Obama has been re-elected as the President of the United States of America. Romney could not get back in the game after several mis-steps. An analysis by Harsh Desai
CNN has just called the election and announced that Barack Obama will be elected as the next President of the United States of America. He crossed the threshold of 270 electoral votes and it looks likely that he would cross 300 before the night is over. By the time the election was called, people had stopped saying that no president has won re-election with such a high unemployment rate since Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). That was then, and this is now. However, President Obama was trailing Governor Romney in the popular vote but carried virtually every swing state that was in play. By riding on his coattails, the Democrats look likely to retain control of the Senate.
The humdinger predicted never materialised. Ohio—the president’s firewall—held firm till the very end. As Ohio numbers refused to break in his favour, Governor Romney, in a last ditch gamble, made some misleading ads that backfired.
The fact that his Obama’s opponent was Mitt Romney actually helped. Romney could never connect with the American electorate. Romney was too aloof and wealth, which an American could never relate to. The nature of the modern Republican Party forced him out on a limb and he could never find his way back. The choice of Paul Ryan, as vice-presidential candidate, distanced him away from the middle. Further, he got entangled by farcical comments made by his party-men on abortion. Therefore, to get elected it looked as if he would have had to distance himself from his party.
Moreover, the demographics of the United States is changing and you cannot win elections by just being a “White Man’s Party”. The sooner the Republican Party learns the lesson, the better.
The Republicans lost a historic opportunity and next time it will be Hillary Clinton. Bruce Springsteen had told us just yesterday, “I think the president has some rock star ambitions”. So America gets its first “rock star” President.
Harsh Desai has been writing the American Dairy about US Presidential elections. To access all other articles, please click here.
(Harsh Desai has done his BA in Political Science from St Xavier's College & Elphinstone College, Bombay and has done his Master's in Law from Columbia University in the city of New York. He is a practicing advocate at the Bombay High Court.)
Inside story of the National Stock Exchange’s amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
1-year online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
30-day online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
Complete access to Moneylife archives since inception ( till the date of your subscription )
