What We Know

Now that 52% of American voters elected Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States, here are a few things we know:

The American people have the sense to come out of the rain. After 8 years of a slim Republican plurality taking the country to dangerous places financially, militarily, constitutionally and ethically, Americans said "Enough. Let's give someone else a shot."

Barack Obama knows what he's doing. Resisting the many calls to name Hillary Clinton as his running mate, to 'get tougher' (more negative) and to change his campaign strategy, he did it his way and won. In the most resounding Democratic victory since Lyndon Johnson.

Obama Campaign Director David Plouffe knows what he's doing. The architect of the single greatest campaign organization in U. S. political history.

Howard Dean knows what he's doing. He pioneered Internet fundraising and voter communication, demanded a 50 state strategy and made the Democratic Party relevant again.

The Republicans have a lot of work to do. They are not the party of mainstream America.

Lee Atwater is really dead. Though he died a while back, the racist, fearmongering politics he perfected (and repudiated on his deathbed), finally died as well. Personal, negative attacks just didn't work in this election. If you don't believe me, ask Hillary and Mac.

The politics of the Vietnam War and the politics of racial victimization are dead. Rumsfeld, Cheney and McCain can now fight the Vietnam War in their minds and not in our political agenda. Likewise, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Jeremiah Wright can vent about race victimization amongst themselves. It's time to move on.

Words matter again. The use of words as powerful tools make a welcome comeback after 8 years. Most ironic line in Obama's victory speech? Calling us to move past the 'immaturity' of partisan politics. The young President elect, not the 72 year old candidate or the 61 year old sitting president, telling us to grow up. Love it.

Intelligence matters again. While idiocy sought to gain a foothold in the form of Joe the Plumber, Americans decided to give the tough job of presiding over a country in crisis to a smart guy. Now we can all tell our kids that good grades matter--and mean it.

Politics matters again. People are engaged--and not just us political junkies. Lots of people.

What a great thing.

And one final thing: Missouri's not the infallible bellweather of presidential elections any more. It voted for McCain. Apparently, things are subject to change these days.

What else do we know from this election? Comment by hitting the 'comments' button below, by passing the Google search and hitting the anonymous or nickname button.