The One-Term Proposition That Wasn’t

“One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years.” – Barack Obama, 2009

A number of reflections.

I have no doubt that Mitt Romney and Ann Romney gave their all in this election season. From the first debate, all the way up to Election Day, the Republican challenger looked like he had a real shot at reaching the necessary 270 electoral college votes. Last night as the results were coming in, Republicans across the country became disheartened at what we were witnessing.

While the Romney campaign might have done some mistakes over the course of this election, it wasn’t as horrible as some people will want to make it out to be. Romney’s main problem, I think, was the way in which the Obama Campaign severely damaged his public image during the summer before Romney had been properly introduced in front of a national audience. For many potential voters, that probably tainted him for the remainder of the election.

The Obama campaign also succeeded in going small and divisive. They did everything they could in order to distract from the awful economy, or to blame it on someone else (like natural disasters, or ATMs, or his predecessor).

I saw that 15%, or a similar number, of voters said that Hurricane Sandy was an important factor in their vote. I sincerely hope that’s not the case. If so, shame.

The long knives are out today, and I am going to try my best not take part in that discussion with people attacking everyone from Mitt Romney, to the mythical Establishment, to Karl Rove, to Fox News.

I’ll have to concede that my hopes for this election (as are one display here) didn’t come true. I’ll gladly admit that my prediction was based more on faith, as well as what appears to have been an erroneous reading of the electorate.  The Barack Obama-coalition from four years ago was enough to carry him to four more years. Whether that is purely an Obama-coalition, or a Democratic coalition, remains to be seen.

Finally, Brandon argues that everything essentially stays the same. I’d say that it stays the same, but worse. Obamacare, cuts to Medicare, bureaucrats in charge of health care, tax hikes, and worse medical care are now all very real. Not to mention that it is going to be hell trying to get rid of all that.

P.S. I’d reflect more on the future, but I’m really not in the mood for that mental exercise today.