American Voters May Be More Sophisticated Than We Think

We have a new President-elect today, and as I try to process it all, I’m trying to ascertain if American voters are as sophisticated as some of the results would indicate. At the same time I’m hoping that we are a better country today than we were yesterday, though the issues facing Barack Obama still seem just as daunting as they were 24 hours ago.

Congratulations to Barack Obama, the new President-elect in a truly historic election.

One thing is for sure: the people wanted change – perceived or real. A second thing is also for sure: the people didn’t want some changes – perceived or real.

We’ve elected our next President who ran on a platform of "change." What those changes are going to turn out to be is yet unclear, but voters certainly declared their preference – though apparently by single digit percentages (6) rather than the forecasted double digits.

At the same time California voters passed the gay-marriage ban, and similar measures passed in several other states. Have our voters become sophisticated enough to parse these kinds of moral and political judgments?

I don’t know for sure, but it could be perceived as encouraging for the future. As to the preference for change, I’m not exactly envious of Sen. Obama, but I do wish him well. He’s got a monster monkey on his back.