1) The technical wizardry and knowledge of the young Obama workers far outstripped the more pedestrian team working for Romney, just as it overpowered the Clinton candidacy in 2008. (Look for Obama to “help” Hillary to run, should she gear up, in 2016, and that will be all it will take, even if we don’t “like” Hillary as well. She has proven herself competent and that Ryan runt will be all over the next nomination for the Republicans as will Christie and Rubio.)
Rubio has the charisma factor. Ryan, for me, does not.He failed to carry his home state and his own home town (Janesville, WI). Nor did Ryan “work” for the millions of baby-boomers who feared what he would do to what have been dubbed “entitlement programs.” Hillary’s choice of a VP will be crucial in 2016. It will have to be a man with singular experience in government and someone relatively young, in order to corral the youth vote. (If not Hillary, who?)
2) Sandy, the storm: Was there ever a luckier event in terms of politics, for showing across-the-aisle bi-partisan working together-ness? When the Republican Governor comes out and embraces the Democratic President, how sweet is that? Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, personifies the dug-in prejudices that have mired us in stasis for half of Obama’s first term. I look for him to find a way around this aggravation, as much as he can.
3) Obama is a once-in-a-generation figure. He has “it,” that indefinable charismatic cool. He is calm under pressure, smart, and he was voted as being more “in touch” by 53% of the nation (as opposed to 43% for Romney).
Dear Connie (from friend Pam), in response:
1) I do think that barring anything really unusual happening, Hilary has an excellent change to become president in 2016. I don’t think the Republicans will run anyone who can match her. They have good candidates, Chris Christie for one. However, I think he is too independent and moderate for the Republican hierarchy (Think of his recent praise for President Obama after super storm Sandy. What real conservative would have said one kind word about our president?)
I don’t think Paul Ryan has broad enough appeal to win a national election. His budget was a give-away to the rich and a complete take- away for the poor. There are more poor people in this country than there are rich people— WAY more. Will the Republicans really run a Hispanic candidate? An Indian? Maybe, but how would that play in the Deep South and the border states? (What would Rush say? Or do, he’d probably have a melt-down not unlike his poor treatment of the young woman who attempted to testify before Congress about a woman’s right to choose.
2) I agree that the choice of VP for Hillary is critical. It has to be someone with a lot going for him (definitely a man). However, he can’t overshadow Hillary. If he does, that would make her look weak. She certainly is not weak, but remember how the press pounced on her tearing up during the primary campaign in 2008? That hurt her a lot, I thought. (*Note: I thought it humanized her, but this is a good friend and fellow political junkie’s opinion)
People, especially men, are always ready to think a woman is weak or too emotional. Actually, I think she should find someone who is moderate and acceptable to many moderate Republicans. It’s too bad Huntsman is a Republican; I thought he was very credible. I think Huntsman would have been a far better candidate for the Republicans than Romney. (*On the Sunday morning news talk shows, Joe Scarborough, et. al., described Romney as “a flawed candidate.”)
3) President Obama definitely has the “it” factor. The future is hard to predict but if he has any luck at all, I think he will go down as one of our most important, transformational and influential presidents. It’s not just because he is African-American; he’s smart and he sticks to his principles. True, he gave in on the Bush tax cuts once, but not until he was backed into a nearly impossible corner. Obama’s health care bill is not perfect; the Republicans are responsible for watering it down and making it less effective than it could have been. Still, as Biden said at the time, “This is a big f***** deal.”
4)I am hoping that Mitch McConnell is beaten in a primary fight; I’m hoping that instead his district is represented by an Aiken or a Murdock. It would be fitting. What an &***&& McConnell is!
________________
(Me again, the Associated Content Content Producer of the Year 2008 for Politics, if you wondered where this woman gets off, I’ve followed the primaries, in particular, closely since 2004 and also reported from inside the DNC, RNC, Ron Paul Rally for the Republic, Belmont Town Hall Meeting, and Rudy’s race in Florida (which was more of a stroll, really,) in 2008:
5) Where was I? Oh, yes, the relatability factor: Who could EVER think that a rich millionaire was more like “us?” There was a HILARIOUS clip from Letterman that showed Mitt commenting and it was devastatingly funny and devastatingly on target. There was also a very funny skit on Jimmy Fallon where Obama says to Mitt (Fallon) something like, “At least you created one job, Mitt…for me.”
6) Let us also not forget that Mitt never did release all of his tax returns, despite his own FATHER saying you had to release at least 10 to 12 years of same. This is a man who doesn’t even support his country to the extent that his vast wealth would allow him to do, through taxation. Yet he wanted us to elect him President of that country. He gave a good concession speech, but claimed he had not even written one, prior to election night.
I do hope this stunning defeat for Karl Rove puts him out of politics forever. He was 1 for 10. Sheldon Adelman lost $60 mill on the election. I LOVED the tape where Obama thanked the Chicago workers and teared up. [I only wish I had had the stamina and youth and know-how to HAVE BEEN one of them.]
7) Women: as we have discussed. Women in America like Obama and, while they might also have liked Romney as a person, the things he wanted to do were not in the best interests of modern women. I read that women went for Obama by a wide margin of something like 11% points. I think that people who are right-thinking people just really “liked” Obama, when compared to Mitt.
8) Did you read the piece about Ted Kennedy’s game plan when he ran against Romney in Massachusetts being resurrected again in this race? Take Mitt’s so-called “strength” (i.e., his business expertise) and find the people whose jobs he outsourced and let THEM tell it like it was! [I heard they found eighteen of them and some of them were so vehement that they couldn’t use the remarks on the air in the TV spots. (lol… And so it goes.]
6) They are predicting that AZ, that bastion of nut cases, may well become a blue state as it becomes more Hispanic. [Get ready, AZ.] And get rid of that woman Governor! Who did she think she was, shaking her finger in the face of the President of the United States like a scolding schoolmarm.
7) I feel we have “saved” the Supreme Court and it will now (potentially) re-address this ridiculous ruling about pouring $ into races. In case people didn’t notice, it didn’t work…although I did shell out a standard amount of his contributions for Obama, when asked. Most of Obama’s donors were in the $50 range. Doesn’t sound like much compared to $60 million of the $1 billion Rove and the gang raised and spent, but it’s still money out of my pocket. I also have, framed, the very first Obamacare announcement he made in Iowa City, the declaration of this now “law of the land.” I’m going to get it out and hang it up somewhere, since Obamacare is now here to stay. Did you see the “Newsweek,” that declared Obama to be “this generation’s Lincoln?” I hope that does not extend to Lincoln’s demise. I fear it. Some nutty female employee of a Cold Stone Creamery posted a rant with the “n” word and a veiled threat and lost her job, as well she should, for articulating such threats, idle or no. Then there are the petitions to secede from the South. (Maybe they could have Texas, with “W” there?) Sounds like Lincoln’s “a nation divided cannot stand” Civil War years 1861-1865.
8)
Antonio Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles since 2005 and Chairman of the Democratic Party.
One person who has not been mentioned much in the political talk for 2016 is the Mayor of LA, with whom I posed back in 2008 inside the Pepsi Center in Denver, Antonio Villaraigosa. He is a good-looking Latino male, charming and handsome and has just completed a term as Chairperson of the DNC. On the downside, not unlike Bill Clinton, he has had a wandering eye. [Got caught in a scandal with a TV newswoman while in office.]
I listened to a woman on a Sunday talk show describe being inside McCormick Place on election night and I felt so bad that I could not pull that off. (Started too late to request passes after the Film Festival). She said that when it went up on the board that Ohio had broken for Obama, the place just was electric. How I wish I had been there! It was history in the making.
Instead, I went out, camera in hand, and tried to capture a few images of people in the city and spoke to some of these people anonymously. (Shopgirls, cabbies, people in a bar). And then I went on my merry way, because I WAS merry and happy and watching the returns in Chicago.
I was relatively quiescent in politics for years, because I was completely disillusioned by the death of JFK ; Howard Dean brought me back into politics, so, ostensibly, that makes me a liberal and proud of it. BUT, I voted for 2 Republicans on the local ballot, so maybe I’m a raging Independent?
From My Friend, Pam:
Mitt was a very weak candidate for many reasons, not the least of which was that he was completely out of touch with ordinary Americans. He made many, many gaffes. (Olympics, anyone?) Having previously thought him smart, I began to wonder about his intelligence.
It’s incredible to me that the Republicans seemed to think that Mitt could completely change his thinking on big, basic issues and no one would care or remember. The Reps thought Mitt’s business smarts would trump everything but Mitt never gave any specifics about how he was going to put everybody back to work. He never gave any specifics about how his budget plan could give tax cuts and still reduce the deficit. I think a lot of people feared he would take away the mortgage deduction and he probably would have. [After all, that is probably not very important to an ultra rich person.]
I am also very glad that all the billions spent by the Republicans did not get them very much. I’m glad that Karl Rove failed. I hope “Turd Blossom” (“W’s” nickname for him) goes away and stays away. 1 for 10 is NOT a good average. So much for his much-vaunted expertise and the whining that Rush has done on the radio and the accusations that the pollsters were “oversampling” Democrats. The pollsters got it right. The Republican party got it wrong.
Women are over half of the population and they are in the ascendancy. I just read in the paper now that more women have driver’s licenses than men. Women demand safe, fuel efficient cars and that will be good for the environment.
The Republicans whom Obama reached out to on election night (Boehner and McConnell) would not even come to the phone. The message to the newly re-elected president was that “they were asleep,” despite the fact that the election was called for Obama fairly early in the evening (8:30-ish).
They were asleep, all right. Old and asleep.
As a party they did not even recognize that a freight train of change was bearing down on them until it ran over them. Women. Minorities. The regular guy. The changing face of America. Charisma of the candidate. Smart tactics. Superior strategical advantage(s). A nod to Hurricane Sandy.
There goes 2012. And I hope someone burns that piece-of-trash movie “Obama’s America” for the smear job it was.
Go see Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” instead. It’s closer to what Obama faces now.
