I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but there are a few things at play over the next day and it is obviously very important to get ahead of the narrative before some of the typical “conventional wisdom” (read: BS bubble and right wing nonsense) is thrown out there. This would hold up regardless of whether Obama wins both the popular and Electoral votes, just wins the Electoral vote or “doesn’t win by enough”. And while nobody here can control what President Obama or Governor Romney will say as the votes are counted and the states are called, here are some thoughts to consider:
Immediately claim victory. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Here is the “wild card” – since Obama would really need to do this just as Bush did in 2000, and we don’t know if Romney or the right wing will or will not make a concession speech as opposed to trying to muddy the waters with respect to whether Obama “really” won or if states are “too close to call”. The networks have shown that they play into this as we saw not only on election night in 2000 but also when Wolf Blitzer called debates 2 and 3 a draw or The Fix (so aptly named) moved Ohio to “toss-up” because Romney really really really needed to win it. Regardless of how close the states may be, setting the narrative of Obama as the winner as early as possible helps cement the thought.
Of course, something like “Cryin’ Ryan” would be a nice compliment to this narrative…..
If Obama wins the Electoral Vote but not the Popular Vote
Two thoughts come to mind here, notwithstanding the massive voter suppression going on.
(1) The election is based on Electoral Votes, not popular votes. If it was based on popular vote, there would be an entirely different strategy at play. Obama would likely have opened up field offices and campaigned all throughout California and New York, for starters and would have run up his vote totals in at least these two safe states. It is an entirely different election strategy and one that the so-called “national polls” only perpetuate with horse race data that has been completely irrelevant.
(2) 2000. If Bush losing the popular vote and having the Supreme Court hand him the victory in one of the most shameless power grabs in this country’s history was just peachy keen to the right, then they can have a nice tall glass of STFU.
The Hurricane DID NOT give Obama the victory
Romney’s momentum has clearly stalled weeks earlier. The Hurricane did give Obama a chance to show that he is an adult and can handle a major crisis as a solid leader. Romney’s comments about FEMA and privatizing disaster relief are his own doing and just one of many many comments that have shown Romney to be the weasel that he is. Obama was already starting to pull away in a number of key states. Romney’s comments about Chrysler came before the Hurricane and he was flailing since the 3rd debate.
But as far as why Romney would have lost, it was his and Paul Ryan’s actions, comments, lies and extreme policies they were pushing that had them never leading in the Electoral vote and the pretty solid economic news that undercut the other message about being better to lead from an economic standpoint that had a much bigger impact on the race in the final weeks.
A close race and the “mandate for Obama”
See above – if 2000 was A-ok for Bush’s agenda of destruction and uber-partisanship then kindly STFU.
This election showed that progressive ideas are winners
Last but certainly not least – this is a very important one. In 2008, there was a lot of “center-right nation” crap, and the reality here is that when Romney moved up in the polls, he was Etch-a-Sketching his way back to the middle from the far right 1950’s era policies he supported in the primaries. When Obama talked about populist ideas and class warfare issues and progressive social issues, he moved up in the polls. Yes, there was a lot left to be desired as it relates to the global warming (not the euphemistic “climate change”) or aggressive foreign policy or a good number of other progressive issues but tacking to the right was not good for the candidates’ polling.
Of course, this would lead to pushing back from the left starting tomorrow on the Grand Bargain and all of the issues where Obama and his first term were too accommodating to the right. But if Obama wins today, these are a few things that would be good to get out in front of.
Hopefully, we won’t be talking about and protesting a stolen election this time tomorrow…..