President Obama Wins Reelection: Networks
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.
