What the 2012 Election did (and didn't) Tell Us
Welcome to Tony Island blog! Just another post in a series of occasional analyses of the 2012 Presidential election. Here, I want to highlight some things that were made evident by the final results. In no particular order - 1) There is no mandate - Every victor claims a mandate, even when there isn't one. And this is a case of "there isn't one". Obama's popular vote numbers and electoral votes were down from 2008. How could there be a mandate? The Democrats successfully demonized "the rich" and tarred and feathered Romney with that evil moniker. Since the economic meltdown was caused by Wall Street, anything touching Wall Street (however remotely) was deemed bad. In reality, it's tough to change horses mid-stream. The electorate didn't quite like the alternative enough and thus stuck with the devil they know. 2) The Republican Party isn't dead - despite grave dancing by Progressives, the Republican party is far from dead. Republi...