Election Day

An even more anticipated they for me, and many of my fellow dutchies, than the elections in the Netherlands. As a fervent America lover (not everything about America, the country has many flaws as well), I find tonight very thrilling.
Will Obama remain president of the United States or will it be a victory for republican Mitt Romney? Though I'm not an America correspondent (would love to become one), here's a bit more information about the backgrounds of the two men, the expectations of tonight and my opinion.

In the relatively short history of America, the rivalry between the two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, has always been grand. Candidates travel through the entire country and spend millions of dollars for compaigns to win votes. Generally the states are very divided, for example New York and California appear to favour the Democratic Party and states like Texas and Louisiana are more republican.

This year, there's a battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It became clear very soon that current president Obama was going to be the democratic candidate. On the republican front there was more competition. Eventually Mitt Romney was chosen to be the candidate.

In october four debates were held. The first was won by Romney, the second (between the vice-presidents) by Democratic Joe Biden and the last two by Obama. But this doesn't say anything, since it really is a neck-and-neck race. On this moment, Obama has 49% of the votes and Mitt Romney 48%. Especially the swing states like Florida make it a tense battle.

So what are the differences in opinions and plans between Romney and Obama? To name only a few things: Romney wants the super rich to pay less tax, he wants to invest more in defence, cut down on education. Obama wants to extend the health care program, operate roughly against Iraq and raise the taxes, among other things.

If I was to live in the States, the choice would've been a simple one: I would definitely vote team Obama. The plans and ideas of Romney are way too right wing for me, I don't agree with rich people paying less tax, cut down on education (like they do in the Netherlands as well) and invest more in defence. I find Romney an unpleasant man, who also shunned to pay taxes (via the Netherlands) with his company.

I have to say Obama hasn't all my support anymore either. Four years ago, he promised 'hope' and lots of 'change'. But in those four years, he appeared very disappointing. Many of the promises he made, never came out. He didn't close Guantanamo Bay, he didn't end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan immediately and he didn't find a solution for the illegal immigrant program.

Anyhow, I still have faith in Obama. He is a very powerful and charismatic man with a good heart and I think he made promises that were impossible to keep anyway. Let's hope tonight will turn out positive for Obama and let's also hope that, if he wins, his next term will be a decisive one. So American followers, unfortunately I can't vote, but if you can, please vote Obama!