So, what have we learned from the most fractious Presidential election of my lifetime? We have learned that if you put $1 billion behind a campaign of cynicism, racial division, class warfare, and extreme pettiness an incumbent with one of the worst records in modern times can barely squeak into a second term. And with such a narrow and demeaning “win,” what exactly does Barack Obama think he has achieved?

◼ No Time For Collaboration - Bill Wilson/Net Right Daily

....The answer, oddly enough, is not in his hands. Under normal circumstances, a re-elected President can direct the debate. He has set out an agenda or has done so well in the first term that the country simply wants “more of the same.” Nobody – and I mean nobody – wants four more years of the same inane, vapid socialism of Obama’s first term. But, if Obama cannot determine the course we take, who does?

That answer is yet to be decided. The reason the issue is in doubt is because we do not yet know what the Republicans in Congress will do. They have a very real choice. The Republicans can surrender to Obama, collaborate with his regime and institutionalize his radical, leftist agenda.

Or, they can fight; fight to the last man standing, refusing to concede an inch to an alien ideology that at its core is opposed to the founding principles and ethic of the nation.

What will the GOP in Congress be; Free and defiant, standing up for principle and fighting Obama and his cronies. Or, will they cower at the sight of Obama’s meager margin and do his dirty work for him?

There are plenty of those inside the GOP who will want to cut and run. Colin Powell, Ray LaHood, a host of northeast liberals, and more than a few in positions of power inside the House all embrace collaboration. Seeing nothing worth fighting for, they are all too ready to peddle themselves to the highest bidder.

And on the surface, for all too many GOP officials, such a course may appear the easier, softer way. After all, taking such a path will be sure to get rave reviews from the propaganda organs of the establishment-Left. They will be invited to all the right parties and be hailed as having “grown” and being a “good Republican.” Future employment opportunities will look very bright.

But there is another side to this. To millions of conservative, free-market advocates and the core of the Republican Party they will be reviled and hated. For these grassroots activists, such actions by their representatives in Congress or in Governors’ mansions will be viewed as outright treason. Knowing that all the House of Representatives has to do is refuse to fund Obama’s monster government and the whole thing stops will mean that anything less is sure to be met with intense anger and resistance.

How this existential debate inside the GOP plays out will decide the next four years. While it would have been better to have an adult partner in the White House instead of the childish, churlish Obama, it is of really little consequence. The real battle for the future of America is inside the Republican caucuses.

◼ A Silver Lining and a Conundrum - John Hinderaker/Powerline

I can see only one good outcome from yesterday’s election: the fact that Barack Obama will be the president who inherits the mess left by Barack Obama. The economy is in awful shape; it won’t get much better given Obama’s policies, and may get worse. Many billions of dollars in capital that have been sitting on the sidelines, awaiting the outcome of this year’s election, will now give up on the United States and go elsewhere. Plants will be built in Korea and Brazil that would have been built here if the election had gone differently. The chronically unemployed–a group that is larger now than at any time since the Great Depression–aren’t going back to work. Nor are the millions who have signed up for permanent disability. Incomes will continue to stagnate. I don’t understand why anyone would vote for four more years of unemployment and poverty, but that is what the American people voted for, and that is what they are going to get.

But I digress: back to the silver lining. Obama will now have to reveal his agenda for a second term, heretofore a closely-guarded secret. In particular, what is he going to do about the nation’s $16 trillion debt? Obama’s answer during his first term was “nothing.” His budget, incorporating any number of optimistic assumptions, called for the debt to rise to $20 trillion. I don’t see how Obama can get through his second term without articulating some plan, however half-baked, for dealing with the debt. Ben Bernanke can’t keep interest rates at zero for another four years; at least, I don’t think he can. As soon as interest rates start to rise, the budget–no, wait, we don’t have a budget, but you know what I mean–is blown. It will be difficult for the press to conceal from the American people the fact that we are broke....

◼ Fred Barnes: The Survivor in Chief. Billions of dollars were spent, and the politics of the nation dominated, by a presidential campaign that led to nowhere. - Fred Barnes/Wall St. Journal