Barack Obama was re-elected to the presidency Tuesday night. (Barack Obama, Creative Commons)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made it pretty clear that his party’s goal over the past four years was to ensure that Barack Obama was a one-term President. But despite the eight percent unemployment levels, the unpopular signature achievements, and a looming fiscal crisis, our country re-elected the President in resounding fashion.

The American people spoke on Tuesday night. They told all our elected officials - Republican, Democrat and Independent - that the failings and the broken promises of the past four years belong to all of us. They made clear that 7.9 percent unemployment figures are not a trophy to lord over opponents, that a failing healthcare system is not a hostage to be held for ransom and that an attack on an American embassy is not a tool for partisan victories. They are all calamities and tragic circumstances that should demonstrate to our leaders the urgency of getting something done.

Given this, it should not be a surprise to any anyone that the Senate candidate who called compromise “Democrats accepting the Republican point of view” lost on Tuesday night. It should not be a surprise that Congressman Allen West - a man famous for calling Obama voters “a threat to the gene pool” and comparing Democrats to Nazis – lost as well. It should not be a surprise that Barack Obama carried every state he won 2008 with only two exceptions. No one should be shocked that the American people chose not to reward the GOP for four years of filibusters and half-hearted negotiations.

This election result may not have been an endorsement of Obama’s healthcare plan, it may not show support of his financial regulation, and it may not constitute thumbs up vote for his stimulus package. But this election did voice approval of at least one idea that Obama brought to Washington, one he expounded upon in his acceptance speech on Tuesday night: the idea 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.”

Let's hope Republicans got the message.

Reach Columnist Christian Patterson here; follow him here.