Obama wins... it's (almost) official!

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Oh, the Electoral College. Isn't it hilarious?

In case you missed it, the 538 electors cast their ballots yesterday, and, wouldn't you know it, Obama won!

Does that make it official? No. Congress still must confirm the result, and that will be on January 6.

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I don't mean to dismiss the significance of yesterday's events. As the AP notes in its article, linked above, "[i]n many states, the formal, staid proceeding was touched with poignance, particularly among people old enough to recall a time when voting alone posed the risk of violence for black Americans."

For many of the 538 electors, that is, a seemingly meaningless act was deeply personal and deeply meaningful.

As former Steelers great Franco Harris, an Obama elector in Pennsylvania, put it, "[t]hat was special. This was the most valuable thing I've ever signed my name to."

Obama won the election on November 4, but every stage of the process is important in its own way, even if the Electoral College process doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense these days.