Coffee grounds

Bath of Diana - Alcazar, Seville

I am trying to sift through the dregs at the bottom of the post election coffee cup and would like to offer my take to anybody that is remotely interested.

This election actually gives me a little hope. No matter how much money rich guys (e.g. Sheldon Adelson, Koch brothers, Linda McMahon, etc.) throw at an election, it is not necessarily a guarantee that the american public won't see their way through it in the end. Perhaps the effects of the dastardly Citizens United case may not be as bad as once thought. Americans figure it out.

*
Wacko is obviously out. Look at the losers in 2012, Akin, Walsh and Mourdock gone, Bachmann and Allan West are on the ropes. I see signs that the public is opting out of the fringe, electing more moderate people from both parties. Arizona has elected Republican Jeff Flake, a conservative with a high degree of integrity that often bucks the party line. Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, our first openly gay senator. If you look at the Senate, it is definitely going to be a more liberal body.

*
I think that people figured out who the real radicals were, they got a sense of the imminent peril to a safety net and decided that it was an important part of our society that shouldn't be jeopardized. Not to say that with an aging boomer population, we can not afford to pretend that we can continue with the status quo. We can't. Perhaps it is raising the retirement age, means testing, we have to find a way to deal with a problem that won't go away.

*
I believe that this election is the last hoorah for a society long dominated by an old guard of old white guys. The country will ignore the vote of minorities and women in the future at their peril. Our country looks different now. People will not bow to a calvinist overlord. Americans don't like to be told what they can and can not do, especially if it is private matter between consenting adults and their spouses, comrades and/or embryos.

*
Rasmussen and Gallup were way off as many poll watchers suspected. Rasmussen says today on his blog that the days of telephone polling are over - that isn't how people communicate any more. Interesting.

This race was very likely the last presidential election of the telephone polling era. While the industry did an excellent job of projecting last night’s election, entirely new techniques will need to be developed before 2016. The central issue is that phone polling worked for decades because that was how people communicated. In the 21^st century, that is no longer true.

*
Experts from both sides of the aisle agree that the so called upcoming "fiscal cliff" will be catastrophic if implemented. Wouldn't it be great if both sides would stop the bullshit and work on getting something fixed before its too late? Show the country that there are still grown-ups in the room. Get it done sooner rather than later and stop posing and preening for the cameras.

*
I thought Romney's concession speech was forthright and heartfelt. I belief I even sensed a touch of relief. He was the only electable Republican and he gave a great fight to the best of his abilities. I think that he would have been an effective manager and much less ideological than supposed. He won't get the chance to show us. Having said, most of my friends left and right agree that the real nexus and prize is the Supreme Court and its composition is even more important for how we are going to shape our country's future than the legislature or even executive branch for that matter. This election had serious consequences as I suppose they all do.

Going more conservative will not help the Republicans, at least I don't think so. The undecideds tend to be more in the center than on the fringes.

*
I don't want to sound too wonky but Nate Silver was accurate in 50 out of 50 predictions.

*
Romney was certainly not helped by the hurricane. His supposed non political relief event in Ohio looked a bit far off the weather map. But I think that his words did more to hurt him, Can you imagine if private industry really did take care of disaster relief? "Sorry Pal, we aren't going to fix your city or town because there is just not enough profit in it."Disaster relief would quickly turn into its own disaster. There are certain things americans do for each other. It's what makes us such a great people.

*
I happen to agree with Donald Trump regarding the popular vote and the need to do away with the electoral college. No matter who won.  A Wyoming shouldn't  be equal to six california votes. Every American should have an equal say. This has been a prescription for a form of rural tyranny that our founding fathers would have blanched at.

*
Netanyahu did not help himself with his blatant support for Romney. In fact his blunt and crude style will hurt jews in this country, already accused in some circles of putting the needs of Israel over those of the United States. I don't think he will be on Obama's Chanukah card list anytime soon.

*
Mitt Romney's Mormonism never became a major issue for either his allies or his opponents. I think that this is a credit to our country. Anybody of any faith could one day be elected to the hallowed office, that is unless they are an atheist, muslim, scientologist or jew. Might even get a woman one day.

Hallway, Alcazar