With Wisconsin being called for Obama, the president's electoral vote tally has topped 270 (whoops, there goes another one with Nevada... and now Colorado, so now it's 283) and the Democrats control the White House for at least the next four years. (He's still behind in the popular vote, by the way.)
But the "four more years" refrain isn't just about that. The House of Representatives will still remain firmly in Republican hands, while it's looking like the Senate will still remain in Democratic hands. That Congressional situation will be the way it is for at least two more years.
Now that "the single most important thing" on the GOP to-do list (i.e., "achieve... for President Obama to be a one-term president") is in the crapper, maybe they'll take stock of how badly the Tea Party has led them astray and go back to being (or pretending to be) fiscal conservatives who aren't complete duckweeds on healthcare, immigration, gay rights, women's issues, etc.
In other words, it is time they realize they need to have an agenda that isn't simply "oppose whatever Obama supports and support whatever Obama opposes" (including Obamacare).
I, for one, am happy because a Romney administration would have meant working my butt off to prevent Obamacare from being repealed and then replaced with nothing (which is what the Republican-led Congress did with healthcare in the dozen years they controlled both the House and Senate during the last six years of Bill Clinton's administration and the first six years of Bush43's reign of error).
A Romney win would not have made me sad, but rather, would have made me angry and energized.
I'd like to suggest that Obama also be prepared to reach across the aisle, but one of his weaknesses has been that he tends to start from a triangulated position that takes into account what the Democrats and the Republicans might agree on, rather than starting from further left and meeting the Republicans in the middle. This is precisely why Obamacare is so similar to the conservative Heritage Foundation's healthcare proposal (from the 1990s, in the wake of Hillarycare's demise) and not a single-payer system that could have resulted if Medicare were expanded to the entire population.
If Obama does in fact go on to lose the popular vote, it will be all the more important for him to recognize that the country is still deeply divided (heck, even if he wins the popular vote) and that he needs to keep on keeping on in order to win back their support.
But for now, I'm happy. I'm happy that the vile, years-long smear campaign against Obama has failed. It was both a reflection of the deep-seated racism so many Americans still have, as well as a glorious attempt to use that racism as a blunt object.
I'm also happy to see that the Republicans have largely failed to use obstructionism in order to gain control of government. In fact, the whole notion pushed by Romney in the final days of the campaign that he, as the Republican, could put an end to that smacked of political extortion.
Indeed, winning is the best revenge.
Y'know, there is one sad thing about Romney losing the election: Now we'll never know what was in his mystery budget proposal.
As for Romney, I wish him well. I'm sure that, on a personal basis, he is a very decent man. I don't think he has any clue what people in my socioeconomic status or background go through in life, but I'm sure he's a decent man. I'd love to have a beer with him. Er, coffee. No, um... lemonade.
I'll tell you something, Governor Romney, I would have voted for you on principle if you had decided to stand by Romneycare by acknowledging that it was the near identical forerunner of Obamacare and promising to tweak it and not repeal it. But you couldn't do that, not if you wanted to win the Republican primary.
And in that vein, a note to Governor Jon Huntsman: I hope you'll run for the GOP presidential nomination again in 2016. I will vote for you in the primaries and, if by some miracle you succeed there, in the general election.
I promise. (And what makes Kushibo unsuitable for politics is that I keep my promises.)
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| Believe it or not, this graphic is from Fox News. |
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Yeah, it looks like the planet may have at least four more years, and with luck, Iran won't be attacked. I feel quite strongly that the election was NOT about the economy, but about being able to see beyond it, to wider and more profound issues, like the critical importance of a healthy environment.
ReplyDeleteRomney's concession speech was, however, gracious.