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A year later with 20/20 hindsight the policies of Obama are almost identical to the policies of Bush or the policies McCain would have implimented. So ain't a dimes difference between Bush, McCain and Obama. Many groups who supported Obama such as the Gays, Blacks are very unhappy because his policies are the same as the Bush policies.
Comparing Obama to Kennedy is intresting. Neither Kennedy or Obama could have been elected President on their own. Kennedy's margin of victory was among the closest ever in American history. The money JFK's father poured into the election probably helped Kennedy win the close election. While Obama's percent of the vote was much better then Kennedy's it was still close. Many people think that Obama won not on his policies but because people hated George W. Bush so badly. Some people think that with out the hate White American had for Bush it would have been impossible for Black to be elected President. December 30, 2009 | Dec. 24, 2009 01:42 PM The Arizona Republic . In 2008, in a show of their dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's eight years, Americans voted against the Republican candidate for president. But their decision was even more of a landmark because of whom they voted for: Barack Obama, who would be the first Black president.
Unpopular Bush Helps Obama win Make no mistake about it: Barack Obama's opponent in the 2008 election was outgoing President George W. Bush. Sure, John McCain was the Republican on the ballot, but, realistically, had no hope of overcoming the economic anxiety, war fatigue and public disillusionment with the direction of the country. History will recall the race as a rebuke of the unpopular commander in chief, whose approval rating just prior to Election Day was a grim 25 percent, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll. But even if the election results played out largely as predicted by the political-science models, the race was landmark and unprecedented even by presidential standards: Obama was the first Black candidate to win a major U.S. political party's nomination, and, ultimately, the White House. In the Democratic primaries, Obama defeated Hillary Clinton, the first woman candidate ever viewed as a presidential frontrunner. In the general election, he faced McCain, who at 72 would have been the oldest president to begin a first term. Obama proved to be a political phenomenon, building a formidable grassroots campaign and fundraising machine, and he inspired his supporters with his rhetorical electricity. For McCain, the White House was not his destiny. The four-term Arizona senator had unsuccessfully battled Bush for the 2000 Republican nomination, but that rancorous rivalry was largely forgotten by 2008. Obama's campaign tagged him early and often as offering a third Bush term, and McCain was unable to shake the association. Desperate to reshuffle the deck, McCain's high-stakes gambits - choosing unknown and untested Sarah Palin as his running mate and briefly leaving the campaign trail for Washington to confront the economic meltdown - probably hurt more than they helped. McCain's only hope was a major stumble by the Illinois senator, a stumble that never happened. -- by Dan Nowicki |