Obama's raw popular vote margin of victory (9,048,148 votes) was the largest ever for a non-incumbent presidential candidate, and the sixth largest absolute margin of victory of all time. Obama's popular vote percentage (52.8%) is also the highest for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and is the highest overall since George H.W. Bush was elected president in 1988. He also recieved more votes than any presidential candidate in American history, breaking the record of 62,040,610 votes previously held by President George W. Bush in his successful reelection bid in 2004.

              Obama                        McCain

National
Vote         68,800,158             59,607,254

BTW

Were you consistent and disagreed with these folks when they said the following about the 2004 election?

CNN host Tucker Carlson, co-host of CNN's Crossfire: "[N]obody has done it since 1988. The president wins reelection with a majority of the vote. It is a mandate. What will he do with it now? [CNN, Crossfire, 11/3/04]

 The New York Sun: "[I]t was hard, at 3:35 a.m., when these words were written, to see much point to the quest that Senator Kerry has undertaken in Ohio other than to indulge a certain kind of bitterness, to poison American politics for the coming term, and to seek to dilute the extraordinary mandate Mr. Bush, if not yet in the Electoral College, has received among Americans from coast to coast." [The New York Sun editorial, "The Popular Vote," 11/3/04]

Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal contributing editor: "He [Bush] has, I would argue, a mandate now. You can bet he's going forward boldly. He announced it today in his victory speech. He said, 'Honey, I'm not just going to lower your taxes. I am transforming the tax system.'" [FOX News Channel, Hannity & Colmes, 11/3/04]

But Obama doesn't have a mandate, because his victory was only 2% over 50%.

Okay.

For the record:

Obama's electoral margin over McCain was 7% (52.8% to 45.8%), not 2%. Obama got a larger share of the national vote than Reagan did in 1980 (50.7%), and Reagan's margin over Carter was less than 10%. If Reagan's 50.7% was a mandate, why exactly is Obama's 52.8% not?

I didn't say one word about the Electoral College. As far as "claiming a royal or God-like position," I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about.

No one here is saying that the country's political center has "magically" moved. I wouldn't want to put words in your mouth by saying your position is that the country's political center is "magically" set in stone.

I forgot to mention that getting only 52% against a very old candidate with the economy falling apart is hardly a signal that the earth has moved.

You forget many things, which is that the age of McCain has little to do with his defeat, unless you want to assert that his blunders were related to his being a senior citizen.

You do remember, don't you, that McCain was ahead, or the race was tied, until the economy did its swan dive.

Actually, it was what people thought of McCains' approach to the economy:

 USA Today/Gallup Poll. Sept. 26-27, 2008. N=1,011 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.

.

"Next, please say whether you approve or disapprove of the way each of the following has responded to the problems on Wall Street. . . ."

.

Approve     Disapprove     Unsure            
%                %                %            

Senator Barack Obama

46                 43             11

Senator John McCain

37                 53            10

not the nosedive per se.

Now, if you want to argue that things would've been different without the economy tanking, that could be a sustainable thesis, but the fact is that McCain mishandled his approach to it, not because he's an old man.

The public bought the image that Obama could fix things. That he didn't try and most likely can't went over their heads.

Since Obama hasn't taken office yet, how can you say "He didn't try."?

The country is center right.

Let's see two elections, resulting in Democratic victories both times, starting in 2006 to now, which isn't 'one swallow', BTW, but the country is center right.

Thanks for the laughs, PPJ, I know I can count on you for occasional political humor here, albeit unwittingly on your part.

TTFN

It appears to me that many so called liberals who oppose keeping the auto industry simply hold a grudge against that industry or, still more lame, simply don't like their product.

I wonder if these people understand that their opposition so often sounds like what we'd expect from laissez faire paleo-conservatives.

The next Congress convenes on the 2nd or 5th I think.  We'll see then.