What a night.
To be honest, I was so overwhelmed by everything last evening that I just couldn't post anything. So, today, here are my thoughts.
The president's reelection is significant for several reasons. First, it essentially made Citizen's United irrelevant which is a good thing. Old, rich, white douches spent millions to get rid of him and it didn't work...which brings me to my second thing. Folks, the country has changed and the GOP better get with the program. They can start by chucking the American Taliban element of their party (which has now cost them the Senate...again!) and focus on the rising demographic of Latinos. The hard line on immigration won't cut it anymore and they are going to have to change. The Andy Griffith Show America (which never existed in the first place) is gone.
In fact, the hard line on many things are going to have to change...gay marriage (past in three states yesterday and a ban defeated in my home state), women's reproductive rights (no more old white men with two dollar haircuts talking about rape) and an acceptance that people do want some form of federal government. The most important thing of all they are going to have to realize is this country is diverse and, if they are going to survive as a party, they need to embrace this.
Mitt Romney lost because he was an Etch-A-Sketch candidate. He took these hard line positions, realized he would get walloped in the general if he didn't moderate and then proceeded to be on three sides of every policy point. I am very thankful we did not elect this man. He may have had principles at one time but not any longer. As Erick Erickson said, he would do or say anything to get elected.
Younger voters...the ones that supposedly weren't going to turn out...did so in greater numbers than in 2008 (by one percentage point). This brings up my message today to some of my posters and other friends: GET OUT OF THE FUCKING BUBBLE. Stop reading the Drudge report, watching Fox news, and frequenting right wing blogs. The things they say are happening simply don't exist in reality. No problem if you want to continue to play make believe but I would hope that this election has starkly illustrated that these folks are lying and the American people now know it.
This new certainty was a long haul. Most liberals and Democrats feel a profound sense of doubt and insecurity (preyed upon by the Right) after 2000 and 2004. Now that we will four Democratic won elections to the GOP's 2 in the last 20 years to the executive branch, that doubt BS is fucking over. The Democrats have built a powerful coalition that can continually get over 300 EVs with a good candidate. The GOP hasn't done that since 1988. Perhaps they need to finally realized that they can't be the party of old, white men any longer.
I was happy to see pot made legal in three states...fire up the bong!
Gay marriage was also made legal in three states (Maine, Maryland, and Washington). It's only a matter of time for the rest of the nation.
Looks like my predictions for the Senate were accurate. They haven't called it for Tester and Heitkamp yet but they are both ahead. 55-45, with the two I's caucusing with the Dems.
As I suspected in the House, the Dems will pick up a couple of seats but still stay under 200.
Elizabeth Warren takes back the Kennedy seat....hands down, one of the best moments of the night.
In my home state, Michele won again, just like I said she would. Oh well. It will be nice to have her around to say moonbat shit and win more elections for the Democrats. Both the gay marriage ban and the voter ID amendment were defeated. Better, the Democrats took back the State House and Senate and we have an all blue state for at least two years. This is another great example of how the Right fucks everything up in going to far over to their side of the field.
It looks like Tea Party favorites Joe Walsh and Allen West will be sent packing (the latter's race hasn't been called but Murphy is ahead). That, along with the loss of both of the Rape Boys (Todd Akin and Richard Murdock) begs the question: is the Tea Party dead? I think this election says that it is. They might still be able to win some House seats here and there but not the Senate nor the presidency. That's what happens when you are obsessed with ideological purity, see compromise as weakness, have a fundamental belief in scriptural literalism, deny science, are unmoved by facts, undeterred by new information, have a hostile fear of progress, demonize education, have a need to control women's bodies, have severe Xenophobia, have a tribal mentality, are intolerant of dissent, and have a pathological hatred of the US government.
You lose election after election.
So what will the president's second term look like? Well, if I were him, I'd play hardball. He was more weight in the Senate now and a few more seats in the House. I'd reach out to the moderate GOP folks in the House and get a grand bargain on our government's finances. Hopefully some of them have seen the writing the wall: moderate or else. I'd also look to move on immigration, climate change, and education. What's going to be fun about this second term is that now the president doesn't have to worry about reelection. He can get to work on those issues he really wanted to tackled from the first term but couldn't because of how long health care took.
We are going to get see what the president really wants now for the country, unfiltered and backed by political capital. I know this makes the Right shit themselves but when the economy starts to improve, they aren't going to be able to say much. Perhaps they'll admit they were wrong.
It sure would be nice.
2 comments:
I disagree that the president should play hardball. First off, he can't. He has to avoid the fiscal cliff coming next year, and he has to work with the Republican House to resolve it.
Second, just because the president isn't up for reelection doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants. Republicans still hold the House, and and they can still filibuster in the Senate. Since all money bills originate in the House, and the Republicans control everything that comes up for a vote, he can't do anything without them. Whether we have a disaster on January 1 depends almost completely on how reasonable a guy John Boehner is.
And finally, the American people reelected him to get the job done. Most of us aren't slavishly dedicated to every policy position we hold. We're open to splitting the difference on a whole host of issues in the interest of reasonable compromise and the general welfare of the country.
Obama needs to seek reasonable compromise with the Republicans, and establish some give and take. If Republicans push aside his good faith efforts and continue to be intransigent, they'll pay for it in 2014.
Nikto . . . I agree. His, and the party's best bet is to provide results, and that means he will have to assist the right as it attempts to navigate the post-election Tea Party chemotherapy. Leaders on the fringe have vowed a renewed focus against those in the party that drew Mitt to the middle, thereby preventing his "landslide" victory. Delusional as it is, these are the people that show up to caucuses and primaries, and there is no reason to believe, at this point, they will stop. Especially if their righty incumbants decide to take a risk, and play ball. It will be fun to watch for sure.
It is clear that the left has a deeply entrenched and effective ground game, so now is the time to attack. Demographic shifts should make certain righty incumbants in newly purple states, ready to talk. Maine (Susan Collins), Georgia (Saxby Chambliss), and dare I say, Lindsay Graham, should be targeted for deal-making . . . the forces are poised to strike.
And Mitch. A 100% effort should begin on this stonewalling, anti-American douchebag, and it should begin, to-day. He should go down with the Mitt . . . he made a fools bet against B.O., and now he should be ripe for the picking. Kentucky's ass-hat populous has had the country by the balls, and this simply should not be. . . . and here's how you do it. Hand pick 50 of your most effective foot soldiers, and organize a concerted effort of tea-party sabotage - a wolf in sheep's clothing, or a Trojan Horse. Infiltrate, and boost the pressure, intimidate and threaten him with caucus/primary challenge if he fails to hold the hard right line. He must spend the next two years in hell, getting pounded from both edges of the party. Drive him out. A strong Tea Party image should make his brand straight poison come the "off-year" election where righty's will stay home, and lefties can pounce.
This GOP meltdown has only just begun, the party has a potentially fatal cancer, and will have no choice but to listen to Dr O . . . meanwhile, forces should be at work in the background. GOP rock bottom should be 2016.
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