I turned to Fox at the moment when the networks called Ohio for Obama, meaning that he won the election to continue as President. It took them several minutes for them to do what every other channel had done. It was a weird moment, as the commentators would not utter the words, "President Obama has won Re election."
When they did utter these words, it not as a historical announcement, but as an aside under the speakers breath This was right after Karl Rove had come on and done a county by county analysis of Ohio, pointing out that given the number of votes still unreported, it was premature to call it. He made a reasonable analysis, especially after Florida in 2000, when the exact error occurred. He was not challenging the legitimacy of the vote, rather arguing that the networks should not jump the gun.
Then they brought on Charles Krauthammer, which who under the guise of a wise physician pundit delivered a curse on both the President and our country.
First he said that "he has no mandate," not a real victory as if he wins the popular vote it will only be by a small amount. And then he said that "Obama only won by being small, that after his first two years he did nothing important, had no ideas...."
He then dove lower into the mire, "He will not get the house to compromise, as they won't "cave in" to raise the deficit." Got it? He was challenging the rump party who still controls a single house of congress to actually force the country off of the fiscal cliff, with dire consequences. He characterizes reaching such a compromise with the man who had just been confirmed as the nation's leader as "caving in."
Romney's gracious concession speech acknowledged that the people have chosen Barack Obama to continue as President of the United States, and then, wishing him success, went on with the key words, "that this is no time for partisan bickering." It was, in his simple words, acknowledging that although he had a different vision that, unlike Krauthammer, he would not attempt to sabotage this country out of bitterness at the outcome. it was a call to rise above the very partisanship of the campaign that had ended only hours before.
I'm delighted over the outcome of this election, but I've never had more respect, and dare I say, even affection, for this human being who spoke to his fellow countrymen this evening. Charles Krauthammer's denial of the legitimacy of the most sacred secular act of this nation, the campaign for president that determines who shall be the steward of this country, with the power of commander in chief of the military, is to bestow the mandate of national leadership, Yes Chuck, that's what a mandate is, not a word to be used for your demeaning, not only the man who won it, but the two hundred million Americans who participated in this election.
Krauthammer should be contrasted with Romney. In his gracious concession speech he became a model for the loyal opposition. He moved from candidate to citizen in the brief minutes after his seven year long effort had been defeated, with both grace and dignity. As Donald Trump was advocating a march on Washington to protest this democratic election and Krauthammer was goading on his radical Republican congressmen to further destroy the nations economic standing, Mitt Romney was setting a model of unification that I hope spreads to others in his party and starts the retreat from the insane fundamentalist hatred that has come to define this once respectable political party.