The resounding victory is the latest stride forward for a man who grew up on the beaches of Hawaii and the streets of Indonesia barely knowing his father but has gone on to become a linchpin of the Democratic Party's future. "What we have showed is that all of us can disagree without being disagreeable -- that we can set aside the scorched-earth politics, the slash-and-burn politics of the past," Obama said at a victory celebration. "We can look forward to the future. We can build, step by step." He acknowledged, though, that "I am under no illusion that we come out of this assuming that all people throughout the state of Illinois agree with me on every single position." How well Obama adjusts to going from media superstar to low man on the Senate totem pole could well determine the success of his term and his entire political future. "The Senate is a very collegial body, with its own customs . . . and a new senator can't ignore them," warned Ronald M. Levin, a law professor and congressional expert at Washington University in St. Louis. "Probably, to make too much of a slash at the outset would be counterproductive. He will have to do what other freshman senators do: pay dues, and work with senior members." [more] and [more] and [more]