In what started off as a very intense and heart pounding election night that urged officials to predict a very tight race, President Obama was re-elected just a little before midnight on November 6, 2012 to a second term as the 44th president of the United States of America.
Defeating opponent and Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, President Obama won both the electoral and popular votes, leading the electoral by one hundred votes (303 -203).
President Obama, who became the first African-American to be elected as president in the U.S. when he was elected in 2008, makes another history with the highest unemployment rate (currrently at 7.9%) of any president returned to office since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. The President also became only the second Democrat since Roosevelt to win another term. The first was president Bill Clinton in 1996.
Although widely criticized for his poor performance with the U.S. economy, President Obama is praised for several major accomplishments during his four years in office. He is credited for ending the war in Iraq, taking down Bin Laden, saving the American auto industry, favoring women rights and equal pay, repealing “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” establishing “The Dream Act,” which provides legal status to illegal immigrant minors, and a host of others.
Kenya, home to President Obama's father, celebrates the president's re-election.
In his victory speech in Chicago last night, the president re-assured all Americans, irrespective of who they voted for, that their voices are heard and that he is returning to the white house more determined than ever to address the challenges that the country faces.
We congratulate him on this significant and historic win and wish him the best for the next four years.
