Obama v Romney, Election 2012, Mandate? Landslide?

Cultural Forensics would like to congratulate President Obama on his reelection. 

While sometimes we question his judgment - we think he should be moving more aggressively into the efficient use of renewable and sustainable energy, and away from fuel - and waste - based systems, and we think the citizens of the United States would be better served if the Veterans Health Administration was transformed into a Citizens Health Administration and if Medicare was expanded to cover all Americans - we also think that President Obama is an intelligent and thoughtful person who looks at the evidence before making a decision.

We also draw a distinction between questioning the President's judgement and criticizing a decision, and hoping the President fails. When the President fails, America fails. As patriotic Americans, we want the President to succeed so America can succeed.

Pres. Obama won by a greater margin in the popular vote and the Electoral College than Pres. Bush. The results in 2012 were: Obama: 65,138,059 to Romney 60,606,054, or 50.9% to 47.4%. In 2004, the results were Bush: 62,040,610 to Kerry 59,028,494, or 50.7% to 48.3%. In the Electoral College Obama won by 126 votes, 332 to 206, while Bush won 286 to 251, by 35 votes. So if Bush won a "Mandate" then Obama won a mandate.

2004 Election	Popular Vote	PV %	Electoral College
Bush	62,040,610	50.7	286
Kerry	59,028,494	48.3	251
Difference	3,012,116	2.4	35
2012 Election	Popular Vote	PV %	Electoral College
Obama	65,138,059	50.9	332
Romney	60,606,054	47.4	206
Difference	4,532,005	3.5	126

But put another way, had Kerry won Florida and Virginia, then he would have won the Electoral College. Like Kerry, Romney would have needed Florida and Virginia. He also would have needed, for example Pennsylvania and Michigan or Wisconsin.

And Romney and Ryan lost their home states!  That's may not be a landslide defeat - but then again it's a resounding defeat of their politics!

History of the Republican't Party

The Republican't Party started out as the Anti-Slavery party from New England. One of its founders was Frederick Douglass, however, that wasn't his name. It was an alias because he was a fugitive.The once Grand Old Party included such luminaries as Mark Twain, Emerson, Thoreau.

It reached it's peak as a progressive movement with Pres. Theodore Roosevelt - who was given the job of Vice President to promote him into a closet. Unfortunately for the men pulling the strings, McKinley was assassinated. After serving as 26th President, from September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909, Roosevelt was thrown out of the GOP. Then there was Taft in 1908, Coolidge, 1920, Harding 1924, & Hoover 1928,

It seems that at this time it became the party of the wealthy. And the Democratic Party became the party of the people.

Eisenhower 1952, Nixon, 1968, Ford 1974 (not elected), Reagan 1980, Bush, 1988, Bush 2000 (lost the popular vote by 543,816 votes, won in Supreme Court 5-4).

The mantle of "Progressivism" has been shifted to what Howard Dean calls the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.  As Sean Prophet, a spokesperson from National Progressive Talk Radio said on Facebook,

If the GOP loses this presidential election and does as poorly in the Senate as expected, not only will it be a huge relief for progressives and a huge win for the country, it will also mean the following:

1.  Even in the age of Citizens United and unlimited corporate spending, they STILL couldn't defeat the voices of the people and millions of small donations.  
2. Even having the most-watched news channel in the country as a bought-and-paid-for party organ of the GOP couldn't help them.   
3. Rapid declines in church attendance over the past 15 years means theocracy as a political force is almost spent.

What will happen next? Many possibilities. If the Republican'ts win, and they take the "Tea Party" ideology to its logical conclusion, then the Federal Government will collapse, the United States will evolve (even tho evolve is a dirty word to the no-nothings of the Tea Party) just as the Soviet Union evolved, and there will be 50 independent countries, or perhaps only 10 independent countries. We probably won't need passports to go from New York to New Jersey, but we may need them to go from New York to Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Alabama.

You heard it here first. Contact me if you want to sketch this into a film.

Alternatively, if the Democrats win then smart Republicans will quietly vote with their feet. Some will join the Democratic Party.  Progressives who believe in, or understand privacy and the need to preserve the biosphere will join like-minded Democrats and build the Green Party.

You heard this here first, too.  Contact me if you want to sketch this into a film.