It was six years ago tonight that many of us had mixed feelings about what we were watching on TV.  

On the one hand, we were very sorry to see Senator McCain lose. 

On the other hand, it was awesome to see US voters give a black man 53% of the popular vote:

On this day in 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeats Senator John McCain ofArizona to become the 44th U.S. president, and the first African American elected to the White House. The 47-year-old Democrat garnered 365 electoral votes and nearly 53 percent of the popular vote, while his 72-year-old Republican challenger captured 173 electoral votes and more than 45 percent of the popular vote.

On Tuesday night, the country had second thoughts about the Obama agenda.  It looks like the GOP will take over the U.S. Senate and gain more House seats.  

What a difference six years can make:

1) The Democrats had 60 U.S. Senate seats and a large House majority after that night in 2008 when President elect Obama spoke to crowds in Chicago.

2) We heard about the voter realignment, or the new Obama majority.  We heard about demographics and how the GOP would never be competitive again outside the South.

Now, that coalition is "boom and bust," as Ronald Brownstein wrote:

The modern Democratic coalition is a boom-and-bust coalition that depends heavily on minorities and young people who turn out much less regularly in midterm than presidential elections.

What a difference six years makes.  The moral of the story is that you shouldn't jump to a lot of conclusions about U.S. voters.  They will surprise pundits over and over again.   

P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.