Damn, those first two hours sure were fun, weren't they? Right up until around 9:30 Eastern when PA was called for Obama. Pretty much all downhill from there.
Better luck next time.
The three scariest headlines I saw this morning were all on ABC News:
Obama Vows to Forge Change Where He Failed
President Obama Promises 'Best Is Yet to Come'
The Race for 2016 Starts Today
And there were a couple of ironic notes concerning the bloggers. Allahpundit over at Hot Air led off his pre-election post with this:
Free advice, take it or leave it: Don’t start obsessing about Ohio until we have a better sense of what’s happening in Virginia.
As of 11:30 last night, Virginia was still undecided.
And in my own post, I noted that, while Ohio was getting all the press, Florida, with its mass of electoral votes, was the real swing state to watch.
As of this morning:
Yet again, Florida hangs in the balance. Only this time, it doesn't matter.
President Barack Obama held onto a slim lead in Florida early Wednesday, but he didn't need the largest swing state to win re-election.
At this precise moment, Florida is still undecided. The only one so, no less.
Speaking of which, you know that stereotype you have about us South Floridians lazing around the beach all day long being served fancy drinks by scantily-clad wahines? The reason it's a stereotype is because it's true.
But, like the victims of Hurricane Sandy struggling to get their votes cast, we South Floridians faced our own horrific weather-related challenge yesterday:
Miami-Area Voters Wait Long Hours in Tropical Heat to Cast Votes
Yep, it's tough living down here, but somebody's gotta do it.
Below the fold I'll offer up some notes on why this wasn't as bad as it seems for the Repubs, and why it's not as good as it seems for the Dems. Fair is fair.
The Good
— Remember, presidents don't make laws. They can push them and back them and endorse them and speak highly of them — not to mention issuing Executive Orders by the barrelful — but they can't make them. And by retaining control of the House, we have a decent chance of stopping whatever mischief he starts, as we did with Cap 'n Trade, Card Check, and pretty much everything except ObamaCare which was passed at midnight under the shadiest of circumstances.
— Obama's win was actually excellent news for the right-wing bloggers. It'll keep 'em focused over the next four years, give 'em something to do and you something to read. With a Romney win and the lack of a common enemy, I foresee a bunch of intercine fighting over sub-issues (like the way certain sites pushed to have the Christian group that had previously sponsored CPAC replaced by the gay group GOProud) and an overall splintering from within. Longtime readers know that Centrist bloggers like myself have no qualms attacking sites like Hot Air, and I would expect this to do nothing but magnify. It's a lot more fun talking about something stupid Allahpundit just said than something Harry Reid just said. At this point in time, Harry Reid is boring.
— And think of the poor conservative cartoonists! What would Chris Muir from Day By Day and Stilton Jarlsberg of Hope n' Change do with a Romney win? Wallow in deep despair for weeks on end and then jump off a cliff would be a good guess. When your raison d'etre has been removed, what else is there to do except take the noble way out?
— James Taranto in his Best Of The Web Today column yesterday made this point:
That's the mess a President Romney would inherit from his predecessor. He'd have to spend much of his political capital persuading Congress to undo this legislation, and quite possibly with a Democratic Senate majority.
If Obama is re-elected, he will inherit this mess from himself. There will be no blaming George W. Bush for a two-term Obama presidency. History will hold Obama accountable for the results, and the electorate will hold his party accountable in 2014 and 2016.
So if the problems from ObamaCare and high gas prices and unemployment rates and all the rest continue, maybe it's a good thing we didn't inherit this mess. Maybe it'll be best in the long run.
The Bad
— People like me, who really thought America had awakened and were ready to usher in a brand new day, will become disinterested in both politics and the American public in general. Basically, whatever shit happens to them now, they deserve it. As for 2016 and again attempting that ushering-in-a-brand-new day routine, why bother? The people have shown decisively they're not interested in brand new days.
— What's particularly depressing is that exit polls showed that "fixing the economy" was still at the top of everybody's list — so how do you fix an economy by reelecting the status quo? When critics call America's voting public 'dumb', this is what they mean.
— Sites like Maggie's Farm, which once were so innocent and fun, will remain the political gasbags they've become since 2008. A Romney win might have allowed them to settle down a bit, but now we're facing another 4 years where 90% of this site will be political, political, political, in one form or another. Global warming, the higher ed bubble, almost whatever the subject, you'll be seeing it through the eyes of the political prism.
Screw politics.
Me, I'm gonna go work on my baseball post.
