Election Day is finally here! Political observers continue to write off McCain as national polls put Obama over 50 percent in this historic election. Today's buzz:
- This is probably the most important election since World War II but voting is just the first step in deciding what kind of country Americans want, wrote Bob Herbert in the NYT. Take-away: "A mind-boggling series of crises is threatening not just the short-term future but the very viability of the nation."
- It's unlikely that racism skewed the poll results in the presidential race, editorialized the LAT. Take-away: "There is no doubt that racism lingers in American politics, but much more has been made of the Bradley effect than is justified -- take it from us, we were here the night it was born."
- America is a changed country and this election proves it, wrote Richard Cohen in WaPo. Take-away: "Barack Obama is a confirmational figure, and this election confirms what has been gradually occurring in American society ever since that July day when Johnson virtually outlawed most forms of racial segregation in America. We've been transforming ever since."
- We have a new kind of pride in our country, wrote Eugene Robinson in WaPo. Take-away: "Even if John McCain somehow prevails, that won't change the fact that Obama won all those primaries, or that he won the Democratic Party nomination, or that he raised more money than any candidate in history, or that he rewrote the book on how to run a presidential campaign."
- Today's election marks a shift from a centrist nation to one dominated by Democrats, wrote Fred Barnes in the WSJ. Take-away: "A sharp lurch to the left and enactment of a liberal agenda, or major parts of it, are all but inevitable. The centrist limits in earlier eras of Democratic control are gone."
