President-elect Barack Hussein Obama

Well, it looks like Senator Obama will serve as America's 44^th President. First, the obligatory congratulations are in order, as 50+ million Americans can't all be wrong. At least I hope so. Quick aside, what if they are? What if those "get out the vote" drives really set America up for failure, as these new voters are overwhelmingly uninformed, be they poor or rich, black or white? Regardless, the fact remains we have a new President come Inauguration Day, and we do owe this man some level of respect and a degree of admiration for achieving the highest office in our land. I just hope he's sworn in on a Bible. That's the last dig, I promise.

So what will an Obama Presidency look like? Well, it doesn't appear that the Democrats will pick up that super majority they were shooting for, thank God. While they certainly have the majority, the other side of the aisle can still pull out that filibuster for those times when logic is overrun by partisan politics. Still, with Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, we can expect a consistently liberal agenda pushed through Congress and signed into law over the next four years, assuming mid-term elections in 2010 don't produce double digit Republican gains in both Houses, which is unlikely. Think the Fairness Doctrine, gun control laws, pro-choice legislation, gay rights, spreading wealth around (whatever that means), ramped up affirmative action, hippie Supreme Court Justices, higher corporate taxes, etc.

We also need to all realize that Senator Obama has made campaign promises of lower taxes for the middle classes, strong foreign policy (when compared to other Democrats), and other traditionally Republican ideals. This possibly being a charade to attract undecided voters remains to be seen. If he does follow through, a President Obama will have a lot of angry liberals on his hands who will feel betrayed to some degree. If he doesn't lead from at least a center-left standing, he stands little if any chance for re-election come 2012. He's in a tough spot, but by attaining 330-plus electoral votes and 51% of the popular vote, President-elect Obama has a fairly sweeping mandate to effect that change he's talked so much about. While no one really has any idea what he means by change, it does sound nice. We gave Republicans control of the White House and gains in Congress in 2000 with hopes of responsible and accountable leadership. We've received little of that, and I believe this election is the American people's way of saying, "Let's try the other guy". The economy being in the tank didn't help of course, but it still would've been a tough race for any Republican. Whether or not President Bush's approval ratings are fair is irrelevant. Over 80% of the population feels the nation is on the wrong track. That's a tough time to sell more of the same, which Obama did a great job of claiming McCain would be.

So, all you conservatives out there, it's happened. All the bloggers who've been typing like madmen for the last two years about his birth certificate (which is still being challenged in the Supreme Court) and his friends and his lack of experience and his ethnicity (he's 50% Caucasian, 44% Arab, and 6% African, so enough with the "first African-American stuff), the fact is, the majority of Americans choose their guy over our guy. Let's loose with grace, as Senator McCain did with his concession speech only hours ago. But don't get lazy. The first few months of his administration will be a bellwether of things to come and give us either cause to take to the streets or cause for cooperation. I tend to think it will be the former, but I could be wrong. All I know is I'm heading out to get my firearm's ID before it's illegal for citizens to own guns. Also, I'll be tempering my ambition to a level which will limit my income to around $200,000 so as to avoid those taxes he's talked so much about. My incentive to work hard may be gone, but hopefully he'll make good on his promise to pay for my gas and my mortgage...Alright, did he actually say that, or is that lady on YouTube just crazy?