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The Barack Obama Blowout: A Repudiation Of George W. Bush

By Robert Paul Reyes

It's 9:30 pm (eastern time) and not all of the results are in, but two thing are clear: Obama is going to win in a landslide and the turnout is going to set a record.

Why are voters turning out in such massive numbers, and what does the Obama blowout mean?

Americans are notoriously impatient, we don't like waiting more than a few seconds for a song to download, and we start hyperventilating if it takes more than two minutes for our popcorn to finish popping.

But throughout this great nation we see citizens patiently waiting in line for hours to vote in this historic election.

Many of those parked in long queues are African Americans, who are brimming with pride as they wait their turn to vote for the first black presidential candidate for a major party.

But it's not just persons of color who are rushing to the polling booths. Young people and first time voters are also turning out in record numbers. Most of them are voting for Obama, because he represents change and hope. Older voters have developed a tolerance for negative ads, but the youngsters were repulsed by the unrelentingly negative tone of John McCain's campaign.

The Obama landslide represents a desire for change, a repudiation of McCain's dirty tricks, and a celebration of the historical significance of the first African American president.

Everyone has caught the election fever, turnout will be high among all segments of the electorate. One thing that the majority of Americans have in common is an anger at the Bush administration for its ineptitude and arrogance. Above everything else this election is a repudiation of the Republican party in general and George W. Bush in particular.

Bush has ruined the Republican brand, it's no surprise that the Democrats will pick up a few seats in the House, and they even have a chance of securing a filibuster-proof Senate.

Most of my friends and coworkers, and even quite a few strangers, recognize me as a columnist for one of the local papers in Lynchburg, Va. They know that I write a political column, and they don't hesitate to share with me their thoughts. One thing that I hear, time after time again, from Republicans and Democrats, is the belief that our country is on the wrong track.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a political pundit to know that our country is in deep trouble. The Bush fetish for deregulation has resulted in the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression and Bush's penchant for foreign misadventures has us stuck in a quagmire in Iraq.

Americans have never been more ashamed of their government, and our great nation has never been so despised by the rest of the world. We are rushing to vote for Obama because we want to regain pride in our democracy, and we want to restore our good name in the international community.

The American public has given Obama and Congress a mandate to reverse our course in Iraq, and to regulate Wall Street so that evil and greedy CEO's won't be able to bankrupt their companies for personal gain.

Congratulations to Obama for his convincing win, shame on George W. Bush for doing so much harm to our great democracy, and good riddance to McCain, the presidential candidate who ran the dirtiest campaign in recent political history.

Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.