posted November 07, 2012 02:08 PM            

"Welcome To Liberal America" (Ben Smith and Zeke Miller)
"Barack Obama, gay marriage, weed, and a new focus on climate change. This is the country, and the Republican Party has to adapt."

"President Barack Obama’s sweeping victory in the 2012 election, his party’s wide win in the Senate, and the first ever triumph of marriage equality at the polls cemented the reality of a changed America that emerged in 2008.

The shape of that changed country was obscured by the Republican revival of 2010, but the 2012 vote means both the survival of Obama’s policy project and the clear emergence of a new demographic picture and electoral map.

The first post–baby boomer president was returned to the White House with the widest, clearest reelection win since Ronald Reagan won 49 states in 1984, yet a smaller mandate than his own 2008 victory. And Democrats now have, in Obama, their Reagan: A figure both historic and ideological, who can carry, if not quite fulfill, a liberal vision of activist government and soft but sometimes deadly power abroad that will define his party for a generation.

Obama lacks Reagan’s sweeping victory, and presides over a more deeply divided country than when he took office. But the breadth of his accomplishments have been validated by Tuesday’s vote. ObamaCare is now a firmly rooted component of the nation’s social compact. Americans appear to have accepted his campaign’s argument that he deserves more credit for a nascent economic recovery than blame for its slow pace.

And the vision of a conservative resurgence appears to have fallen short. The best the Republican Party could muster was a Massachusetts moderate masquerading as “severely conservative.” The Tea Party is a memory, an embarrassment to a party that didn’t even mention it at its national convention in Tampa. And the network that led the conservative resurgence, Fox suffered a sort of televised meltdown as the results came in, with Karl Rove berating host Megyn Kelly for calling the election, he said, prematurely.

Republicans have warned of a more liberal Obama over the coming term, an outcome Democrats hope for and consider likely. But the scale of the decisions facing the country will create an intense pressure for compromise, and now on Democratic terms.

But the 2012 election marked a cultural shift as much as a political one. Ballot measures that had failed for years — allowing the marriage of two men or two women in Maine and Maryland; legalizing marijuana in Washington state and Colorado — were voted into law. The nation’s leading champion of bank regulation, Elizabeth Warren, handily defeated moderate Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, and the nation’s first lesbian senator, Tammy Baldwin, was elected in Wisconsin. Even climate change, which was absent for nearly the entire campaign, came roaring back with Hurricane Sandy and was the subject of endorsements for Obama and harsh attacks on Romney.

These measures were passed, and Obama reelected, by an American electorate that Republicans had dismissed as a fluke of African-American pride and youth enthusiasm, and which a generation of pundits — Michael Barone, George Will — wrote off as a fantasy.

The Romney campaign, in fact, bet its last weeks on modeling showing a more Republican, older, and more white electorate — the reversal of the younger, diverse crowds which propelled Barack Obama to the White House four years ago. But in fact the share of 18- to 29-year-old voters increased by a percentage point, while the number of white voters declined by two. Their votes were more balanced this time, but the change has been unmistakable and irreversible.

The groups on whom Obama depended are the ones that are growing; white men, the core Republican constituency, are a shrinking minority. For the first time In 2011, minority births surpassed white births in the United States, and the longer demographic trend places white Americans in the minority by 2041.

The Republican Party will spend much needed time in the wilderness after this election, even as the open race for 2016 unofficially kicks off today. The future of the Grand Old Party will be determined by how well it adapts to the brand-new Liberal America — indeed the Obama America — that is now here to stay." http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/welcome-to-liberal-america

"Barack Obama's Reelection Signals Rise Of New America" (Howard Fineman, HuffingtonPost)

" President Barack Obama did not just win reelection tonight. His victory signaled the irreversible triumph of a new, 21st-century America: multiracial, multi-ethnic, global in outlook and moving beyond centuries of racial, sexual, marital and religious tradition.

Obama, the mixed-race son of Hawaii by way of Kansas, Indonesia, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, won reelection in good part because he not only embodied but spoke to that New America, as did the Democratic Party he leads. His victorious coalition spoke for and about him: a good share of the white vote (about 45 percent in Ohio, for example); 70 percent or so of the Latino vote across the country, according to experts; 96 percent of the African-American vote; and large proportions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The Republican Party, by contrast, has been reduced to a rump parliament of Caucasian traditionalism: white, married, church-going -- to oversimplify only slightly. "It's a catastrophe," said GOP strategist Steve Schmidt. "This is, this will have to be, the last time that the Republican Party tries to win this way."

The GOP chose as its standard-bearer Mitt Romney, whose own Mormon Church until recent decades discriminated officially against blacks. His campaign made little serious effort to reach out to Hispanics voters, and Romney hurt himself by taking far-right positions on immigration during the GOP primaries. He made no effort whatsoever in the black community.

Obama reached out not only racially and ethnically, but in terms of lifestyle. Analysts made fun of, and Republicans derided, his campaign's focus on discrete demographic and social slices of the electorate, including gays and lesbians. But the message was one about the future, not the American past." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/barack-obama-reelection_n_2085819. html?utm_hp_ref=politics

posted November 07, 2012 02:24 PM            

The young men and women of all ethnicities who were beaming with pride during the Chicago victory speech are truly classy Souls who have exorcised racism in all forms.

I am envious of young America at the moment. I thought Young India would take the lead in the 21st century but we have miles to go in combating communalism and casteism. I keep dreaming of a young Muslim or "Dalit" Prime Minister for India, with a thumping mandate. Until that happens, US of A will continue to lead the World. We are taking notes

posted November 07, 2012 02:58 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by iQ:
The Old white men in "Red" States are not bad people, they have been brainwashed by right wing fundamentalists with lies for decades. It is high time they break free from mental imprisonment. Go on you old codgers, hug the brother who loves your Nation as much as you do. Delete the hate.

The young men and women of all ethnicities who were beaming with pride during the Chicago victory speech are truly classy Souls who have exorcised racism in all forms.

I am envious of young America at the moment. I thought Young India would take the lead in the 21st century but we have miles to go in combating communalism and casteism. I keep dreaming of a young Muslim or "Dalit" Prime Minister for India, with a thumping mandate. Until that happens, US of A will continue to lead the World. We are taking notes

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Very well put, iQ! Couldn't have said it better myself!

posted November 08, 2012 09:20 AM            

My sentiments exactly. We have never gotten further in history by sticking to "traditional values". We need to adapt with the changing social climate, progress along with our technological advances, and move forward to a more unified world that is color blind.

posted November 08, 2012 07:20 PM            

I loved this. And that's just a sampling, much worse has been said.

I spoke to my Granny yesterday and said I hoped the defeat of so many (though not all) anti-gay and anti-women politicians would get them to reconsider trying to get ahead like immature middle schoolers trying to prove their coolness by attacking a seemingly vulnerable group and she said she thinks I hope for too much, and as one example cited a former Texas Republican candidate who joked that women should enjoy rape and after it was aired it not only cost him the election but earned him death threats (and his Democrat opponent, who had doubts about her ability to win, threw a party when it aired because she knew she'd won, and she did). And even so, they just don't stop showing they just don't learn.

Still, I know a handful of moderate Republicans who have been disgusted by their party being hijacked by the Christian Right in the last couple of years or so, and many of them were refusing to vote Republican (one was even voting Democrat) as a message for them to cut it out and get back to common sense issues than this religious crusade they're on now. And even those who agreed with the principle that people who refuse to buy insurance should face the consequences of that in the hospital were sickened when a Republican audience CHEERED over the concept (it's one thing to promote personal responsibility, and another to take enthusiastic delight in suffering caused by bad choices). And online I find they're not the only ones, such as the comments here (on a topic perfect to this thread as well) show:
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/11/07/limbaugh-were-outnumbered-weve-lost-th e-country/191210

So I guess if Republicans can't change then they'll be consigned to the dustbin of history as unable to evolve with the rest of us.

posted November 09, 2012 01:23 AM            

It's truly horrifying to read that collection of highly offense statements made by those idiotic and seriously delusional individuals. But I can't deny the exhilaration I feel knowing that they all got the BOOT! Defeated! Talk about poetic justice!

posted November 10, 2012 12:42 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Aquacheeka:
Congratulations to my neighbours south of the border on this wonderful occasion! The whole world celebrates with you this week.

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Aquacheeka! Missed you ! Yes, it's quite a moment! I'm sure a good portion of the planet let out a heavy sigh of relief and maybe even threw back a couple glasses of champagne and danced a bit in the streets in elation (or that might have just been the internationals I know).

posted November 10, 2012 03:52 AM            

Not me. The only Republican I'm sure some voted for as a write-in who would've (or at least tried) is Ron Paul.

posted November 10, 2012 07:58 AM            

This country has truly changed, and I believe there will be no going back. Hate lost yesterday. That is amazing in and of itself. And all the women who were elected last night! A total rebuke of Neanderthal attitudes.

Now the real work begins. Millions of us – the majority – must come together to insist that President Obama and the Democrats stand up and fight for the things we sent them there to do. Mr. President, do not listen to the pundits who today call for you to "compromise." No. You already tried that. It didn't work. You can compromise later if you need to, but please, no more beginning by compromising. And if the Republican House doesn't want to play ball, do a massive end run around them with one executive order after another – just like they have done and will do if given the chance again.

We have to have Obama's back. As he is blocked and attacked by the Right, we need to be there with him. We are the majority. Let's act like it.

And please Mr. President, make the banks and Wall Street pay. You're the boss, not them. Lead the fight to get money out of politics – the spending on this election is shameful and dangerous. Don't wait til 2014 to bring the troops home – bring 'em home now. Stop the drone strikes on civilians. End the senseless war on drugs. Act like a pit bull when it comes to climate change – ignore the nuts, and fix this now. Take the profit motive out of things that any civilized country would say, "this is for the common good." Make higher education affordable for everyone and don't send 22-year-olds out into the world already in massive debt. Order a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions. Enact economic policy that will create good-paying jobs and spend the money that's needed to do that. Make your second term one for the history books.

Finally, thanks must be given to the Occupy movement who, a year ago, set the tone of this election year by getting everyone to talk about the 1% vs. 99%. It inspired Obama and his campaign to realize that there was a huge popular sentiment against what the wealthy have done to the country and there was something wrong if just 400 rich guys owned more than 160 million Americans combined (all those moochers and bums). This led to Romney's "47%" remarks and THAT was the beginning of the end of his campaign. Thank you Mother Jones for releasing that secret tape , and thank you to the minimum wage worker who placed a camera on the serving buffet next to the candle. This morning's headline in the Washington Post says it all: "At Romney headquarters, the defeat of the 1 percent." Thank you Sandra Fluke for enduring the insults hurled at you and then becoming an important grassroots leader against the war on women. Thank you Todd Akin for...well, for just being you. Thank you CEOs of Chrysler and GM for coming out forcefully against the Republican(!) candidate, saying he lived in "some parallel universe" when he lied about Jeep. Thank you Governor Christie for your new bromance with Obama. You know, you really didn't have to!

And you, Mother Nature, with all your horrific damage, death and destruction you caused last week, you became, ironically, the undoing of a Party that didn't believe in you or your climate changing powers.

Perhaps they'll believe now.

Once again, thanks to all of you who brought a nonvoter to the polls. In a last minute effort to get Obama an extra million votes he wasn't counting on, I enjoyed talking and texting with your loved ones and friends yesterday who weren't going to vote – but then changed their minds after a little nudge and some TLC ("Damn! Michael Moore? I'm getting in to car right now to go vote.").

posted November 10, 2012 03:02 PM            

"The New America: What the election teaches us about ourselves" (CNN, by John Levis, November 10, 2012)

"America woke up Wednesday, looked into a giant mirror made up of millions of votes and saw how it has been changing for decades.

It wasn't just President Obama's re-election and the diverse coalition of minorities, women and youth that kept him in power.

For the first time, voters approved same-sex marriage in three states. Margaret Hoover, a Republican analyst and CNN contributor, called it "a watershed moment." Meanwhile, Wisconsin elected the country's first openly gay U.S. senator.

Two states legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

A record 20 women will be serving in the U.S. Senate.

And a record number of new Asian-American and Latino representatives were elected to Congress.

All this would have been unthinkable a generation ago, as would the idea the country would elect, let alone re-elect, its first black president.

Tuesday's election showed that the United States is redefining what it means to be an American, some political and social observers say: The country is less conservative than popular belief suggests. It's no longer the same America. The nation has arrived at a "new normal."

Others say the election showed that America is "fractured" and even more "racially polarized" than many people believed, while some analysts caution against reading too much into any one election.

Americans may have awakened Wednesday to the same balance of power in Washington -- same president, same divided Congress -- but in many ways they also woke up to the sense that things outside the Beltway might never be quite the same.

The America that gave the president a second term and ushered in a string of cultural firsts was formed at a time of dramatic changes that were starting to take root just around the time Obama was born in 1961.

"The '60s culture wars won, and that's a legacy that we're now seeing," said Julian Zelizer, political historian at Princeton University and CNN contributor.

"Doing away with taboos" -- about race, sexuality, drugs and gender roles -- accompanied a rejection of government control over sex and drugs, particularly marijuana, he said.

"Most of America, even in the red states, moved in a more liberal direction, even in areas where they're conservative on taxes and government spending."

Now, more and more children of the '60s have kids of their own who are not only old enough to vote but who are politically active, reaching out to other new voters and reshaping the political spectrum, he said.

So the same growing population that wants government to stay out of same-sex relationships, marijuana use and contraception also wants a racially inclusive government, analysts said.

That's where Democrats have succeeded and Republicans lag far behind.

It's a reality Republican analyst Alex Castellanos, a CNN contributor, described as he was absorbing the "beating" the GOP took Tuesday.

There is "kind of a 1950s America that we lost," Castellanos said. "It's an old way of looking at the world"...Still, analysts say Election 2012 signaled a sea change.

posted November 10, 2012 03:06 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by NativelyJoan:

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The creation of jobs has mostly been through the expansion of the bureaucracy, at the expense of the private sector.

The auto bailouts remain controversial and were a shoe-in for the ever-increasing bailouts, and a climate of virtual fiscal anarchy.

Did he end the war in Iraq? Why are our paramilitary troops still there? It's been credibly reported that Obama withdrew troops from Iraq reluctantly; basically, we were forced out and then converted the loss into a PR bonanza.

Cutting taxes for working families is hardly charitable when preparing to saddle them with costly ObamaCare.

The killing of Osama bin Laden and his rushed, weird "burial" was a travesty and highlights the President's characteristic lack of transparency and smugness that he is so popular, he can get away with it.

posted November 10, 2012 03:20 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
The creation of jobs has mostly been through the expansion of the bureaucracy, at the expense of the private sector.

The auto bailouts remain controversial and were a shoe-in for the ever-increasing bailouts, and a climate of virtual fiscal anarchy.

Did he end the war in Iraq? Why are our paramilitary troops still there? It's been credibly reported that Obama withdrew troops from Iraq reluctantly; basically, we were forced out and then converted the loss into a PR bonanza.

Cutting taxes for working families is hardly charitable when preparing to saddle them with costly ObamaCare.

The killing of Osama bin Laden and his rushed, weird "burial" was a travesty and highlights the President's characteristic lack of transparency and smugness that he is so popular, he can get away with it.

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People can choose to see the things President Obama's accomplished any way they'd like, good or bad. Everyone will have their opinions. I can't lie to you and state I'm worse off then I was 4 years ago because I'm not. He's had many failures and many successes, and I believe in giving credit where it's do, whether good or bad.

posted November 10, 2012 07:13 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Randall:
Just because something is typed up next to a picture of Obama doesn't make it true.

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Likewise for Moonwitch's image. No offense Moonwitch, I actually like that picture they used of President Obama.

Here's a funny and very blunt article about our nations changing demographics.

"Americans rejected lunacy on Tuesday" (Journal Tribune, November 9, 2012, by Maureen McDermott Gill)

"President Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney is a study in the demographics of a rapidly changing 21st-century America. For the Republican Party to survive, its smarter dinosaurs need to wake up to the realization that their rapidly accelerating extinction is significantly tied to the fact that a political party held hostage by right-wing lunatics and catering to the self-centered needs of privileged white men cannot compete in an increasingly diverse America – or one that chooses to remain sane.

The past election reflects the voting power of women, blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, gays and lesbians, as well as younger voters who tend to lean left, are more tolerant of diversity, and are less orthodox in both religious belief and lifestyle. The Republicans never focused on these groups; in fact, from top to bottom, GOP politicians went way out of their way to alienate them.

Further, the GOP also alienated two demographics that have traditionally voted Republican over the last 30 years: Senior citizens and blue collar labor. I’ll also venture to guess the Republicans lost veterans, people on active duty and military families. Everyone but the Republicans knows our armed forces are comprised of women, blacks, Hispanics and homosexuals, and there are a lot of senior citizens who are veterans. We also can’t forget about the number of veterans and active-duty personnel Mitt Romney dismissed as “victims” in his infamous rant about “47 percent” of the population.

However, there are more than demographics to explain the failure of the Republican Party in this election. Whereas demographics evolve slowly and are not always predictable, there is something that is predictable – at least to the extent that it helps calculate its effect on voters – and I call it the “Bat S*** Crazy Factor.” You just can’t be the Crazy Party and get elected in this country; not yet anyway.

The BSCF scares people, and this election saw plenty of BSCF in action. As the actor Alec Baldwin put it, “You know your party is in trouble when people ask, ‘Did the rape guy win?’ and you have to ask, ‘Which one?”

When the Republican Party allowed itself to be controlled by the tea party and other members of our national lunatic fringe, it became the party that doesn’t want Big Government in banking but has no qualms about inserting probes into vaginas. Instead of offering real solutions to hard problems, Republicans discussed “permissible rape” and didn’t aggressively sanction or denounce a man running for the U.S. Senate when he idiotically said women can shut down their “thing” to prevent conception when they’re raped. He should have been tossed from the ticket faster than a Commie at a John Birch meeting – but he wasn’t, because long before Todd Akin lost his mind the Republican Party had shut down that “thing” the rest of us call sanity.

When I was researching voter trends and looking at the results of local elections around the country, I discovered a Republican named Charlie Fuqua who ran for the Arkansas Legislature. Fuqua wrote a book titled “God’s Law” wherein he advocates for the death penalty (by stoning) for “rebellious children.” Murdering our own children, he claims, is totally justified by God – to wit:

“The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline … a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellious children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deuteronomy 21:18-21.”

Fuqua lost despite living in the Bible Belt, where a lot of people believe the Bible is a pretty good substitute for the Constitution of the United States. Fortunately, they draw the line at murdering their own bratty kids. The good people of Arkansas decided to give Fuqua’s political aspirations the death penalty, which should be a bright, shining ray of hope for all of us.

Fuqua is a crank, a total nut job – but he is important to the larger story because he is a symptom of the disease that is ravaging the Republican Party. What is astonishing about men like Akin and Fuqua is they were able to get on their local Republican tickets and stay there all the way through to Election Day – and no one in leadership positions at the local, state or national level said, “Whoa, Nellie; this guy’s nuts …”