How Obama won
And what, if anything, McCain could have done differently to save his campaign
President-elect Barack Obama made history on Tuesday, said John Dickerson in Slate, but “so did his strategists.” Team Obama designed and relentlessly executed a plan that carried him through a “brutal primary and general election” and pulled in “a host of new voters.” Obama out-organized, outspent, and “out-hustled” John McCain in key states like Ohio, where he won over working-class whites. He beat McCain among women by 14 points.
Obama also won a formidable, modern "multiracial coalition” that should make Republicans nervous, said Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin in Politico, including urban and suburban Hispanics, Jews, African Americans, and young whites. That said, racism “turned out to be a footnote.” Obama’s use of cutting-edge technology also swamped McCain.
“Any presidential victory is partly personal,” too, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, and McCain couldn’t match “Obama’s rhetorical skills and unique appeal.” Of course those skills allowed him to “disguise the details of what was the most left-of-center Democratic agenda since the early 1970s.” He enacts that agenda at his peril.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yes, Obama’s “ability to adapt to circumstances and make everything sound moderate and reasonable” helped him, said Philip Klein in The American Spectator, but many Republicans still blame McCain for blowing the election. That’s unfair. He made some serious blunders, but voters blame Bush and the GOP for the economy, and “no Republican could have won under these conditions.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdown
Speed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US election: who the billionaires are backing
The Explainer More have endorsed Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, but among the 'ultra-rich' the split is more even
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The life and times of Kamala Harris
The Explainer The vice-president is narrowly leading the race to become the next US president. How did she get to where she is now?
By The Week UK Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockade
Speed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published