“Hey, there! A new day is dawning, and we’ll be together. Happy are we.” As my mind floated back toward consciousness early this morning, these words from an old summer camp song drifted through my mind. As I awoke, my intellectual faculties began switching on and providing analysis. My mental jukebox had searched its archive, I decided, and found a tune to match the feeling inspired by yesterday’s inauguration. Yeah, that was it! Our new president has taken the reins. “A new day is dawning.” (more...)

“All your base are belong to us.” The old dawn-of-the Web refrain has been echoing in my head ever since I first heard John McCain talking about how Sarah Palin had excited “the base.” If John McCain had a base and Sarah Palin had excited it, could Democrats hope to claim it on election day? As recently as a month ago, I seriously wondered if it could really happen. Back then, it seemed inconceivable that Nevada—much less any of the other “tossup” states—could turn blue. I read a newspaper editorial that floated the notion. Impossible, I thought at the time. ... (more...)