Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

[F]or the first time, a lot of people are inspired. I don't really remember 1992, and I didn't exist in 1960. So I don’t know what this feels like. But I'm excited — I’m not in cult-like worship mode, but for the first time in my political life, I'm genuinely excited about the opportunities ahead. Maybe that will prove silly — maybe the proverbial 1968 lies just ahead. For now, though, I'm excited.

But even if 1968 lies ahead, who cares. When you see your teenage children experiencing crushes for the first time, you hopefully don't call them over and say "these emotions you're feeling now, they will soon be crushed." You pat them on the back and wish their doomed enterprise well, and maybe savor a few youthful memories of your own.

And who knows, maybe this time, the good guys will win. Maybe in this version, there is no Nixon -- no 1968. Maybe Mercutio survives. It's an historic and exciting time — progressivism appears to be in an intellectual revival. The Democrats — having shed its Dixiecrat wing — are poised to command the most progressive majority in American history. And there's a very real chance that Barack Obama could be leading that majority come next year.

-- PUBLIUS

Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination because he did more quickly what Ronald Reagan, the preeminent political operator of the past three decades, was able to do: Convert his capacity to eloquently express the hopes, the angers, and the beliefs of a good chunk of the American people into a presidential nomination just four years after he became a national political voice.

-- MARK DANIELS

John McCain is clearly defensive about the allegation that his election would represent a third Bush term. And, obviously, as I've noted before McCain would represent a change from Bush. But still, on Iraq, whatever you make of the comparative Bush and McCain records, McCain is promising to continue Bush's policies. On Iran, he's promising to continue Bush's policies. On North Korea, he's promising to repudiate Bush's current policy in favor of Bush's earlier, failed policy. On judges, he's promising to continue Bush's policies. On taxes, he's promising to continue Bush's policies.

This last one is important, because fundamentally it's going to be very different to make substantial changes in the domestic policy sphere as long as you're committed to Bush's tax policy.

That does leave us with the important issue of climate change wherein McCain, though worse than Obama, would constitute a major improvement of Bush. That and mixed martial arts, where despite McCain's love of boxing and hatred of over-regulation, he thinks the government ought to step in and put a stop to Kimbo Slice.

-- MATTHEW YGLESIAS

Last night, Barack Obama's opponent was John McCain, not Hillary Clinton. And Obama revealed an advantage that should serve him well: He can make graciousness sound rousing.

-- DAVID KUSNET

What really kept Hillary from winning the nomination? I'd say it was a combination of Clinton fatigue, Bill's almost deliberately bad performance on the stump, and a media that has favored Barack Obama every step of the way. They have minimized his missteps while magnifying those Hillary made. The media, especially MSNBC, has promoted Obama’s historic march to the nomination while at times sneering at Hillary’s. In the media sense, Hillary became the Republican and very belatedly discovered how it feels to be on the other side of the media’s fawning attention.

Had she run a smarter campaign, could she have beaten Obama? I'm not sure she could have ever overcome those liabilities, but we will never really know. The question becomes whether John McCain can overcome those same liabilities.

-- ED MORRISSEY

Photo montage from The Los Angeles Times