In a reflection of the emotional power of his victory speech, Obama seems to have won over perhaps the biggest curmudgeonon in political punditry, the retiring Fox News anchor Brit Hume, a man who sometimes seems capable of telling a little girl the tooth fairy is a big fraud. Not tonight:
"Tonight is a night of victory and of hope, and all seems possible. It really seems possible that this remarkable man will be someone truly and remarkably different, who can lift us out of the partisan differences that divide us... who can change the atmosphere in Washington as his predecessor had hoped to do but could not.... What a story. What a night."
Also:
"Look at those kids, aren't they the best?"
Resistance is futile.
Fred Barnes, meanwhile, still has the deflated and slightly resentful air of a man who just lost his job.
Update: This is too funny--more Hume, commenting on the young crowd celebrating outside the White House:
It really is fun to watch those people out there jumping up and down. You know, there's something about jumping and down I think that's good for the soul. You know, it's a universal sign of joy. [Laughs gleefully]
--Michael Crowley