‘NO WE DIDN’T’

Leave it to Ted Rall to provide a bracing dose of realism on the Obama election.

You know you’re in for fun with a column that has the subhead of “Obama Win More Hysterical Than Historical.”

If that’s not enough, here’s more meat for you:

Don't be fooled by the electoral college rout. The popular vote reveals that United States remains a deeply divided country. Bush got 51 percent of the vote in 2004; Kerry drew 48 percent. Obama defeated McCain 51-48. A surge of newly registered voters, including many African-Americans energized by Obama's candidacy, accounts for the three percent difference.

No one's mind has changed. People who voted for Bush in 2004 voted for McCain. If everyone who voted for Obama had shown up at the polls four years ago, John Kerry would be president. Obama's victory is the triumph of retail fundraising, computer metrics, and a team of smart, focused advisors who knew how to exploit them.

And, while he doesn’t go into Naderland and call Obama an uncle Tom, he does add this:

Obama had a white upbringing. A product of the elite, he went to an Ivy League college (the same as mine, at the same time). If we were looking at President-Elect Sharpton, I/d believe in this change. (Too scary? Exactly.) As things stand, the rich white people who own and run the country have little to fear.

Read Ted Rall – if you dare.