The epic campaign rivalry came to an end when Sen. Obama unexpectedly secured the battleground state of Virginia just before 11 p.
m. EST last night, pushing his electoral count above the requisite 270 votes. He ended the night having won such battleground states as Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, New Mexico, and Iowa while Sen. McCain managed to capture only a handful of the more volatile electoral votes. Sen. Obama will be joined by the most Democratic Congress in fifteen years, as Republicans lost five seats to Democrats and made no gains of their own. However, the 56 seats Democrats are expected to fill falls short of the 60 required for a filibuster-proof majority. Democrats are also expected to take the largest share of the House of Representatives, with some expecting a net gain of 15-20 seats.
Media outlets report rumors identifying Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel as Obama's choice for chief of staff in the new administration. Emanuel, a veteran of the Clinton administration, shares with Obama a strongly liberal and pro-abortion voting record.
Leaders in the United States and around the world hailed the election of the country's first black president as a crowning victory for the American civil rights movement. Pope Benedict XVI sent Obama a telegram congratulating him and giving him his blessing.
In his acceptance speech, Sen. Obama reflected on the historicity of his election to office. "Tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," he told a gleeful, flag-waving crowd.
While the majority of Americans are happily greeting Sen. Obama's promised change, many others, particularly pro-life Americans, fear that the gospel of change offered by the most pro-abortion president-elect in history heralds an era of new struggles and challenges for the pro-life movement.
Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for life issued a strongly-worded video statement putting Obama's victory in perspective with the future of the pro-life movement.
"This is one of the biggest mistakes that the American people have made in the entire history of our nation," said Fr. Pavone, "and the many reasons why that's true will come to light as the months go on. But the biggest reason why that's true is that here we have a president-elect who cannot tell the difference betweens serving the public and killing the public.
"If you don't know when human rights begin, then you're in no position to govern a country that was founded on the principle of human rights," said Fr. Pavone. Sen. Obama, when asked at the Saddleback Church forum when he thought a child gained human rights, infamously answered that the question was "above my pay grade."
"A lot changes with this," Fr. Pavone continued, noting that pro-lifers will no longer be able to work inside the White House, and will be forced to turn to defensive maneuvers in the U.S legislature.
However, "change" is far from the whole story - above all "What is never going to change is that this movement is headed for victory," said Pavone.
"We have started a movement on behalf of the unborn, and that movement enters a new chapter today, a chapter of new determination, of new vigor, of new strategy."
Pavone spoke words of comfort to pro-lifers struggling to accept the election news.
"Be encouraged! It's fine to be disappointed about the outcome of an election," he said. "But we can never walk away from the cause. Together we will work, we will protest, we will defend, we will intervene, we will educate, and we will win this struggle for the lives of our unborn brothers and sisters."
Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans for the Truth about Homosexuality, said that "While we celebrate the transcendence of race as a dominant issue in U.S. politics - and the expiation of America's past racial sins represented by Obama's triumph -- the truth is that Obama is a far-left ideologue on abortion and homosexuality." Other pro-family leaders share LaBarbera's sentiment that Obama's true views in favor of homosexuality have been vastly misrepresented to the detriment of true-marriage voters who chose Obama.
Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, believes Americans voted for Obama out of a desire to avoid corrupt leadership while remaining blind to Obama's left-wing agenda.
"The majority of the American people share conservative values and are center or right of center. Conservative leaders have failed to remain true to these core values, and the people punished them. Today, we begin to rebuild the base," commented Staver.
"Over the next four years the people will work to hold back Obama's liberal social and economic agenda from advancing too far. In the end, he will find his liberal agenda to be a lonely island."
