Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

Obama's victory holds up a mirror, reflecting the country we are. And it turns out to be the kind of country we’ve always imagined ourselves being — even if in the last seven-plus years we fell horribly short: a young country, an optimistic country, a forward-looking country, a country not afraid to take risks or to dream big.

-- BRIDGET JOHNSON

So who's a real American now?

-- DAVID CORN

Bush has finally been held accountable for his ruinous reign - as have the Republicans and conservative apologists who wore blinders for far too long. Last night, they got what was coming to them - and McCain, in a sense, was collateral damage. He will no doubt find it somewhat perverse that Bush defeated him in 2000, and helped defeat him in 2008.

-- DICK POLMAN

[S]omewhat ironically, George W. Bush is arguably the father of the modern progressive revival. Tonight's victories -- and the infrastructure that made them possible -- would simply be unthinkable in the absence of Bush. That's not to say, of course, that the nation is better because Bush was president. It's not. But the birth of the new progressive infrastructure is the silver lining of that long eight-year cloud.

-- PUBLIUS

If progressive ideas, when put into practice, work as we think they will work — which is to say, if they work well — then we should expect to see that reflected in future election results. But if our ideas fail, as conservative ideas have failed, then victory can turn into defeat incredibly quickly, just as Karl Rove’s dreams of an enduring Republican majority have now melted away into nothing.

-- MATTHEW YGLESIAS

The sea of faces in Chicago's Grant Park said what Obama did not dwell on, that the face America now presents to the world will for the first time confirm the promises of our democracy.

-- ROBERT STEIN

Every American ought to pray for wisdom and judgment for President-elect Obama, for his safety and the safety of his country, and for the continued prosperity and greatness of America.

-- HUGH HEWITT

A year from now will his "yes we can" refrain be perceived as having been a blueprint or a pipedream that vanished in the nightmare of bureaucratic and partisan realities? Or will these realities start shifting back to the time when America’s ruling elite considered the concepts of consensus, partisan cooperation and compromise admirable, rather than signs of weakness?

-- JOE GANDELMAN

My basic emotion is relief. The skill of an Obama administration has yet to be proven. The structure of our government will prove a more able opponent of change than John McCain. But for the first time in years, I have the basic sense that it's going to be okay. . . . After the constant anxiety and uncertainty of the last eight years, maybe that's enough.

-- EZRA KLEIN

Photograph by Damon Winter/The New York Times