The President is smart enough to read the election returns.

He attracted a great deal of support, and seemed to be doing quite well as the first election returns came in.

A look at the election returns suggests a very different conclusion.

For those who hoped that the President would move to the middle in response to the election returns, the speech was a success.

"Maybe you didn't read the election returns," he told the crowd.

That money becomes a kind of early election return.

Of course, today's election returns are followed in the family room or bedroom, around the flat screen.

An amateur could tell this from a glance at election returns.

"Once the election returns were in, this became the obvious way to go," one Democratic aide said.

He has read the election returns and is reacting like any other politician.