James Forsyth James Forsyth

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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