About that Obama ‘Mandate’…
The president’s exceedingly narrow re-election victory hasn’t kept some liberals from anointing him the “liberal Reagan” and declaring that Obama now has a “mandate” to enact every piece of leftist dream legislation that’s been swirling around their empty heads for 50 years.
Consider: They’re still counting, but the president bested Romney in the popular vote by about 2.5 million votes out of about 120 million cast — not a nail-biter but hardly a runaway either.
The Electoral College total for the president is even more interesting. Assuming he hangs on to win Florida’s 29 EVs, Obama will end up with a 332-206 victory. This could be considered a comfortable margin, but hardly a “landslide,” which has been traditionally defined as a candidate receiving 350 EVs or more. And the president may not even end up winning Florida, which would make his EV victory 303-235.
More basic to the argument of a mandate, however, is the remarkably thin margin of victory in swing states that gave him the presidency.
* A shift of less than 50,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast would give Romney Florida.
* A shift of 110,000 votes out of more than 3.5 million cast would have given Romney Virginia.
* A shift of 105,000 votes out of more than 5 million cast would have given Romney Ohio.
* A shift of 112,000 votes out of nearly 2.5 million votes cast would have given Romney Colorado.
A billion dollars buys a lot of organization and candidate Obama did not let that money go to waste. He was able to squeeze every last Democratic vote out of the electorate to give him his margin of victory. He did not win independents. He was slaughtered by Romney in the white vote. The president was victorious not because he was able to unite us, but because he used tried and true tricks of division to drive a sharp wedge between races, sexes, classes, and age groups, slicing off his supporters into readily identifiable segments of the voting population, and then carefully targeting each audience with a tailored message designed to elicit their support.
It was bloody brilliant and it was accomplished with an array of gee-whiz technology and good old-fashioned shoe leather. American politics had not seen its like before and Republicans will be hard-pressed to catch up.
To claim a mandate, don’t you actually have to run for something? Demonizing your opponent is not running in favor of an agenda.
Romney also spent way too much time and money bashing his opponents in the primary.
In addition, vote fraud played a major part in the outcome.
There is a huge amount of evidence and some of us are compiling and posting it.
Thank you, Mr. Moran. It’s been less than 24 hours and I’m already tired of the fatalistic, gloom & doom silliness I’m seeing in other conservative commentaries.
Amen! A loss by 2% is nothing to get fatalistic about. Nothing is over until we say it’s over. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no. And it ain’t over now.
The Germans did not bomb Pear Harbor.
Don’t, he’s on a roll….
S/F, Webfoot Warrior
What the was he’s supposed to do, you moe-ron?
great movie
There is NO time for doom and gloom, you are precisely correct.
As is said, there is more than one way to skin a (leftist/radical/Islamist) cat. And there is more than enough reason to roll up ones sleeves, and start planning for the long-game. But the short-game requires MASSIVE pressure towards this end point -http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/11/08/benghazigates-underpinnings-bubbling-to-the-surface-impeachment-in-our-sights-addendum-to-northeast-intelligence-network-posits-a-direct-nexus-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/
Working on the above from my perch, others must join the fray!Those who believe that whining will cut it need to go back to sleep.
Let me stand-in for the Left’s reply to your assertion:
“Ummmm, shut UP! WE won!”
Electable is as electable does, and for all the narrowness of the margin, Romney didn’t.
Exceot that those margins are not massive. Yes Romney did lose but to read too much into that loss is a mistake.
It doesn’t matter what the margin was. The “right” side in the election won, so it’s a “historic” mandate for “change”. Each time they hike taxes further, they’ll herald it as the solution to everyone’s problems, funnel the money into a crony’s pocket, and then return to the public demanding more money. When this leads the economy to its inevitable demise, they’ll all look at one another, and blame the Koch Brothers, the Walton family, and anyone else other than themselves.
For trial and error to work, you have to acknowledge you’ve made errors. According to the President, his big mistake in his first four years was not making enough appearances on the Tonight Show. Seriously, he didn’t do a good enough job explaining how competent he was to the public.
Exactly correct on all counts.
If Obama had won by one vote, the left would have claimed a mandate. If he’d lost like Gore in 2000, and had to sue his way back into the Oval Office, they would have claimed a mandate.
If he’d lost big, declared martial law, and thrown President-Elect Romney into SuperMax, they’d have still claimed a mandate. (He might still come up with an excuse to do it; they gave that “filmmaker” a year in prison largely because it fits The One’s narrative re Benghazi, and He isn’t nearly as pissed off at that guy as He is at Romney.)
To the left, there is only one acceptable outcome for anything; they call it, “we won, now shut up and do as you’re told”. And when things go south, they immediately start screaming that they’ve been “sabotaged”, or “you didn’t fund it sufficiently!”, or “you didn’t believe hard enough!!”.
Well, they have control again. And Booossshh has been gone for four years.
Whatever happens from here on in, they own it.
On their own heads be it.
I’m just going to sit back and watch.
clear ether
eon
True about claims. I suppose they are as true as many of the other claims the Obama administration claims. The definition of truth has changed dramatically in the past few years….so has the acting ability of government officials. The media seems pretty adept at compensating for all this…..no wonder so many are going belly up.
His failure was only that he didn’t tell a good enough “story” to the American people, or so he said. Well, looks like a told a story that millions swallowed — mostly about how eeevil the squeaky-clean, exceptionally nice, habitually generous Mitt Romney is, rather than one about what a great job he’s done, because he couldn’t get enough people to believe that.
“Yes Romney did lose but to read too much into that loss is a mistake.”
Are you familiar with our political opponents? Shall I arrange an introduction?
Every time they manage a win, it is “Braod Mandate From The People” for their program.
Every time we manage a win, “the People are sick of gridlock and corruption and demand compromise”
Dems can turn on a dime. Their attitude depends on who calls the shots:
Dems under Bush: dissent is the highest form of patriotism
Dems under Obama: dissent is unpatriotic / obstructionist / racist
Dems under Bush: filibuster protects us from ‘the tyranny of the majority’
Dems under Obama: filibuster is obstructionist and must be reduced / limited
Dems under Obama: free trade creates American jobs
Dems under Bush: free trade is outsourcing American jobs
Well said.
I want to see the map red/blue but county by county!
Obama only won because he didn’t have to spend a penny on primaries and has been the worst president in US history. He has not bothered to govern the country but he did start his campaign for 2012 in Jan 2009. So this imbecilic ,incompetent fool coached by Axelrod and other worms was able to use taxpayers money to bribe enough voters to win a relatively close election. Why don’t you shut the f–k up Bilgeman rat.
There are two ways to look at the aftermath: On the one hand, Obama doesn’t owe the left anything anymore and will try to govern from the middle. Or, since he ran rough shod over the Republicans and Boehner didn’t complain, he’ll just use his executive order pens and keep riding the Republicans dirty. Everything can be overcome in time EXCEPT for the Supreme Court. We may have two perhaps three Justices retiring in 2013. And you know that with the Senate on his side, he will nominate far left wing judges (perhaps 9th Circuit court) and you can bet they will all be under 50 years old.
Oh… and forget impeachment over Benghazi or anything else. It’ll never happen. The transformation of America has already begun. As he so aptly put it to McCain in 2009; “John, I won.”
Obama will do exactly what he did the first time round, only more so. He has his dream of Utopia, and he’s going to ram it down everyone else’s throats.
He wants a world run on Holy Wind and Holy Sun, with decisions made based on mysticism. He wants a world that looks like the Indonesia he fell in love with as a youth, with nothing more complex than a plow, and it better be pulled by humans because enslaving animals is evil.
And oh yes, he wants a map of the MidEast with “Palestine” printed in big, bold letters where it used to say “Israel”.
Don’t bother trying to talk him out of any of it. In case it hasn’t sunk in by now, you, I, and the rest of reality just can’t compete with his fantasy universe.
Or the voices in his head.
clear ether
eon
The old United States of America is gone, but it will rise again. The new holy grail will be the repeal of Obamacare, and it won’t be as hard as many think. Just look at the map! This is a center-right nation EXCEPT in the urban centers. A lot of people live in those centers, true; but they are utterly dependent on the rest of the country for everything. They produce nothing except debt and ponzi schemes and derivatives. Once the producers decide enough is enough, they are helpless, just like the poor folks in Staten Island at this very moment.
Are they delusional or are you?
For goodness sake, Republicans even lost a Senate seat to a “native” American poseur who practises law illegally in Mass, and lost “shoo-in” seats in Indiana and Missouri due to stupidity of their candidates.
Republicans need to forget about nominating incoherent candidates who said stupid things like “act of God”, “will of God”.
Getting pregnant after being raped is never the will of God. The so-called cultural conservatives have pushed so far that only candidates who uttered the buzz words could win their primaries. Stop calling pro-abortion pro-choice, anti-abortion pro-life. Those are pc buzz words, when you utter them you have already lost.
Not too many people give a damn about a stranger woman deciding whether to kill her unborn baby, but a lot more peole care about forcing the woman to carry a rapist’s baby.
Careful, you’re talking too much sense.
The scarier Senate losses were in N.D. and montana: those states voted Roney but chose Senate candidates that would not have supported Romney’s positions had he been elected Pres. and will not support any conservative position now. So, why the hell did they split their tickets?
They believe in splitting the ticket to ensure neither side gets too radical and that all sides of the argument are heard. My dad in North Dakota is a big believer in doing that, and I suspect he voted accordingly.
Keep in mind that Akin was the Democrat choice for the Republican candidate.
The debt ceiling approaches. The House must be start any tax legislation. A tax increase on Hollywood, planned parenthood, trial lawyers contingency fees, and newspapers would be a good start. A special tax on lobbyists would be another option. Ending special tax deductions for city and state bonds, and a special tax on non-military government employees would bring in scads of money.
OK. The left is “delusional,” but what does that make us? Where were our phantom legions of voters? The preference cascade? The huge margin with independents?
You can’t fight delusion with delusion, unless your Hitler invading the USSR.
Good question. The signs were there, though: Romney’s audiences had energy, Obama’s not so much.
What I want to know, is this: why did so many Ohioan, Virginian, and Floridian Republicans stay home? If we just had another 100,000 or so in each State, Obama wouldn’t remain President!
I’ve heard some of those nitwits explain why they stayed home, and it boils down to “Obama is bad but Romney isn’t good enough.”
Some of them are peeved that (they claim) he marginalized evangelicals because he barely mentioned abortion or gay marriage. Others are peeved that he’s too much of a statist and they want “the GOP leadership to give us” a purer libertarian-type conservative, or else they’ll take their toys and go home and let Obama win.
Both sides — the narrow-minded social conservatives and the fantasy-land libertarian-conservatives — imagine that they’re sending a message to the great nominator in the sky to send them a perfect candidate next time, and they pat themselves on the back for the purity of their principles while watching their neighbors lose their jobs and the country slide into deeper despair.
I have nothing but contempt for those who failed to understand that unseating Obama was urgent and that the only real option on the ballot for doing that was Romney, who would have been a vastly better president. They have let the rest of us down, bigtime.
Splitting hairs does not make more hair. President Snarky in his first term promised a number of centralist themes and then went hard left on his own mandate. The only thing that is stopping him now from completely transforming America into a redistibuted central planning country is the money issue. The money burn continues up to the debt ceiling. Will the house let him raise it again, does he care, will they avoid the fiscal cliff? Will the Chinese loan more money, will the credit rating stay in tact, will President Snarky go further into a leftward tact?
Stay tuned for the next episode of, “As the stomach churns” to find out the answer to this and many more questions!
If anyone thinks Obama will exercise any self-control now, they’re in for a very rude awakening.
My guess is his next move will be to bail out the PIIGS in Europe. (Which is why every EuroUnion leader was swooning when he won the other night; they did not want Romney telling them, “No”.)
He will then turn to China to bail us out from bailing Europe out. In the belief that in the end, the EuroTeam will just pay China directly.
When they instead default (as I guarantee you they will), the American taxpayer will get hit with the bill.
He will be standing there with a deer caught in the headlights look, because as with half of his debacles, he will be blindsided due to his total ignorance of economics other than the socialist nationalized variety.
Then he’ll raise taxes again. And browbeat, berate, hector, lecture, and just generally shout at us about our “lack of true social consciousness” for thinking his plan was a stupid idea to begin with. And demand we “do our fair share” in the name of “fairness”.
When he reaches the tantrum-throwing stage, then he’ll get nasty.
He can’t help himself. It’s who he is.
clear ether
eon
If the American people issued any mandate it was a “don’t raise taxes” mandate to the House. Now, let’s see whether or not Boehner can get his act together and force both a change in entitlements and some revision of the tax code. Let’s make sure he and the rest of the Republicans understand that we meant what we said: No new taxes. That means carbon taxes, value added taxes, and general tax raises. Oh, and by the way, let’s reinstate the usual employment taxes. Just remember that if the fiscal cliff comes to pass that razor will cut in all directions. Obamacare, by the way, will add about $4000 annually to the taxes on a family of four earning $75,000. That bites!
Rick:
The narrowness of Obama’s win yesterday begs the issue. It really doesn’t matter whether 50,000 votes here or 100,000 votes there would have meant a President Romney, rather than a second-term President Obama.
The hard, cruel fact is that more than 50-percent of our neighbors yesterday traded their birthright as free men and women for the promise of more government baubles in the next four years. They willingly traded their freedom for free cell-phones, free contraception and the promise of a free-ride through college.
That is the blinding fact of yesterday’s election. No should-have-beens, no attacks on the Romney campaign strategy, no second-guessing about what Romney should have said in the second and third debates and no wishful what-ifs about a hurricane can change that stunning conclusion.
It was this fact that kept me awake last night. The country I have known and loved all my life has suddenly vanished. In its place is twisted, ugly thing that can only metastasize into outright tyranny. More than half the nation reelected a man who wipes his shoes on our Constitution, a man who has destroyed the most innovative, most effective health system the world has ever known, a man who maintains that raising taxes on our nation’s makers to give to our nation’s takers will somehow, some way, right our economic ship.
When I rose from my bed this morning, I was faced with four “firsts” that I never had faced before.
For the first time in my life I didn’t want to face a new day (and some of the days I awoke to in my long life, such as those I awoke to in Vietnam, were pretty savage.)
Second, for the first time in my life I awoke to a real fear for the future of my two sons, their wives; and their children.
Third, for the first time in my six and a half decades of life, I felt old. Deep down in my very soul I felt the weight of age. That I no-longer understood my society. That I no longer belonged. That I am a stranger in a strange land.
And finally, for the first time in my life I felt ashamed of America. I felt ashamed that we let things go so wrong, so long, that we’ve no where to go but down. That we allowed our educational system to indoctrinate our children rather than educate them. That as parents we raised children who come to adulthood not knowing the meaning of honor, integrity, duty and responsibility. That more than half of us are willing to commit societal suicide.
With yesterday’s election, we sowed the seeds of our own destruction. And now we will have to harvest the whirlwind.
Well Said-Thanks for your service and your insight… our hope is our children. I am sure you have taught yours well-know that, and I am sure things will look brighter.
Mine are younger, I am taking the opportunity provided with this learning opportunity to teach my kids…
Hoping they learn that women are more than their genitalia..
Being rich does not mean you are a murderer or a robber baron..
Media outlets are nothing more than News”porn” wrapped in earnest expression of “we are here for you”
God help us all-
“a man who maintains that raising taxes on our nation’s makers to give to our nation’s takers will somehow, some way, right our economic ship”
He never said he wanted to “right our economic ship”. The fact is he wants to control us, all our money is his to distribute to his favorites to buy votes and power, even though it means the sinking of the damned ship.
David Smith, you comment is the kind that makes me wish there was a “like” button feature here.
In the next four years, Obama will have the opportunity to replace at least 2 Supreme Court Justices. At which point, the USA’s turn to the dark side will be complete.
What the results of this election tell us is that the America that voted for Ronald Reagan is no longer with us. Conservative values are a plant that can only grow in certain cultural soils. Without an audience with the right cultural values, the Republican Party message can only ring on deaf ears. The Republican Party is now history. Not because there is anything wrong with it, but rather the population of voters that can still hear its message is fast disappearing. For the producers of this nation there are now only two political choices going forward, either a political party of capitulation or a political party of secession.
The Democrats of old were the party of slavery. They saw nothing wrong with the creation of wealth on the backs of those bound by law to serve them. The modern liberal Democrat party is still the party of economic slavery, living off the wealth of the producers who are bound to them via the tax laws and business regulations of all kinds.
The USA, as it is, is now beyond saving. Ayn Rand was incredibly prescient when she wrote Atlas Shrugged. But she got one thing tragically wrong. In her fictional world, there was a place for the producers to flee to, Galt’s Gulch. We don’t have that. What the USA needs now is a group of states to come together and become that safe-haven where hard-working and entrepreneurial people can go.
Chin up, hon–right now, Galt’s Gulch is TEXAS-come on down! As the song goes, “When I die, I may not go to Heaven, I don’t know if they let cow[girls!] in. If they don’t, just let me go to Texas, ’cause Texas is as close as I’ve been!”
William T. Sherman: If I owned Hell and Texas, I would live in Hell and rent out Texas.
Of course that was before air conditioning!
Wow. Very well expressed. I wasn’t in Vietnam, but I have had a few bad days before this one. You must believe that it is not over. Things will feel better with a little perspective of sleep and the passage of time.
Welcome to my world. CA has been a foreign country for me for over a decade. It has become a Democrat, public union and 47 percenters infested basket case. This is where the rest of you are going as well. It will only end when they run out of money. Give them all the rope they want to hang themselves. Why drag it out?
It isn’t new. It’s just been a long time. FDR hogtied the nation for 12 miserable years. Taxes were far higher as recently as 40 years ago. We go through these cycles of advancement and consolidation. It’s always been this way, and always will be. We’ve had worse times in our nation’s history, and we’ll have better ones in the years ahead.
Well put. Sadly.
Thursday is my folks 54th wedding Anniversary.
My Pops’ (as well as our Mom & their 4 children, respectively) sentiment, history is much like your own. Though he took part in the Korean War.
Ever the optimist, he told me to rely on patience and truth. Something our Illiberal friends have little of.
I believe my Pops has an infinite-like source of patience and optimism in his being a lifetime Chicago Cubs fan..!
While people are crying “Mandate” for President Obama, I don’t see it, for two reasons:
First, what did Obama run on? Mitt is Evil? What kind of mandate is that?
Second, if the American people wanted Obama to have a mandate, wouldn’t he have the House? As it is, he barely has the Senate!
The mandate is he can do whatever he damn pleases. He passes Obamacare that more than 60% of the voters wanted to repeal, yet they voted along his Party line. He has no mandate, but he mandates us to pay for Fluke’s condoms, mandates the Catholics and the rest of us to pay for someone’s abortions, mandates us to pay his bundlers. He rules by “executive order”, he doesn’t need Congress, or voters’ mandate.
We, not the leftists, are the delusional ones. We play by the rules that he and his MSM enablers have trashed. He threatens dissents, he kills American citizens and innocent bystanders in foreign lands, he let mobs invade our embassies, killing our ambassador, he refuses to answer questions, and more than 50% of the voters let him.
He is a symptom of the country’s sickness.
Obama cannot pass anything he wants. There is a legislative body called the House of Representatives which has a Republican majority. Obama had an incredible advantage as an incumbent. His handlers had the use of US treasury for the past 4 years to bribe autoworkers in Ohio among many groups the democrats bribed for their votes. He left the government in charge of the pack of rats in Congress including “100 face lifts” Pelosi and Harry Reid. He also started running anti Romney commercials in Ohio almost a year ago. He also had the most corrupt “profession” in the US the MSM doing everything they could to help him. Any sociopath like Obama with a total lack of morality and ethics, as demonstrated when he ignored the pleas of his ambassador in Libya and allowed him to be murdered, because he felt flying to Colorado and Nevada for fundraisers was more important to brainwash and raise money to lie to the most unintelligent and gullible people in the US can win reelection. But all he accomplished was winning an election . Anyone with an IQ above 80 who is sane knows Obama is one of the 2 or 3 worst Presidents in US history. Obama is now a lame duck and if anyone objectively looks at the second terms of the recent presidents they have been much worse for the reelected President. The vast majority of Obama’s his first term involved running for reelection. When he attempted to govern he showed what a total incompetent he is. Do Liberals think now that he can’t do the only thing he good at i.e. campaigning, the economics illiterate Obama will suddenly lead the nation into a great economic recovery? The country will end up like Greece and Spain.
No, he wasn’t given a mandate, just as he lost his mandate 2 years ago. But that didn’t stop him from doing an end-run around Congress and the Constitution. In his 4 years, he wrote 800 executive orders bypassing them in order to force things his way, and no one has stopped him. By comparison, previous presidents have only written 60 E.O.’s. He’s a dangerous man and this country is in trouble. It will be almost impossible to pull it back to a Constitutional Republic without bloodshed and/or splitting the country in two.
It’s taken 50+ years to create high density populated cancer centers around the nation. These areas are the product of decades of political facilitated centralization and consolidation of much of the nation’s population, economies, labor unions and poverty. It’s much easier for the government to manipulate economic, social and political values in a few hundred locations than many thousands of locations. You won’t find them investing much time and money along the West and Northeast Coasts who have long been in the progressive’s pockets, or the Southwest, Central Plains states, or the Mideast and Southeast who have become steadfast GOP bastions. The latter groupings essentially representing about half of the nation’s states and far less populated. Ironically, we have a handful of “swing-states” that have been transitioning and vacillating over time. It is within these few states where most of the monies are spent and presidential elections won.
This time around, Obama and his campaign team avoided most all the economic and jobs issues in the swing states and played to the special interests of groups such as women, minorities, labor unions and the ignorant young. That’s all it took after the GOP candidates early on, handed them sensitive social issue platforms to run on rather than the economy, jobs, debt and foreign affairs! So, they go into the most densely populated areas of the few swing states and spend a ton of money to change the dialog away from the GOP dialog. The GOP once again shoots themselves in the foot by handing them social issue platforms to manipulate and run on. A majority of women voters, strong labor union representation, growing minority base and no shortage of functional illiterates.
The remaining dem ingredient was simply voter turnout and candidate likeability. The majority of Americans like Obama as a person, orator and family man and the dem’s were able to motivate and facilitate more of their following to the polls. End of story!
“The GOP once again shoots themselves in the foot by handing them social issue platforms to manipulate and run on. A majority of women voters, strong labor union representation, growing minority base and no shortage of functional illiterates.”
The GOP did not hand them social issues, there were just more voters from the special interest groups, more functional illiterates than voters who cared about the economy and our foreign policies. More voters who would rather receive welfare checks and disability checks than to work. More women who wanted someone else to pay for their contraceptions and their abortions than women who cared for a job. More dependent Julias and sex craze Denhoms than independent women.
Feminists have thoroughly discredited themselves for sexualizing the election.
Blacks cared more about their skin color than anything else. They blamed the white folks instead of stupid policies for the destruction of their middle class. Unemployed and unemployable college and high school grads would rather receive disability checks and live in their parents’ basements than to look for jobs.
Just wonder what the American Jews do when Obama let the Arabs drive the Israelites to the sea, let the Palestinians over run Jerusalem.
What will they do? Nothing. American Jews are JINOs – Jewish in Name Only. And they will watch, maybe shed a tear or two, then return to their chief concerns, promoting diversity, making sure criminals have more rights than victims, etc. And at the bottom of their hearts, they will blame other Jews (Israelis) for what happens.
And what’s O teed up for our contemplation?
A carbon tax. Once Roberts declared the Obamacare mandate a tax, he didn’t send back to the legislature for processing in accordance with the rules for generating taxes and that opened the door for Obama to impose a tax by any means he can get away with.
If the Republican Party wants to reach the dumbded-down youth of America, it needs to disassociate itself from the social-issues side show.
That means staying out of abortion, legalizing marijuana etc. Let the States decide.
And they need to re-examine their position on stable money. Isn’t it interesting that the same cabal of people run the Treasury? No difference between Republicans and Democrats there. And stable money is the true engine of the economy.
“That means staying out of abortion, legalizing marijuana etc. Let the States decide.”
Isn’t that what the GOP is trying to do by opposing FEDERAL involvement in abortion? Roe vs Wade took the decision out of the hands of the states. It was slowly but surely making its way through various legislatures when the Supreme Court discovered ‘right to privacy’ in the Constitution. Liberals don’t want states deciding on this or gay marriage or much of anything else.
It’ll be very costly to our Nation, but maybe, just maybe, we’ll see Obama and his ilk “hoist on their own petard”.
This could happen. Socialism is innately top heavy, just ask the Greeks right this hour and earlier – the dour Soviet Russians, East Germans…..and the others.
I simply can’t understand this shortsightedness on the parts of these blind-lemming
Obama supporters.
They literally know not what they do, but I think they’ll find out at the expense of the rest of us. Not pretty, but be ready for it.
Sorry, folks, but you are living in a banana republic, now, and it’s never going to get better. I’m a British Americanophile; I wish I were wrong, but I’m not. Economically, militarily, constitutionally, diplomatically – pick your adverb, Obama has already screwed your magnificent country in his first four years. Now you have four more years of the same.
I really appreciate what you Americans have done for the free world. It’s a colossal shame to see that stop. Thanks, thanks beyond measure, for everything.
“Now you have four more years of the same.”
Aren’t you the optimist? The “same” will be the best scenario. He kept saying things could be worse, and he is going to prove it in the next four years.
Re:
“I really appreciate what you Americans have done for the free world. It’s a colossal shame to see that stop. Thanks, thanks beyond measure, for everything.”
Thanks very much for your kind words on our America. I mean that.
CG.
to obama, a margin of victory of one vote is a mandate. “i won.”
As of today, we are Europe without the control of the EU.
The Constitution, ignored in the last 4 years will now be balled up and tossed in the circular file.
Selective rule of law will be replaced by persecutory practice.
Obamacare will soon start shuttering small business.
Whatever the IRS and HHS doesn’t pile drive into oblivion will be hammered by the EPA.
Card check and Union intimidation will be given free reign.
This Administration didn’t need a mandate to do the damage done to date…
Why panic? The sky is still above, and the ground is still under our feet. Did we lose the battle? Yes. Did we lose the war? Hell, no! The situation is the same as it was three days ago: Obama is in the White House, the Congress is divided, and the financial disaster is looming.
Yes, Romney lost. He lost because he is too decent and noble, and because he never experienced anything as brutal, dishonest, and ruthless as the Chicago political bulldozer skillfully driven by David Axelrod and supported by the MSM. These elections were not about the future of America, because nobody cares about this in Washington DC nowadays. The campaign was just to have Obama for four more years in the White House.
Yes, we know that schools and colleges, media, and Hollywood are not on our side, and they do not have to be. This did not happen yesterday, it has been so since the 1960s.
What are the real accomplishments of Obama-Axelrod? There aren’t too many. What can you name besides the Obamacare and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? These are their accomplishments in four (!) years.
We lost this battle because we were sure that the enthusiasm of Republicans was so big that they would flood the polling stations and overwhelmingly vote for Romney. That did not happen. To make it happen the Republicans should have followed their rivals’ example – to have people on the ground in the key states since 2009. Axelrod and his community organizer outsmarted us, and we have to recognize it and learn from it.
The Obama economy is not going to bring miracles, so the goal for the next two years is difficult but achievable – to retain control of the House and regain control of the Senate.
Republicans in Congress should be relentless in attacking Obama on every issue that is politically damaging for him. Such attacks should be actively promoted through all possible media outlets including social media. Senators and congressional representatives who care should not be afraid to be bold and razor-sharp in speaking publicly and loudly about the president’s policies. Using diplomatic and polite language with the Chicago political thugs is a sign of weakness. The laud investigation of Bengazi should be the priority of the day now. The negative campaign similar to the one against Romney should run non-stop. We have to use the methods of our opponents.
The media? It is a long due to create a media company capable telling the truth and standing against liberal liars that control the media market in this country. Maybe Mr. Romney can help in creating such a company?:))
I guess it’s time to school you on liberal/progressive media think.
Years ago, a little media company decided to start a news channel on cable. This little news channel decided on the slogan “Fair & Balanced”. While I was living in Europe, this little news channel was slammed as right wing propaganda(in Germany,right wing invokes fears of Nazis). Here, it was considered the Satan Network by libs/progressives. Anything coming across their airwaves is immediately dismissed and ridiculed as spin with no validity and considered hate speech.
Politico is considered right-wing, rethuglican.
The newspapers and the big 3 broadcast networks are all considered to be owned by rethuglicans.Even NPR is considered a sketchy source of news.
Rachel Maddow is considered the queen of progressiveville. Take any MSNBC nutjob in any descending order and you have the trusted sources of the libs/progressives.
Just go to Alternet and read just the headline of any story and then hit the comment section.
In dealing with the moonbat mind, they wouldn’t know the truth if you wrote it on the end of a 2 x 4 and hit them between the eyes.
I understand that. We should care less what liberals think. They are not a majority in this country.
As shown by the last 2 elections they are the majority that shows up and that’s what matters.
My point is simply the creating of a media company to “tell the truth and stand against the liberal liars” has been done. This site as well as other conservative leaning sites are only preaching to the choir.
When Clinton was able to get away with saying “it depends on what the meaning of is, is” the media took a dive. They’ve yet to get back up.
So “cap and trade” would raise 151 billion by 2021 to help with the deficit? A trillion dollars is one thousand billions. The deficit today is 16 trillion or 16,000 billions. How is a measley 151 billion over 9 years going to help with that? Given what it would do to businesses, we would probably end up losing money.
I understand this. We should care less what liberals think. They are not a majority in this country.
Duh huh? Did you miss last night?
They show up to vote. As the old saying goes, “Half of everything is just showing up”.
In any gang fight, if there’s five on your side, and six on the other side, bet on the six. They have one spare guy to work with.
And the left loves to make everything a gang fight. They know how to win those.
clear ether
eon
The delusional left? Sorry, it is we on the right who are delusional. We put our faith in rational argument. Not comprehending how far the nation is from that. America is now a nation that feels, not thinks. It is one that will continue to react to pain. But the MSM will help us through all that.
Excellent point Dr. Frank. Our education system is not teaching critical thinking.
I didn’t. Only 38% of Republicans voted. Most of conservatives stayed at home. Why?
Because Romney was trying to appeal to moderates.
No, Walt. It’s because Romney WASN’T trying to appeal to us moderates.
Given the (unreasonable) hate the right has for Obama, Romney had very little to fear about losing the right-wing voter. Oh, he had some issues regarding his religion, but he overcame those quite well, if not with quite as much style as Kennedy defused his Catholic status. But Romney (or, to be fair, his campaign managers) was too afraid of alienating his extreme-right supporters to stand up and point out that he WASN’T an extremist – and thus try and get the moderate right on his side.
Look at abortion. I’m no fan of Roe-vs-Wade, as I think it’s a bad ruling and bad law. But I’m all for abortions in the case of rape, or when the mother’s life is in danger (and yes, that most certainly does happen, no-longer-senator brainless moron). But when the extremist absolutists piped up:
Romney said nothing.
An extremist drive has been going on against contraception. Given our teen birth rates, and populaton pressures in our inner cities, does this make sense? TO ANYONE? But:
Romney said nothing.
And this pattern repeated, and repeated. He didn’t slap down the idiots – if anthing, he courted them. So, those of us who maybe aren’t as radical as you – yeah, call us RINO’s if you want to, but remember, we still vote – were left with a choice: Support a guy with views too radical to stomach, but who’s economic policies we like, or vote for Obama.
I voted Obama.
Suppporting the hard-right alone is NOT enough to get you elected. Obama got the moderates on his side…and four more years.
If Obama slapped down the idiots in his party, Biden would be punch drunk. And if abortion and contraception are all you have to worry about your life should be just peaches and cream because both are widely available.
Meanwhile there are a few folks a little concern about the economy. And say have you heard about Bengaizi.
What “extremist drive” has been going on against contraception? Where? By whom?? And whoever said he would deny an abortion to a woman whose life was endangered by continuing the pregnancy???
And why is the guy who said he would not deny life to the child conceived by rape the extremist? What about the guy who thinks Roe was a great decision, the right decision, the kind of decision the Justices he would appoint would make? What about the guy who would provide a tax-payer funded abortion on demand to any female, any time, any place, under any circumstance? What about the guy who says when a woman (or a girl) goes in for an abortion, she’s entitled to a dead fetus even when the procedure inadvertently results in a live baby who then has to be abandoned in a janitor’s closet to die of neglect? How come that guy isn’t the extremist, Mr. Moderate??
And this pattern repeated, and repeated. What pattern? Who are the idiots Romney refused to slap down? I know of two Senate candidates who on two occasions said stupid, one of them remarkably stupid, things about abortion. Who else did Romney fail to punish for offending your moderate sensibilities??
And please tell us why in this election with so much at stake did the issues of contraception and abortion, neither of which was in danger, inform your vote (I’ll bet you feel nothing but scorn for the religious voter who would put pro-life issues above all else).
This is what’s so difficult about trying to appeal to “moderates.” It’s hard to fathom what goes on in their fevered little minds, hard to figure their priorities. They seem to have no real guiding principles and can turn on a dime. Why, some are even swayed by the contrived image of an empty bomber jacket looking all “presidential” and concerned on a storm-ravaged New Jersey beach.
My apologies – it wasn’t a senator. It was Representative Joe Walsh who claimed there was no legitimate purpose in aborting a fetus to save the mother.
And no, I do not scorn the radical right. They have their position, I have mine, and that’s just fine. The problem was, Romney was representing them, and he wasn’t representing me. So why should I vote for him? Why should I vote for someone who doesn’t agree with my positions? Especially when Obama, by and large, does?
Romney made no effort to get me, or other moderates, on side. Obama did. And while I have plenty of problems with Obama, he hasn’t been a complete disaster and is doing things I like.
I could have voted for Romney. He could have been my candidate. His choice.
I admit I missed the Walsh thing. What a maroon. In any event, Walsh and the other two paid by for their intemperate remarks by losing their elections. Why in the world would you choose to punish Mitt Romney for their idiocies?
Barack Obama courted moderates? How, pray tell? With his class and gender warfare? With his nasty campaign? With his demonization of the opposition? With his idiot running mate? With his identity politics dividing voters into blocs defined by race, gender and ethnicity? By refusing to take responsibility for the policies of his first term and blaming his lack of economic progress on his predecessor and Congressional Republicans? By his refusal to lay out specifics for his second term? By his refusal to come clean about the terrorist attack in Libya? By using his office to award his constituencies and donors with taxpayer money and tax subsidies? By using that same office to choose economic winners and losers? By using his executive order privilege to circumvent established law in order to pander to select groups of voters?
What exactly was it about the man, his presidency and his campaign that so appealed to you moderates??
He wasn’t the guy whose most extreme supporters scare the hell out of us.
Obama has done a lot of bad stuff. You’ve listed some of it (though I disagree with you on a number of the things you’ve said – the race aspect, frankly, has been nothing but a right-wing beat up, and Obama’s campaign was no worse (and in some ways a lot better, insult-wise) than Romneys). But Obama’s support ends at the far left – the nutjob socialists and communists won’t vote for him. The nutjob right, on the other hand, was firmly in Romney’s pocket. And the farther you are from the religious right and the Tea Party, the more they look like the biggest threat to America that exists today. Forget radical Islam – all they can do is blow some stuff up. Radical Christianity could destroy everything good about America, in the guise of saving it.
I don’t think Romney is a radical. But I’m not certain. I am certain Barack Obama isn’t.
Also, sorry, but many of your concerns aren’t mine. I’m more interested in the economy, in my nephews’ and neices’ welfare, in having a reasonable wage waiting for me when I get back to the US. And yes, I blame the economy on Bush. He got us into two wars, one of which we didn’t need to fight, and tanked the economy doing it. Obama got us out of one and is dealing as best he can with the other. Obama passed Obamacare, and I LIKE that, because now I don’t have to worry about where the money will come from if I need, say, a heart bypass operation or cancer treatment. Romney more or less said he would kill it.
I can see your point of view. I don’t share it.
If we are going to murder the children of rapists, perhaps we should start with Chelsey Clinton. Oh, but that would violate the provision of the Constitution that forbids corruption of the blood. Never mind!
Or perhaps, just perhaps, we should confine the punishment of crime to the person who committed the crime. Perhaps we should support the death penalty for rapists. And develop a standard form for consent, that has to be notarized within 24 hours before the event.
Kevin, You’re right in many respects. Most of the GOP candidates ran from the extreme right in the primary. Then the prevailing winner of that mess tried to remain the extreme right candidate until late into the general campaign and then turn back to the center far to late.
The ‘common majority’ of traditional democrats and republicans are centrists who share most of the core religious and constitutional values. Our greatest presidents had a great understanding of this and garnered cross party support as a result. Just go back no farther than JFK and Ronald Reagan. Even Bill Clintons second term from the center garnered him recognition across party lines as a pretty decent president.
In the critical swing states where the Tea Party folks took over control in 2010 President Obama carried every one of them by running mostly on labor and social issues. Now, we continue on with our federal government being run by each parties extreme idealog factions at a most crtical economic time for our nation.
When the extremes rise up to take control of the parties, America loses.
Thank God the moderates are in control of the Democratic party.
The “moderates” of the democrat party since the early 60s have only been in power of their party a few times — mostly during the 80s. Other than that its been the forming and now established progressives and their allied caucuses.
America loses when the media successfully persuade the majority of voters that every Democrat is by definition moderate, including the radicals whose aim is “fundamental transformation” and whose method is “by any means necessary,” and that every Republican who respects the Constitution and follows the rules is by definition “extreme,” even if their views are shared by at least half the population.
The media always identified the Arizona immigration bill as “controversial,” even though it was heavily supported in the state and beyond, and even by a majority of Latinos in Arizona. But they never, ever describe Oamacare as “controversial” even though it’s still opposed by the majority of Americans.
America lose when it lets the leftist media define reality.
America loses when non-leftists allow leftists to win because the candidates on the ballot have one or two imperfections.
So, you don’t like the “extreme” Mitt Romney (former governor of Massachusetts) because he didn’t say bad things about social conservatives (some of whom thought he abandoned them) — and instead you voted for the hard-left Marxist ideologue whose stated goal is “fundamentally transforming the United States of America” into place that’s poorer, weaker, and much less free.
Obama’s dismal economic record and contempt for constitutional limitations and egregious negligence and mendacity over Benghazi (and Fast and Furious) didn’t bother you as much as the fact that Romney didn’t go out of his way to alienate social conservatives.
Priorities, priorities.
Mandate? NAH! Opportunity for Obama to implode himself and Democratic Party.
Obama’s 2008 election strategy vs. his 2012:
Mr. Obama’s 2008 Presidential Candidacy reviewed:
1) Number of states won by: Obama=19…..McCain=29
2) Square miles of land won by: Obama=580,000…..McCain=2,427,000
3) Population of counties won by: Obama=127 million….McCain=143 million
4) Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:Obama=13.2…..McCain=2.1
Conclusion: the map of the territory McCain won, was mostly land owned by taxpaying citizens of the Country. Obama’s territory, on the other hand, mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off of various forms of government welfare. Recently, estimates have this population total somewhere around 47 million.
Fast forward to 2012:
#1. (2 June 2012) In 2011, federal spending on 79 programs to provide cash, food, housing, medical care, social services, training and targeted education for low-income people was $717 billion. State contributions to these federal programs added another $201 billion and independent state programs added $9 billion … total welfare spending of $927 billion. After adjusting for inflation and population growth, the amount for cash, food and housing was 50% more than in 1991. (Source: 29 May 2012 National Center for Policy Analysis)
#2. (17 February 2012) In 1984, only 14.8% of Americans paid no federal income tax. In 2009, 49.5% (152 million) paid none. (Source: 8 February 2012 Investor’s Business Daily, Heritage Foundation).
Mr. Obama’s Electoral team (on the other hand) has decided on a “segmenting” strategy (not one similar to 2008’s) and one sees as delivering the White House. Esteemed political philosophers have issued scathing remarks regarding Mr Obama’s plans to salvage America’s ailing economy, saying that his policy solely consists of ‘financial confidence and food stamps’. Examples of Mr. Obama’s Electoral “segmented’ base 2012 strategy are:
#1 In 2009, approximately 4 million Americans fell out of the middle class and now live below the federal poverty line.
#2 The number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program has set a new all-time record for 20 consecutive months.
#3 In July (the last month for which data is available), 41.8 million Americans were on food stamps.
#4 The number of Americans in the food stamp program skyrocketed more than 55 percent between December 2007 and July 2010.
#5 In 2009, more than 48 million Americans were enrolled in the Medicaid program.
#6 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the U.S. government.
This is what got Mr. Obama re-elected, no magic, no mystery. Plain hookum! Most number of Republican governors elected. Wisconsin for the first time ever has a Republican Governor, Senate and Parliament. NAH! Republicans are doing just fine, no panic. Just plenty of hard work ahead. Mr. Obama will implode himself and Democratic Party by next elections in 2016. God Bless America. Amen. Pray.
Here’s why: Obama’s “to-do” list for 2012 – 2016:
1. Deficit Control Act 2011 – auto spending cuts
2. increased taxes
3. Debt limit (federal deficit)
4. cabinet members & Regulatory chiefs
5. Syria, WMD’s – Iran
6. Economy
7. Unemployment
8. Government gridlock
No President has had this complex series of issues to tackle & resolve…ever! That’s why Obama and the Democratic Party will implode.
The most important factor you have left off your list. Obama does not want to fix anything. His job is to destroy the country. Therefore, your list is meaningless.
I am totally convinced that Americans are the stupidest people in the world!
This is a fairly close replay of the 2004 election, when the left scoffed at the notion that Bush had a “mandate” after his devoted base helped him win an election he probably should not have won.
There’s been some explosive concerns about “expanding demographic” scenario. The GOP must surely adapt to survive, but let’s take this with a grain of salt. I think what we witnessed was more of an inspired “Obama coalition” than a permanent electorate that will doom us everywhere. When the excitement dies down in an year or two, the apathy will return.
There’s been some talks about Asians asserting themselves. Well, as an Asian, I’m fairly certain that most of them will stay home for issue driven races (such as union and pension reform) in the future. Obama was the “it” candidate for the ages, people had to get in on the action. But this dangerous coalition couldn’t hand the house to the dems, and the union power grab in OH failed.
Immigrants do warm up a bit to “native son” candidates, even if they’re Republicans. Any kind of image makeover for the GOP needs a charismatic minority candidate in the mold of Rubio. There’s still some 40 states where locking down the white vote and a normal turnout from minorities will be enough to win elections.
It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Rubio is our candidate in 2018.
It boggles my mind why any Asians would vote for Obama. They get screwed by policies like affirmative action and higher taxes even more than whites. Asians are statistically the most successful ethnic group, even more so than whites, so Obama’s socialist platform of enforced equality of outcome hurts them the worst. If anything they’re the only minority that could still legitimately claim to be persecuted and discriminated against in this country, and it ain’t coming from the right. Obama’s rainbow coalition of special handouts and unequal protection under the law advantages for certain ethnic and interest groups does not include anything for Asians, in fact it comes at their expense. Why the hell would they vote for that? Especially any whose family has recently emigrated from China, Taiwan, Korea, etc. You’d think they’d had enough of living under the shadow of communism.
Quit falling for the meme that the Republicans lost because of their message, and must become more leftist in response. That is a con. They lost due to cheating in the vote counts, demonstrated by the unbelievably high participation rates in swing states and the laughable claim that turnout was below 2008.
Republicans should double down on poll integrity: no early voting, no registration at any place but a specific voter registration office, no same day registration, voter ID at the polls, purple ink on the thumb at voting, and serious time for vote fraud convictions.
One cannot reach out to Democrat constituencies without promising to buy them off. One may as well become a Democrat.
I tend to agree with you that Obama did not actually win more legitimate votes, though I’m sure he got 100% of the vote from the Chicago residents who were bused in to Wisconsin polling places with fake utility bills as ID.
It’s hard to believe that Republican turnout was down when so many people in conservative precincts reported the longest lines they had ever seen. The energy on the ground for Romney was much higher than for Obama (or for McCain in ’08). It was obvious that internal polling in both campaigns pointed to a Romney victory. While the Sandy photo op and the Christie bear hug swayed some idiots, it couldn’t have been enough to account for the statistical anomalies, much less the late-in-the-day swings from R. to O.
It all stinks, badly.
Some idiot conservatives thought they would teach somebody a lesson by sitting home, but that happened in ’08 tool.
A margin of 2% is a mandate these days.
You speak as if Obama cares about the ‘fiscal cliff’, or saving the economy or in any other manner, helping America. He could care less. A mandate speaks to conventional politics. This is socialism writ large and he will continue his destruction of America. You need to move your brain out of the Constitutional Rebublic that was America and into the new lawlesness that Obama and his thugs breed.
Winning by only 2% is NOT a mandate! He didn’t have one the first time, either! HALF of America voted saying he sucked! It’s only the other half that disagrees. We have precisely 4 years to find a REAL conservative to take it all back in 2016. You can pretty much guarantee that the Dems will trot ole Hillary out. I’d say, basically, that just about ANY (conservative) republican can beat her! Our biggest chore will be to weed out all the RINO’s and replace them with good conservative & Constitution-loving fresh blood. WE NEED them! We also need to figure out how to appeal to a younger crowd, one’s who understand that there IS no free lunch. When you work for yourself and your family’s best interest you don’t have to answer to anyone else. When the government GIVES you everything, they can also take it away! This makes you a SLAVE to their dictates. READ the US Constitution: it spells out your rights and duties, delineating how to live a life of freedom. I didn’t serve my country so that people could live in slavery! America, land of the free and home of the brave. Any other way is just insanity.
If you want to continue living in the reich-wing bubble inoculated from reality, be my guest.
In that bubble Republicans can toss around comments like “legitimate rape” with aplomb and no one notices but it doesn’t work that way outside the bubble. So also your argument that this election was all about Obama campaign’s ability to divide the electorate and micro-target their constituencies. Keep thinking that way, please. And, oh, I would suggest you suggest loudly and often that the Republicans lost because they weren’t conservative enough, please, and lets hear MORE about God’s will in instances of rape. Women love that shit.
Besides this kind of clueless, what really lost this race for the Republicans was their cynical, treasonous, scorched-earth strategy to oppose any and all attempts by Obama and the Democrats to get this country back on track. They held the economy of the country hostage so that they could create a failed presidency to run against and then – and I’m not making this up – claimed that only Rawmoney would be able to work with them to break this gridlock, which, of course, was Obama’s fault. Somehow they thought voters would not only ignore the treasonous betrayal of America’s interests for the pursuit of political power by the Republicans but reward this extortion by voting for Rawmoney.
Even though that reasoning failed and the Republicans lost the race for the White House as well as numerous key Senate races, they’re now signaling that they’ll continue to oppose higher taxes on the richest Americans as part of a budget compromise to avoid the “fiscal cliff” and the markets dropped dramatically yesterday because of the fear of political stalemate.
It’s time for Republicans to escape from the bubble and stop puttin the interests of a small, rich plutocracy over the good of the country.
Wow talk about living in a bubble. Every policy concerning the economy enacted by the left has a historical record showing failure.
More kool-aid anyone?
Eight of the ten richest counties in America voted for Obama. That’s pretty much typical for Democrats.
Total Democrat control in California is turning the state into a place that’s hospitable only to the wealthy and the poor who take government handouts. Aside from overpaid public employees, the middle class is being squeezed out by Democrat policies.
Obama’s aim is to make the whole country like that. He admires dictatorships where an extremely powerful ruling class pretends to bring equality to the peons, but it’s equality in poverty.
Obama said that under his energy plan, “electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket.” I don’t know any non-rich people who think that’s a good idea. He also made used cars more expensive with the stupid “cash for clunkers,” while taxpayers subsidize expensive electric cars for the well-to-do.
He’s making our money worth less. The rich don’t care because they’ve go plenty. It hurts only the non-rich.
“they’ll continue to oppose higher taxes on the richest Americans as part of a budget compromise to avoid the “fiscal cliff” and the markets dropped dramatically yesterday because of the fear of political stalemate.”
The other way to look at this is that Obama is willing to run us right off the fiscal cliff if he doesn’t get his way on punishing the wealthy. He’s the one holding the country hostage to ideology, and that’s all this is, because any revenue raised by ending tax cuts on “the rich” is a tiny drop in the bucket of what he spends. It is purely symbolic and vindictive, it does not solve the problem, yet he will veto any bill the house passes that doesn’t follow his ideology. The house must pass the bill FIRST, but then he will veto it if he doesn’t get what he wants. HE is the one holding the nation hostage with the veto, learn how the government works for god’s sake.
Oh and the Democrats had two years when they could have passed any bill they wanted, but they wasted them on Obamacare, which the nation did not want. The result is that they lost the house to Republicans who ran explicitly on a platform of stopping Obama’s agenda. The voters put them there to do a job and they’ve been trying to keep their promise. Don’t blame them, blame the voters who put them there. If you don’t like it, then maybe next time you should actually focus on the economy like you promised instead of cramming Obamacare down our throats. The Democrats have nobody but themselves to blame that they lost the house. Nothing else will get done for 4-6 years because you over reached with Obamacare. Hope it was worth it.