In sports, as in presidential elections, a win is a win.
First of all, we salute Pres. elect Obama. We wish him well. We want him to succeed because we want the country to do well.
Nevertheless, this is not a landslide by any means.
Nixon '72 and Reagan '84 got 60% of the popular vote and over 500 EV's.
LBJ '64 and Bush '88 got over 400 EV's.
Obama beat McCain, 52-47%, a good victory but not a landslide. He will finish with about 355 EV's, a strong number but not close to a landslide.
Obama beat McCain in Florida, Virginia, Ohio by very close margins. Also, the Dems did not get the "magic 60" in the Senate.
What does this mean? It means that Obama has to deliver and stay near the center. Obama will make a huge mistake if he governs to the left or lets Congress move him to the left.
So what now?
The Republicans have to regroup as we did after losing to Carter '76 and Clinton '92.
We must look for new leaders and remember the lessons of 1976 and 1992.
We came back very quickly in the 1978 and 1994 midterms. In both instances, we had a clear message. We also benefited from having Dems control the Congress and the White House.
Governing is hard, as the Dems learned under Carter and Clinton.
Again, we wish Pres. elect Obama well. We will support and oppose him.
We won't engage in the kind of irrational behavior that depicted the angry left during the last 8 years.
