In Victory Speech, Obama Calls For Cooperation: 'We Are Not As Divided As Our Politics Suggest'

Dan Bigman

After winning a decisive reelection victory Tuesday, President Barack Obama told thousands of supporters in Chicago that he would reach out to leaders of both parties to tackle the hard  issues that faced the country in the wake of a fiercely partisan campaign and against the backdrop of a divided congress embroiled in a historic budget battle.

"We are not as divided as our politics suggest," he said.

Obama said he rejected the idea that the nation was just "a collection of red states and blue states," even as electoral maps on television and across the Internet steadily flipped to his favor. By 2 AM, they showed Obama cruising to more than 300 electoral votes, far more than the 270 he needed to take the race, and far more than most pundits predicted. He held a lead of more than 1.1 million votes in the overall ballot total as well.

Obama said he "applauded" his opponent Mitt Romney's record of public service, and would invite him to sit down I the coming weeks to see where they could work together.

"We may have battled fiercely, but its only because we love this country deeply," he said.

It was a hopeful speech, especially for a president who returns to Washington tomorrow to face the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, as well as the approach of the so-called Fiscal Cliff and a sharply divided Congress with Democrats retaining the Senate and the GOP holding the House. But for tonight, Obama was focused on the bonds between Americans, and not the toxic politics in Washington that dominated this election cycle. From a transcript posted by The Times:

That common bond is where we must begin. Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over. And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you. I have learned from you. And you've made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.

"I've never been more hopeful about our future. I've never been more hopeful about America," he said.