So why, after prior successes, did Obama's race/class/gender attack finally sputter out like the French at Waterloo?

Most authoritarians do not surrender power voluntarily.

Even Hollywood millionaires are now clamoring for legal protections for their illegal-alien nannies and gardeners, though such elites would hardly countenance a similar legal laxity that would allow foreign film technicians, screenwriters, and actors to flood southern California to work in their industry for a fourth of their own pay.

Even in its third century, America is still the most meritocratic nation in the world.

A Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, John Edwards, Howard Dean, George Soros, or Al Gore looks - no, acts - like he either came out of a hairstylist's salon or got off a Gulfstream.

Entertainers wrongly assume that their fame, money, and influence arise from broad knowledge rather than natural talent, looks, or mastery of a narrow skill.

We have had raucous moments in our history. And I think we're in one now. But it's not going to endanger the future of democracy.