Presidential Election '08

One topic that I found particularly interesting was the impact of youth on the 2008 electcion. My blog, The Caucus, posted an entry shortly after the election about how there had been at least 2.2 million more youth voters in this election than the 2004 election. The entry also states that "66 percent of them supported Mr. Obama, while 31 percent favored Senator John McCain" and that "Exit polls indicated that young people represented 18 percent of all voters." According to the statistics, many people would agree that the youth had a major factor in the election. The youth had great support for the Obama campaign, which was made clear. Obama even included them in his speech Tuesday night when he said his campaign “grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.”

In addition, the article also briefly mentions the impact of techonology on the recent election. Both candidates, McCain and Obama, managed facebooks to promote their campaigns. A virtual ticker on Facebook tallied how many users casted a ballot. The number exceeded 5 million. Also, there were 2.4 million fans of Obama's page in comparison to the 624,000 fans of McCain.


This is an interesting picture i found:


When browsing through the global perception of the U.S. as a result of Obama's victory, I was surprised to read that the majority of countries were extremely relived. All across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia, countries celebrated the change that Obama will bring. Whether or not a country views Obama's win as a victory, there is no doubt that the election signifies great change and is a historical event. However, along with all of the positive reactions to the election, there seems to be a lot of expectations as well. Brussels hopes to remodel the world's security and economy while South Africa looks forward to Obama dealing with poverty. There is a lot on Obama's plate and it will be interesting to see how the relation between the U.S. and other countries will shift in the future.