Three weeks ago today, Illinois Senator Barack Obama won the November 4 presidential election; he gave a gracious victory speech and his challenger, Arizona Senator John McCain, delivered an eloquent concession. However, the presidential election of 2008 did not wrap up until a few days ago when Missouri, the last state to complete counting presidential votes, announced its results.
Missouri’s ballot count did not change the outcome, but it was a record breaker. Barack Obama’s winds of change blew across the nation, but apparently missed a chunk of red states in the middle of the country, in particular, Missouri. The Show-me-State’s presidential count was officially released on November 19 ; and the voters there gave the victory to McCain. That’s the first time Missouri has missed picking the president in nearly 50 years.
The last time Missouri got it wrong was in 1956, when the majority in the state voted for Democrat Adlai Stevenson over the future president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. Before that stumble, Missouri had picked the winner of every presidential race back to 1904.
Hopefully, Missouri and the rest of the red states, or at least some of them, will voluntarily get on board the Obama express for change. It makes it a lot easier than dragging those states and their population kicking and screaming into a progressive future.
President-elect Obama is well aware of that challenge. Today, in a news conference, Obama announced two more nominees for his economic team; Peter Orszag for Director of Office of Management and Budget, and Rob Nabors as Deputy Budget Director. Also, Obama observed McCain won 47 percent of the popular vote to his 53 percent, therefore, the president-elect says his administration begins, “… with a sense of humility and a recognition that wisdom is not the monopoly of any political party.”
