As someone who didn’t follow the recent presidential election very closely until the end, I enjoyed this sum-up by a blogger at Mother Jones: Obama Wins and Redefines Real America.

It also answered a question I had had: why doesn’t Obama ever get really fired up and angry in his speeches? That might inspire people more. The answer:

Crucial to his success was Obama’s decision to keep anger (at least his own) out of the equation. For him and his supporters, there was cause to be damn mad. From their perspective, the country had been hijacked by Bush, Cheney and a small band of neocons. (A view they could hold with much justification.) But Obama appeared to have made a calculation: an angry black man could not win over a majority of the voters. He offered voters not fury, but hope. And considering his “improbable”—as he put it—rise, he was a natural pitchman for hope. Fixating on hope allowed him to talk about the problems of the United States (past and present) while remaining an optimist. Americans tend not to elect purveyors of doom and gloom to the presidency. Usually the candidate with the sunnier disposition wins. It’s not hard to fathom why. When Americans select a president, many are voting for the person who they believe best reflects their own idea of America. Voting for president has a strong psychological component. It’s how Americans define their nation. So personal attributes—character, strength, biography, personality—are important.

Aha… (I never claimed to know much about politics.)

And I never blogged much about politics before, either. This historic election has just gotten me so excited about America.