THE ONION: Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are. There’s a downside to everything!

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

HEH: Obama campaign workers angry over unpaid wages. “‘I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!’ yelled one former campaign worker.” I’m guessing a lot of those people who voted in expectation of a tax cut will wind up saying the same thing, with less effect.

AN ENTIRELY NEW APPROACH TO GOVERNMENT: Several Early Choices for New Administration Have Clinton Pedigree. “Barack Obama argued for months that victory for his opponent would be akin to a third term for President Bush. But as he embarks on his own presidency, Mr. Obama faces the challenge of building an administration that does not look like a third term for former President Bill Clinton. . . . The tension has already generated concern among the Obama aides who labored for two years to turn an underdog into a president, in part by beating Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to win the Democratic nomination, only to watch him turn to the Clinton crowd when it comes time to stock a government.”

WHAT A BUNCH OF LOSERS. The McCain campaign had its flashes of brilliance, but overall it was a lousy effort. Post-election slams against Sarah Palin merely underscore its not-ready-for-primetime quality, and would make me, if I were a Republican candidate, — or donor — far less interested in having anything to do with the slammers in a future campaign.

PATRICK RUFFINI on the straight-ticket youth vote in 2008. Plus, an interesting chart from Greg Mankiw.

Plus, Jennifer Rubin notes that it wasn’t a landslide and observes: “It is no consolation to Republicans who lost to say it could have been worse. But it really could have. This suggests that if the Republicans manage to get their act together, by recruiting better candidates and coming up with a competitive and distinctive message, they can get back in the game. That’s what Republicans did between 1976 and 1980 and between 1964 and 1968. And in each of those cases they were even further in the hole than they are now.”

This will, however, require a degree of focus and self-discipline that has been absent in recent years.

MULTIPLE VOTING, INSECURE MACHINES: We dodged a bullet this time, with an election that was outside the “margin of fraud.” But we really need to do something about the electoral system’s problems before next time. Will we?

IN THE LATEST EDITION OF WASHINGTON WATCH, I talk with Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute, Randy Barnett of Georgetown University Law School, and Manny Klausner of the Reason Foundation about the elections and the future of libertarianism and small-government activism. Plus, Randy Barnett reveals three unalloyed good things about the election result. Free with registration.

UPDATE: “30 minutes of peace, love, and prognostication.” Heh.

CONDI RICE gets emotional.

NOW THEY TELL US (CONT’D): “David Greenberg in Slate: McCain’s campaign wasn’t really so dishonorable. Next he’ll be telling us that Obama’s connection to Wright was a legitimate issue.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: “If the country is so progressive, how come Bush won the popular vote four years ago? Did all the center right people die? Or are American voters somewhat mercurial? Also, how come Bush had no mandate four years ago? Did the American voter get more mandative? Would John McCain have had a mandate if he’d achieved these kinds of numbers? Or would that be entirely different? . . . I’d be more worried about the permanent majority if I hadn’t just checked the Democrats’ congressional approval ratings. If they don’t pick up soon–and now there are no Republicans to blame for anything that goes wrong–I estimate the life of this mandate at about three months.”

UPDATE: A Mandate for Conciliation, not for Ideology.

JOHN HINDERAKER: “It’s a bit late for investors to notice that pretty much everything Barack Obama wants to do will hurt the economy.” It’s not too late for Obama to notice that and change his plans, though.

UPDATE: Michael Moynihan: “To all of those who saw in Obama’s victory some sort of economic panacea—and believe me, I have spoken to plenty of people who, like Andrew Young, believed an immediate market recovery would follow the rejection of the Republican Party—I’m here to remind you that it ain’t going to be that easy.” Nope. And it’s not clear that yesterday’s market slide was a response to Obama’s election, though some news stories said so. But it certainly didn’t support the theory that election Obama would solve all our problems posthaste, which quite a few people honestly seemed to believe.

HEH: Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job. “African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. . . . The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, ‘It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.'”

OH, GOODY: ‘Impeach Obama’ groups pop up on Facebook.

Really, can’t people at least wait until he’s sworn in and, you know, actually done something to merit impeachment? Sigh.

ANN ALTHOUSE AND I DISCUSS RULE BY LAW PROFESSORS and other important topics, over at BloggingHeads TV.

FIRST THE GAY-MARRIAGE BAN PASSES, NOW THIS: California Renewable-Energy Initiatives Defeated. Not so much of a lurch to the left. . . .

NOW THEY TELL US (CONT’D): The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace.

HMM: Iraq confident Obama won’t withdraw troops too quickly. “The Iraqi government is confident that president-elect Barack Obama will not jeopardize Iraq’s improving security by hastily withdrawing U.S. troops, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday. Obama has ‘reassured us that he would not take any drastic or dramatic decisions,’ Zebari told BBC television.”

Tom Maguire: “NOW they tell us!”

A ROUNDUP OF THE best cookbooks of 2008.

THE MARKET CASTS A LATE VOTE: Stocks fall 500 points on postelection nerves.

It’s the biggest post-election drop in history.

UPDATE: Hey, take a look at the Intrade recession contract. Hmm. That’s quite a jump all of a sudden . . . .

Oh, and look what else is jumping. Is there a connection?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Richard Fernandez is thinking about tomorrow. Don’t stop!

MANDATE FOR ME — but not for thee!

JON HENKE: Republicans deserved to lose.

JOEL KOTKIN: The Triumph of the Creative Class.

TENNESSEE’S STATE LEGISLATURE got Republican majorities in both houses for the first time in well over 100 years.

UPDATE: Also Oklahoma. Bill Hobbs is happy.

I THOUGHT THE WORLD WOULD LOVE US UNCONDITIONALLY NOW, BUT NOOOO: Asians uneasy over Obama trade stance.

A ROUNDUP OF milblog reactions to Obama’s election.