4 more years....

Well, President Obama won.   This doesn't come as a surprise to me, I was going to be shocked if Romney won. (More on that in a few paragraphs)

Mr. President, while I'm not thrilled with your first term, you have been given a second chance.  A chance to finish what you started, to start the things you talked about, and generally work as best you can to help right the course for America.

You have a big job in front of you and I don't know if you can actually do it.  You're too beholden to the monied interests.  I'll be interested who you replace on your cabinet.  You don't seem to be dynamic enough in your leadership.

BUT, you don't have to worry about reelection now.  You have a slightly more accommodating Congress, one who might actually be willing to work with you now.  But you still must put forward some actual ideas, and ways to implement them.

I wish you luck in your second term, hopefully it will be the start of a new era for America.

Now, to those of you surprised by Romney's loss...why?  What made you believe he was going to win?

Was it his staunch beliefs?  Wait, I have no idea what he believes in because it changes, every single election.

Was it his proven governing power?  Oh, wait, he's had to disavow his biggest accomplishment as governor because it smacked of socialism to the far right.

Was it his likeable personality?  Not really, he's random rich old white dude.  You could insert about 50 other guys in his stead and they'd all be the same.

Maybe his proven record as a leader of a company?  Well, sort of.  His company made lots of money, but lots of that was made by buying and gutting companies and outsourcing jobs.  I understand that happens, and sometimes it should, but its not gonna win you votes.

Was it his appeal to others besides whites?  I can't even come up with something snarky to respond here.  Its just hilarious.

America, while still run by whites (look at congress), is slowly starting to show in their vote that "Hey, there are people of other cultures here, other backgrounds besides WASP or white catholic."  The Republican leadership, the Republican "base," and Republican news outlets like Fox News are scared to admit that and delude themselves into thinking that the changing face of America isn't happening or that it can be reversed.  No, it can't!

I've already read 3 or 4 blogs and articles just today from tea party people saying the reason Romney lost was that he wasn't far right enough!!!  Wait a second, you honestly believe that a Rick Santorum, or Mike Huckabee, would have fared better?  If so, good luck to you in 4 years because you're going to be sorely disappointed yet again.

Hopefully, the Republicans will embrace the changing face of America and revise their platform to be more inclusive and in doing so actually put candidates up for consideration that bring something to the table besides isolationism, xenophobia, and broken jokes of economic plans.

"[C]areer ambition was not to go to Washington"

Really Mitt?  Really?  You're saying a guy, who has worked essentially his WHOLE CAREER (except for a brief marketing consultant job at the family business to pad his resume for office)  in Washington never had a career ambition there?

When exactly did he not have this ambition?  When he was 8 and wanting to be a fireman or astronaut?  Because by the time he was in college he was happily, even enthusiastically taking staffing jobs.  His first job out of college was as a speechwriter for Jack Kemp.   Yes, certainly seems like he didn't intend to work in Washington.

There are so many lies being thrown around by both sides its not even funny, but this one is pretty good.  Mitt, admit it, you put Ryan on the ticket because you've never consistently stood for anything in your political career.  Ryan was put there to give the conservatives peace of mind that you are a true believer, even when you're not in anything except Mitt.

Its interesting how Obama is called a socialist and communist (ignoring the fact the two are highly dissimilar) and its a bad thing.  But Ryan, an avowed Objectivist, is somehow praised as a champion.  Does the average person know anything about Objectivism?  I'm thinking not.

Especially Christians because Objectivism is essentially anathema to the gospel of Christ though it is very much an American philosophy.  (I have no idea of Mr. Paul's religious beliefs, but when the person who's philosophy you hold dear is summed up in this quote "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute [2]." that doesn't leave a lot of leeway for Christ's message.)

This not saying that Marx's writings were kind to religion.  "Religion is the opiate of the masses" doesn't leave much room for it either, but some of the basic ideals of socialism are not that far from some of Christ's teachings either.  (I am not saying Christ was a socialist, merely pointing out that his life and the life of the early church has far more in common with socialist and even, gasp, communal, ideals than anything Rand ever imagined.)

It boggles the mind that while bi-partisan and non-partisan groups publish report after report that Ryan's budget and Romney's tax plan would shift even MORE of the tax burden to the middle class (since its simply impossible to cut the amount needed) middle class and even lower class whites flock to the idea.  

I guess the obvious solution to any problem is to burn down and start over right?  Oh, and make sure the rich don't have too pay too much in taxes because keeping their taxes low does an excellent job of creating jobs for people in this country.  

Good job guys!

(President Obama, I can't even begin to describe how angry I am at your administration for putting forth essentially no good ideas over the last few years to combat the lunacy of the far-right economic folks.  Its pathetic really.)    

The GOP amazes me.

The Republican party is a joke. Now, before I delve into that, let me say, I'm not thrilled with the Democrats either. Obama's had a very mixed presidency for me and I'm very frustrated with him. However, the Republican opposition is laughable.

Mitt Romney- What does this man stand for? He'll say anything to get elected. He's been running for office ever since he stopped working on Wall Street. I think he did some good things when he was a governor, but his "beliefs" are constantly changing by what he thinks the people want to hear. Now, every politican does this to a degree, but he takes it to an amazing level.

Rick Santorum-When everyone in the Senate hates you, and you can't get a single word of support from any of them, even those in your own party, well, it could be taken as a positive. Its not. Santorum is everything that terrifies me in a religious right-wing candidate. However, if he wins the nomination, the Republicans should just forfeit as they will be handing it to Obama.

Newt Gingrich- What a sleazeball. Newt has been a professional politican his entire adult life pretty much. And when he wasn't a politican, he was a lobbyist. Except he wasn't a lobbyist, he was a consultant so he didn't have to declare what he was getting. He's an expert at working the laws to get his organizations money without having to declare income from it. Oh, can we just say how ADD his policies are? Let's claim the moon? (Though, that'd be illegal.) We need better defenses against EMP attacks. He's a wackjob. To say nothing about his personal life. The guy is straight up slime and again would probably insure an Obama victory.

There are a few others, but they have little to no chance. The Republicans don't seem to understand they can't win on their "base" alone. Pandering to the extreme ends will only kill them in a national election.

I live in Illinois. We'll support Obama no matter what. But it amazes me that they can't put a candidate up there that has the slightest bit of credibility or electibility. Of course, its the same party that allows Grover Norquist to dictate their tax policy...