The Next Day

I know a lot of you out there are pretty sad today. I know- I'm one of you. Denise, my boss, relentlessly tried to cheer me up today, but it was a long, hard slog.
It gets harder and harder to try to be a voice of optimism these days. The very nature of what America stands for is now in grave jeopardy; we're about to be run by a bunch of people who think the wholly unremarkable European nanny-state societies are actually setting some kind of example worth following. The rugged individualism that has characterized the USA since its inception is in real danger of passing away forever. If we get to the end of the next four years without horrific damage inflicted on America's very soul, I'll be very glad.
Yet, even today, there are things worth being thankful for. Despite being told endlessly how most of America is fiscally conservative and socially liberal, voters in arguably the most liberal state in the country (California) voted against gay marriage. After their Supreme Court, in typical fashion, decided their state constitution suddenly included a right to homosexual marriage, the voters flipped the court the bird and amended the constitution beyond even the court's ability to wring bizarreness from it. Makes me think perhaps voters aren't as eager to lurch left as they might seem.
Also, it's looking like Dems were stymied in getting a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. As of now, it's looking like they'll end things with 56 votes, which is actually just one more vote than Republicans had at the beginning of President Bush's second term. That means that Republicans will have the ability to block legislation, and with the capable Mitch McConnell leading them, I have a little more confidence in their ability to hold the line.
As an addendum to that, I also want to make special mention of how incredibly glad I am that Al Franken didn't oust Norm Coleman in Minnesota, although it does look like there will be a recount. Franken is a truly loathsome human being, and I'm pleased that the voters of Minnesota chose against putting his likes in the Senate.
I'd like to be able to tell you that we'll probably pick some seats back up in two years, but unfortunately, that's not assured. Republicans need to come together as a party and figure out what they stand for, and then show why that's better for the country than the Democrats' vision. If we just coast on through the next two years with no coherence and bank on Obama not being as popular then as he is now, we're not going to be rewarded for it.
One bright spot is that, four years from now, Obama's Electoral College Map has little room to grow- the only swing state he didn't win last night was Missouri (yes, even my beloved North Carolina has apparently fallen to him, though for some reason it hasn't been called yet). If he governs to the left and voters recoil from it, it's likely he'll start 2012 giving some of them back.

Since my brother wants to go for round 15 on how this disaster was McCain's fault (see comment on "Polls, Polls, Polls!"), let's talk about what he had going against him:

1. Very charismatic opponent
2. Very unpopular incumbent in his own party
3. Economy in the tank, an issue that almost always benefits Democrats
4. Media that did everything in its power to elect his opponent

McCain lost by about 5% last night. Given the above, I defy anyone to show me one of the Republican primary candidates that could have done better. Byron York today quoted one of the McCain aides that really summed up the situation:

"A few weeks before the election, a top McCain aide gave me the campaign’s inside view of the situation. "You could think of this as trying to summit a mountain," he said. "Both campaigns have to summit the mountain. In most elections, one campaign has some kind of advantage over the other — maybe they get a ten-minute or a half-hour head start — but both sides have to climb the same face of the mountain. In this election, we’re not climbing the same face of the mountain. They’re climbing the side of the mountain with boardwalks and latte stands and playgrounds for the kids, and we’re climbing the side of the mountain with axes and ice picks and one slip and you’re dead."

Given all that, the only thing that could have turned this around was a international nuclear exchange or a domestic terrorist attack. Personally, I'm just as glad neither one of those things happened.
So... 52% of the country is rapturous now. It got the Change it wanted! Personally, it reminds me of nothing so much as the penultimate scene from Lord of the Rings, when Gollum, having at long last won the Ring, lovingly clutches his prize to his chest, oblivious to the fact that he's plunging down into a boiling river of lava.
Here's hoping our landing goes a little better than his.