Buffalo Rising Online

I look at him and I don't really think black man.

More like educated, smart, successful........

I'm not a big fan of politicians, I think they are all the same for the most part. I'm hopeful about barack becasue I think he may focus some of his attention on cities. Which would be good for buffalo and america. In to many cases we've neglected our communities core for far to long. That effects everyone....even those of us that live outside that core.

Todd Schoepflin,

Perhaps you can find your way past racialism. I think that yesterday the country has demonstrated that it has.

What a great thing and a great man.

I agree with the comments above this is not about race, I would never vote for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Flava Flav. I voted for the best candidate, and the person who I believe can really make our country better.

While it is a great thing for race relations, I don't think people went into the voting booth's thinking I'm voting for the black guy. I know I didn't. He focused on the issues, while McCain focused on Obama's past and irrelevant associations.

finally, after 8 years I feel proud to be an american again.

I have to agree with Sonyactivism, if Obama lives up to what he says about investing in america and its infrastructure and its independence (energy, etc) then he will be very good for Buffalo.

But as we find out with even the best of things that are handed to Buffalo on a golden platter....we find a way to let the few ruin it for the majority...we can only hope good things come to Buffalo and they are accepted.

America voted for the best candidate based on his platform, knowlege and leadership. I am sure that some Americans voted for Obama because of his race and I am sure that there are Americans who voted for Mccain because he is white. I like to think that they are the minority in this case, the majority vote based on qualities far beyond race.

The only people making race an issue are the media, the african american community, and racists. The majority of Americans have moved beyond irrational and emotional decisions based on race and gender and look at people on par more than the media, the african american communitu and womynists would have us believe that we are.

I am excited to see us move to the next stages of equality by allowing us to move past the class and caste system that limits more Americans than race and gender does today.

When do I get my tax rebate check?

i'd vote for flava flav in a heartbeat - "911 is a joke" was all i needed in a stump speech.

Quijibo - It's good to see that you no longer consider multi-millionaires such as President-elect Obama, even those who buy a multi-million dollar house with six bathrooms as he did a few years ago, to be a negative force in America.

Your new open-minded outlook towards successful Americans who proudly accumulate personal private wealth is indeed a sign of hope, change, and unity.

Congratulations to President-elect Obama on his victory, and also to Quijibo for getting over his previous biases.

In a few years, the nation can assess how much real progress there's been on energy independence, and whether or not 95% of Americans have received a tax cut, and how job growth and GDP growth compares to averages during the past few presidencies. And we'll see if there's any substance to what VP-elect Biden was predicting and how it turns out. Time will tell about all that. For now, nothing but best wishes to the new commander in chief.

Now, hopefully he'll soon see the light that conception starts when a man removes a women's bra.

Lets all wish Obama luck, the past 8 years have been a disaster for America. It will take hard work, vision, and patience to repair the damage that has been done.

Obviously the demographic make up of the country has changed considerably and that was reflected in this election. A lot of promises were made and we shall see if they are met over the next few years. Best of Luck to the first Mulato President.

BRLifer - For most of those 8 "disaster" years as you call them, the rate of national jobs growth was pretty good by objective standards, including the longest period of continuing job growth on record. National GDP growth was also good for most of those years. Buffalo didn't come close to national growth rates during the GWB years, but fault for that is closer to home.

Some bad decisions did happen during GWB's years and before, including some banking degregulation in 1999 before he took office but that he didn't try to overturn, and his failure to fight against issuing too many morgages to people who can't pay them. The price is being paid for that, but it doesn't mean the economy was a disaster for 8 years. It wasn't. The housing and credit markets had bubbles, and the federal govt shares a lot of blame. Both political parties.

It will be interesting to see if upstate and WNY will lag behind any economic successes that might happen during Obama's years too - just as happened during Bill Clinton's 8 years.

The demographic make up of the country has not really changed much in the past 4 years. It is the demographic that VOTED that has changed. Hope and knowledge have replaced fear and ignorance and this bodes well for the future.

even though i voted for McCain and stand by that vote 100%, i see how historic this is and why it holds significance for many people. I for one have always been a proud american, and because of this i will support obama 110%. weather or not i like it or wanted it, he is my president now, the leader of the free world. may he have a sucessful and healthy 4 years in office and we will be back in 2012 to give him a good run for his money!

Paul - I don't defend GWB for not vetoing Republican spending bills. But reality is those vetoes if they happened would have been overridden with congressional R's and D's favoring higher spending.

Budgetary matters are credited or blamed way too much on presidents. Congress controls that much more. As we've seen, the Pelosi-Reid Congress run by Democrats is no better so far in that way.

Of course I'd look at the whole 8 years because for one thing BRL had condemned the whole 8 years, and for another thing an 8 year view is always better than a 1 year view. One year views can be misleading. For example, the Buffalo area over the past 1 year is among the better growing job markets in the U.S. I haven't heard anyone seriously say they expect that to continue for multiple years to come.

sony - I agree growth was partly fueled by bubbles, and I noted the bubbles so I'm not sweeping them under the rug. But industries that had good job growth weren't limited to housing and financial. Some portion of companies who expanded and created jobs during the 8 years were deserving of credit lines they received. What that portion is compared to the total is something I don't have obejctive info on, but you didn't cite any either. No doubt analyses be published about that in coming months and we'll see what we see.

There is no such thing as a "junior" President, so there is no grace period of four years to get acquainted with the job, like they do in the Congress.

I expect Obama to begin to live up to his campaign promises within the first 90 days of his inauguration. He has made promises about tax cuts, addressing windfall profits of corporations, exiting Iraq, and bringing jobs back from India and China. We must hold him accountable and judge him on his own actions, he does not have the luxury of being compared to George Bush, anymore than a corporate executive is compared to his predecessor whi took a golden parachute as he left his past office.

Barack needs to produce as promised and needs to bring the tax breaks and equality in wealth that he promised. No breaks or second chances, the future of this once great nation hinges on his decisions and actions.

with respect to the whole blame the republicans thing here... the credit crisis is mostly the democrats fault. they were the ones pushing for people, no matter their incomes, to own homes. they called it the fulfillment of the american dream.

under the clinton administration they gave fannie may a basic loaning monopoly, and look what happened. they passed legislation that made sure banks didnt "discriminate" against poor minorites. so the banks were forced to loan to people that would never pay them back. lets not forget the "magical" economic years under clinton was also a bubble. the dot com bubble. bush had nothing to do with this economic crisis. nor did deregulating banking practices. it was the government once again butting into economic affairs that sank us.

And this whole idea that obama and the democrats are going to save us? last time i checked the democratic controled congress had the lowest approval rating EVER. yet we elect more. buffalo has been a democratic stronghold for years, and its been going down the tubes for years, yet we elect more. whats the deal?

none the less my last statement stands. i congratulate obama and wish him luck. I hope he proves me wrong and gets this country back on the right track.

There is no such thing as a "junior" President, so there is no grace period of four years to get acquainted with the job, like they do in the Congress.

I expect Obama to begin to live up to his campaign promises within the first 90 days of his inauguration. He has made promises about tax cuts, addressing windfall profits of corporations, exiting Iraq, and bringing jobs back from India and China. We must hold him accountable and judge him on his own actions, he does not have the luxury of being compared to George Bush, anymore than a corporate executive is compared to his predecessor whi took a golden parachute as he left his past office.

Barack needs to produce as promised and needs to bring the tax breaks and equality in wealth that he promised. No breaks or second chances, the future of this once great nation hinges on his decisions and actions.

There is no such thing as a "junior" President, so there is no grace period of four years to get acquainted with the job, like they do in the Congress.

I expect Obama to begin to live up to his campaign promises within the first 90 days of his inauguration. He has made promises about tax cuts, addressing windfall profits of corporations, exiting Iraq, and bringing jobs back from India and China. We must hold him accountable and judge him on his own actions, he does not have the luxury

There is no such thing as a "junior" President, so there is no grace period of four years to get acquainted with the job, like they do in the Congress.

I expect Obama to begin to live up to his campaign promises within the first 90 days of his inauguration. He has made promises about tax cuts, addressing windfall profits of corporations, exiting Iraq, and bringing jobs back from India and China. We must hold him accountable and judge him on his own actions, he does not have the luxury of being compared to George Bush, anymore than a corporate executive is compared to his predecessor whi took a golden parachute as he left his past office.

Barack needs to produce as promised and needs to bring the tax breaks and equality in wealth that he promised. No breaks or second chances, the future of this once great nation hinges on his decisions and actions.

There is no such thing as a "junior" President, so there is no grace period of four years to get acquainted with the job, like they do in the Congress.

I expect Obama to begin to live up to his campaign promises within the first 90 days of his inauguration. He has made promises about tax cuts, addressing windfall profits of corporations, exiting Iraq, and bringing jobs back from India and China. We must hold him accountable and judge him on his own actions, he does not have the luxury

Paulbuffalo, a majority republicans did not support it. and in respects to your last statement, if their is one thing thats scares me more than crazy liberals it is insane libertarians.

paulbuffalo, my appologies GOP did support the phil gramm legislation, but this was deregulating banks, not the one i was describing

I am not sure what just happened. Maybe buffalo rising can redistribute my posts to the less fortunate who cannot post for themselves.

When I stated the last 8 years have been a disaster I was refering to the whole package, not just the economy. Foreign policy and domestic policy were decided by ideologues with little input from more informed sources. The Republicans used their majority to stifle dissent and shamelessly used the tragedy of 9-11 to push their far right agenda. The experiment with conservative ideology has failed and the damage done to are economy and reputation will be the legacy of the past 8 years.

Paul - you should know by know I don't have patience for this level of vagueness:

'after one year in office, there were many articles in conservative journals touting Bush as more Reagan than Reagan'

Many articles? What exactly? If you don't cite something specific about his first year in office (2001), don't bother with "many articles". I can't imagine what GWB did in 2001 that was more Reagan than Reagan.

I mean, Paul, you're free to be as uselessly vauge as you want of course... but when you do so right after the word "Atwater, " it implies you're looking for some reply... which means I'd need to know wtf you're talking about is all.

buffawakening- To blame the credit crisis on poor people and minorities getting loans does not make sense. The bottom 40% control 1% of the wealth in this country. How could this impact the economy as you claim? The foreclosures were at the high end and it was these people who borrowed more than they could afford. It is easy and popular to scapegoat the poor but it was the middle and upper income people who brought this upon us.

BRLifer - There was no stifling of dissent. Dissent was alive and well all around us. Hillary and Schumer both voted for both wars, as did VP-elect Biden. John Kerry had called for Saddam's overthrow before GWB was even president. Al Gore talked of Saddam's WMD being a huge risk before GWB was even president.

Far right agenda? Conservative ideology? You were imagining things. He governed from the center and in some ways the left, creating an expensive new entitlement program for seniors, record high growth in education spending, on and on. Mostly continueing Bill Clinton policies.

sony - I'll accept that about capital expansion vs. consumerism as part of the picture of what went on, but a lot affects why those happened when they did, and also much is outside a president's control (Fed monetary policy, and 9/11 impacts, tech-driven productivity, what's happening in the world, many things) that would need to be weighed into a fair assessment.

Considering how similar their economic policies were, but for anyone to assign GWB an F/disaster and Clinton an A+/brilliant seems lopsided without taking a lot into account - too much to sort out here.

Many things effect job growth and losses, some trace to good or bad decisions of a president, or of his predecessor that he continues, and some outside his control. We'll see analysis that tries to separate which impacts of GWB's 8 years were due to Clinton-Gingrich actions in the 90s like cap gains tax cuts (which to GWB's credit he didn't try to reverse, but Obama says he'll reverse some), Also, bad regulatory things in 1999 (Clinton-Gramm-Leech), and good vs bad policy GWB made over 8 years. And there was a lot Clinton started which GWB continued, including some bad - too much risky mortgages for low income, giving Freddie and Frannie free reign, etc. - and some good like strong free trade.

We'll also see how much Obama's economic team changes what GWB's team has been doing. It might be a lot, or maybe less than his campaign rhetoric, and we'll see all changes might not have good results. Lots of unintended consequences with these things.

That's it for me on this.

Atwater- Were you out at sea for much of the past 8 years? I think your take on this puts you solidly in the minority. Maybe we can create a new program for recovering conservatives and your minority status will entitle you to take part. (just kidding) Though we seldom agree I find your comments reasonable and thought provoking.

blackrocklifer... i am not blaming this just on the poor. i am blaming it on all the stupid people who when given the ability to buy homes from loans, they buy ones they can never afford. this mosty describes lower class people, and middle class, that instead of buying modest homes buy $200,000 houses they know they couldnt afford with their near minimum wages.

paulbuffalo... you may only be seeing the economic portion of the libertarian party. i agree with you that they have a sound arguement for this topic. the Republican party shares many of their philosophies on this issue. but the libertarian party also wants to get rid of the IRS completely, get rid of government safeguards like the FDA, and privitize money. Libertarians, especially ron paul, also criticized the government for helping vicims of not only foreign disasters like the asian tusnami but also hurricane Katrina. saying it is not the governments place to help save american lives is frightening.

Buffawakening- My point was that with only 1% of the wealth the bottom 40% should only be held accountabe for their 1% of the problem, the rest of this mess is from those that had a little money and coudn't or wouldn't control themselves.

BRLifer - Thanks, and I don't mind being in a minority... adding to the ongoing mix of dissent.

Paul - that sounds like personality profiles from 2001 that you're talking about, or maybe they were early speculation from Norquist of what might happen. I've still no idea. Eight years later we see GWB's actual policies in office were more similar to Clinton's than Reagan's (although it's hard to compare different eras and a good case can be made that Clinton didn't undo much of Reagan's economic policies, so there's some overlap among all three of those). I don't see what's meaningful about generalities written in 2001. Generalities in general are often pointless.

Obama will be great for Buffalo. The poor, the lazy, the unions and those who are for entitlment are those who will prosper under his presidency. Basically sums up Buffalo.

paulbuffalo- i agree with you, the GOP will soon have to make a very big decision. they will have to decide weather or not they want to keep the large evengelical vote or the affluent intelectual vote. they are 2 very different sections of this party, and it dosnt seem likely that they can keep them both happy for much longer. this election can attest to that, many northern republicans, much different than their southern counterparts, went democratic this election. it will be interesting to see how the party will come back in 2012.

I remember when everyone was saying the same thing about the Democrats after they dropped two sure wins in a row.

A great day for all Americans indeed! I can't wait for my tax rebate check and the free health insurance. My wife is going to cut her hours to part time and we are dropping her insurance coverage so we don't look wealthy. It is best to be as middle class or poor as possible when the democrats take the helm because I don't want to miss out on any benefits by making too much money. We can keep investing in our 401ks and sheltering money for 4 years while we live off the government like everyone else does. Like I said to my lovely wife, it is time for us to climb aboard the gravy train and go for a nice four year ride with the rest of y'all.

Obama won by the largets margin in history?? Bigger than Nixon winning 48 states??? Please define this critt, you idiot. Welcome to the welfare states of america.

I dont really know what anyone is talking about.

Israel and American Jews are worried about Obama? Lets just put alittle perspective on what the jews are really worried about. Obama picked Rahm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff and Rahm is a jew. That is hardly the choice an anti-semite would make. No, what jews and Israelis are worried about is that they wont get the incompetent fratboy zionist neocon hard ass pat on the back, wink wink, that BUSH/CHENEY gave Israel whenever it wanted to expand settlements, invade Lebanon, invade and bomb Syria, invade Gaza & West Bank or issue edicts to Egypt.

Blaming the poor for the credit crisis is lunacy! Its insanity! It was the Clinton & the republicans that repealed Glass Steagal which separated insurance, banks and brokerages. It was Greenspan that created 2 bubbles via printing money and low interest rates (Greenspan is a jew and nearly all treasury and fed reserve chairmen come from Goldman/Sachs a jewish brokerage).

What created the credit crisis was the fraudulent and unregulated contract default options, hedge funds and derivatives...subprime mortgages were nothing more than a trigger when they failed. The victims of these mortgages just took advantage of something that they were legally enticed to accept, much like college kids and credit cards with $5k@22%interest limits that of course college kids cant pay back.

And why did they build so many houses and why did the banks go so ruthlessly after credit cards and mortgages and car loans? Because someone decided to outsource the majority of our manufacturing and service jobs out of the country. The banks had no businesses to lend in order to stay in business so they had no choice but to exploit consumers.

Oh and the big concern Obama is going to be a socialist...does no one forget Clinton pushing for healthcare so much that 2 years later he lost his democratic majority in the legislature. Except for BUSH/CHENEY presidents who are to far left or right lose the congress and/or senate 2 years later.

The question is how much Obama is going to do for unions that will restrict job growth, how much he is going to do to balance the budget, pay down all this on-budget and off budget national debt, illegal and legal immigration, affirmative action and hiring quotas, taxes, foreign wars and proxy wars for Israel, etc. There are big problems that the liberals could screw up worse than the republicans screwed up on the right.

If Obama rules from the middle and is fiscally responsible, builds business, invests in technology and infrastructure, reforms healthcare, etc...then he just might have a successful presidency and get re-elected. If he goes left wing as bush went rightwing then he will lose the legislature in 2 years and wont get re-elected.

I fail to see why people toss around such extreme concerns. There are real extremes but no one seems to truly understand what those extremes are....

PaulB - accept the fact that stereotypes exists for a reason, right or wrong. A bunch of uneducated, broke cheerleaders on this site applauding a man that has not accomplished a dam thing yet. As with all Presidents, Rep or Dem, promises will not be kept, Obama will govern from the center becuase he has to.

PaulB, if you are such a know it all, explain to all of us why the Russians JUST POINTED THEIR MISSILES AT EUROPE TODAY....one day after Obama was elected. Please enlighten me!!!!! I bet you can not even answer that one little political question or did you even know!? Did anyone know?

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center of a $10 Trillion dollar national debt. as great as this is for the history of our country, bush has left us in rough shape. i think its funny how fragrant our society has been, digital nazi piss. what will happen to fox news? imagine of obama exagerated his intellegance (or lack of it) for his own political gain? yo yo yo.

im jumpin on the gravy train..im done working hard and trying to do improve my financial situation, when its much easier and better to just stay poor. why would anyone in the right mind want to make $250k or more now? To watch it get sucked up by the government vacuum and wasted? im all for a change but come on, oBama spells this out exactly in all of his economic plans. More money for unions, welfare, poor, and government spending. Why would ANYONE try to do better? To watch a unionized kid make more money than you doing 1/2 the work? To drive through the east side and see people drinking their welfare check and playing dice?

i've always learned that hard work brings prosperity...now it just seems like its better to sit and suck off the government's teet

critt- "Get on the path to self awareness and get your head out of your ass."

calling people idots and using false facts wont get you anywhere. last time i checked people are allowed to have different views on politics. calm down and debate your points rationally.

o and isnt generalizing people to "religious-anti abortion-racist-bullshitters-who-have-nothing better- to-do-than-oppress-people jack asses" going against your whole argument of "change"? just wondering.