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Subscribe to RSSIn his acceptance speech, President Obama promised an electrified crowd in Chicago, Ill., that he would "work with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges" Americans face.
Updated at 4:02 a.m. ET: President Barack Obama won four more years in office on Tuesday, describing his victory over Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a call to action that would help move the U.S. past the difficult times endured during the past four years and promising "the best is yet to come."
Propelled by wins in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa – states long touted as Obama’s “firewall” insulating him from his GOP challenger – the president won a long-fought election in which the economy, its slow pace of recovery and Obama’s management of it, became the central issue.
Emerging early in the hours on Wednesday in Chicago to the tune of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” the president struck an upbeat note about the challenges that lie ahead during a second term, with which he’ll have to reckon almost immediately in the next few weeks.
President Obama addressed an exuberant crowd, saying he's "never been more hopeful about America" and suggesting the country is not as divided as its politics might suggest.
“A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over. And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and you have made me a better president,” Obama said. “With your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.”
But there were strong indications that the first two years of Obama’s second term would resemble the final two years of his first term – that is with a Republican-held House and nominally Democratic Senate stalemated over major tax and spending issues, as the balance of power in Congress remained unchanged after Election Day.
NBC's Tom Brokaw, David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell weigh in on the Election Day numbers.
The specter of gridlock appeared quickly as Obama prepared to confront the immediate task in addressing the series of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts – the so-called “fiscal cliff” – set to spring into place at the end of this year.
Now that he's won, the six splitting headaches waiting for Obama
As Obama won a second term, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans’ retention of their House majority meant “the American people have also made clear that there is NO mandate for raising tax rates.” And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was even tougher in his statement, saying, “The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president’s first term, they have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together with a Congress that restored balance to Washington after two years of one-party control.”
President Barack Obama gives a victory speech Tuesday after being elected to a second term in the White House.
Obama nodded to the challenges that lay ahead in his Tuesday evening speech, hinting that he wishes to meet with Romney – as the president had done with Arizona Sen. John McCain after the 2008 election – to seek his help in moving past some of the most intractable problems to beguile Washington.
“Tonight, despite all the hardship that we’ve been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I have never been more hopeful about our future,” Obama told a boisterous crowd in his adoptive hometown of Chicago.
In addition to the looming fiscal cliff, Obama will also have to confront a reshuffling of his cabinet. Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have suggested that they might depart the administration after Obama’s first term, setting up a major remaking of Obama’s inner circle.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.
After months of campaigning that saw ad spending alone reach the $1 billion mark, Obama won a second term with much of his 2008 electoral map intact. Romney managed to flip only North Carolina and Indiana, which Obama won four years ago, back to Republicans in 2012; the GOP nominee failed to put into play more traditionally Democratic states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, on which his campaign concentrated its efforts in the closing weeks of the campaign.
The Midwestern troika of Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin helped insulate the Obama campaign from Romney and preserve Democratic inroads in other states, like Colorado and Virginia.
'We have given our all'
After having claimed momentum in the final days of the campaign, the erstwhile GOP nominee emerged in Boston shortly after 1 a.m. ET to offer his concession, a conciliatory speech capping a bid for the presidency for Romney that has spanned the better part of a decade.
"This is a time for great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," the former Republican nominee said, joined by his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (who won re-election to Congress) and their families.
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney gives his concession speech Tuesday after President Barack Obama was declared the winner of the 2012 presidential race.
"Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this campaign," Romney said. "I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead this country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader."
While Romney had campaigned on his own private sector expertise amid a weak economic recovery, improvements in hiring and confidence in the economy allowed Obama to parry his opponent’s criticism.
Exit polls suggested that the economy was, by far and away, the issue at the front of voters’ minds on Election Day. Romney edged Obama nationally by six points among voters who said the economy was their top issue.
Obama outperformed Romney on questions of empathy, and voters nationwide were virtually tied on the more direct question of who would better handle the economy and the budget deficit.
Obama also held a demographic edge over Romney among two key groups of voters. The president bested the former Massachusetts governor by 10 points among women (Romney beat Obama by 8 percent among men). Hispanic or Latino voters also broke heavily for Obama by a 39-point margin.
But despite lingering divisions, the president emphasized points of unity, Wednesday morning, saying the nation “moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family, and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.”
Watch the drama of election night quickly unfold in a three minutes montage of sights and sounds.
More election coverage from NBCNews.com:
- Victorious Obama 'more determined' in face of challenges
- Democrats retain control of Senate with series of hard-fought wins
- Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls
- Now that he's won, the six splitting headaches waiting for Obama
- In costliest-ever Senate race, Warren beats Brown for Mass. seat
- Maine's Harley-riding King vowed to 'shake up' D.C.
- Republicans easily maintain control of House
- Colorado, Washington approve recreational marijuana use
- Wisconsin's Baldwin becomes 1st openly gay senator
- Pence in as governor of Indiana; Hassan wins in N.H.
- Majority of voters see American on wrong track
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nah nah nah hey hey hey GOODBYE! WILLARD ROMNEY LOST THE 2012 ELECTION!!
Farewell to douche bags!!!!!! SCOTT BROWN, WILLARD ROMNEY, TAD Romney, ANNE ROMNEY, ERIC FERNSTROM, NEWT GINGRICH, DONALD TRUMP, SUNUNO, FOX NEWS, RUSH LIMBAUGH, LYIN RYAN, MURDOCK, ADKINS,!!!!!
America wins!!!!! Obama/Biden 2012
Don't forget about the mouth herself, Ann Coulter who constantly calls Liberals and Democrats terrorists and supporters of Al Qaeda.
If memory serves the meaning of Liberal means someone who has gone to college to become better educated. Didn't Ann Coulter go to college making her and those like her Liberal?
I watched an episode of OZ on HBO one time where a guy killed his homosexual lover because he didn't want the rest of OZ to know that he was homosexual.
Could it be that such people like Limbaugh and Coulter hate Liberals because they theirselves are Liberals by the very definition of what a Liberal is and want to try make others believe that they are not Liberals?
It aint' over yet so don't get your undies in a bunch
If Obama wins, I am going to go for disability and become one of the recipient class as opposed to being the producing class.
You're silly.
OBAMA HAS WON AND YOU CAN JOIN THE OTHER WHITE MAJORITY WHICH IS ONE THIRD OF THE POPULATION ON WELFARE!!!!
REMEMBER YOU TEABAG-GER YOU- 1/3 OF ALL WELFARE RECIPIENTS ARE White!!!! The Tea bagging hypocrites always ignorantly vote against their own interest!!!!
Maybe Willard can show his taxes now!!!!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 4 more years!!!!!!!
Cool, you can pay for my lifestyle until we run out of money
Why do you keep repeating this, Drew? How, exactly, would you like us to respond?
Go ahead, give up. I don't imagine you're too terribly productive as it is with that attitude.
Butthurt isn't a covered condition.
It is all over.
Obama has been re-elected. This is a reflection of the citizens of this nation. The
majority of the citizens of this nation feel that the way for the nation to
recover financially is for the government to spend more money. The people have decided it, that the free enterprise system way of life is a thing from the past. We
should depend on oil from other nations and not from within our own shores.
It is my opinion; the GOP should now shut down their operations and go home
forever. As far as “Talk Radio,” they are irrelevant to anything that shapes
our daily lives. All the talking heads have not created any impact in this
election. From Rush, Hennetty, Mark Levine, Michael Savage, Roger Hedgecock,
and the rest, they all have fail. Talk Radio channels, should fold their tents and go home. Talk radio is nothing but talk and nobody is listening.
It is time now for a new way of life under the Obama regime.
Party is over and the "sheep’s" have spoken very loud.
The United States of America exists no longer.
Al Maldonado
Zhenjiang-Al I wish you well, I will how ever continue to distance myself from Obama, I can honestly say I don't care for him and the people that follow him, as history shows that Obama's ways are not feasable and won't work. 4 years from now you and others will see more of the last 4 years.
As of now, Romney 96 electoral votes away from the brass ring; Nobama over 108. Nice to see that wonderful red color painted over so many states of our republic!
You obviously haven't been paying attention. Mitt's losing bad.
Tone is dead on...Romney's toast.
Hey Willard, are you going to Disney world? You are a loser!!!
Obama/Biden 2012
Hillary Clinton 2016!!!!!
I HOPE LYIN RYAN LOSE HIS CONGRESSIONAL SEAT AS WELL!!!!
The community organizer is kicking some serious ass!!
He still sucks as a president
Willard Sucks as the "NoWhere Man!!!"
Obama/Biden 2012
President Obama did bring hope and change to America.
He is the first African American, a black man, to sit in the White House as the President of the United States.
Such change WILL inspire generations of Americans to come to aspire to become president of the United States. No longer is the Oval Office just for white men but because of President Obama now anyone can become president.
A woman, a Mexican, Muslim, Asian....all now have the hope of becoming President.
If that isn't change over the racist Church of England mentality then what is your idea of change.
Listening to "Golden Mic In the Mouth" Rush Limbaugh's fat just spew lines such as "The more we change the more we stay the same." is not change.
So what has the GOP brought to America in the form of change?
That only white men can hold the office of the President and that all must fall down on their faces to their hateful god of persacution?That a woman does not have the choice to decide for herself about a pregnancy and must carry the pregnancy to full term and then give the child up for adoption just so the GOP can have more bodies to brainwash?
If that is change that you want continue to worship the GOP and their golden microphones.
Your God has a cross for you for your lack of faith.
Unions r actually better with romney if they dont push their job worth he is about production! Obama will sell our soul!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, Obama can show his true colors now - nationalize all businesses, raise taxes on everyone to 70%, force all women to get abortions, convert our children to homosexuality and muslims, have the black panthers enforce martial law, ban all guns, and give alqueda their own nation in the middle of Arizona.
Scary, huh ?
Hank - is that sarcasm or are you serious?
Hank better get that plane ticket to Canada ready.
Obama's been very good to me and my business for the last four. Looking forward to the next four. It's a great evening.
Please vote for splitting this country up, too much hatred and I really don't want to live with people I don't like. Go your way and I'll go mine, no hard feelings, just go.
Go where? Did you not learn to share as a child?
Audrey CP
I learned to share, but with only people I care about, I'm not ashamed to say it and more people should be honest and admit it. Deep down you know it's true.
No, deep down, that's just a selfish, immature view. Peace to you America First - truly, I hope you find it.
Audrey CP
You go your way and I'll go mine, you can bet off shore banks are doing a brisk business tonight, good luck finding "rich" people to take care of you.
Why don't you move to Canada? Less socialism up there.
Look out wingers, teabaggers and neo-cons we're coming to get your guns, we're doubling the amount of food stamps and gays will be getting married in your churches. PRESIDENT OBAMA WINS!
John N-963175 I hope you get your wish, please respect mine and vote to split this country up, no hard feelings, I just wish to live in peace and not have to deal with the human waste in this country. You pick your people and I'll choose mine, I'm sure you'll be happy and so will I.
Yyyyeah, well, that's not going to happen, america first, so I suggest you buck up. Moping around, viewing your fellow Americans as "waste" ... that's no way to live.
Sorry, I see Newark, NJ every day. Open your eyes and call it as you see it, enjoy your night. Tomorrow when you wake up the "waste" will be there, rest assured.
Which party is the true optimistic and patriotic party? Certainly not the republicons!
I live in Vermont, america. We've kept our chin up, respected our President and each other, and kept our happy, hopeful, and progressive spirit. Nobody I know has been wallowing in misery for the last four years.
emmygee
Sorry you've been isolated for the past years, come to Newark, NJ and take a wrong turn and you'll wish you never left your white picket fence yard. Come bring your family down and keep your progressive spirit while you help the less fortunate. These people are animals, you won't last a minute.
It's going to take some hard decision's to clean it up, something that's not happening, so unless you come down here and help, shut up
america, move then. Trust me, you're not helping any of the less fortunate with that piss poor attitude, while calling them animals out of the other side of your mouth.
emmygee
I'm not moving, just looking to seperate the wheat from the chaffe, dont get upset when someone has a different view than you, you proceed helping your own and I'll proceed to help only those I choose. Kinda like Obama
That's fine, america, but don't try to paint me as the angry one. Your response to my different view was to tell me to shut up. No skin off my ass; I was just honestly trying to talk some helpful sense to you.
I'll give you some kind advice then my fellow American, Don't pass judgement or tell someone how to act or not to unless you've walked in their shoes.
I'll give you another piece of advice don't ever come to Newark, NJ with your family, you won't like what you see, let alone get out with your life.
Obama wins all the states that have the highest welfare %
Not true tracy, Just another lunatic lie. Red states are the largest welfare benefactors.
Yeah, that's just a blatant lie, tracy.
go obama
Mitty Boy Closing the Gap in Wisconsin, CNN has it at 50-49% for our Dear Leader BHO......with 35% of the vote in.
---Obama only ahead by 6,800 votes in Wisconsin right now
Obama got wisconsin
Still denying reality, chesty?
@ john very well said
Go Elizabeth and Claire
NC is Romney's
Obama - 244
Romney - 193
SOOOOO all you Republican du...m...b a.........s........ses see the writing on the wall? Your flip flopper is NOT GOING to WIN. Go Obama
Oh Yea Mitt the Flopper really closed the gap Ha Ha Ha
Its all good, we teabaggers are going to stop being the producing class and go with the flow... holy hell, who will pay for all that?
Sour grapes
Nope, just wanna be like you.
My uncle lost VA, Wtf he was ahead at first. Omg, my family was bragging we won the senate seat. I did vote against him, I still was kinda happy he was winning. Va still might go to Obama like they said at first. Only problem I have is that the Republicans said again they wont work with Obama if he wins.
We can't afford this to go on for 4 years. If they stop everything over again. We will crash so bad. If he wins its going to be back like it was.
Sorry Drew, I won't hire you, too whiny
Ahhh Rom Nuts has NOT won NC Yet and odds are he will not win Ohio or Florida.
Wrong, but I don't blame you.
Where have all the racist gone that have been on this MB these last days, back into their pathetic little holes, lets say a prayer for the President as the hand of god rest upon his sholder tonight.
Paraphrasing a Clint Eastwood movie
"God's got nothing to do with it".
I tried to warn them , so sad !
Chesty your talking to an empty chair
Well yea Rom Nuts is called to win NC.
The dishonesty and secrecy of the candidates and the incessant lying of the fox led right wing kept the race close. But in the end truth will win out.
4 more 4 44 !
You mean like lying that Obama watched those in Libya die real-time and denied helping fellow Americans?
Debunked a long time ago
tone, tell that to their families, you are wrong.
Drew: you're beating a dead horse. The truth is still coming out and the President and his team are on top of it. It does no one any good at all to try and perpetuate the Romney inspired lie of a coverup. All Romney did was try to use a horrible tragedy to win cheap political points. Say good night Drew!