Obama Wins

Eight years ago, the country was experiencing an entirely different sort of Inauguration Day. On January 20, 2001, people were outraged.

Welcome to our annual awards! For the past three years, this column has paid homage (translation: "ripped off their gimmick") to the McLaughlin Group...

Given conservative Republicans' beliefs that Obama is a far left candidate, the more moderate (in their view) Senator Clinton may become a more acceptable choice for Secretary of State.

We still do not have a final Presidential result in the state of Missouri, 14 days after the election. As was shown time and again this election, our nation's voting systems are badly broken.

Ever since Obama's historic election as the first African-American President, the pundits have been trying to demystify the voter attitudes and behavior that led to this unprecedented outcome.

With the post-election analysis season almost over, it's worth taking one final look at some of the characters who ensured President-elect Obama would make it to the White House.

In a poll commissioned by Planned Parenthood, Catholic voters' number-one response on family planning concerns were "too many unwanted children in America whose parents can't take care of them."

Unmarried women's crucial role in electing Obama is underscored by the "marriage gap" between their political preferences and those of married women.

If the last seven days have been any indication, the far-right is shaping up to make the 1990s seem quaint -- even erudite by comparison.

On both values and issues, moderates line up with liberals to form a strong majority that isolates conservatives. Conservatives have had their day. This is a center-left, not a center-right nation.

It was a different Obama, with a different voice, that I heard at the press conference on Friday. He appeared to be flip and full of himself.

Some soldiers' opinions I recently wrote about are theirs to have, even though they may be highly unpopular. Being unpopular does not, however, make their opinion any less valid nor criminal.

Though Europeans generally rejoiced in Barack Obama's election as 44th President of the US, a number of leading European lawmakers and journalists have made "foot-in-mouth comments."

We must lay the foundation for the next generation of youth, so we can continue to capitalize on their energy, innovation, and creativity for the future.

In selecting his team, Obama should look to future opportunities -- to how he can help solve the critical problems of the nation and the world -- and not to past obligations.

In the end, Barack Obama's win may have handed John McCain the keys he needed, if not necessarily wanted.

On November 5th, I examined the red, weary eyes of my fellow taxpayers, which showed the residue of a sleepless night spent checking every news channel to see if it was really true.

How long is the honeymoon going to last?

Rather than preach, build or spread democracy, we proved that our system works. By winning, Obama did more to teach the Iraqis about democracy than four years of nation building has done.

A change in the amendment process for states will not always ensure the protection of minority rights. But it will encourage consistency. It will deter attacks on specific groups of people.

On the critical issue of government's role, Democrats do not have a mandate. Rather, they have a chance to make their case.

This new multi-cultural, interracial, eco-green, techno-savvy, globally-minded young generation has made history.

In the wake of Obama's overwhelming victory, and Democratic gains in the House and Senate, conservatives are desperately trying to convince the world that these results are meaningless. "Democrats should not make the mistake of viewing Tuesday's results as a repudiation of conservatism," insisted John Boehner. "Barack Obama understands this is a center-right country," claimed Karl Rove. "This country remains every bit as center-right as it has for a generation," parroted Brent Bozell. And David Brooks dreamed of an Obama administration that understands "this was an election where the middle asserted itself." Drunk on self-delusion, a staggering GOP whistles past the electoral graveyard, missing the whole point of this election: the center has shifted, and positions that used to be considered left-wing -- on healthcare, on global warming, on corporate responsibility, on Iraq -- are now solidly mainstream.