Obama’s victory seemed to mark the end of a political era that began with Richard Nixon and his “southern strategy.” Instead of using control of the South as the base to build a national majority, Republicans now ran the danger of becoming a regional and marginalized southern party. In the wake of the Iraq War, the economic meltdown, and the enthusiasm aroused by Obama’s candidacy, Republican appeals to patriotism, low taxes, and resentment against the social changes sparked by the 1960s seemed oddly out of date. Democrats not only regained the presidency but ended up with 60 of the 100 seats in the Senate and a large majority in the House. The groups carried by Obama—young voters, Hispanics, suburbanites—represented the growing parts of the population, auguring well for future Democratic success. In an increasingly multi-ethnic, multiracial nation, winning a majority of the white vote no longer translated into national victory. Republicans would have to find a way to appeal to the voters of the new America.
The election of the nation’s first African-American president represented a historic watershed. Whether it constituted what political scientists call a “critical election”—one that changes the basic assumptions governing national policy—remained to be seen. Critical elections have been few and far between in American history. The election of Jefferson in 1800 dealt a death blow to the Federalist. Party. Jackson’s in 1828 ushered in the politics of popular democracy. Lincoln’s in 1860 ended southern control of the national government. William McKinley in 1896 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 created new political alignments and enduring national majorities for their parties. Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 established a new set of governing principles. Most presidential elections, however, have left the policies of the federal government largely unchanged, even when a new party was victorious. Only time would tell whether Obama’s election announced the end of the Age of Reagan, the era of economic deregulation, the demonization of the federal government, and an aggressive foreign policy abroad, and the beginning of something fundamentally different.