The Morning After!

Post election analysis is often a boring slog through faceless demographics and turnout numbers.  Hopefully you will find this a little more interesting.

This was supposed to be a close election.  For months the pollsters and pundits had called it a tossup.

It turned out to be a blowout…an electoral shellacking. 

As we write this the president has 303 electoral votes to Mitt Romney’s 206.  Florida is still too close to call but the numbers lean heavily toward Obama.  That’s 29 additional electoral votes in the president’s column.  332 electoral votes!    

Prior to the election most of the conversation centered on the all important nine swing states.  Romney managed to win only one…North Carolina.

Back home we call the president’s victory an ass whippin’.

So what happened?

What happened is the Republican Party failed to recognize that there is a new majority in this country…and it ain’t white men.  It’s black, Hispanic, Asian, gay and female.  And while jobs and the economy are important to this new majority, so is immigration reform, equal pay for equal work, reproductive rights, and same sex marriage.  If Republicans want their party to be a viable alternative they had better start courting this new majority.  If they don’t they will continue their slide to irrelevance.

Republicans also failed to realize that the country is just fine with a large activist government; as long as it addresses their needs.  Sure, they are concerned about the debt and deficit.  But they are unwilling to stand by and watch austerity be borne on the backs of the neediest while the rich go merrily on their way.

Finally, Republicans failed to understand that there is a price to pay for lying to the American people.  Republicans thought that Romney was actually getting away with his shape shifting.  Maybe it was Romney’s blatant lie about the auto bailout, or his refusal to retract the Jeep ads even after being called out by Jeep’s management that proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Truth and character do matter.

So how will Republicans react in the aftermath of this electoral flogging?  Can we expect a Republican Party more willing to reach across the aisle?  The task of doing the people’s business begins anew; and the “Fiscal Cliff” debate looms large.

If the post election statements released by Republican leadership are any indication; obstruction and intransigence are alive and well.

Speaker Boehner, upon learning that Republicans would maintain their control of the House, issued a statement that cast a pall over any kumbaya moment.  Boehner made it clear that any thought of increasing taxes to reduce the deficit was a non-starter.

Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, having failed to keep his promise: “to make Obama a one term president” made it clear that nothing had changed.  He said that the people had given the president a second chance to get it right.  He said that by returning the House majority to the Republicans the voters had made it clear that they expected the president to be more amenable to Republican leadership. 

For some reason McConnell failed to mention that the voters kicked three of his party’s senators to the curb in favor of Democratic replacements.

The president goes into the "Fiscal Cliff" debate riding the wave of a huge victory…his pockets stuffed full of political capital.  Will he be able to spend some of that capital to get things done?  The American people want the president to lead…and they want both parties to compromise.

We’ll soon see if the Republicans got the message.

One thing is certain. There is going to be an all out civil war within the Republican Party.  The Republican Party had the opportunity to take down a vulnerable president.   They had the opportunity to gain control of the Senate.  Cash cows poured hundreds of millions of dollars into their till. 

But instead of courting the new majority the party chose to bow to the crazy talk emanating from the radical right.  Their flawed candidate waffled like a reed blowing in the wind.  The results are devastating. 

The party is in free fall.  The finger pointing has already started.  Chris Christie, Hurricane Sandy, Romney's flawed candidacy culprits all.  The bigger picture missed.  History destined to repeat itself.

The cash cows are not happy.