Against despair
The fact that Barack Obama was reelected and how he was reelected, can only be seen as dispiriting news for conservatives.
That Mitt Romney got fewer votes than John McCain is dismaying on any number of levels. We were told, by strategists and by what seemed like common sense, that the McCain coalition was a floor for Romney to build up from. The possibility that it was in fact a ceiling is pretty awful to contemplate. It is also pretty infuriating when you think about what the Romney campaign was telling us about their path to 270.
I’ll be blunt: I do not think Mitt Romney ran a good campaign. Don’t get me wrong, I think he worked his heart out as did many who worked for him. I think he made himself into the best candidate he could (which is different than saying he was a great candidate). But I also think that Romney’s theory of the contest was wrong. As I wrote at the time, the Republican convention was a mess. I think Romney strategist Stu Stevens’ contempt for ideas – never mind conservative ideas – was absurd. I think the failure of the Romney campaign to offer a compelling explanation of any kind (at least until the second debate) for how it wasn’t a third Bush term was fatal (as I discussed here and elsewhere). Politics is about persuasion. And persuasion requires making serious arguments. Stevens, by all accounts, has contempt for serious arguments.
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Wait— NRO ran an entire issue called “against Gingrich”!
They told us Mitt was the man.
Now that he lost you wash your hands???
picklesgap on November 7, 2012 at 3:59 PM
Romney got beat by McCain twice.
Yes, it was that bad.
portlandon on November 7, 2012 at 3:59 PM
So is that what it comes down to? 4 years removed from his Presidency and 8 years removed from the last time he was on a ballot, we still have to answer for Bush?! For chrissakes, even Nixon was ancient history a mere 6 years after Watergate and Reagan was able to win in a landslide over Carter.
I guess the good news is we can turn that around on the Dems and use Obama against them in 2016 and 2020.
Doughboy on November 7, 2012 at 4:02 PM
Sorry, but there is NO reason not to understand that the United States of America is a failed experiment that is existing on fumes and will soon utterly collapse.
Warner Todd Huston on November 7, 2012 at 4:02 PM
I’m not despairing either.
I panicked in 2008. What happened in 2010?
People, calm down. Be upset, be pissed, but the US isn’t gone.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:02 PM
No, when nearly 60 million of us voted for Romney, that shows the US is not anywhere near extinction.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Doesn’t matter, Steve. A sane electorate would have tossed Obama out despite Romney’s warts.
I’m about halfway through reading Mark Levin’s Ameritopia Prologue, and my blood is boiling. I think the GOP should introduce 90% marginal tax rates for everyone 250k and above, take it or leave it. Put single payer healthcare on the table. Reduce the military to a marching band. They want their f’n socialist country? Let’s give it to them more than they could ever want. I’m ready to let this place burn.
The Count on November 7, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Et tu?
We can and will survive this debacle.
alchemist19 on November 7, 2012 at 4:04 PM
The democrat’s coalition is too powerful and loyal. Our only hope of reaching them is if the economy collapses.
cjv209 on November 7, 2012 at 4:05 PM
I keep playing this over and over…
Rebar on November 7, 2012 at 4:07 PM
You are so wrong. ObamaCare is the law of the land and will never be gone. This was our last chance. All Romney could be counted on for was his signature on a repeal bill. ANy other damage he may have done was survivable. But now we don’t have that. America as we knew it is gone and the version 2.0 will not be improved.
txmomof6 on November 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM
I am prouder of my vote for Romney than any other man but Reagan. I really admire him. It’s never the electorate’s fault, but dammit, this time it is.
Ted Torgerson on November 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Meh. I’m buying a gallon of sunless tanning cream and having a sex change operation. Who’s with me?!
Seth Halpern on November 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Why despair, I’m awash in new equipment and there is nary a thing the wife can say about it. There is a brass lining to every dark cloud.
Bishop on November 7, 2012 at 4:09 PM
In the spirit of Nate Silver, I give it a 26.4% chance.
ElectricPhase on November 7, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Agreed. The blue states are dead to me. Let it burn.
txmomof6 on November 7, 2012 at 4:10 PM
A major problem is that a not insignificant segment of the electorate still blames Bush for the economy. Obama, for them, gets a pass. Plus they like him, he’s charming, he cares about them.
And I think most didn’t think Romney offered a viable alternative.
I think we can sometimes overanalyze these elections. Hispanics here, SSM there, single women over there….sometimes it’s not that complex.
SteveMG on November 7, 2012 at 4:11 PM
THIS.
The convention was a RINO parade. They ignored the base, and openly rubbed it in their faces with Chris Christie as the Keynote speaker.
How did putting Chris Christie on a pedestal work out for you Mitt?
How did ignoring people like Newt Gingrich & Sarah Palin work out for you Mitt?
This I will never understand.
portlandon on November 7, 2012 at 4:12 PM
Yeah. Let the Bush tax cuts expire, let sequestration go through, let them spend billions more on green energy while stifling oil production. Trillions more in debt, continued high unemployment, terrible growth…that’s what the “people” wanted more of, so lets give it to them. Let’s see how much they like it when we’re forced to cut the free stuff they want so bad when the Dems have spent us into oblivion.
Suckers.
changer1701 on November 7, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Ted Torgerson on November 7, 2012 at 4:08 PM
You are right Mitt is a very good man. Unfortunately he is not such a good winner of elections, and me and mine will suffer for it while he and his have their wealth socked away. So sorry if I can’t feel sorry for him.
txmomof6 on November 7, 2012 at 4:14 PM
My thoughts: the presidency is seen as totally different and remote to most voters than local races. They don’t see the connection between Washington and their lives. Locally, they do, so they tend to elect more Repubs there.
So Obama fits perfectly into that mold. He is cool, non-white, and says pretty things and makes pretty promises. He only appears on Jay Leno and hip hop radio. None of his promises happen, but then he says them again four years later and wakes up the sleeping multitudes, and they buy it.
So for the GOP to win the presidency, they need someone with symbolic power; that and a middling message will elect him.
PattyJ on November 7, 2012 at 4:15 PM
If the entire economy collapses the people will turn where for help?
Why do you think the Cloward/Piven theory was made? Their argument was to overload the government and create a crisis that only the government could address.
Nah, letting things to go hell won’t work. Beside it’ll take us along.
SteveMG on November 7, 2012 at 4:17 PM
We can remove it.
We can defund it.
It is still an unpopular law. It will become unpopular moreso.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Don’t piss on our backs and tell us it’s raining…
HumpBot Salvation on November 7, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Will Team Obama was pulling out every scurrilous accusation they could dream up, Romney was saying Obama was basically a good guy. That won’t work. If voters believe half of what politicians say, then they end up seeing you as bad and your opponent as ok.
You can’t talk about issues without talking about issues. Romney wanted to talk about turning the economy around, but wouldn’t get into the weeds. He failed to convince voters that he was the turnaround specialist – which is amazing, since that’s what he is.
Politics is no place for humility. Modern Presidents must be an open book. You’ve got to talk about your finances, tout your accomplishments, get your friends allies, and yes, enemies to sing your praises. Obama published 2 biographies before he became President. Even people who never read them feel like they know him.
hawksruleva on November 7, 2012 at 4:22 PM
Who’s Next?
Who is John Galt on November 7, 2012 at 4:23 PM
The only important question: Who’s next?
Who is John Galt on November 7, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Not his fault millions of McCain voters stayed home.
changer1701 on November 7, 2012 at 4:25 PM
This.
0bama said “vote for revenge”, and they did. Open season on “whitey “.
Romney was playing by the old rules, those don’t work anymore. It’s a blood feud now, to the knife, and you have to play to destroy the other guy.
Rebar on November 7, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Who else in that lot of original candidates could have done it?
Look at all of the ABSURD miscalculations and gaffes every other primary candidate had.
They would have gotten steamrolled
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:28 PM
I’m disgusted with those who are dumping on Romney. No other Republican could have done better. The sad truth is that too many people in this country want government freebies, and Romney’s message–the conservative message–is that success comes to those who are willing to work with it.
The American Dream is dead. In its place stands Barack Obama and his pay-offs to the various interest groups into which he has dangerously divided this country.
You want to blame someone? Besides the idiot voters who decided to give an imcompetent president a do-over simply because of his skin color, try Chris Christie–for obvious reasons–and Rick Santorum, Aiken and Mourdock. Santorum allowed the manufactured R War Against Women to gain a foothold, and Aiken and Mourdock added so much credibility to it that women abandoned Romney in droves.
Obama is not a good president, and he is not a good man. He will spend the next four years shooting hoops, playing golf, and signing whatever Valerie Jarrett puts in front of him. Those who supported him deserve the country he will give them and will live to regret their votes.
OTOH I voted for two thoroughly qualified and decent men and have no patience for the Blame Romney First crowd.
Meredith on November 7, 2012 at 4:32 PM
The Republicans could roll over and give the Democrats everything they want and they would still get blamed for the disaster that followed. The electorate is that ignorant and stupid.
backwoods conservative on November 7, 2012 at 4:32 PM
Britain once ruled the world. It still “survives”, but so what?
Have to go with txmomof6 on this one. Despair? Yeah, cuz now the USA is no different than anywhere else. The USA used to be exceptional…
yubley on November 7, 2012 at 4:32 PM
The only important question: Who’s next?
Who is John Galt on November 7, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Cthulu, I hope.
pseudonominus on November 7, 2012 at 4:33 PM
I often wondered why a true conservative didn’t jump in the race, a Palin or a DeMint.
Guess they saw this happening.
Rebar on November 7, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Of course. You always have to answer for your past. But the answer should have been reasonably easy to give: You’ve had 4 years and your policies have done nothing but make things worse. People think Bush had the same size deficits as Obama. You have to change their minds, you cannot rely on “sense” to do it.
alwaysfiredup on November 7, 2012 at 4:34 PM
I think some Republican despair is healthy and proper at this point. Change, or go the way of the dinosaur.
Alpha_Male on November 7, 2012 at 4:34 PM
Difference is, most people in those countries LIKE their crappy hellcare systems.
Nearly 60 MILLION people here disapprove.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:35 PM
You might want to bend over and spread ‘em for your bureaucratic overlords, but I won’t.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:36 PM
Explain how.
Myron Falwell on November 7, 2012 at 4:38 PM
Who cares?
Whoever is “next” will be inaccurately but successfully depicted by the left as mean/rich/evil/stupid/sexist/out-of-touch and the moronic 51% of the American Idol voter base will buy the narrative hook, line and sinker and elect the next far-left socialist, be it Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker or Andrew Cuomo.
We’ll never win the image battle. EVER.
This is no longer a country for God-fearing families with traditional values who love their children and love their freedom.
Right Mover on November 7, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Great, keep being unreasonable and keep losing elections. Suits me just fine. I like melty bunnies.
Alpha_Male on November 7, 2012 at 4:40 PM
What’s reasonable to you?
rob verdi on November 7, 2012 at 4:42 PM
‘Cause 15 trillion dollars in debt, 100 trillion in incoming, unfunded liabilities, and a U-6 rate of 14 percent is oh. so. reasonable.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:42 PM
Which reminds me, I wonder how Ann Coulter’s love affair with Chris Christie turned out. Oh wait.
Perhaps we ought to nominate Kim Kardashian next time. That will resonate with the idiot 51%.
Myron Falwell on November 7, 2012 at 4:46 PM
It is impossible for OCare to be fully implemented before the election season of 2014. Obama tries implementation, disaster ensues, and the population screams aloud (as it did in 2010) for deliverance from the SCOAMF health care law.
alwaysfiredup on November 7, 2012 at 4:48 PM
Half of the country gets it, and we’re supposed to just throw in the towel?
Get back to me when only get 25 million votes in an election.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:48 PM
Midterms will be bad for Obarfy.
blatantblue on November 7, 2012 at 4:48 PM
We all deserve to fall in moral and financial ruin. This WAS a great country, it no longer is. The theory of divine providence and protection died last night; God has forsake us.
Hopefully Iran will strike either NY or San Francisco with an A-bomb at the same time they wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. A long, agonizing death suits us, the stupid people.
Myron Falwell on November 7, 2012 at 4:49 PM
Indeed, and I’ll rejoice with much Schadenfreude. A land this free and this stupid deserves no less.
Bishop, you’re a one funny dude.
Schadenfreude on November 7, 2012 at 4:49 PM
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