Perhaps Americans don't have the luxury of obsessing about manufactured scandals

The Republicans (and some in the media, apparently) are going to do everything they can to link Barack Obama to the crimes of disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevic, perhaps including an impeachment drive the minute Obama takes office. After all, you didn't expect them to put up with a Democratic President for four to eight years, let alone a black one, did you?

The question, as they and their willing media shills gleefully see an opportunity to make history repeat itself, is whether the American people will bite, or if for once the reality of the world around them and their own lives makes this game just not quite as palatable.

So far (and it's still early), voters like what they see in the President-elect:

"So far so good," said Kathleen Broussard, a 25-year-old massage therapist from Dallas. She voted for Republican Sen. John McCain for president, but said that the day after the election she felt a sense of joy about Mr. Obama's victory that hasn't gone away. "I respect him. And we're all praying for the best. We definitely needed a change, and he's definitely that change."

Polling indicates that the nation is more unified around Mr. Obama than it was for either Bill Clinton in 1992 or George W. Bush in 2000. Americans say the challenges, too, are greater, with 77% of those surveyed predicting Mr. Obama will face bigger problems than most recent presidents have.

So far, Americans are buoyed. Mr. Obama is viewed favorably by more Americans than ever, and three of four say they can relate to him as their president.

Enough Americans were concerned enough about the direction this country was taking that they were willing to make the leap of faith to vote for a black man whose middle name had elicited a Pavlovian response in many of them for much of the Bush years, who wasn't well-known to them, and who had an unusual background. Enough Americans were concerned that they chose the quiet, thoughtful relative unknown over the bantam rooster war hero and his hot-chick running mate. Enough Americans had the courage to brave the unknown rather than endure more of what we've seen for the last eight years. And having done so, it's entirely possible that they've grown smart enough to recognize that just as they don't want to be judged by Uncle Elmer, who's doing time for armed robbery, they're able to distinguish between a corrupt politician trying to sell a vacant Senate seat and the one who recently vacated it.