Don't underestimate the value
of Doing Nothing,
of just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear,
and not bothering.
Winnie the Pooh
A Great Congressman and Leader's Farewell Address
Annoying Soundbites: the Obama "Landslide"
When an incumbent President barely wins half of votes cast, nearly 10% fewer votes for him over 4 years ago, wins fewer states (Indiana and North Carolina), only about half overall, and many states with 52% or less of the vote: (CO, FL, IA. NH, NV, PA, OH, VA) and MN, NM, WI, and MI were just outside that range. The margin of popular vote victory was about half. A landslide is like 1964, 1972, 1980, and 1984.
Does that mean I approved of the Romney campaign? No. When the incumbent has the weakest jobs record since the Depression, has the most spendthrift administration in history and passes a hugely unpopular healthcare bill, you should be able to take away more than 2 battleground states
On Romney's Attribution of Loss on
Government Gifts to Blacks and Hispanics
I'll just outline a few points here:
- Romney is correct that Latinos and blacks turned out in great numbers which went straight to the bottom line. But he's wrong on their motivation. Ockham's razor: these groups are natural constituencies for the Dems. For blacks, there may be racial identity, and many Latinos resented certain Romney policies (e.g., immigration).
- They turned out despite Obama's poor record on their priorities.
- Romney himself pandered to the middle class.
- Government programs have beneficiaries beyond these groups; Obama votes also came from women and young people and were also motivated by a variety of issues (e.g., feminist, environmental, organized labor, etc.)
- The facts are (although some votes are still out) Romney under-performed McCain, the campaign failed to anticipate or respond to predictable negative campaign attacks, the campaign had a messaging and posturing problem (I thought it was obvious with many Americans buying into Obama's Bush-bashing excuses that Romney should have thrown Bush/Obama under the bus: chronic overspending, unpaid-for entitlements, government interventions, nation building, aggravating our meddling in the Middle East/Gulf region, etc.), Romney committed a series of unforced gaffes (e.g., the infamous 47% will never vote against Santa Obama, criticizing London security arrangements, attacking Big Bird instead of baked-in government budget increases, etc.), Romney was far too nuanced and not aggressive enough after the first debate, the Dems were better organized with the GOP unduly counting on an Election Day surge, the Romney campaign ceded second-tier purplish states too early (e.g, WI, MN, PA. MI), allowing Obama forces to build trenches in first-tier states: it was far too predictable, and Romney pretty much needed an improbable inside straight to pull off the victory...
The Carpenters, "Solitaire". A great Neil Sedaka tune that hits a liittle too close to home. Richard says Karen initially didn't like the tune--but she is a brilliant torch singer here; I don't think many altos have her rich lower register. It's almost as as she's in my apartment singing about me.
