Comments on: Putting Obama’s Victory in Historical Context

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:43:53 +0000

Jason – Sorry, I should have been more clear. the data refer to changes in the percent of eligible voters who actually turned out in the election that called themselves Democrats or Republicans. According to Curtis Gans, who is the best guy out there on this stuff, Republican voting declined 1.3 points, to 28.7 percent of the electorate, while Democratic turnout rose from 28.7 percent to 31.3 percent of the electorate. But you are right – in absolute numbers turnout was up, although not nearly as much as many expected based on registration figures.

By: Marty

Marty — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:12:47 +0000

Wait. Monica Lewinsky? Reall? Sorry, I got a little hyperbolic there.

I meant that more as synecdoche, to stand for the Gingrich Revolution in Congress, and the nadir of Washington’s pettiness.

By: Marty

Marty — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:34:12 +0000

Is the issue really realignment? That will come, it seems to me, because what matters is memory.

This really looks like a new chapter in our country’s history. Think of all that has been laid to rest or begun to heal in election night’s spectacle:

Segregation.

Herbert Hoover.

Race riots.

Barry Goldwater.

The 1968 Chicago Convention.

Vietnam on the homefront.

Jingoism.

Meek-looking post-Watergate politicians and malaise.

Florida in 2000.

Karl Rove and Grover Norquist.

Dick Cheney.

Monica Lewinsky.

The Bush and Clinton Dynasties.

What else is still missing?

Right now, even as I’m terribly sobered by the economy and know the tough row this president has to hoe, even knowing that Vermont is much more likely to secede than Texas or Alaska, I’m still doing one of those carefully concealed celebration dances!

On the other side of the aisle/ledger, it was historic in the sense that John McCain’s Phoenix concession speech revives all the best political traditions in our Constitution, thanks to the great instincts that led him to forge such a close bond with one of the best speechwriters of our time, Mark Salter.

The Party is in a fragile state, and while the daggers are drawn, and there’s tumult in the leadership, it seems to me that McCain has still accomplished something huge: His stature was undiminished by making this election’s graceful, selfless concession. Moreover, Senator McCain is now the only Republican that the Obama White House will trust to not play politics when the country’s recovery is on the line. He has now become, as I see it, the most pivotal Republican Senator since Henry Cabot Lodge.

Why Lodge? He was the Senator who coaxed Ike Eisenhower into running for President to distance the Party from the petulent, narrow-minded Robert Taft.

By: Jason Mittell

Jason Mittell — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:52:20 +0000

Quick turnout question – how much do the D/R turnout stats you quote depend on shifting registration numbers? Since there seems to have been a massive increase in D registrations, and decrease in R, might the decline in R turnout be more of realignment rather than reduced enthusiasm among the base? I guess I’m just unsure of what these data really refer to – % of the registered voter pie turning out, or decline in total numbers from each party turning out.

By: Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:43:36 +0000

This will be a transformative election if democrats fix the problems that we face-principally economic although not entirely.

If the economy rebounds, we aren’t attached, Osama is caught, etc then they will have achieved much and will deserve to retain control and to expand it.

The American voters that count- the center 30% that swing every election aren’t very ideological but rather practical, personal and emotional- ” how am I doing, how do I feel about this candidate?”

The answer to Reagan’s key question “Am I better now than I was 4 years ago? Is the decider for most of them.

The Republicans forgot that and blew it.

They center voters expect solutions and the Democrats have all the levers- lets see how they pull them and what comes down upon our heads when they do.