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Mr. Klein: We could always count on you for the truth and to be a defender of the people, America and the constitution. Yes, it has been a long, hard, sometimes unscrupoulous fight. I hope you can do more writing on how we can improve our voting system; it badly needs reform. Thanks for your hard work and intellectual service to this country.

Joe, “well done” doesn’t begin to describe you work over the last several weeks.

Mr. Klein: It was a pleasure reading your work on this exhaustive campaign. As an outsider from Toronto, I relied heavily on, and enjoyed, your coverage. Reading your work the last two years has made me a big fan of yours. I hope to read more of you in the future. For now, I think you deserve a well-earned vacation.

Hi Joe, (can i call you joe?…heh) The Time article, so good. You made me wait, but it was worth it. Thank you

Joe, thanks for your contributions to the Swamp as well as to TIME. You were a voice we could always count on to remember the rest of the world and bring things to us. I have also appreciated your views toward the end of the campaign. Going forward, please don’t forget the Apology Not Accepted one!

It is a place where the primacy of racial identity — and this includes the old, Jesse Jackson version of black racial identity — has been replaced by the celebration of pluralism, of cross-racial synergy.
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That’s a nice sentence that captures what it feels like around here, in NYC, where we’ve been celebrating pluralism for a long time.

It’s hard for any of us to admit we have been mistaken. Harder to accept we have been misled. Harder still to do it in public. What incredible courage it took for you with an audience of millions to do so, and even more, to try, forcefully, to push the press to fulfill the duties that accompany the privileges of the First Amendment. You did your profession, your publication, yourself, and all of us, proud.

“The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$540 billion: Annual U.S. Defense Budget.”

Joe,
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As you know I have come to be a huge admirer of your recent work and this is no exception.
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I especially enjoyed your concluding with the line from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is hard to argue that we have taken a big step toward and America where one is indeed judged by the content of one’s character and not the color of one’s skin.
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A new era has dawned, and America is ALREADY a stronger and more respected nation. Never before in my adult life have I been REALLY PROUD of this country.
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G-d bless America

The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$540 billion: Annual U.S. Defense Budget

Mr Klein, as a 16 year old election onlooker in Edinburgh, UK, your wonderful entries on Swampland have been my favourite source for political commentary. At school my class reads and discusses your articles. And at home I look forward to reading your commentary when Time arrives each week. Thank you for all the work you’ve done in bringing me through this election. I look forward to more of your writing in future – after you return from a well-deserved break!

It’s times like these that I’m grateful to have been around long enough to see this election in the context of the history that preceeded it. Joe, you’ve done a very nice job of providing that context. The list of old ideas that are now officially obsolete is long but they can be summed up with the one line that Obama is so fond of.

We are not the Red States and the Blues States. We are the United States. The Real America has spoken.

Thanks Joe the journalist. Hope to hear more from you in the coming months….

Joe,
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Thanks for helping to lead a Renaissance in factually based journalism. Seeing large swaths of the MSM refuse to be led from one shiny object to the next by cynical campaign strategists was one of the most refreshing things about this election cycle. You played a pivotal role in this transformation.

I think your engagement with the blogosphere has been good for both.

Joe- you have been mighty impressive for the last few weeks. I’m sure I’ll be disagreeing with you in comments you won’t read in no time, but I’ll bear in mind that you were right on some big stuff, and an exception among your professional fellow travelers.

A clear repudiation of Bush’s lurch to the left. Americans are much more conservative than the electorate. Wherever the center is, if you splite the country right straight down the middle, America is to the right of that.

JK-very good work for the general. Your consistent calling a spade a spade has been very refreshing.
But you do know “We are in for interesting times” is pretty close to a famous Chinese curse, right?

As I’ve said elsewhere, the Culture War continues. We’ve just managed to gain a little bit of breathing room.
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And to those who say it’s time to reconcile and put away our ire, I say: No.
Things are not all right. If we let things slide, not only will nothing get fixed, we’ll have the Right at our throats again in four years.

Thanks, Joe, for your consistently insightful columns and posts throughout this election.
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Thanks for your clear-eyed assessment of th campaign and the country’s mood. Not everyone was able to see that we weren’t living in 1980-world anymore.
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It wasn’t just that Obama responded better to the crisis– though of course he did– but also that his policies and philosophy were responsive to reality, not GOP doctrine.

Thanks Joe, you’ve been an important voice in sorting it all out. It’s a beginning, and how long has it been since we could say that with a smile, and a lift in our hearts?

I’ve been with Obama since the speech of 2004. We sensed it then: a voice that could remind us of our potential for greatness, instead of slicing us up into so many Pennsian demographic vote-bites.

I’m ready to be a whole American again.

So thanks for your sane and sober and at times passionate defense of our wonderful country, even when the fanatics were pounding on your head.

In another post I asked about whose star has risen in this campaign–thinking mainly about young media people like Campbell Brown (I won’t soon forget her take-down of Tucker Bounds) and Nate Silver (538 has to be deliriously happy with their analysis today).

But my hat is off to you, Joe Klein, for being the first major media figure in a position of stature to call out the opponents’ camp on its tactics. Today is not a day to revisit that issue. But it took enormous courage to do what you did–and to continue to stand by your principles.

Democracy cannot survive without that courage, and I commend you for your service in its cause.

Joe, you’re the best. Well done this election season. You had the courage to speak your mind and show your independence in a way that is lacking in the American media.

Joe,
It’s nice to see a journalist who not only reports the news, but plainly lets the reader know what he thinks, where he stands, and is not afraid to throw a red flag when he sees one side playing dirty. This is especially true at a time when I think journalism is headed into two extremes ends. One the one end, you have people like Sean Hannity, Bill Kristol, etc. who serve as such self-caricatures that they don’t even warrant further criticism. Then you have people like Dan Balz, Adam Nagourney, and Tom Brokaw who are just so taken by being seen as neutral observers and high pundits that they tend to dilute the substance of news into bland form that is not controversial but it keeps the country in status quo, and thus in a decline. And while I like Olbermann and Mathews, I often feel like they go over-the-top and seek celebrity rather than stand up for what’s right. So, I turn to you, Joe, and say thanks for standing up at a crucial juncture in our country’s future. Thank you for standing up to those who tried to smear Obama as anti-Semitic, for calling out Bill Clinton when he made his now famously controversial remarks in South Carolina, and for standing up to the neocons that that tried to smear you. (By the way, as a South Asian Indian raised in the US, I know race is a complex issue and so while I think Bill Clinton was wrong for what he said, I still admire him for what he’s done for our country, and especially for minorities. One questionable comment does not wash away a lifetime’s work.) I just wish the rest of the media would stop being boy scouts and tell the country what they see, hear, and feel on the ground, and stand up for their country like the way you have. I look forward to continue reading your columns.

Best,
Hemant

Joe, I have a new task for you since you have finished the current one. Many of your fellow travelers are warning Obama about actually trying to enact the policies he ran on. Given that this here is a center-right nation and all. I think there are three stories here.
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One is, based on all available factual evidence, what kind of nation is America really. My understanding of polls is that America actually comes down on the Dem side of most issues. I say rely on facts, as opposed to Brokaw using “as evidence for the center-right thesis the idea that a majority of land area in the United States, if you measure it on the county level, voted for McCain.”
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/thought_of_the_day_10.php
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Two is a story on the msm itself taking up the center-right story against what I presume to be the result of your first story.
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Three is a detailed comparison of media behavior accepting Bush’s “mandate” in 2004 based on a historically thin electoral margin and their “immediate “center right” behavior now following a true mandate electoral result.
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If you do all these, you can officially be shrill like Paul Krugman.
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And please, don’t forgive McCain. His vile and dishonest campaign has done irreparable harm.

Thanks Joe. There have been times when I’ve been mad at you, but during the campaign you’ve been honest and fearless.
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The next few years are going to be exciting and interesting.

Joe, thank you for the article and for your posting during the campaign. I hope you continue to remain engaged at Swampland.

America maybe center-right but most American’s voted center and have no problem with our next leader being center-left appearently.

For example many a conservative personally have a negative opinion of homosexuality but may believe in the fundamental tenets of our constitution, like equality and justice for all under the law. Well maybe not right-right-conservative but a center-right voter would concider and weigh these things before voting, I think. I think most Americans would.

I was thinking about this were a center-right country thing – even if we were – why would we have a problem with a center-liberal government if competent and concederate of conservative positions.

I wonder whats the problem with calling N.Carolina already?

I think Joe the congressman was a little extra-moody this morning.

Keep up the good work Mr.Klein.

Thanks, Mr. Klein. Can’t help feeling, though, that your friend in Kabul, the Pakistani press, the Taliban and our new president might all be in for a little disappointment. There’s more that separates us than just the current president.

wvng: Did Brokaw really say that McCain won the “total land area” vote? What is he, a gentleman farmer?
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The throngs filling Times Square last night will really appreciate that sentiment. “My apartment is the size of a walk-in closet, so I guess my views don’t matter.” Feh.
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Oh, and JK: Thanks for your work this election cycle.

Joe, one consequence of McCain’s campaign. My daughter sent this note today:
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“Now today, a lot of Republican-supporters are sounding very angry and frightened on facebook. Damn McCain’s say-anything-do-anything-to-win approach to this election. It was never going to be easy on them, but his lies ARE the reason they are so afraid for the country now. Funnily enough, [a friend of mine who just had cancer surgery and chemo]is one of those people; she also was one of the people I thought of when casting my vote. Now she’ll be able to get insurance. It’s bizarre to think that so many people are terrified because McCain and Palin WEREN’T elected. A number are threatening to move to Canada/Europe/Australia……ironically, mostly places with a national health care system and a other such things classified as ‘socialism’ when they come from Obama. Huh.”

Brokaw on Morning Joe cited as evidence for the center-right thesis the idea that a majority of land area in the United States, if you measure it on the county level, voted for McCain.
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What.
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I think someone needs to draft a petition for Brokaw to shut his fat mouth.

If Obama is teh “most liberal Senator” in the history of the World, how does his resounding electoral triumph lead one to believe America is “center-right?”

Or were they just lying about him being so very very liberal/socialist/Marxist?

Cliff, Brokaw won an award for that observation. atrios gave him the coveted “Blithering Idiot Of The Day.”

His family should be so proud.

Does Brokaw just leave Meet The Press at the end of the year or is he leaving all of NBC?
Maybe he could pen a book on The Greatest Generation. Again.

Today’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross is particularly good. She starts with Bill Moyers who really calls out the Repubs for their nasty campaign. I learned that Sean Hannity says he is going to use his radio program to carry on the underground campaign against President Obama. Sigh.
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Next guest is Mickey Edwards, former Repub congressman, who told her when she pressed that he voted for Obama. He has some things to say about where the Repub party went wrong. Are you listening Newt??
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Audio up around 7, I think on NPR page. Do listen if you have a chance.

People how have salvaged their reputations over the last few months:
Joe Klein
Colin Powell

Those who have surprisingly tarnished theirs:
John McCain
Michael Scherer

If you’re bored, check out the doings at Larry Johnson’s PUMA blog…pretty funny stuff.

The president of my alma mater just sent out this email:

Dear Bard Alumna/us,

Bard President Leon Botstein sent the following message today to all faculty and staff at Bard, and asked that the Alumni/ae Office share it with you as well:

To the Bard College Community:

I want to thank all the members of the Bard community, particularly on the Annandale campus but also those on all our campuses and in all our programs, who made possible such an extensive participation by students, faculty, and staff in this year’s presidential election. I particularly want to thank the student leadership, the Dean of Students office, and Jonathan Becker for their work.

I would be less than candid if I did not also express my enormous pride in the outcome. I think it is not an exaggeration to say that for all Americans, including myself, an immigrant to this country as a child, this is an eloquent and moving vindication of America’s promise and potential. From the point of view of those of us committed to education and excellence, and to reconciling the democratic necessity of access to education with the task of ensuring that the education we provide to all is of the highest quality, this day is truly remarkable.

Achieving a high degree of excellence through hard work and ambition is a path available to all. When discipline and ambition are integrated with idealism—whether in the sciences or the arts—and a sense of civic duty, we have the essential components for a free society and for progress. The danger inherent in contemporary mass democracy has always been the potential for manipulation through mediocrity, conformism, intolerance, and an inflexible populism that contains resentment of learning and educational excellence.

The American people have rejected this path. I believe it is a non-partisan statement to assert that this election is not only a tribute to American ideals but also to the importance and centrality of education, and the role that institutions of education which aspire to the highest ideals and standards can play. The victors in the 2008 election are the potential power of knowledge and inquiry, of intellectual curiosity and courage, and finally, the virtues of civility, tolerance, and humility that mark the highest achievements in scholarship, teaching, research, performance, the making of art, and public service.

Once again, I want to thank all of you for participating in the political process and for helping Bard College play its role as a place where culture, critical inquiry, and service to education thrive on behalf of the common good.

Leon Botstein

wvng – excellent.

Brokaw…what a clown. His time is over. The media personalities who can’t break the addiction to internalized right wing memes are going to find themselves less and less significant.

Joe – Your integrity during this campaign has really been an important service to your country; few columnists have so fiercely defended reality.
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Thanks for acknowledging that we all shared this journey with you. It’s nice to know you read comments, and I think on the whole it’s fine with me that you don’t engage us.
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I’ve agreed with you so consistently over the last few months I look forward to finding some areas of disagreement again, when we all have the luxury of wrestling with the ideas that will energize the transition to a new presidency.

…but you still owe us a new post on the phone sex reality show we call FISA.

…but you still owe us a new post on the phone s#x reality show we call FISA.

“check out the doings at Larry Johnson’s PUMA blog.”
Thanks for nothing cin.
Such a pathetic creature. That PUMA stuff reminds me of a commenter or two.

Joe, I’ve appreciated all your columns at Swampland this election cycle.

I’ve especially appreciated your appreciation of Hillary. You’re one of the few in the MSM who reported fairly about her strengths and weaknesses. I think one of the reasons that I so dislike Palin is because Palin gets such a free pass in comparison to Hillary.

Sorry Paul, it is fun to taunt them though, I know it’s not a classy thing to do, but what’s an elitist to do? Hey, they’re literally packing their bags for re-education camps over there!

Sorry Paul, it is fun to taunt them though, I know it’s not a cl@ssy thing to do, but what’s an elitist to do? Hey, they’re literally packing their bags for re-education camps over there!

Joe, I’ve become a fan of your writing and an admirer of your work during this election season. Thank you, and I look forward to your continued coverage and commentary in this new era.

Thanks Joe–well done. As I told my mom, who voted for a dem for the first time in over 30 years, you’re on the right side of history. Iraq, FISA, many of us won’t forget those errors, but there’s a larger forest to consider. You offered a rare MSM voice against the scourge that the Mac campaign became. I must say that your undying centrism looks far less threatening given today’s landscape. With W. in office and GOP majorities, it’s a cancer, as Greenwald says. Now, it looks gentle. But please no columns in the future holding Joe Lieberman up as what’s good about moderates!

Hillary for SCOTUS
Kerry, no, sorry, please not our next SOS–Clark!!!
Gore for anything he wants

Joe, thanks for the insights and the graceful writing. Even when I didn’t agree, you informed with honesty and integrity.

The nice thing about the and (and results) of the election is that the arrogance, bone-headed meanness and sense of entitlement of the rightwing has been washed away. They are simply no longer relevant. Oh, they will still be here, for sure. But they just don’t matter anymore.

And we never have to hear from Joe the Plumber or – dare I dream – Sarah Palin ever again.

Cincy, I mean this in the nicest way possible: Since when did you ever let cl@ssy interfere with a little good natured taunting?
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Agree with you tarnished reputation observations above.

By the way, my old college prez almost never sends out emails to all alums like that…

I still can’t quite believe that we managed to do this. My faith in the good sense of the people of this nation has been vindicated. I swear, watching the election last night, I felt like I was 18 again and watching dawn breaking over my country after much too long a night.
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However, down here in my li’l corner of Texas, where it’s not just red but blood-red, I am seeing and hearing plainly the toxic fruit of the GOP’s poisonous spew.
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McRage and his minions have succeeded in scaring the people down here to death. Seriously, people here are terrified of something along the lines of a Marxist-socialist-fascist-terrorist takeover through which Obama will take their guns and their wages, open the gates to the ravening terrorist hordes and start killing babies left and right, all while impaling the sainted Rush and Hannity on the Fairness Doctrine and outlawing Christmas in the bargain. (Also, I have no idea when socialists, Nazis and Muslim terrorists became synonymous, but somehow they’ve all been lumped into one horrible threat. It’s just … bizarre.)
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I know it sounds ridiculous, or like an ugly and extreme stereotype. I know some of y’all are thinking, “Nobody really thinks like that.” Yeah, they do. This is the legacy of the Republican Party, at least in my area. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, jeez, these are my people! My husband is a Catholic deacon, and he’s been trying to talk people down off their metaphorical ledges all day!
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This is the result of the Southern Strategy. This is the result of the politics of fear, ignorance, hate and intimidation. This is what the GOP has wrought, and it is precisely what the ba$t@rds intended. This is why I despise that party and have delighted in watching its epic failure.
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Barack Obama’s got his work cut out for him, especially down here. It is just not pretty. Our new president will be a permanent fixture in my prayers.

Andy, can you guess which troll I am at Larry Johnsons?

Class is no currency in a collapsing Empire.

Andy, can you guess which troll I am at Larry Johnsons?

Cl@ss is no currency in a collapsing Empire.

Joe, thanks for the dispatches throughout this long, grueling campaign. You kept the candidates honest and called them out on their b.s. with the condemnation and outrage they deserved. What an amazing, wonderful, outrageous, astonishing trip this has been. Thanks for sharing!

I wish I had a proper cite, but it’s attributed to Churchill: “The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.”

This is absolutely flooring news. Thank you for posting it.

The end is now here
The campaign is now over
Tiring for many

Joe, I enjoyed that piece very much. I wonder where Nate will go next.

But the day after the election, there seems to be so much emphasis on the historic racial milestone achieved by Obama. It is to be sure, but I supported Obama from the beginning, and have to say I was rarely conscious the race issue. I supported him because he was intelligent, eloquent, decisive, insightful, and full of energy, not to mention his running the most efficient campaign organization in history possibly. I was impressed by his diverse cultural background, thinking it could only help in international relations. But when I did think about his race as African American, in my mind there was a footnote that he is not really descended from the traditional African American culture dating from our countries earliest times, that of the slave culture.

I don’t mean to lessen the historic racial landmark, but that was really not why I supported him. I supported him because he was the best leader I saw, and a refreshing departure from the mindless Republican gibberish I had been hearing for the last 8 years.

I’ve agreed with you so consistently over the last few months I look forward to finding some areas of disagreement again, when we all have the luxury of wrestling with the ideas that will energize the transition to a new presidency.
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Kathy, well said. I feel the same way.
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Southern Bell, I agree about Joe and his refreshingly fair coverage of HRC. Reading the Newsweek articles brought back all the memories of the sexist media coverage in the primaries. Calling her “Cruella de Hil” is so astonishingly immature: It’s like the press corps was an eighth grade class from a circa 1968 boy’s school.

Thank you, Joe. Your columns this year have easily been the best on TIME. I, too, feel emotionally drained by this election, even somewhat still in shock, but it will be only temporary, to be replaced by anticipation of all the work that is to be done over the next 4 years.

Sue in TX: I wouldn’t worry too much about your neighbors. When they see that all those ridiculous fears don’t come to pass, they’ll be less susceptible to such manipulation in the future. This will be a good growing experience for them.

That’s a good article Mr. Klein.
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I also hope we will continue to do it together. I think your fans here have helped you to elevate your game and I hope you agree.
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I also hope you can take young Michael Scherer under your wing and elevate his game. His ‘See John run, run John run’ style needs work.

Because this Newsweek article, which includes insights that must have been available to Michael Scherer, make it look as if he was ‘a boy sent to do a man’s job’.

I completely second ‘theoriginaljames’ comments. Obama was by far the smartest, most competent choice for all of the right reasons.

When Obama gave his speech on “A More Perfect Union” I read it and immediately went to Swampland. The first comment I read was from Joe Klein and he had a beautiful quote from one of the commenters in his update. It’s lost in the archives now but I remember thinking “JK gets it – he knows this is someone different” – and I was so grateful because for the first time in my political junkie life I was thinking the same thing, “Obama who treats us like we’re complex grown-ups.” I’m nowhere near as schooled as many of the other commenters here but I know smart and savvy and sincere when I see it.

I am also very grateful to Mr Klein for his posts on Iraq – it helps to be reminded that a low body count doesn’t mean we should declare ‘victory’ and think it’s all better now.

Now if I could just get this silly post-election grin off my face.

So, even though he doesn’t interact with us Swampcritters I am grateful to him for his brave and courageous posts.

[...] Obama edge is already apparent in undermining the radical Islamist attacks on America. Joe Klein, via Andrew Sullivan, “I received an email from a young friend, an entrepreneur in Kabul, [...]

Thanks, Joe Klein, for your always interesting comments and commentary. You helped me follow and understand this historic race. I appreciate your work.

[...] Taliban greeted the new President and said they were ready to commence talks. Source: Joe Klein Republicans tried to use “Hussein” as a four letter word. Is it possible that this new President [...]

[...] Time: One other thing: this is a country whose President-elect’s middle name is Hussein. That is a fact to be celebrated. I received an email from a young friend, an entrepreneur in Kabul, this morning. He said, “We are all smiling now,” and he attached a Pakistani press clipping–the Taliban greeted the new President and said they were ready to commence talks. [...]