As we lick our wounds, a lot of us are taking comfort in the premise of John Judis and Ruy Teixiera's new book, The Emerging Democratic Majority -- you know, the book that says Democrats will dominate American politics in the future by continuing to win the votes of population groups that are growing, such as blacks, Hispanics, and well-off professionals, particularly women.

Problem is, black voters apparently didn’t turn out for the Democrats in very large numbers last week. And Hispanic support for Democrats was spotty. Oh, and affluent white women decided they liked the president, so they voted Republican.

Sorry, folks -- future victories are not going to drop into our laps. We’re going to have to earn them.