Some of my thoughts on the election

  • Woo hoo!
  • Tammy’s win is really gratifying
  • Though Obama’s electoral win was comprehensive, the popular vote was a lot less convincing.  There are plenty of people who need to be brought back from the dark side.   Some people (and I’m afraid Jack is one of them) may never recover from drinking the kool-aid, but I think we can be more convincing to those who can be turned if we regard them not as enemies but as people who need to overcome the anxieties that monsters like Karl Rove have stimulated and exploited. You don’t have to be a bad person to have voted for Romney-Ryan; misguided will do. (And see National Popular Vote for more on rectifying our weird electoral process.)
  • Our national economic policy remains guided by ideas that were discredited in the 1930s. And the 1% is still very much with us
  • Dems in the Senate need to start using the F-word to call out the absurdity of requiring 60 votes for practically any action to be taken.
  • Citizens United was defeated by united citizens, but $2 billion for an election? We can’t continue to line the pockets of consultants and TV stations for the privilege of having our decision-making process polluted by negatve campaigning. If you want  your mind boggled, see this report on OpenSecrets.org
  • The national victories, and Obama’s and Baldwin’s successes in Wisconsin, are  tempered here by our loss of control of the state senate; Republicans control both houses and we still have Walker as governor.
  • Antonin Scalia still need to throw a clot so Obama can appoint a Supreme Court justice.
  • Karl Rove needs to throw a clot so I can dance on his grave.

I’m convinced Obama wants to do the right things, but that requires that his supporters become effective advocates for his policies, and polices like them at every level of government. The fact that Romney won the money game but lost the election can’t have been lost on elected officials, who will continue to pay attention when they hear from informed, organized citizens. We still count votes, not dollars, on election day.