The last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, claimed that they had reshaped elec-toral politics by recapturing battle-grounds like Georgia, Missouri and Ohio with promises of governing from the center. Both came up short rather quickly: Carter's declaration of a post-Watergate realignment ended with one term and the loss of the Senate in 1980, while Clinton's party lost Congress after two years and watched Republicans reclaim the White House in 2000.

前兩任民主黨籍的總統柯林頓和卡特曾聲稱，他們因承諾以中道治國，重新奪回喬治亞、密蘇里和俄亥俄州等戰區，並因而重劃選舉政治版圖。結果兩人很快證明未能達到預期目標：卡特在水門案後宣布重新整頓吏治，結果只幹一任就下台，1980年並在參院慘敗；柯林頓也在上任兩年後，民主黨就喪失國會過半席次，並眼睜睜看著共和黨在2000年重新奪回白宮寶座。

Obama will soon face an American people seeking to have hopes met and change confirmed as he addresses an array of problems no incoming presi-dent has faced since Franklin D. Roosevelt. And Democrats will ex-pect, in short order, a plan for with-drawing one to two brigades a month from Iraq, a major economic stimulus package, and a repeal of President Bush's tax cuts.

當歐巴馬著手處理自小羅斯福總統以來，沒有任何一位即將走馬上任的總統所面對的連串問題時，他很快就要面對美國人民要求實現他們的夢想，落實他所承諾的變革。民主黨人也預期，馬上就能兌現每月從伊拉克撤走一兩個旅的計畫，推出重大經濟振興方案，及取消布希的減稅計畫。

Obama must prove that his charis-matic and historic candidacy is not his high point. He must show he can de-liver on promises of bipartisan reform in spite of his inexperience with coalition-building. "If Obama gov-erns to the center, it will be the dawn of a Democrat majority," said Kieran Mahoney, a Republican consultant. "If he follows the Bush 'base' strategy, it will be a similarly short-lived as-cendancy." Advisers to Obama also cautioned that, in spite of the Demo-cratic successes from Ohio to New Mexico to Virginia and Florida, they were not consumed with notions of permanent majorities.

歐巴馬得證明，他獨特的魅力和歷史性的選舉並非他個人的最高點。他必需以行動證明，儘管他在建立聯合政府上經驗不足，但他有能力兌現跨黨派改革的競選支票。「如果歐巴馬政府走中間路線，那將兆示民主黨即將成為多數黨，」共和黨顧問馬何尼說。「如果他仍走布希搞小圈圈的策略，他平步青雲將有如曇花一現。」歐巴馬的幕僚也警告說，儘管民主黨成功拿下俄亥俄州到新墨西哥州乃至於維吉尼亞州和佛羅里達州，他們並未被成為永遠的多數黨這個念頭沖昏頭。

"I think it's too soon to talk about realignment, though what this election definitely says is that Democrats set out to compete in places where Re-publicans said it was impossible, and we won and redrew the map," said Joel Benenson, Senator Obama's poll-ster. "First, Barack Obama has been talking about getting past the old di-vides like 'permanent majorities,' and it's a message that resonated," he said. "Also, we face big challenges. I think you'll see Republicans and Democrats talking about bringing the country together, working together, and that our politics needs to be bigger, not smaller, to solve these problems."

「我想現在談版圖重劃仍嫌太早，雖然這次選舉已經明確地說，民主黨已經開始攻入共和黨認為不可能的地盤，我們也獲勝並重劃藍紅勢力分布圖，」參議員歐巴馬的民調專家班能森說。「首先，歐巴馬再三重申，要跨越過去的壁壘，『永遠的多數黨』就是其中一端，這個訊息引起極大的共鳴，」他說。「此外，我們面臨極大的挑戰。我想，你將可以看到共和、民主兩黨會談如何凝聚國家，一起打拚，何況，要解決這些問題，我們的政府必須擴大，而不是縮小。」

Indeed, the surveys of voters leav-ing polling sites in the 2006 midterm elections foretold this election to some degree: Control of both the House and Senate flipped to Democrats be-cause of widespread voter anger at President Bush — anger that only in-tensified over the last two years, and from which McCain was never able to distance himself.

沒錯，2006年期中選舉在投票所外對選民所做的出口民調已經多少可以預見這次選舉結果：參眾兩院的控制權都翻盤，落到民主黨人手中，因為選民普遍對布希總統的憤怒，過去兩年來，這股怨氣更是無以復加，而馬侃一直未能和民怨保持安全距離。

Obama's debts to voters of all stripes were reflected in his crucial victory in Ohio. According to exit polls, Obama won white voters who earn less than $50,000 a year by 52 percent to 46 percent, and female voters by a margin of about 10 percentage points. Six in 10 voters in Ohio called the economy the most important issue, and a ma-jority of them supported Obama. "He won the poor as Democrats have, but more of the wealthy, the young, and more active seniors than in the past," said Mark Penn, who served as pollster and chief strategist for much of Sena-tor Hillary Rodham Clinton's cam-paign for president. "Obama will have put together the moderates and liberals in a renewed governing coalition for dynamic change."

歐巴馬虧欠形形色色選民的，從他在俄亥俄州的重大勝利可見一斑。根據出口民調，歐巴馬在年收入不到5萬美元的選民中以52%比46%領先馬侃；女性選民甚至領先達十個百分點。俄亥俄州每10個選民就有6個認為，經濟是最重大議題，而其中大多數支持歐巴馬。「一如民主黨員，他贏得窮人的選票，但比過去贏得更多富人、年輕人和比較活躍的老年人的選票，」在希拉蕊．柯林頓參議員競選總統時擔任她的民調專家和首席策士的潘恩說。「歐巴馬為了推動強而有力的改變，應該力邀溫和派和自由派人士重組聯合政府。」

"Obama won mainly because he convinced voters he was a centrist, schooled and accomplished in the politics of moderation," said Kevin Madden, who was Mitt Romney's spokesman during the Republican presidential primaries. "That's quite an accomplishment when you take into consideration the facts about his record, which is archetypical of a lib-eral politician and product of the Chicago political machine."

「歐巴馬勝選主要因為他使選民相信，他會走中間路線，並受到溫和節制的政治理念薰陶養成，」共和黨黨內總統初選時擔任羅姆尼發言人的梅登說。「想想他過去的紀錄，事實擺在眼前，他是典型的自由派政治家，也是芝加哥政治機器的產物，他能有今天的成就實在了不起。」

The election of several new mod-erate Democrats to the House and Senate, from battlegrounds like Flori-da and New Hampshire, could re-enforce centrist tendencies. "I can't wait to work with Presi-dent-elect Obama, alongside Democrats and Republicans in Congress, to deliver the change our country needs," Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, said. "With the many challenges we face, that work must begin immediately."

這次參眾兩院都從佛羅里達州和新罕布夏州等戰區選出幾位溫和派的新議員，他們將可強化中間路線的趨勢。「我已經等不及想和總統當選人歐巴馬及民主黨掌控的國會合作，以推動我們國家迫在眉睫的改革，」參院多數黨領袖雷德說。「面對諸多挑戰，工作應該馬上展開。」

John Weaver, a Republican con-sultant who advised McCain's cam-paign until last year, said that the first signs of Obama's ability to cement this political alignment would become clear in the transition period over the next two months. "Will he quickly reach out to Republicans Will he consolidate his strength among Democrats and resist the demands of liberals to overreach in the early days of his administration" Weaver said. "But the political winds are clearly at his back and thus Republicans also need to reach out to him."

直到去年還擔任馬侃選戰顧問的韋佛說，歐巴馬是否有能力落實他的政治整合計畫在未來兩個月政權轉移時期就可見端倪。「他能否很快向共和黨伸出手？他的政府開始運作時，他能否在民主黨內鞏固他的勢力，並抗拒自由派所提出的要求？」韋佛說。「但他現在顯然政治上占上風，共和黨人也要向他伸出手才行。」

（華盛頓郵報 PATRICK HEALY專欄）