I’ll begin this analysis of the election that is unfolding tonight, November 8th, at 2 a.m. CDT with a quote from my own book, “Obama’s Odyssey” (Vol. I,” which is all about the 2008 election:

FROM 2008:

“If you’ve read my analysis of why and how Hillary might lose (in Iowa), predictions I made before she DID lose in Iowa, you know that I referenced her “lackluster” speeches, her failure to take many questions, her aloof demeanor at times, her screechy voice, her lack of charisma and her plasticity on the stump. As James Stockdale (VP candidate with Ross Perot in 1992) once was put down by his opponent when he referenced JFK (and I paraphrase roughly to fit this candidate): ‘I knew Bill Clinton, Madam, and you’re no Bill Clinton.’…Let’s not forget how inaccurate the polls were in Iowa (in ’08) reporting Hillary Clinton leading at almost all junctures, only to see her finish third.
During the live debate with Charles Gibson moderating and Facebook users weighing in, the issue of likeability was raised with Hilary, as Gibson came right out and said, “They seem to like Barack Obama more.” It was Hillary’s best—and possibly only—good moment in that debate, as she said, ‘Well, that hurts my feelings, but I’m going to go on.’ Hillary has modified her appearances in New Hampshire to take questions from the audience more. I’d like to think my blog articles influenced that, but I’m too rational to take credit for what a lot of people pointed out: her plasticity, her prepared stump speech, the stiffing of the fourth-grade reporter by daughter Chelsea. To this viewer, Hillary looked, to use a colloquialism of my mother’s, ‘Mad enough to spit’ at several junctures. She took shots at Edwards. She took shots at Obama. She seemed irritable, out-of-sorts and semi-desperate in trying to make her points.”

Other blog entries from my book about the 2008 election included blog entries with titles like: “Can Hillary Cry Her Way to the White House?” and “Hillary Clinton (aka Miss Frigidaire) Losing Popularity Contest (What Are You Gonna’ Do When the Most Popular Kid in the Class Takes You On?”)

When I wrote those words back in 2008, that most popular kid was Barack Obama. Perhaps that “most popular kid” in 2016 is reality TV star Donald J. Trump.

Mike Pence has said “this is a historic night” in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s conceding the election to Donald Trump tonight—(too early, as far as I’m concerned with the election so close)— and he is right about that.

We have learned that the following events will bring down a political dynasty:
1) The FBI Director releasing statement mere days before a presidential election and then half-heartedly taking it back 2 days before the election. (You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, Folks, and this just proves it.)

2) Third party candidates who have no chance of winning siphoning off votes (Johnson/Stein), much like in 1992 with Ross Perot. Every vote that might have put HRC over the finish line that was given, instead, to Johnson or Stein or withheld because the nominee was not Bernie is responsible for this razor-thin loss.

3) Uninformed voters who are constantly barraged with negatives about one of the candidates (Hillary) for a period of literally decades. True charges? Not usually, but nevermind about that. Certainly neither candidate was a great one, but we have selected the one that knew nothing about governing anything and declared bankruptcy about 5 times and never paid any federal taxes, so good luck with him, then.

4) Blacks and millennials failing to rise to the occasion and support Hillary Rodham Clinton with the same enthusiasm they had demonstrated for Barack Obama in ’08 and ‘12.

5) Bernie’s loyal supporters who wouldn’t make the switch, no matter what.

6) The inherent difficulties of any party winning 3 consecutive terms.

7) Gender. Not only do women not receive equal treatment, other women don’t support them, either, so, sadly, our first woman nominee was beaten by THIS guy.

8) The inherent unlikeability of Hillary Rodham Clinton, which I wrote about extensively in 2008. It was recently reinforced by my visit to the rural Heartland, but I chose to ignore those tremors.

9) The Hispanic vote being taken for granted. The Hispanic vote did turn out, but it turned out selectively, trying to get rid of Sheriff Joe in Arizona, etc.

10) The media not doing a good job of coverage, but, instead, supporting a candidate who was a reality TV star. They knew him from his TV show, so he must be good, right?

11) The Rust Belt dissatisfaction with their jobs being sent overseas, which Donald Trump must now deliver on. Good luck with that, when some of the jobs have not been sent overseas but have given way to computerization. (Soon, no more truck drivers with driverless trucks).

12) Charisma, even if it is of the most obnoxious kind, was more a Trump characteristic than a Clinton characteristic. It may not be the kind of charisma that I admire, but it was apparently the kind of charisma that the electoral college voted for tonight.
Good luck to all of us as our economic indices fall faster than a speeding bullet.

I should have listened to my people in Independence, Iowa, where I recently visited, who were bound and determined that Hillary Clinton NOT be allowed to become our first woman president and that her philandering husband not be allowed near the Oval Office again.

Sad day for competent leadership.

If you know where I can purchase another keyring that counts down the years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds of the orange person’s term until he is through with this hopefully one-time term, please drop me a line, as that key-ring kept me sane through “W’s” years at the helm of the United States, ruining our economy and getting us into war.