The Race to Replace

…Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

The electoral vote totals appear to be 338 for Obama/Biden and 200 for McCain/Palin, the key states for Obama being Pennsylvania, Ohio (a key swing state that cost John Kerry the election in 2004), Florida, and Virginia. Indiana, North Carolina, and even McCain’s home state of Arizona were up for grabs but stayed in the Republican camp. [Update: A commenter has pointed out that Indiana appears to have barely gone for Obama, and I’m noticing that North Carolina is still probably too close to call. CNN’s electoral calculator has the total at 349 for Obama/Biden and 163 for McCain/Palin, with 26 electoral votes still undecided.]

And there you have it: The United States of America finally has its first African-American president.

Personally, I found John McCain’s concession speech very appropriate; I don’t remembering seeing Gore or Kerry give a speech conceding their losses, but McCain was very civil even in the face of his audience booing practically every time he congratulated Obama and Biden for the victory. There’s going to be a lot of bitterness over this election from conservative camps (and indeed, I’m hearing the buzz about it already), and McCain said exactly what needed to be said to remind people that they will still have to work with Obama, no matter how much they disagree with him.

And so I’ll raise the question: Why should anyone be bitter about their candidate losing? Wasn’t democracy still in force last night? (At least, we’ll assume this happened - I haven’t heard any ACORN-type accusations yet.) If your candidate didn’t win, you were still a part of the process, and you shouldn’t begrudge anyone else their vote of conscience. Last night was a great night, and we should all be pleased that (unlike some other elections in recent years) America spoke loudly and decisively, and that choice was Barack Obama. That’s how democracy is supposed to work, and I think any fair-minded person should be pleased with the process, if not the outcome.