Barack Hussein Obama was reelected president of the United States on Tuesday, overcoming a historically bad economy to defeat Republican Mitt Romney after successfully persuading the country that he still represents hope and change.
- With victories in enough of the battleground states that were the focus of a brutal and unprecedented spending campaign, Obama keeps the White House in Democratic hands.
- The president’s victory was not as sweeping as his triumph in 2008, which represented a high point in the nation’s long and tortured dealings with race. But it may be even more satisfying to Democrats, who have shown it was not a fluke electing the nation’s first African-American president. Now, they have reelected him in the face of incredible economic headwinds that Republicans were certain would be enough to deny him a second term.
- Obama, 51, now has a chance to lock in his historic health care reform. And his reelection sets up a showdown with Republicans over the spending and tax issues that were at the heart of the often-bitter campaign. With election results almost complete, Democrats are poised to keep control of the Senate and Republicans will retain control of the House.
- His victory was assured when he weathered an intense Romney effort and unprecedented barrage of advertising spending, mostly from conservative and Republican groups.
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