What's in store in the Obama era?
U.S. politics is taking a new shape after a long period of conservative dominance.

WITH THE media focused on the pomp and circumstance of Barack Obama's ascent to the White House, it was easy to lose sight of the deeper significance of his election. Not only is the inauguration of the first African American president historic in its own right, but Obama's election signifies the arrival of a new era in American mainstream politics.

Although only two and a half months have passed since Election Night and the jubilant multiracial celebrations in cities across the country, it's worth restating the breadth and depth of the victory. The Obama-Biden ticket defeated the Republican McCain-Palin ticket by more than 7 percentage points (52.9 percent to 45.6 percent) and nearly 10 million votes (69.5 million to 59.9). Obama became the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter, and only the second since Franklin Roosevelt to win an outright majority in a presidential election.

The Democrats won states like Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia that have been solidly Republican for most of the last generation. At the same time, Obama will have the largest Democratic majority in the House of Representatives since 1992 and the largest majority in the Senate since 1977. This win put a final end to an era of conservative dominance that goes back more than a generation.

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