At this writing, it looks like the routine peaceful transfer of power is complete, there will be no crybaby recounts, and Senator Obama is now President Obama.  Those that oppose his party's style of leadership will now step aside and submit as their opponents have done for the last eight years.

So, the Jr Senator from Illinois is thrust into his first position of authority.  The Democrats have been trying for years and now they have their Obama-Nation.  (ha!)

It's a good thing Providence smiles down on this land.  President Obama joins a duo of dubious distinction in the Atomic Age:  a Democratic presidential candidate that receives over 50% of the popular vote.  Yes, this is true... of the sixteen Democratic nominees since the death of FDR, only two have won over 50% of the popular vote (and yet they continue to wonder why *everyone else* is out-of-touch).  Those two?  Johnson and Carter.  yikes.  And they had wholly Democratic congresses supporting them as well.  

Frankly, I hope the next four years are better than the single terms represented by these presidents.  LBJ led 30,000 young men of ours to their deaths in Vietnam, and teh turbulence at home gave birth to the Black Panthers, SDS, Nation of Islam and two more assassinations.  Leadership so brutal to our country that thousands of people to this day can't forgive it and still battle against its ghosts as if they were just around the corner.*  So brutal that LBJ knew better than to stay...  things were falling apart.

Jimmy's leadership was so ineffectual that it is hard to describe:  hostages held 444 days in Iran, prime rate above 20%, losing the arms race, SALT II, losing the space race, Russia blithely invading Afghanistan.  Some accomplishments...  the Department of Energy (is that still around?), lasting peace between Egypt and Israel.  Maybe he agreed with the president before him that said the greatest honor history can bestow on a man is to call him "Peacemaker."  That president didn't get a chance, at least Jimmy did...

So now, for only the third time in 60 years, the Democrats convinced more than half of the voting public to side with their guy.  Here's hoping things turn out better than the last two times.  He is no longer Senator, he is President of the United States, my president because me and my fellow Americans have let our voices be heard one more time.

Did I mention it's a good thing Providence smiles down on this country?

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* Surprisingly, the sins of Kennedy and Johnson are laid at the feet of the Republicans.  The horrors of the civil rights resistance that liberals recall - exclusion, strong-arm tactics, intimidation from water cannons, et. al. were from the heart of the 60s - Johnson's administration and Kennedy before him.  It all culminated in 1968: the Olympic protest, the Chicago convention - all that was aimed at Democratic leadership in complete executive/legislative power since 1960.