I have many post-election thoughts.

• McCain's concession speech was very classy, and went a long way toward repairing his tarnished reputation in my eyes.  I feel like he was devoured by the Republican Party Campaign Machine, and for whatever reason wasn't able to stick to his previously-established principles.  (Prior to the RNC convention, I could still have voted for him, but his selection of Gov. Palin as a running mate was just too much of an affront.)
• I'm expecting a competant but not extraordinary administration from Obama.  I don't expect him to be able to fulfill many of his campaign promises (he started downplaying expectations even in his victory speech), and I anticipate that by the time he leaves office he will have disappointed many of the people who had high hopes for him.  (I don't feel like I'm going out on a limb with that prediction -- what president hasn't?)  I hope I'm wrong, but I'm sure you can understand how a person could be cynical.
• We arrived at our polling place about 5:30 AM, and there were about 20 people ahead of us.  We finished voting about 6:15 AM, and there had to have been 200 or more people waiting in line by then.  When I drove by there again after work, it was deserted.  Doh!
• (By the way, just for the record, I voted for Bob Barr -- but that's a subject for another post, if I ever get around to it, which I probably won't, so the short version is that I'm pro-third-party right now.)
• I still find it very disturbing that I don't get any kind of receipt or anything after I press the big red "vote" button on the touchscreen machines.  Also, it creeps me out to think about everybody else's germs crawling all over those touchscreens.
• I'm your basic WASP, born after the civil rights era, so I can only appreciate the racial significance of this election from an academic standpoint.  Like Stan on that one South Park, I "don't get it."  I think Obama still has a lot of hard work to do, though.  I don't think it's enough to just be the first black president -- he has to be the first black president and do a good job, or it might be for naught.  (Fortunately, Bush has set the bar pretty low for him.)
• As I type this, it looks like the Democrats will fall short of a super-majority in the Senate.  I have mixed feelings about that.  I'm leaning toward thinking it's good that they won't have free reign, but I'm also mindful that Congress hasn't gotten much of anything done in, like, forever.  But that could be a good thing:  I'm not sure we want politicians "getting things done."
• I found it pretty hilarious to watch all the newspeople trying to make it sound like the outcome of the election was in doubt so they could keep viewers tuned in to see all their fancy flying graphs and maps.
• I'm very curious to see how The Daily Show and The Colbert Report handle the new administration.
• Driving up 95 North, I saw a brilliant ad on the fancy-schmancy electronic billboard next to Phillip Morris, which I've attempted to recreate below. I couldn't read who sponsored or created it.  I'd like to think that we live in an America like this, but again, it's really hard not to be cynical.