A Sad Day for America, but Resolve

As Romney said in Orlando the day before the election, “With the right leadership, America will come roaring back.  The door for a brighter future is open & waiting.”  That same day, Boehner said “Romney is the perfect man at the perfect time.”

Election Day & Beyond

On election day, I led a team study at work all morning, voted, then headed to Disneyland to spend the rest of the day with my brother & his family visiting from Las Vegas.  He was trying to get his mind off the election, but I couldn’t, and caught snippets of radio updates (Hugh Hewitt & KNX) between rides.  Just after 4pm initial exit polling sounded encouraging, W. Va. & S. Carolina for Romney.  5pm KNX reported Romney’d written an 1100 word victory speech, and no concession speech – lots of confidence among his team & internals.  6:30pm electoral vote count tied at 152 each.  7:44 Romney 174, Obama 162, VA likely for Obama, but still early, and predictions of Obama winning the election even w./out Florida.  

Disneyland closed at 8pm, and I left just before that to head to a Republican victory party to begin at 8pm in Costa Mesa.  While enroute for that 10-15 minute drive, at 8:15pm, Hewitt reported that Ohio had just been declared for Obama, and it was over. 

I was stunned – hadn’t prepared myself for that, with such high hopes and encouraging momentum in the polls, etc., and having invested so much time, energy and resources.  I was moments from the "victory" party, and knew it was not going to be a happy event.  From the "happiest place on earth" to one of the saddest in 15 minutes.  Nonetheless, I thought I might as well go, and commiserate w. some equally disappointed people.  Several news network mobile vans outside, and lots of people dressed well to party.  And even a few dancing to a band.  But news was clearly out on the big screen TV, and while people seemed pleasant  and wanting to enjoy it, there were not a lot of smiles or talk.  A few were intently following more local races.  Former CA gov. Pete Wilson was surrounded by some media types who were interviewing him.  But most seemed stunned.  Not teary – I thought I would be, but wasn’t.  Although my heart sank for the welfare & future of our country.   I didn’t feel like staying long – didn’t see anyone I knew, and headed home to catch some Fox News coverage & have some late dinner, though my stomach didn’t feel well.

The uneasy stomach continued for a couple more days, and I heard of similar feelings by others.  Many of us I know couldn’t bring ourselves to watch the news or talk about it for  a while.  I could barely drag myself to work the next day.  And one of the hardest things I’ve had to do was give a presentation to my entire subdivision that morning, and put on a good face.  My heart wasn’t in it.  But as has been said by Prager and others, it’s natural to go through a period of mourning, but we need to get up and pull ourselves together, and carry on.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)  It was a single battle in a greater war.  And there were lessons to learn.

Spin

Carl Rove was saying Obama was the first president re-elected w. a smaller share of the popular and electoral vote than their first election.  And pointing out there was no mandate, with the narrowest of margins (turned out to be about a percent or 2).  Joe Trippi was saying Obama got out early (Feb.) w. negative ads demonizing Romney [fought dirty, Chicago-style].  Rove said Obama needs to learn to compromise [unlike shoving Obamacare down our throats on a strictly partisan basis].  At 9:44, VA & FL were still not called.  Krauthammer – Republicans don’t need to revamp their strategy/principles – only tactics. 

The Concession

9:52pm – Romney called Obama to concede, and at 9:55 Romney came out w. his family to a crowd in his hometown Belmont Massachusetts for a hastily conjured concession speech.  “Thank you, my friends.  This is a time of great challenges for our nation, and I pray president Obama will be successful in guiding our nation.  Paul Ryan was my best choice, next to my wife Ann.”  He thanked his family, team, donors, etc.  He said he didn’t think there’d been an effort like this in our party.  Thanks for all the resources and prayers.  This is a critical time for our nation, and we ought to look to our pastors, teachers, etc.  “I believe in America, and the people of America.  The election is over, but principles endure.  We’ve given our all to this campaign – we’ve left everything on the field.  I’d hoped so much to be able to serve .... and wouldn’t Ann have made a great First Lady?”  But neither was he teary, but upbeat. 

More Spin

Brit Hume – “Romney and even his supporters were most gracious [no booing at mention of Obama or such].  This is America’s way.”

10:05pm – VA declared for Obama [Romney had been hopeful there].

Lots of Monday-night quarterbacking has begun.  Carl Rove: Obama won not on big but little issues, especially how bad his opponent was – no mandate to do anything.  Brit Hume: Obama ran a skillful (brutally) & effective campaign.  Ann Coulter: several re-election rules of thumb or conventional wisdom were broken – e.g., debates matter, unemployment over 8%, approval under 50%.  The one that still holds is that it’s hard to remove an incumbent.  Also, Obama was attacking Romney since February, but Romney hadn’t settled the primaries until June and had several fewer months to attack Obama.  O’Reilly – Romney needed a better campaign team, and more warning of the economic cliff/doom.  Rush Limbaugh – people won’t vote against Santa Claus [big liberal government gives out lots of goodies, so easy to get elected among liberals who typically are limited to first stage thinking, and not beyond their immediate gratification, re-election, etc.  Obama has said the deficit is of no near-term concern and so puts off dealing with it].

Polls said Romney was the strong leader w. vision they preferred, but didn’t believe he’d help them [???].  Some of the conventional wisdom was that since Hispanics voted 71% for Obama, they were the deciding factor & Republicans need to reach out to them.  Some have noted other demographic shifts (single women, young, Asian, etc.) that Republicans need to account for.  But Democrat pundits are overflowing with patronizing, condescending advice about how we need to become more like them to do better in elections.  As if they know how to govern the country as well as they manipulate the electorate. 

My Takes

I will, as Romney & church leaders have encouraged us, pray for this country, and for Obama to lead it well, although my faith is weak for that.  Our best, and probably only realistic, hope now is prayer.  Christ admonished us to pray for our enemies.

But I’ve heard nothing but bashing of Bush for 12 years and Romney for the entire election – and now Dems & the media want a pass on criticism of Obama?  No way.  The mainstream media may whitewash him, but I for one will not.  I have 4 more years of good blog material and cartoons. 

More of the Same

It bears repeating, that the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  The day after the election, a woman at the gym with whom I’d never spoken, saw my Romney T-shirt and commented she was surprised I was still wearing it – thought maybe I’d turn it inside out or something.  This by the way was the only remotely negative thing I’ve heard wearing Romney T-shirts for the entire election.   I said he is a good man (she agreed), and the electorate made a poor choice.  Her expression voiced her disagreement with the latter, and she said she hoped they would be able to have more bipartisanship and less gridlock.  I said “We’ll see.” 

But I have no idea what basis in the reality of the last 4 years her hope (or that of many in the mainstream media) has.  But “hope” springs eternal among the Obama zombies, as if hope in itself is enough.  There was no change essentially in Congress or the presidency – the people voted basically for the status-quo – more of the same.  Obama has no more mandate than John Boehner, the House Republican leader.  And in fact, Obama has much less of a mandate than in the last election (much smaller 50-48% margin, 9 million fewer votes), despite his bellicose posturing in his first post-election press conference.  Of course now all Obama has to work for is his legacy, so he has a somewhat different motivation than re-election. 

The media and Dems love to blame all the partisanship on the Republicans or Tea Party, but it takes two to tango, and since when have the Dems ever shown any propensity to compromise?  Certainly not when they ram-rodded Obamacare through on a strictly partisan and devious basis.  Or on many other occasions.  Some have commented on Obama’s lack of negotiating experience and hard-headedness, and even a liberal (Lanny Davis) has said he needs to humble himself.

The Reasons

Romney was always given the edge in polls on his ability to handle the economy, which was widely acknowledged as the biggest and most pressing single issue for the majority of people living in the reality of a real economy.  But the Dems had cobbled together a coalition of disparate single-issue groups for whom the most important thing was free contraceptives, amnesty for illegals, same-sex marriage, food stamps, free health care, etc., etc. – Santa Claus.  And there were enough of them to make the difference.  History (and Greece, for example) shows that once that tipping point is reached, the entitlement class will just continue to vote for more – at the expense of those who pay more taxes.  And as that cow is milked drier and drier, eventually (or after not long) it will give out, and the goodies will not be forthcoming, and there will be riots in the streets as in Greece.

The analogy has been made of a family in which the kids are spoiled and given their every wish by one parent, and the other parent does not indulge them for their own good.  Of course the unwise and selfish children will show more appreciation and love for the parent that indulges them.  If they could vote for one parent, guess which one.  But which parent really has more love and the best interests of the children at heart?  And will have the best results in terms of the character and long-term stability of the family & each individual?

The other factor widely touted in the polls and media is Obama’s cool factor, likeability and supposed ability to relate to or empathize with people.  As if this were American Idol.  Clearly Obama capitalized brazenly on this, with his frequent appearances on the View, Letterman, John Stewart, MTV, Hollywood fundraisers, etc., etc.  Fine.  Let’s see what that cool factor gets the people in terms of jobs, debt, defense, respect of other nations, etc.  Romney ran a campaign on substance and proven results, not style and failure.  Congratulations, America – you got the president you wanted, who based on his focus and results and even some statements doesn’t give a d_ _ _ about deficits, debt, jobs, etc.

Now that Obama has “more flexibility” after the election, let’s see what he does with Russia.

This of course is not the first time the best man has been rejected by a majority – there are many examples of better men in the bible who were widely rejected by the people – to their own condemnation.  There is not always safety or validity in numbers.  California also has been presented with truly excellent alternatives to our dismal representatives, and rejected them.  It has been said, perhaps the electorate will only begin to see clearly when things get bad enough.

Where from Here?

So what does the re-election mean?  It means all hopes of repealing Obamacare are basically gone – it is now firmly entrenched as the law of the land, just as the measures of the New Deal & Great Society.  It means that the Supreme Court is basically guaranteed to be lost to liberalism for an entire generation, with a few justices undoubtedly retiring this term, and to be replaced by Obama.  It means a likely continuation of the same economic policies that have exploded the national debt, and failed to produce the jobs needed to keep up with population growth.  And which is even now receiving votes of no confidence by the stock market & many employers who’d hoped for a change, but are now laying off thousands in the face of the fiscal cliff (higher taxes, slashed government spending, etc.). 

It has been said the House of Representatives is the last remaining “firewall” against expanding government, the welfare state, deeper debt, etc.  Pray for them every bit as much as for the president and leaders in general & the nation.  But with a Democrat Senate (and Harry Reid showing even less bipartisanship than ever), presidency and liberal Supreme Court, and with the electorate having passed the tipping point of a majority for government dependency, it appears the best that firewall can do now is slow the spiraling decline, not stop or reverse it. 

It is a sad but repeated pattern of many other great nations going into decline after about 200 years.  And integral to all of that is the secularistic moral decline – the inherent selfishness of instant gratification and lack of concern for future generations.   Yes, this is the base “revenge” they’ve now exacted, at the urging of Barack Obama, and at the expense of the American economy, defense and character.  How quickly the Democrat party has gone from “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Mitt Romney is a good, honest and wise – even great -- man who was fit to the task.  I for one count myself proud to have been found working for his election, and doing what I have.  It is the unwise American electorate I am ashamed of.  And fearful of what lies in store for us. 

But I will not give up the fight.  Greater men have fought on to the end against poor odds.  If anything, I am committed to being even more outspoken about the truth, because “the truth shall make you free.”  As some (Medved, Prager, Hannity, Levin, etc.) say, we need to learn to make our case better, and to a wider audience.  Part of that is uncovering who/what they are – reading “The Amateur,” “The Obama Nation,” etc.  While cleaning the house the other day, I came across a small booklet received from David Horowitz (a former Leftist & Black Panther turned staunch conservative), titled “The Art of Political War.”  I intend to read it and learn to fight liberals more effectively.  They have mastered the art, and have us at a disadvantage (in addition to the Santa Claus advantage).  We don’t need to stoop to their tactics, but need to understand them and how to counter them – to be “wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.”

I have been hearing stories of former liberals who confess that their former support of Obama was out of gross ignorance (consistent with liberal first stage thinking), and in some cases it simply took someone tactfully pointing out some simple truths like the fraction of their paycheck going to government.  There is hope.  Romney achieved a new high in the Jewish vote – 30%.  And new highs in the Black community & some other demographics like women.  But the young are increasingly receiving one-sided indoctrination in our liberal schools and universities – every bit as much as the radical Islamist movement being fed by the Taliban madrases.  Until that changes, there will continue to be new generations of radicals of both ilks.  And we need to speak louder in all media – not only online & conservative, but mainstream.  The combination of relentless pressure, better ideas & messengers, and the inevitable failures of another Obama term should see turnarounds in the 2014 and 2016 elections.

But we also need to look within.  We lost by only 3 million votes.  And it so happens that is how many fewer Republicans turned out to vote than in 2008 – despite greatly increased get-out-the-vote campaigns.  I will be extremely interested in seeing the breakdown of who those 3 million were.  If they were Ron Paul supporters or Evangelicals or Tea Party purists who refused to vote for Romney, we need to deal with them.  I hope they feel every bit of guilt and responsibility for what they have brought upon this nation and future generations for their petty reasons. 

No cartoons this time.  Only a time for serious thought, reflection and re-commitment.

PS(California continued to sink further into the hole, with Democrats achieving a 2/3 carte-blanche majority in the state legislatures, and proposition 30 passing (more taxes) and 32 failing (unions free reign on mandatory dues going to political contributions).  Those in other states, save yourselves.)