It’s Wednesday afternoon in America November 7th and the good guys won.
I followed the campaign news and all the late polls pointed to an Obama win. Still, I am not an optimist so until the first returns started showing up, I had no idea if I would be celebrating the Obama victory or decrying the stupidity of the electorate. I was surprised at how quickly the results were known. Well, I am celebrating the victory.
In the end Romney was destroyed by the Republican primary system and the need to appeal to the most conservative voters. Romney has governed as a pragmatist but he had to campaign as a conservative. Over 20 debates he tried to create an image of a conservative, ‘severe’ conservative was the phrase he used. He also moved rightward to appeal to the top Republican donors. When it came time to run in the general election he tried to move leftward. Romney was also hurt because nobody believed he was sincere. He was hurt by his own words. He lost Ohio because he condemned the auto industry bailout (at least in print in a recent debate he tried to deny that). He managed to irritate Hispanic voters by saying the should self-deport (oddly in the last few years many have self-deported because jobs have dried up). He is almost totally tone deaf as to how he sounds. His secretly recorded discourse on the ‘47%’ was almost the last straw.
In the 70’s the Republicans understood the numbers and campaigned to those numbers. The modern Democrats now know the score better than the Republicans (no Democrat will mention gun control anymore). The Republicans have become enslaved to the tea-party and to the wealthiest donors. Until the realize elections are about gathering in the voters not appealing to one small group they won’t win again.
