The Obamas thank the American people

As Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care of Our Own” belted out from the speakers in the arena, President Obama joyously waved to the thousands of people who made it possible for him to serve a final term in the White House. Joined on stage by his equally joyful wife and children, Obama thanked the people who voted for him.

He told the audience in his hometown of Chicago, “Tonight, you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together: reducing our deficit, reforming our tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil.”

His campaign, which cost over $1 billion, is well and truly over, and has allowed him to keep his address as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His rival, Republican Mitt Romney, graciously wished Obama the best of luck and thanked supporters. The former governor of Massachusetts, Romney, received 206 electoral college votes compared to Obama’s 303. Romney won the most southern states, whilst Obama did particularly well amongst Northeastern and Western voters, also gaining votes from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and the crucial swing state, Ohio, in the Midwest.

This election didn’t change much politically. Obama is still a resident of the White House, the House of Representatives is still dominated by Republicans, and the Senate is still in the hands of the Democrats, but what we have learned is that Obama’s likeability enabled him to retain his position as president even though the unemployment rate is the highest it has been since Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the Oval Office.

Obama will serve his last term as US president – as the 22 Amendment prohibits a president being elected more than twice – and with the States in trillions of dollars of debt, it isn’t going to be an easy last term for the president. Many Republicans will be counting down the days to the next election and hoping the Democrats can be pushed out of the White House and replaced with one of their own members.

It wasn’t only a victory for Obama, but a victory for women who, under Romney, would have had no option of an abortion, unless it was under extreme circumstances; a victory for homosexuals who would not be allowed to be married because Romney thinks it should only be between a man and a woman; and a victory for Americans who do not want the US’s liberal mindset stripped away by the GOP.