The aftermath
A little sign of the way in which this election has touched people is the fact that you cannot buy a copy of the Washington Post today for love nor money. There is currently a huge queue outside the Post building downtown as people wait for the arrival of a special commemorative edition of the paper.
Meanwhile, the chatter continues about who Obama will appoint to key jobs. At the moment there is the most buzz around Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, Larry Summers as Treasury Secretary, Jim Steinberg as National Security Advisor and possibly Colin Powell as education secretary.
The Republicans, by contrast, are licking their wounds and taking some solace in the popular vote being closer than most people expected. Generally, talk of the demise of political parties is exaggerated and the Republican party is far from dead. But the fact that it lost the fastest growing states and demographics last night shows just how urgently and deeply the party needs to rethink.
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C Powell
November 5th, 2008 8:18pmYes: it's not quite the landslide - whether in popular vote or by states - that people were expecting. Rather it seems to be that people who had not previously voted (especially among black Americans) voted this time. The real question is what the changes in Congress mean and whether Obama uses that majority to push his policies (whatever those are) through or whether he looks to be more centrist and ensure his re-election in 4 years time. And then there's the question of what happens on the foreign policy side where I imagine America's enemies will want to test the new President.
The Republicans need to choose better candidates and not just talk to themselves: McCain was simply not up to it and had no coherent message. Palin is not the answer and if the Republicans think she is, they will be out for years.
One small plea, though: please can we not call him a black President. He's mixed race one: he's just as much white as he is black.
Verity
November 5th, 2008 8:56pmOoooooh, how exciting! I mean, how in to be frantically trying to buy a copy of The Washington Post inside the Beltway!
biggestaspidistra
November 6th, 2008 2:16amA little bitterness amongst coffee house commenters.
He is black. It was a landslide. McCain was a good candidate but Obama is a bright star. The economy (and Bush) did for the Republicans. Washington Post and New York Times all sold out cause its historic. Join in the party or you'll just look like a couple of sourpusses.
Cheer up and join the party.
Austin Barry
November 6th, 2008 7:46amA young charismatic leader, huge expectations, a palpable sense of change in the air, the cynical confounded, lefty hacks tumescent, the people's President. All together now, sing you bastards: Things can only get better...
Doug
November 6th, 2008 5:21pmWhy solace in the popular vote? It was less than Bush got and fell exactly where most of the pollsters said it would go 52-46.
R King
November 7th, 2008 10:19amHere’s my puzzlement: Rahm Emanuel is chief of staff then not in congress, Obama and Biden not in Senate, if Kerry is offered a position in the cabinet, he’s now not in the senate, what is the process for filling these (possibly others) seats that are vacated? And how does the process guarantee that they will be filled with democrats so that the party can realize their gains on Capitol Hill?