Obama's a Republican
Dear Republicans,Sorry about the election. I know how much it hurts when your presidential candidate loses. I've been there many times. You're crestfallen. You can't believe the public voted for that idiot. You fear for your country.Cheer up. The guy we just re-elected is a moderate Republican.I know how stupid that sounds. Barack Obama is the head of the Democratic Party. For five years, conservative politicians and media told you he was a raving socialist. In the heat of the campaign, when you're trying to beat the guy, it's hard to let go of that image of him, just as it's hard for Democrats to see past the caricatures of Mitt Romney. But now that the campaign is over and you're staring at a second Obama term, the falsity of the propaganda may come as a relief.By and large, Obama's instincts are the instincts of a moderate Republican. His policies are the policies of a moderate Republican. He stands where the GOP used to stand and will someday stand again.(More: bit.ly/UlpJm5.)-- William Saletan, SlateRomney and trustThe biggest reason Mitt Romney lost women, and thus the White House? All voters see trust as an important quality in a president, and that's even more true of women voters. Yet a surprising number of the Romney-supporting women I talked to on Election Day did so in the hope that he had not been telling them the whole truth."He had to swing more to the right to win the nomination," explained George Mason student Margaret Berkowitz, a first-time voter in McLean, Va., "and we understand that. They're not going to overturn Roe," she said, adding that "you just ignore those ads" that claim otherwise. ...Team Obama mostly targeted women voters with appeals on abortion rights, while Team Romney seemed to see us as either small-business owners or aspiring small-business owners. His decision to appeal to women on the economy was correct -- and also the only way he could go, given that he couldn't very well tout his murky views on equal pay. But the specifics of his plan didn't close the deal.(More: bit.ly/Qp7mLT.)-- Melinda Henneberger, "She The People" blogBig ideas campaignWas the 2012 presidential race, which Barack Obama resoundingly won, a contest of big ideas, or was it petty and unchallenging?Some seem to have concluded the latter. A Politico story Tuesday said that this year's campaign was dominated by "small" arguments and "uproars over careless but inconsequential remarks by one candidate or another." ...I disagree. This was a contest of big and consequential ideas. Underneath the noise, this election was driven by questions with far-reaching moral and practical consequences:What is the nature of our collective responsibility toward one another?What is the legacy of the great progressive reforms of the 20th century? Should their core mission -- and the safety net they have created -- be preserved and expanded to meet the needs of those still left behind by the private market? Or should that mission be readjusted to deal with dramatically different economic circumstances in the 21st century?What is the best way to guarantee shared prosperity and economic Security at a time of rapid economic change? ...Such questions about the nature of the society we want to live in were at the core of dust-ups over some remarks by the candidates: the fight over President Obama's "you didn't build that" comment and Mitt Romney's "47 percent" remarks.(More: bit.ly/T4KUEA.)-- Greg Sargent, The Washington PostHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
