Overlooked perhaps in the historic vote that made Barack Obama the nation's first African-American president is something that didn't happen. With the defeat of the McCain/Palin ticket and its extremist anti-abortion platform, Americans voted against an abrogation of women's reproductive rights that might have taken a generation to undo. And by rejecting draconian ballot measures […]

That the election of Barack Obama as the United States' first African-American president was historic is an understatement. But perhaps lost in the excitement and emotion of Obama's victory speech Tuesday was just how truly American it was. Weaving into his address the words of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., Obama tapped into […]

If nothing else, Sarah Palin has a short memory. Literally days after branding Barack Obama a "socialist" who "pals around with terrorists," Palin responded to her ticket's crushing defeat by announcing, "God bless Barack Obama and his beautiful family." And as she returned to Alaska to complain about the media's accurate reflection of her jaw-dropping […]

Unsurprisingly, it took less than 24 hours for the conservative chattering classes to blame the Bush recession on President-elect Barack Obama. The usual suspects, including Rush Limbaugh, Fred Barnes and Dick Morris, pinned two days of steep stock market declines on Obama's election. Of course, the recent bloodbath on Wall Street has nothing to do […]

No doubt, Senator Elizabeth Dole's attack on Democrat and Sunday school teacher Kay Hagan as "godless" was one of the low points of the 2008 campaign. Dole's subsequent smiting by the voters of North Carolina was fitting electoral, if not divine, retribution. But as it turned out, Dole's slander against atheist Americans was hardly an […]

No doubt, the sweeping victory of Barack Obama was a historic milestone for the American people. But while Obama defied the odds and shattered stereotypes, the exit polls suggest his election confirmed as much conventional wisdom as it upended. Here, then, are five lessons learned from the 2008 election: Taxation with Representation. During the campaign, […]

On this Election Day, the fates of John McCain and Barack Obama are now - finally - in the hands of Americans voters. But their respective destinies may have been determined by speeches each gave years ago. At the 2004 Democratic convention, Barack Obama introduced himself to the American people with a message of national […]

With each passing day, Sarah Palin resembles more and more "George Bush in lipstick." Two days ago, she like George W. Bush in 2000 was duped by Canadian pranksters posing as foreign leaders. And today, Palin like President Bush in 2006 essentially accused her Democratic opponents of being terrorist sympathizers. Palin's slander came during a […]

Back in May, I argued that with the American electorate's across-the-board preference for Democratic policies and a historically unpopular Republican president, John McCain's campaign would turn the November election into a "character war." In September, campaign chairman Rick Davis confirmed the GOP would follow its tried and true strategy from 2000 and 2004 when he […]

As he launched his first presidential run in 2000, John McCain said of the Keating Five scandal that nearly ended his career, "it was the wrong thing to do, and it will be on my tombstone and deservedly so." But on the eve of his final bid for the White House, McCain is still being […]