Some of my favorite people, like Marx and Nietzsche, are white men, but let's face it, the crop of white men in the United States these days is unusually benighted, and it's only because of them that we risked electing a Republican/Randroid ticket that would have endangered the well-being of tens of millions of people in the United States and, given recent history, many more internationally. Here's the key bit from a New York Times article:
Mr. Obama won despite losing some of his 2008 margins among his key constituencies, including among younger voters, blacks and Jewish voters, yet he appeared to increase his share among Hispanics and Asians. Early exit poll results showed Latinos representing about 1 in 10 voters nationwide, and voting for Mr. Obama in greater numbers than four years ago, making a difference in several states, including Colorado and Florida.He held on to female voters, according to preliminary exit polls conducted by Edison Research, but he struggled even more among white men than he did four years ago.
Mr. Romney’s coalition included disproportionate support from whites, men, older people, high-income voters, evangelicals, those from suburban and rural counties, and those who call themselves adherents of the Tea Party — a group that had resisted him through the primaries but had fully embraced him by Election Day.
The message in this is clear: the Republicans are doomed by demographics, and the Democrats better nominate a woman and/or an Hispanic in 2016!
There was other good news: Elizabeth Warren, a genuine liberal and Harvard Law School professor, was elected to the Senate in Massachussetts; she is both smarter and a better talker than most members of the Senate, and may even have a future at the national level. A gay woman, Tammy Baldwin, was elected to the Senate in Wisconsin, again as a Democrat (as if that needs saying). A Democrat beat a Tea Party crazy for the Senate in Indiana, a state which went for Romney. Democratic incumbent Senator Tester may still pull it out in Montana, of all places. North Dakota, another bastion of high plains conservativism, went for the Democrat in its Senate race.
Also of note: anti-gay bigotry failed in Minnesota, and marriage equality for gay men and women was approved in several states.
The sad reality remains that the House of Representatives remains under Republican control, and as we noted the other day, these are precisely the folks that put the repugnancy in Republican. Unless the Democrats can peel off 20 or so Republican House members who realize that the party has fallen through the looking glass, governance may be nearly impossible and we may still see the President making unholy deals. This would be a good time for Obama to be reading Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson, to see how the sausage really gets made!
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