Barack Obama navigated a sea of political phlegm and captured a second term Tuesday. He won all the states that mattered and claimed the electoral vote by a comfortable margin and most importantly, the popular vote, 50-48%. Had Romney garnered more of the popular vote than Obama, we literally would have never heard the end of it.
I got a kick out of the network and cable coverage of the presidential election. They kept showing Romney ahead in both the electoral and popular votes and darkly hinted at an upset. It wasn’t until most of the prime viewing hours had passed that Obama leapfrogged Romney as NBC officially called the race for the incumbent. The local NBC outlet deferred to the national call as did CBS. Fox local was still sitting on the fence and ABC local news, located in Asheville, North Carolina, acted as if nothing was happening. Last year Obama won North Carolina, this year the racist’s overlay of the state prevailed and Romney took home the win.
One of my favorite memories of the night was the national Fox coverage that refused to validate the certain Obama win. Their reporter asked an expert in such matters if he agreed to Karl Rove’s contention that Ohio was not lost. He all but scoffed at the notion in assuring Fox and their faithful that Ohio was indeed a lock for the President. Uh, Oh…
To its credit, my local paper ran a picture of the president and his family addressing his followers at his Chicago Headquarters. There was the eldest daughter, 14 year old, Malia, who is already a beautiful young girl and could well have modeling in her future as she stands 5’10” tall. Next to her sister was the bright, introspective 11 year old Sasha looking thoughtful and very proud of her dad. Michelle seemed surprisingly energized and refreshed given the length of the campaign. On the other hand, President Obama was wan and fatigued. His hair has turned noticeably gray in recent months. He used to just have flecks, now the combination of pressure and worry seems to be taking over his entire head of hair. He also showed the signs of the incessant beat-down from the hands of the haters. The man needs some heavy recuperation time. A two-week vacation wouldn’t be out of the question.
I underwent repeated paroxysms of unbridled joy as the Senate results trickled in. Populism accompanied by brilliance with a dash of sass and fearlessness describes my perfect Senator. That’s Elizabeth Warren who took measure of pretty boy, Scott Brown. The Senate is already a better place for her win. I had just pulled a 14-hour Poll Manager shift and still found time to dance around the room. Missouri’s Claire McCaskill smashed Todd Akin like a walnut under a steamroller. Speaking of nuts, did you hear Akin’s concession speech? It sounded like a mid-campaign rant in front of CPAC. Todd – YOU LOST!!!
A woman I didn’t want to see in the senate – won’t be. Linda McMahon, matriarch of the famed WWE professional wrestling franchise got whacked by a sensible Irishman, Chris Murphy. McMahon had spent (wasted) around 100 mil in trying to buy a Senate seat over two elections, but to no avail. On the other hand, the upper chamber will welcome Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, its first openly gay Senator, to its ranks (I can hear those het marriages crumbling now). Of course she served seven terms in the House and all her colleagues somehow survived, so I’m not really too worried about her Senate presence. As an added bonus, she took out public dole lifer, Tommy Thompson, a phony hypocrite of many years standing
Joe Donnelly beat Richard Mourdock in Indiana. Richie is so out there that I really don’t feel compelled to bother mentioning his name again. It was also a big Senate win for two former governors’ who missed big-time politics. Democrat Tim Kaine took a 4-point win over George Allen. Yea!
There were other interesting Senate developments. A Democratic lady Senator from Hawaii will be joining her sisters while Independent former Maine Governor; Angus King will be joining the “think for yourself” crowd. Rumor has it he will caucus with the Democrats.
Sitting Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio headed off massive money and ad vitriol to take out Josh Mandel while Nebraska’s Bob Kerrey lost. No big whoop. Kerrey had tilted so far to the right in his campaign, he could legitimately be considered a DINO.
Poking my head into the rouge-tinted House for just a moment, I was pleased to see genuine article Democrat, Alan Grayson returning to his rightful (leftful?) seat. Grayson beat a guy named Long by 25 percentage points. Grayson, who pains right-wingers with his no filter, on point comments, is returning to the House after sitting out the last two years, a victim of the Tea Party tide of 2010. He’s Baaaaack!!!
I can’t hit all the races but I can tell you that I am mighty pleased with the overall outcome. Sadly, the originators of legislation will flood the floor with propagandized and politicized nonsense, while Democratic efforts will be buried in committee. Since it only takes a simple majority to move a bill on to the Senate, expect some real right-wing crap to take up a lion’s share of the 2012-2014 interim before Republican holdouts, white working men, come to their senses and render irrelevant, the Tea Party in the next mid-terms. Your white man (not to mention black and Latino) wages are stagnant, benefits are being eliminated and it’s mostly Tea Party-type Republicans shipping your jobs overseas. Shake these guys awake.
A final thought. Romney won’t be around to appoint new Supreme Court Justices. That is by far the most important consequence of the Tuesday, November 6th election.
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