Since the election, and in fact for some time before, pundits have been demanding that President Obama move to "the center." They don't have a lot of details, usually, about where that center is, and if they do suggest a detail it usually comes from one side of current debates, but they're all convinced that Obama needs to go there. But there's a reason that pundits can't describe this magical "center" better. It doesn't exist.

I've been somewhat detached this political season, what with my commitment to stay away from the crazy for a while, but I have been reading the post-election blogs at Dag with interest. I have the same feeling now that I had in January 2008--Obama is going to be fine. Of course, I don't have a crystal ball and a lot is going to happen between now and then, including a sure-to-be nauseating 112th Congress.

For most of the 1948 campaign season, the only person who believed Harry Truman could win an elected term was Harry himself.  The politicians, the punditry, if not the entire country, thought poor Harry--who was not now and never would be FDR--was laughably unelectable. Not a chance in hell.

Nate Silver grades the pollsters and finds Rasmussen biased.

So the powers that be on the Federal Reserve Board have decided to engage in round two of their little quantitative easing experiment, basically agreeing to purchase $600 billion in government debt over the next 8 months in order to keep interest rates artificially low and hopefully juice the economy in the process. 

"You'll notice a pattern in all stories: There are three kinds of characters: heroes, villains and there but for the grace of God go I." -- Glenn Beck

Barack Obama had a story once. He spoke of hope and change, of restoring a distant government tainted by partisan infighting and corporate influence to the people it was meant to serve. But we have not heard that story since November 2008.

It is not uncommon for presidents to change their stories after assuming office, either because the practice of governing demands adaptation or because they only said what they said to get elected.

George W. Bush, for instance, ran for office as a "uniter" and a businessman who would restore efficiency to a bloated government; he quickly proved himself to be anything but.

No matter, the tragic events of 9/11 soon presented him with a far more potent narrative: The swaggering avenger who delivers swift justice against bearded terrorists, mustachioed tyrants and irritating French people.

Read the full story at CNN.com

I guess I wasn't the only person who woke up this morning focusing on the next election cycle. Erick Erickson of Red State opened discussion of which Republican Senators to challenge in the 2012 primaries at 8 am this morning. (h/t DougJ) Erickson's post is titled "Potential Tea Party Targets for 2012."

Which Republican Senators make his initial list? All of them.

Punditry notwithstanding, this remains true: The sky is not falling.  Aside from some specific details vis a vis Tea Partiers and ongoing demographic changes, there is pretty much nothing really surprising about what happened last night from an historical perspective.

Tuesday morning was a beautiful day in Cleveland: crisp, clear and golden. I dressed up a bit, as I always do on Election Day. I heard a radio story a few years back about some college students who had put on ties because they were voting for the first time and it felt special, and I thought, Yes. It should always be celebrated. So now I do the same, even on days when my party is predicted to take some hard losses.

Our bridges are collapsing, but the Infrastructurist notes that other countries are investing in their infrastructure, even in the face of austerity:

Britain Cuts Spending While Investing in Infrastructure

From Ezra Klein at the Washington Post:

The end of the 'do-something' Congress

Today's Election Day. No day makes me prouder to be American.

Go out and vote!

The New York Times Bestselling Hardcover Nonfiction for October 22, 2010:

1. Earth (the Book) by Jon Stewart
2. Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security by Michael Savage

Jon Stewart is a left-leaning political satirist from Comedy Central. Michael Savage is a right-wing radio host who has trouble distinguishing comedy from communism. Analyzing one Stewart routine, Savage told radio listeners, "Not only is this idiotic and illogical, it is not funny. It is the product of inbreeding." For the record, while inbreeding can cause many congenital defects, it is not known to affect the sense of humor. The comment by Savage was actually one of his more temperate remarks. For instance, he was famously fired from MSNBC after sweetly telling a caller, "Oh, so you're one of those sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig."

The first time I went to the polls on Election Day I was probably five, tagging along beside my mother. It was a brilliant November day in New Hampshire, and the polls were in a spare room of the town hall, the same room where I would go in later years for Cub Scout meetings and later still walk through on the way to help stock our town's tiny food assistance pantry. There was a larger room upstairs, where the annual Town Meeting was held and where I would someday go for Halloween parties and the soap box derby.

I'll be doing a series of radio shows this week and next week to discuss my book, Blowing Smoke: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior into a Raging Homosexual.

Monday, 11/1

The election is the day after tomorrow, and I'm basically done looking at predictions of the results. Foreknowledge is the beginning of folly, and no matter how the day goes I'm going to do the same thing on Tuesday and after Tuesday. Win or lose, you keep your eyes on the prize.

But there's one thing just about every prognosticator agrees on: Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) is toast.

Saturday, October 30, 2010 - 12:00pm - 3:00pm
The Village Lantern, 167 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and Sullivan), New York City

For New Yorkers who can't get to Washington DC for Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and Stephen Colbert's March to Keep Fear Alive, you can still show your solidarity for the cause at the Village Lantern in Manhattan, sponsored by dagblog.com.

FYI: William K. Wolfrum's mornings will be spent on a beach in Bahia until Nov. 8.

News/Politics

A Time of Cholera: Death toll hits 300 as Haiti tries to contain cholera outbreak.

To the Magnificent People of The United States of America:

It is with much humility that I offer you these words. But it is, in my opinion, time for a full recognition that the United States has been utterly and completely conquered by Corporate Interests.

Wars are often re-fought, however, and the time to reengage is upon us. And as the recent past has shown us, the road to winning a war depends mainly on will and the understanding of the battlefield and enemy.