The election is over. WE CAN ALL UNITE and be thankful for that. The campaign mudslinging gets tiresome–even boring. The negative ads were so plentiful this year that, frankly, people stopped noticing them. It was just frightening images of President Obama and Governor Romney set Armageddon style music. But it’s over. We have a winner. And it happened long before many thought it would. No recount. No hanging chads. No computer glitches of concern–well, there were but as usual the media ignored the problems with electronic machines.
But what has changed?
Before the election yesterday, Democrats controlled the Senate, Democrats had the White House, and Republicans had the House.
After the election today? Democrats control the Senate, Democrats have the White House, and Republicans have the House.
This after billions of dollars spent on advertising!?
Billions of dollars spent to … keep everything the same?
I am not a money-man, a banker, or a fiscal prophet. But if someone told me to spend a billion bucks just to keep my house, my job, my car, and make no changes, I’d turn the cheek and take a risk by not doing it.
Our elections are getting expensive. The Supreme Court decision years back allowing corporations to give more ensured that. Are we getting more for the money, though? We certainly had our TV airwaves taken over by candidates this year. Billions upon billions of dollars spent while Hurricane Sandy victims still are without running water, electricity, and food. Billions of dollars on a campaign while wars continue.. while poverty abounds.. while people are working three jobs instead of two just to make ends meet. Billions of bucks on the campaign.
Just to keep the status quo.
And speaking of status quo, not to be glum while America parties, there is something coming on January 1 2013 that few are concerned about: The fiscal cliff. The moment when taxes increase for everyone in this nation all at one time. When government spending has issues.. when people’s deductions get affected.. when life fiscally as we know it changes. And Congress, the Senate, and the White House are fully aware of the impending financial doom. The cliff is fast approaching. Billions of dollars were spent to make certain that the SAME PLAYERS would be in Washington that brought us to the edge of this mess. As of right now, no serious attempts have yet been made to correct the problem, or divert it from happening. A lame duck session of Congress is coming. Maybe they will come up with a magic solution? Or just keep doing things as they have been done.
No changes.
Status quo.
It’s tough to say just yet what, if anything, will change as a result of President Obama’s re-election.
The nation is slightly divided. A pretty evenly split popular vote, though the President did have a resounding victory on the Electoral College map.
If I had to make any prediction about what changed, I’d say this: Republicans will have to deeply analyze their message and determine what they could do about it. Was Romney just a flawed candidate? Was Santorum right ..was Gingrich right..was Bachmann right? They all said Romney could not beat a sitting President. And Chris Christie sat this one out. Maybe he was thinking Romney loses, too, setting up a 2016 run (or walk for him) to the White House? Or maybe the Ron Paul wing of the party needs some more press. Or maybe the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Reform Party, and others, need to be brought into the big tent of media coverage that only covers two parties?
I don’t know.
But what I do know is that today, just like November 5 2012, everything feels quite the same..
