.

Meanwhile the President of the USA makes his acceptance speech.....obviously not worth showing.

Ohhh more words "potential fraud"

Ohhh it must have been a fix

Good for the world, good for most Americans. Congratulations President Obama and thank you, American voters!!!

Why is this good for the world? I would like to understand your reasoning behind that assertion.

Simple answer: Obama is better suited, on several levels, for dealing with international relations. The articulate answer could go on for volumes. Granted, Romney might be ok for dealing with most int'l events and incidents. Yet (for starters) Obama has a cool-headed, intelligent and likeable Sec. of State in Ms Clinton. Who would Romney have appointed? Powell? No chance, he was already burned badly once by Bush Jr. and Cheney. Look at who Romney picked as running mate. Scary and unpredictable are the the nicest adjectives I can peg on Ryan. I hope the Republicans run Ryan in 2016, then whomever is his opponent (Michelle?) will have a walk-over.

Thank you. Interesting comments. Let's hope Obama / Clinton do a good job and help stabalise a world that seems to be rife with wars, disagreements and fundamental differences. We won't know how Romney would've performed now, but there is definetly a need for a good solid team.

My little song to Republicans who wishfully thought their men would stomp: (pardon me, Carly Simon)

"You're so wrong, you probably think this song is about you. "

"You're so wrong, you probably think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?!"

........Well, it is about you. All predictions of a Romney romp were flat out wrong.

RT@ChannelNewsAsia: Barack Obama thanks voters, says "the best is yet to come"

I dont like Obama, I dont think he did anything to earn re-election, and I am worried he will bury us in debt.

That being said, for my county's sake I wish him well in the next four years. I really hope that he can work with congress and get the things done that need to be done and not argue over ideology.

This is what I hope, but his record leads me to believe I will be disappointed.