Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Losing This Election Sucks

Hmm, I probably should stop with the headline, but it is true.
Losing this election to the Worthless Leader, President Obama, really does suck.
I mean really, what did it come down to for many people?
That Hispanics feel so alienated from the Republican party that they will go with the guy that really in a bad sense wants to keep them down?
That people really think a photo-op and just showing up after a hurricane hits New Jersey and New York is awesome?
That people believed that even after George W. Bush being out of office for four years the bad economy is still his fault?
That the Republicans did not make a hard enough case not just about replacing the Worthless, ah the heck with it, President Obama but what they had to offer and why it would be better?
Coalition politics really do work?
There are a lot more questions to ask but generally, yes to all of the above.
While I do believe that illegal immigration should not be rewarded, the reality is that we Republicans, and I include myself, have not emphasized enough that a reality is that some people who did come into the United States illegally will have to be given an oppertuinity to stay. But any deal has to have the reality that the reason there is mass illegal immigration in the first place, especially from Mexico and yes, Red China, is because of the condidtions in the home country. And that the United States must have stronger border security. Period. We can not be snookered like last time. It must be real and implemented.
We have to do a lot better explaining that to all people, but especially Hispanics and Chinese/Asian Americans. And until we do, well it is going to be hard to win elecions anywhere.
Hispanics want to be part of the United States. They really do. And so many are very much proud to be Americans. Even the many that came here illegally. I do think that a lot of rethinking that is going to be needed. I do not pretend to know the answer. It is not blanket anmesty, thats for sure.
A photo-op or two should not be a determining factor in voting for anyone.
But it was for President Obama.
It just looked awesome to many people that he showed up, had that concerned look on his face, hugged a few people and standing next to Gov. Chris The Cow Christie, a supposed Republican, well for many people that was enough a reason to vote for President Obama.
I don't get it really. I mean, it is an unwritten part of the job description to show up to such things and assure the populace that all will be done to help. I suppose it all gets back to the infamous Hurricane Katrina and the rather sucessful narrative of an uncaring then President George W. Bush. Nevermind that the then mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, and then Gov. Kathleen Blanco were both telling Mr. Bush that they did not need any assistance. Until it was too late.
However, it does run into a fact. That people want a leader that they feel they can relate to. And until the dreaded Katrina, a lot of people thought that Mr. Bush did relate to them. Wanna know why there is not a President Kerry? Because Sen. John F. Kerry could not connect to people.
And here is a bipartisan memo.
No more presidential nominees from Massachusetts.
Michael Dukakis, John Kerry for the Dems and now Mitt Romney for the Republicans. All three are now losers and shows that Massachusetts governance is still too much for most Americans. And while Mitt Romney was more technocrat than anything, he was a Republican and reasonably conservative. But, that almost cost him the GOP nomination and in the end, the White House.
The economy still being W's fault?
It is the biggest stretch, but Team Obama has dipped into that well sucessfully time and time again. And it keeps working.
But I think it is more of an overall attempt to create hatred of the eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll rich.
The Bushes, the Romneys. Eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll rich people. Oh sure there are more,  but they stick out.
And when it is down to the gutteral, street-level fight of "us vs. them", sorry folks, the Dems have that corner down. It is in a sense the whole reason for their being. Never mind that the eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll rich that they skew and roast over the coals are in fact more in line with them than Republicans.
And a news flash.
Big business ain't Republican and certainely not conservative. It goes with whoever will do their bidding.
What we need to do is teach what conservativsm and conservative principles are about. Most people do not have a clue. If you look at it through the prism of partisan politics, then yes it can be hard to realize that many people are, indeed, much more conservative that they even realize.
Don't get me wrong. Elections are important. But it can only do so much. The culture in many bad ways is changing. In other ways it has improved. It is not all one or the other. \
But that leads to coalition politics.
Sorry, but that does work. And it has for both sides and especially in the last 12 years.
In the end, Team Obama got it together and they went to work. Team Romney? They were fighting it out over a primary season in which, quite sucessfully, Team Obama defined him and he did nothing to refute it.
You may not like their coalition. I don't. But we have to study that and learn from it. One other thing is that, once again, the GOP just does not get how to attract the youth. The youth are hyper-tech savvy. Team Obama knows it and has been able to use it and keep them for now in their camp.
For now? What do I mean?
Because my friends one thing to learn in the last 20 years is that elections are a cyclical thing. And by the end of the eight years of Obama, the nation will be ready to try something new. Some of that coalition that Team O built will not be able to be kept on the Democrat plantation. Blacks may not feel as anxious to vote as they have in the last two elections. In fact, while their coalition was kept together, a lot of people did not seem to be engaged as voting was down all accross the board.
Many of the groups in the current Dem coalition will tire. And with the right candidate, it is possible that in 2016, the Republicans can take back the White House.
A lot of people are just going to scream that the Republicans are going to just have to chuck all that makes them Republicans and become Dem lite.
I see that from my lib Facebook friends.
But that is not as much the issue as perception.
When we nominate candidates that can not articulate their positions in a clear and coherent manner, as I always say, people will vote for the devil they know, the Dems, rather than what they are not sure about, the GOP.
John McCain and Mitt Romney are the latest to not get it.
It is not just about messaging but what the hell do they believe. Why did they run for president in the first place.
There is more to say on all of this.
But for now, the honesty of today is simple.
Losing this election sucks.


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