You're expecting an answer to that question in THIS forum? Good luck, Bro. I've asked it many times here and the answers you've received so far are typical. Nothing but non-answers. 
Vi
Okay, I'll take a stab at this, though I feel confident it won't be sufficient.
I voted the way I did because I think Obama is a highly intelligent man (which is in stark contrast to the sitting president) who obviously knows how to MANAGE. If you look at how their campaign was managed, even little things like looking at small precincts in Hillary's acknowledged territories, that shows insight and strategy worthy of The Tao Of War--which is really just a book on how to manage oneself, one's team, or even one's nation.
I also believe he is intelligent enough to appoint extremely competent people in cabinet positions. It's NOT just the president who matters; it's the entire administration. I expect to see some faces in this cabinet who will get to work cleaning up the mess that we're all facing. That means competent folks in the EPA, not cronies who don't even know what they're doing. The administration as a whole is very important to me, and it should be to everyone else.
Although, as I have said several times on that monster McCain thread, I used to have respect for McCain and might have considered voting for him in '04 because he was a MODERATE then, I lost all confidence in him when I realized he was merely towing the party line. So a vote for McCain was definitely out. The Palin issue didn't affect me, because I'd already made up my mind, but it did show a striking lack of managerial qualities.
McCain's age being such an issue didn't really bother me. I know a lot of people harped on and on about that, but it wasn't much of an issue for me. I know and have known a number of people who are very functional until their 90's.
It should be obvious to everyone by now that the republican party is very, very good at "public relations," meaning that they know how to push buttons and get people riled up at the issues they wanted us to be riled up about. They were able to paint Kerry as a complete incompetent last round, they were able to make gay marriage a huge issue--when it's hardly an issue that ought to be front and center, and they were able to make abortion a gigantic issue. They were not able to find all that much dirt on Obama. I know that many of you who were very much opposed to Obama wanted that Rev Wright issue and the Acorn thing and a few others to loom very large, but it didn't work. I think the reasons that the efforts of the RP did not work is because enough people saw those for what they were--the "politics of personal destruction." (And I'd say the same thing about Mrs. McCain as well--her mistakes in the past belong in the past, etc on these personal attacks). The lack of dirt on Obama was a big plus to me. (And no, I don't care what the Rev Wright said--he's earned the right to be highly critical of this country, given his OWN service in the military.)
The fact that this man was raised partly in other cultures around the world, by a woman who was a cultural anthropologist means something to me. I expect to see that pay off in spades with foreign relations, which should be a huge issue right now (as opposed to inane topics like gay marriage and abortion). We live in a "global village," "global economy," etc, now, and this man's background meshes well with that.
I also believe that electing him has shown the world that we are not a bunch of bigoted, racist, greedy people out to destroy and conquer. Our public image has been sullied something terrible under the current administration, and I find that frightening. Forget offensive. Fear for our safety is what I'm talking about. Electing someone who is off the same ole, same ole beaten path says a lot to the rest of the world.
I don't even care that much about all the bickering on that other thread about the so-called entitlement programs. They just do not exist as the republican party would like us all to continue believing. It does bother me that so many, many people are infuriated about a mythological welfare queen, and it speaks volumes about what kind of people we are (uninformed, angry, resentful, etc). I don't know what can be done regarding that issue, because it seems no matter how much you inform people about the changes that occurred in the Clinton administration, they are still angry about some chimera--can't do much about that. They'll believe what they believe.
So those are my primary reasons. I expect highly competent people who've proven themselves to be seated in this cabinet. I expect our foreign relations to greatly improve. I do not, however, expect everything, or even most of these changes in the first month or the first year, even. It's taken us decades to get to where we are, and it's going to take a lot to clean it up.
Oh, I forgot to add this: I expect to see some work done with stem cell research and other technologies. Not only are we going to see a huge number of baby boomers develop these horrid diseases like alzheimers and parkinson's in the coming years, we need to be on top of this with regard to being the ones to conduct the research and reap the economic benefits that come from new technology. We have had tremendous set backs in this regard, and I would love to see us catch up.
And the lobbyists. God awmighty, I want those people's rights to legally bribe our representatives curtailed big time. Obama said they'd have no place in his administration, and I'm going to be hopping mad if I don't see some sort of progress made on this issue.
Edited to add those two last paragraphs.
