Let’s be clear … Barack Obama thumped John McCain last night, and his Democratic party padded its majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate.
Democrats now have the White House, as well as a stunning 251-172 majority in the U.S. House (with twelve races yet to be called) and a 56-41 majority in the U.S. Senate (with three races still up in the air).
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford was right – it was a “bloodletting” for Republicans, although at the presidential level it probably could have (and should have) been worse.
After all, Obama was up against a party that has clearly run into a brick wall in the form of George W. Bush, who last night cemented his legacy as America’s worst president ever by contributing mightily to the colossal Republican losses.
Exit polls showed that more than half of the electorate “strongly disapproved” of the job Bush is doing, which is flat out fatal for anyone running under his party’s tattered banner.
Then there’s the fact that Obama raised (and spent) more than twice what Republican John McCain did … taking in an unheard of $600 million in his successful run for the White House.
Then there’s the fact that McCain’s campaign was easily the worst-managed presidential bid in history, making Bob Dole’s 1996 run against Bill Clinton look downright inspiring.
And let’s be honest … the nation’s mainstream media was in the tank for Obama from the moment he announced his candidacy.
We did a joke post two years ago about Obama shortly after his announcement which included the following quote …
It’s almost as if Obama has mind control over the national press corps, kind of like the way Spock had mind control over Kim Cattrall in Star Trek VI … or the way Chris Tucker claimed to have mind control over Deebo in the movie Friday.
Given all these factors, why didn’t Obama win bigger?
Could it be that – as Republican talking points claim – a considerable portion of the country is still very suspicious of him?
Or did Obama exceed expectations – capturing a historic victory in spite of a ferociously negative campaign waged against him?
For the record, Obama’s Electoral College haul is about 40 votes larger than we predicted, due to razor-thin victories in Florida and Virginia … two states we were pretty sure were headed in McCain’s direction last night.
Anyway, to your votes!
What Are Your Thoughts On Obama's Victory Margin?
- About What Was Expected (44%, 40 Votes)
- Can't Believe He Did So Well (31%, 28 Votes)
- Should Have Been Bigger (25%, 22 Votes)
Total Voters: 90
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By FWFIV November 5, 2008 at 11:08 am
Should have been bigger, are you kidding me?
Seven years after the 9-11 attacks John McCain LOST the presidential election to a black man with an Arabic name.
The margin is larger than Bush’s win in 2004, I don’t remember anyone decrying the percentage then.
By Lee November 5, 2008 at 12:36 pm
- THE MAN- RIP
Born: 1776
Died: 2008
By Natasha November 5, 2008 at 12:48 pm
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axZ6QT0Qr3YQ&refer=worldwide
By rick November 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Natasha, yep but included in McCains loss was a historically incompetent campaign. He and his running mate had plenty of opportunity to use Fox and its associated programming to their advantage and McCain chose not to. The errors were such by his advisors he should demand a refund for misrepresention.
By Slipstream November 5, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Would have been bigger if he spoke like this!!!
It’s the Presidential debate but with Mr. T as Obama and Gary Busey as Mccain. It is so funny I just can’t stop laughing. I have the voices on my GPS that I got from Navtones.com but seeing them like this is just brilliant!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JuDpF_-6ko
By Obama did not get more votes because of race November 5, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I think I saw where over 80% of white men in Alabama voted for McCain.
Race played a huge factor with old white guys – (and the bible thumpers)
Congrats to Obama for pulling off something most of us would not have believed possible several years ago.
By WTF November 5, 2008 at 4:38 pm
When North Carolina finally gets called, Obama will have 364 electoral votes. He turned Indiana and Virginia blue for the first time since LBJ. You can’t really do better than that.
By roofus November 5, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Well, there’s approximately 47 million adult Americans who do not pay income taxes. Wonder who got their votes?
By dj November 5, 2008 at 7:45 pm
It was inevitable. It was about Bush plain and simple. Eight years of war with no end in sight and seemingly no accomplishments, that and a failing economy.Strong Republican issues but only when its good, when its bad…watch out. Republicans really didnt stand a chance. Race did play a huge part, if not being the main reason for Obamas election – look at CNN’s exit poll results.
Something to look foward to? yes. The next election will be a guaranteed Republican win. Why? one- race will not play as the main issue now. two- with Democrats running everything, they have no one to blame when they screw it up. And they will screw it up. Luckily Republicans still have filibuster power so all they need to do in the next four years is sit back quietly, build the base back up, let Democrats screw up, keep them in check when it needs be.
By June November 5, 2008 at 9:54 pm
dj
This election was not about the shrub in the White House. Nor was it about race. Read the following from CNN:”Those who said race was an important factor voted 55 percent to 44 percent in favor of Obama. But Obama also was the winner by a similar margin among those who said race was not important, which suggests that race was not a decisive factor in this election.” The people I know who backed Obama did so because of his values and plans regarding health care, energy, employment and the future of our country and its people. Obama can and will do great things for this country. He will do them by bringing together democrats and republicans. People such as yourself who are hateful and narrow-minded should really find another country to live in. It’s obvious that you don’t want good things to happen in America. You would rather see failure just to try and prove a point. I have an idea. Why don’t you move to Alaska? I hear that from there, it’s just a short jaunt to Russia.
By rick November 6, 2008 at 8:52 am
Amen dj
By Pat Hendrix November 6, 2008 at 4:00 pm
The idea that this was a strategic mistake by McCain’s handlers or the fault of Bush doesn’t square with polling. Issue after issue, Democratic ideas are favored by Republicans. Combined with demographic changes – and this isn’t a reference to race, nitwits – namely, that college educated Americans have abandoned the Republican Party to the wealthy, hyper-religious and criminally stupid, the outcome of this race was entirely predictable. Pray for overreach all you want, the demographics and ideas suggest a long period in the majority for the Democrats.
By roofus November 6, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Hmm…I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes were cast in swing states and which candidate benefitted the most…
By dj November 7, 2008 at 1:33 am
June,
Alaska is a great state actually, but apparently you take your cues from someone else instead of making your own opinions based on at least a little tiny bit of research. haha we get it…Alaska, Russia..Palin remarks..great one.ooooh got me there. There was nothing hateful about anything i said. You almost got away with coming off neutral but you let your bias slip in.like calling your president shrub as you put it.But its typical…attack personally instead of with intellect.To let you know i am a registered independent, so im no Republican defender. FACT- Read the exit polls, minorities voted from 64% to 95% Obama depending on minority vs. 5% to 32% McCain. THAT is about race. 95 % percent African American voted Obama across gender, income, age. THAT is about race.Your numbers are wrong…or at least they dont match the CNN polls..which should be taken with a grain of salt anyways…58% percent of Obama voters thought race was THE most important factor…we call that a MAJORITY in Poli Sci. 51% said it was important..still a MAJORITY. So yes race was a a big factor if not THE factor on his win as with the other elements i pointed out.The other stuff was speculation ..an OPINION on my part based what i research, read etc.
By It was a bad loss, just deal with it November 7, 2008 at 1:48 am
“Razor thin” margin in Virginia? Va was pretty clearly for Obama – he won by 6 points, you would be laughed out of the election commission if you asked for a recount. It is a clear victory.
As for the roughly 8-9 point win in the national polls and the most decisive electoral win since Reagan what are you talking about? Democrats blew out the Republicans in this race, that is not a partisan statement that is just how it went this time around. In a few elections cycles Rebpublicans will do the same. However, the whole blame the media, blame everbody else mentality, calling big loses wins motiff is going to start to sound like whining.