Krugman says it's the end of the monster years. Sigh. I hope.

It is a good morning, well, about as good as can get for me here in Texas.  Needless to say, the lone star repubs are saying its business as usual this morning.  No new dawn here.  In fact, I read a quote from good old governor Perry saying "If Washington would just look to the heartland, they would see the blueprint for making us a Republican country again..."  So, get ready, 'cause they ain't acquiescin to anythin.

Let's remain optimistic for Al Franken, and, as for the Stevens matter, remember he's convicted of nothing until the judge sentences him (talk about a bunch of hooey).

Democrat Barack Obama won the presidency Tuesday, but the question of whether he scored an electoral vote in Nebraska remained up in the air.

And it could remain unanswered for a week.

Obama and Republican John McCain were locked in a virtual tug-of-war in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, with the election too close to call.

At the end of the evening, McCain led Obama by 569 votes in unofficial returns.

But more than 9,000 early votes and provisional ballots were still to be counted, said David Phipps, Douglas County election commissioner. Those ballots - some of them won't be counted until next week - could decide the race in Omaha.

And just as the country takes a step forward in one area, it takes a step back in another.

Progressives still have a ways to go in this country.  And though I'm ecstatic about Obama's win and the Dem pick-ups, we all know that pols are pols ... and none of them care as much about progressive causes as we do.

As I've said before:  Obama can be a bold progressive president, or a one term president.

Now that he is office it is time for him to lead.  I don't expect a wildly progressive agenda from him.  That simply won't be his style.  But I do believe that he will move the debate to the Left and implement some good public policy measures.

He will get us out of Iraq.  He will not start a war with Iran.  I believe he will be able to get Bin Laden.  

He will push for a better health care system.  What it will be I don't know but it will be better.

And we all have to stay focused and make sure he does these things and that he doesn't run to the political safe ground on every tough fight.

But who knew that Alaska wanted felons to represent them in Congress?

they have sarah palin in the gov's mansion? i suspect many of stevens' supporters actually believed his nonsensical claim that he hadn't been convicted of anything, since his case is on appeal.

as for obama, i wouldn't gloat just yet. he, and the democratic majority in congress (yes, the same majority that's played bootlicker to bush for two years), have a huge, huge mess to clean up. the bush administration is, as we speak, making every attempt to increase its size, before the inauguration.

this gives pres.-elect obama, and the democrats in general, plenty of opportunities to screw up. knowing the democrats, they'll avail themselves of all they can.

Any observer over the last two years had to have noted the skepticism, if not outright derision aimed at the Obama philosophy of inclusion and his expectation that younger voters would participate in great numbers.  In short, politics was said to be an immmutably divisive enterprise, one in which young people were too self-obsessed to participate.

This generation achieved what the baby-boomers never did; they managed at some level to not only transform American politics, but also the impression of American cultural divide.

I got jumped on.

I'm certainly not happy that the people of Alaska appear to have re-elected Stevens.

My point is that there is still a deep seated corruption in the body politic that will support someone they consider to be a part of their tribe even when confronted with that person's inappropriate and unacceptable acts.

I'm not too young.  I'm close to Obama's age.

He was derided.  He was described as excessively optimistic, his idea that he could expand the demographics that woukld vote for him was really not taken seriously.  So, he did, by dint of a huge, discplined effort, prove his point.  Sure, he was helped by the unpopularity of Bush and the economic downturn.  But, he also illustrated that many previously held notions of how and why people will vote should be discarded.  

So I give my smile and a friendly nod to the classy celebrations and my sneer at the others.

Winning is not governing.