Post-election punditry

The day-after commentary is always amusing. Democrats and their press are talking about whether or not this is the end of the Republican Party, and saying that the Republicans will need to find a way to be more inclusive of groups who view them as hostile if they want to continue to be viable. Maybe. Or maybe they need a candidate capable of inspiring all conservatives to vote. Conservatives, after all, still outnumber liberals by a wide margin. Meanwhile, conservatives are sad, as am I, but I may be less sad than the conservatives.

The similarities between Repubs and Dems are stronger than the differences. Under George Bush, somebody far more conservative than Romney, we had massive overspending and a huge increase in the size of the federal government (8 trillion debt to 10.4 trillion debt, and the creation of TSA and DHS). How, precisely, does this differ from Obama? The scale is smaller, but that's about it. One president screwed us, and the other screwed us more.

Bush did nothing to stop illegal immigration, just like Dems. Bush did nothing to push a federal "traditional marriage" amendment. He never lifted a finger against gay marriage or against women. Bush did push for warrantless wiretapping and indefinite detention without charges (although only foreigners). Obama is continuing all of Bush's foreign entanglements, he's continuing the wiretapping, and he introduced the NDAA, which extended indefinite detentions to U.S. citizens on U.S. territory. Repubs and Dems -- it's a two-man con. They fight like cats and dogs, especially during an election cycle, while doing mostly the same things.

So, if Bush was fiscally irresponsible, and carried out a lot of controversial and troubling programs that liberals also like, how would Romney, who is far more centrist, do any better? Answer, he wouldn't.

Obama maintained popularity, and to unseat a relatively popular incumbent president, we needed a better candidate than Romney. We needed a Reagan, and Romney is not Reagan. McCain got more votes than Romney, and that tells the full story.

Hey, I'm just glad I get to whine and complain on the this blog for another four years. Everyone's gotta have a hobby, right?