Hello everyone.

I'm pretty sure by now, you would have expected one of these threads to come up, and here it is.

Although I study in the UK presently, I have spent approximately 82% of my life in the United States, and I have been closely watching the Presidential Debates, and I am being informed by my other friends who live in the United States presently.

I would like to hear your opinions regarding the Election and who do you think you would vote for. People outside the United States presently can also input on here, just as long as they know what they are saying.

Since this is Politics, and it can be a nasty business, I suggest the arguments are minimized in cursing or unnecessary posts.

Thank you.

My opinion on the matter:

Whenever the Presidential Election is not just a choice of a lesser evil, you know something's going wrong. Obama has done some many flagrant mistakes that most of it can't be reconciled with: Oh! Don't worry! My next 4 years will somehow be better!

I just don't buy that rhetoric when he was unable to do anything in his first 4 years but flop around like a moronic idiot and constantly make errors that will cost our country dearly. (Benghazi, releasing oil reserves, unnecessary stimulus, and 'I'll be more flexible' type diplomatics)

However, Romney is barely a better choice. For what Romney will have direct control over (Foreign policy, army) I do believe he'll be a bit better than Obama. If you guys haven't realized, he's written an entire book to the subject of foreign policy. A very good read too, he's definitely the guy for that job. What I don't like? He just has no idea about how to handle social issues. (Gay marriage, women, racism). Look, I get it if you're against gay marriage, but don't bash the issue. I personally believe gay marriage shouldn't be named 'marriage' (partnership does fine? give them equal rights to a married couple?) but it seems Romney ignores that side completely. Social issues I don't really see him being any champion of, but perhaps that's what we need in these harsh times? I don't know for certain.

You must understand though, that the social and economic issues are up to the Congress ultimately. So I think Romney wins out barely because his foreign policy is going to trump Obama's. Like I said though, not very impressed with either candidate.

I'm not going to talk about who I am voting for as political discussions on the internet never turn out well. But I think you are dead wrong on Romney Lolowut. He is horrible at foreign policy (did you want that last debate when all he could do is agree with Obama or when he flubbed the Libya issue?). Obama has shown to be strong there with Iraq, Afghanistan, Bin Laden, etc.

Basically it will come down to the economy. Do you think Obama is on the right track in fixing Bush's mistakes? Or is he floundering around and Romney has a better economic plan. I don't think foreign policy will even enter the equation for most of the country. Social issues will though. That is evidenced by the women/black/latino vote that are hugely in favor of Obama.

Really, all that matters is what Iowa, New Hampshire Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida think. I don't think any other states are actually in play for the trailing candidate.

My prediction is Obama wins a close race with Virginia, NC, Florida going to Romney and the rest of above to Obama.

Lolowut, how would you rate Bush on foreign policy? I would say poor. He got us into wars without justification and didn't bother to pay for them (not to mention completely lying to the public).

Just curious because Romney has a ton of Bush foreign policy people on his team, so if you liked Bush in that regard you will like Romney too and vice versa.

i only read through 1 debate, but what i saw was obama stating what he was going to do to create jobs/help the economy and romney saying that he was going to help the economy... somehow...
being a science/math person i'll go for the guy who actually says what he's going to do =)
also the health care thing is necessary, people shouldn't be scared to go to the doctor when they're sick because of medical bills. as a specific example my uncle had a stomach problem, so he had to use a sort of artificial sack to help him while he healed from his operation, but since he couldn't pay they refused to remove the sack, so he walked around with a bag sh*tting for him for months longer than he had to.
idk about you but for me that's just not acceptable

obama! obama! obama! obama!

why? cuz i like him more. :D

Why?

U racist against white people!?!?

:P

I think it comes down more to party politics than Mitt v. Barack.

The democrats have pretty soundly proven that the Republican policies of tax cuts only drive us towards recessions/depressions/job loss.

Even assuming that the executive branch has no effect on the economy, the republican parties stance on social issues is a bit extreme.

My biggest social issue is that DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and the repeal of Don't Ask/Don't Tell cannot co-exist. Currently, DOMA prohibits the Federal Government from recognizing same sex spouses. Meanwhile, marriages betweeen men and women are recognized, and spouses of our military get full recognition and benefits.

When I served 8 years on active duty, the one thing I took for granted was that my wife would be taken care of while I was in harm's way. She had insurance. She had base housing. She was entitled to death benefits, She coul dsend a letter to my submarine on Top Secret operations in the event of a family emergency that would require pulling the sub off station to go let me deal with the family emergency (Example: a child's terminal illness).

This is not the case for same sex couples in a state-recognized marriage. I am no longer serving active-duty, but I can't imagine the stresses that this puts on a military unit not knowing that their loved ones are taken care of.

I can see why people's religion makes them believe that a marriage is between a man and a women, but I can't see how they let that cloud their judgement to send our nation's heros off to war to support and defend the Constitution of the US but not take care of their families.

But I get off my soap box, and state the I think the Republican Party has strayed too far off the path to be considered a possible choice.

If i was an ameican, i would vote for Gary Johnson. Third party candidate who if gets at least 5% of the votes can change the entirely flawed two party system into a better three party system.

Anyways if we are only considering Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, we will have too choose the lesser of the two evils. In my opinion Barack obama.

Both are being stupid, talking about who is going to pay more for healthcare or this and that. What USA needs to do is to bring down its 700$ billion defence budget to 400$ billion at least. (in comparison China is spending 140$ billion). The money from here should be used first of all to repay China. This is because if China right now asks for all its money that it has lent to USA back, there would be a monetary crisis.

The social issues are extensive too, such as the marijuana and abortion issues. Marijuana Obama wants to legalize. But the people who are pro-marijuana allready know that Obama is lieing on this as he promised the same in his last election. Mitt Romney is against both marijuana legalization and abortion.

Foreing Policy is where i think Mitt Romney;s brain turns into a nut sized one. He wants to label China as (forgot what he was going to name China, but it was offensive). This could trigger China in asking for all their money back. Romney wants to stay in afghanistan and raise defence budget. Stupid. He says that they should respect Pakistan and keep on being friends and paying them BECAUSE they have nukes. This does signal to some other countries that the only way to get USA's respect is by making nukes.

He wants to intervene directly in Syria, Iran. Both stupid things, wiorse on the Iran front because even if Iran takes some blows, It can deal severe ones aswell.

Both candidates want to pay more into healthcare when Medicare itself is a big burden on the USA. You can pay 30 000$ into it and get 100 000$ out of it. Its unsustainable.

In comparison Gary Johnson is MUCH better then both candidates, but you know, the illumnati. :D

oh and Mitt Romney wants to stop PBS ...

I think the consensus outside of the U.S. is that Obama is the better of the two. Here in Canada polling has shown something like 80% versus 8%, and he greatly identifies with the politics you'd see (i.e., progressive and socially-oriented).

Most of what he has done so far seems to have been done with caution. It always seems like the next election is looming above the president's head, and therefore any moves he makes reflects that. But now that he's going for a second term, I'm personally hoping that he's going to drop the hardline attitude he has adopted recently and start working on the things he actually says he wants to get done.

Romney is a joke. Had he been the same guy from when he was a Massachusetts governor, I'd have a nicer opinion of him, but now he seems to flip-flop to whatever position or stance that would make him electable in the eyes of the public. That makes him a very shady character -- and a dangerous one, at that.

And I thought that the American public had learned from the Bush era. Guess they have a pretty short attention span if Romney's polling just a percentage point off of Obama.

Looking at the numbers from swing state polling, it's pretty clear that Obama should win handily on election night, but that doesn't really mean anything if the House doesn't go blue again by 2014. American politics are becoming increasingly partisan and therefore Obama will have a rough time trying to get anything through it.

And because a lot of foreign affairs unwillingly depend on their politics, we have reason to worry over the outcome of this.

Hi, i'm french from Paris so don't be mad at me if i do, somtetimes, some error language.

Here in France, most of the public knows that Romney isn't the good one america needs. Obama tried to create in USA a wealthcare system but since the congress was against him (not sure wich part of the parliament Democrats don't rules) he couldn't have achieved what he wanted to. In France our system is way more protectiver than in USA, and the population thinks it's better like that.

Romney wants to follow bush's steps in the war against terrorism, but the problem is that Bush failed. Romney would lead an agressive politic against Iran and Syria and every country that would stand up against USA supremacy. Whereas Obama is more pacific (even if USA are still making war and killing everywhere on the damn earth)

Personally i think that the world, the rest of the world could suffer of romney's election and especially Middle east countries. An intervention in Iran would create a huuge war against Israel and around, and so the world would burn again.

(Please tell me where i make faults if you're an english dude :) )

@Reza - It would only work if the independents voted neither Rupublican nor Democratic for several election. (Good luck with that) The other chance is if the electoral college does not decide a winner. (Possible, but very unlikely to be one of the major parties)

@ericleb010 - In America you side with the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, are independent, or vote other. So, most of the votes are already decided just by party lines. (Yes, people have already decided which side to vote for in 2016)

@Gold Digger - Parliament might not be the most correct word, but it should be close enough. The Democratic Party holds the majority in the Senate, but the Republican party holds the majority in the House of Representatives. (It should be noted that the "wealthcare system," as you called it, has been enacted for the most part by the US Supreme Court in a divided decision. (I think it did pass Congress if I remember correctly, but several states sued which caused it to be sent to the Supreme Court.)

@Lolowut and ChrisCMU - I have a feeling that any reply to either of you would cause my computer to spontaneous combust into flames and smoke so I will not reply because I like my computer too much. :)

Ron Paul > Mitt Romney, but oh well... I did not expect anything different...
About the consensus in the rest of the world that Obama is better... From the rest of the world point of view, definitely, a few more years of similar policies by USA and it'll be literally owned by the rest of the world. From an economical point of view Romney>Obama, but I actually did not follow much more than that (potential Iran war, moving back troops from Iraq etc.) so I don't have a clear view on both candidates.

I agree Paul is better than Romney also.

it is simple i'm only 13 and i understand this much
Cons
_____________
Obama=hasn't fallowed through
Biden=doesn't do anything
Romney=changes ideas every day
Paul Ryan=Lair


Pros
___________
Obama=has dealt well with what he started with(cause of Bush)
Biden=doesn't mess anything up(cause he does nothin)
Romney=might change his idea's to something good
Paul Ryan= no hope


I would take Obama Administration over the Romney Paul because they worked well with what they had, they aren't lairs and don't suffer from Romnesia
Overall
_____________

Obama_yes
Romney_no

I'd like to see a detailed plan to balance the budget from either Obama or Romney; I feel like this issue hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.

Obama plan is to increase taxes on rich to Clinton rates. They were at %39.6 on the wealthy under him and Bush lowered them to %35, but many only pay in the teens like Romney because their income is from capital gains. It worked under Clinton...conditions have changed, so who knows?

I have no idea what Romney plan is. He wants to increase defense spending and give tax cuts. Getting rid of PBS and closing a few loopholes is all he'll admit to. That won't scratch the surface. I highly doubt he would bother to balance it (Reagan and Bush oversaw the two largest increases in history).

america hasnt changed for the better in a long time i think voting for either is the equivalent of treason

i agree with everyone who said Ron paul was way better thatn Mitt Romney. You should know that Ron Paul has supported Gary Johnson, becuase they have moslty similar ideas.