The End of the Election

The Republicans are toast.

At nine o'clock, Fox called the election for Obama. Arizona of all places is still too close to call. If McCain's home state goes blue, the Republicans should either hold hands and jump off Camelback Mountain into a deep chasm or go into a more profitable profession such as telemarketing.

I thrilled to the sight of the massive crowds in my old Chicago stomping grounds. This moment could be a turning point for the country, as important as when Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan became president. It is both a mandate for change and a rebuke to one of the worst presidents America has ever had.

The kids in my boys' school voted in the mock elections overwhelmingly for McCain. They're going to have to walk on eggshells to prevent a Republican hissy fit from exploding from their fellow students.

I pondered Karl Rove's characterization that this nation is "center-right". I'm not sure what that even means. It's like saying that the average height of everyone is average-above average. It seems to me that Obama's has expressed ideas that are by now by definition the center, and it is the Republicans that have lost their way. I also think that Obama is smart enough not to make the same mistake that President Clinton made in his first term by trying to unfold a program such as national health care that the nation cannot accept. My guess is that they will want to consolidate and expand their base of power by looking for pragmatic solutions that benefit the majority of Americans, rather than playing to their radical wing.

For better or for worse, however, the Democratic's radical wing doesn't look so radical in view of what has happened in the last eight years. So, I think there will be significant changes, but not the kind of change that appeals to or works for just 50.01 percent of America.