One line in particular jumped out from Obama victory speech last night. Yes, there were the implicit suggestions that immigration and climate change would be the big agenda items of Obama’s second term. But this one: “I want to thank every American who participated in this election … whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time. By the way, we have to fix that.”
Off the cuff? A throwaway line? Maybe. But the way he said it and, not to be precious about it … but, the look on his face, suggested we’ll be returning to this. As we should. The mechanics of the U.S. election system are a mess. The last effort to reform it, following the 2000 Florida debacle, was piecemeal and not fundamental. It’s going to take national leadership to get it done.
More on this in the future.
David Kurtz
David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.