The Pundits look at what happened

American Interest;  Michael Barone: Wrong, but Still Smart "Last week, Michael Barone, Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist and a noted scholar of American politics, broke with the conventional wisdom, predicting a big win for Romney in the electoral college. Now that the smoke has cleared (although Florida has yet to be decided), it’s clear that this was way off: It was Obama, and not Romney, who cracked 300 electoral votes.
"But to his credit, Barone is not trying to bury his mistakes: In a follow-up column for the Examiner, he offers a mea culpa and analyzes what went wrong with his Romney win prediction:"

Why Obama Won — and What Conservatives Must Do "...My own belief is that the president will argue that the nation has given him a mandate and endorsed the policies he sought to pursue, and that he will do all he can to move the United States to the “fundamental transformation” he said was his goal in the 2008 election campaign. That means the opposite of any attempt for serious compromise, and a hunkering down to try to move ahead with Obama Care and other politically leftist programs. He will try to mobilize the nation against the Republicans, who managed to hold control of the House of Representatives."
A cooperative spirit is not in Obama's nature.

John Hinderaker; The Meaning of Yesterday’s Defeat  "But there is a much more important proposition that, I think, was proved false last night: that America is a center-right country. This belief is one that we conservatives have cherished for a long time, but as of today, I think we have to admit that it is false. America is a deeply divided country with a center-left plurality. This plurality includes a vast number of citizens who describe themselves as moderates, but whose views on the issues are identical or similar to those that have historically been deemed liberal."

Obama Victory Comes With No Mandate  "Obama hurt his cause by running a hard-edged and negative campaign against Republican Mitt Romney, hoping to convince recession-weary voters that his rival was unworthy of the job. He gave lip service to an agenda, publishing scaled-back and repackaged ideas from his first term in a 20-page pamphlet. Obama’s message was often microtargeted to Democratic coalitions rather than the broad electorate."

Krauthammer: Obama has ‘no mandate,’ GOP future ‘quite bright’[VIDEO]  " “I think the real story here is that Obama won, but he’s got no mandate,” Krauthammer declared. “He won by going very small, very negative, and we are left as a country exactly where we started, but a little bit worse off. The Republicans are in control of the House, probably a little bit stronger. They are not going to budge. There’s no way after holding out on Obama for two years they’re going to cave in, and Obama doesn’t have anywhere really to go. He governed very large in the first two years.” "

Now Obama's flexibility kicks in

One Thousand and One Articles Later: Why Obama Should be Voted Out of Office Today

This falls under the heading, "Now You Tell Me!", being written early on election day. Maybe it can still be forwarded on to those you know who are gloating over the election.

Barry Rubin  "I have written about how this administration has supported the bad guys — with guns and diplomatic help — in Syria, those who want to turn the country into an anti-American Islamic republic. About how the nation’s leaders believe that helping just about every Islamist group except al-Qaeda is a great idea because they will be moderate and good friends of America.

"Then there’s the disgraceful Benghazi incident where, whatever the precise details, the White House stood by as Americans were murdered, and then rationalized the motive of the terrorists by blaming the United States. Benghazi is the perfect symbol for Obama Middle East policy – I’ve explained why apology, appeasement, flattery, and empathy won’t work in turning radicals and terrorists into moderates.
....
"And whitewashing and helping five regimes or movements that call for hating America, murdering its citizens, destroying its interests, and even — albeit more fancifully — destroying the United States qualifies as sufficient in my book to laugh at any assertion that such a president is “good” for America.

"Obama’s policies have placed the lives of Americans and Israelis in jeopardy, as well as the citizens of many other countries, and made war more likely. For the first time in many decades, Israel cannot depend on the U.S. government. Neither can a dozen Arabic-speaking states that have relied on U.S. support. Neither can Middle Eastern pro-democracy advocates, moderates, secularists, women, and Christians. Neither can Americans.
"Something should be done about that. And today is the day to do it."
  But it was not to be. Sad, so sad for America and for civilized nations surrounded by by Muslim nations who have vowed their destruction.

The history-making blown chance

http://comicallyincorrect.com/

http://terrellaftermath.com/

President Barack Obama won. So did Hollywood. "Celebrities quickly chimed in to celebrate four more years for President Obama, using social media to gloat into the wee hours of Election Night."....

Mallard Fillmore responds to the election outcome

America Commits Suicide

By Alan Caruba at Warning Signs  "I had hoped that the majority of voters would elect Mitt Romney, but instead of a man of character they chose charisma.

"They ignored four years of failure and deception. In advertising, they say “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Romney, sadly, lacked sizzle."
...."In 2008 Americans voted for Obama in the belief that they could demonstrate to the world that it was post-racial, post-partisan. Instead they got a cold, indifferent, arrogant man who listened only to a small circle of leftist advisors and shadowy, unknown and unseen “czars” in the White House."

Agreeing with Mr. Caruba on the quality of the American voter is Stilton Jarlsberg at Hope n' Change

"Well that could have gone better! Hope n' Change Cartoons is frankly stunned that American voters (not all of them, but far too many) clearly lack the intellectual capacity of garden vegetables.
"In seriousness, and sadness, it seems that the reelection of Barack Hussein Obama was not about a failure of the Right to mount good candidates ...but in a broader failure of our nation as a whole. The majority of people did not cast votes based on good information, careful analysis, selflessness, or patriotism. Instead, they made their priorities skin color, class hatred, greed, and vaginal maintenance.
"The worst president in history carefully structured his campaign to appeal to the worst elements of American society. And while he's rejected the abundant resources of coal, gas, and oil in our country, Barack Obama has stripmined a motherlode of American ignorance, hate, and envy."

Neal Boortz sized up the American voter even before Election Day: Today America faces it’s greatest domestic threat .. the uneducated voter. The type of voter who:....read his excellent list just before the following words:
"Our nations of moochers has been steadily increasing for decades and exponentially increasing under the reign of Barack Obama.  As of right now about 60% of all American households get more money from the government in various entitlement checks than they pay to the government in the form of income taxes, and that number goes up steadily.  Very few of these people will vote for any candidate other than the one they believe will keep that money – and more – coming."
...."But why do these societies eventually die? It’s simple, really. Societies such as ours die because people eventually find out that they can go to the ballot box and use their vote to get their hands on somebody else's money. This is exactly what many of these Obama voters will be doing today: Voting to do through the government what would be a crime if they did it themselves. "

Obama victory speech: 'The best is yet to come'

Chicago Tribune  "In a race where the two men disagreed often, one of the principal fault lines was over taxes. Obama campaigned for the renewal of income tax cuts set to expire on Dec. 31 at all income levels except above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
"Romney said no one's taxes should go up in uncertain economic times. In addition, he proposed a 20 percent cut across the board in income tax rates but said he would end or curtail a variety of tax breaks to make sure federal deficits didn't rise."

Conservative Blogs Central leaves us with this thought and the quote below:
"November 6th, 2012: Apparently we have not learned our lessons and we have failed to keep our beloved Republic, perhaps just temporarily."

When exiting the final session of the Continental Congress, they were asked by a citizen what they had done. One of the Founding Fathers purportedly said, “We have given you a republic — now see if you can keep it." They knew back then that straight-up democracies don’t work. The following statement has been attributed to Alexander Tyler who was a Scottish history professor in the 1700s: “A democracy is always temporary in nature: It simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. The result being every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

Implications of Obama’s Victory

The Volokh Conspiracy  "Obama’s reelection will likely have at least two major negative consequences from my point of view. First, Obamacare is likely to stay in place. Although it remains somewhat unpopular – as shown the by the president’s reluctance to bring it up in the campaign – he is going to hold onto it successfully. Second, Obama will get to replace any Supreme Court justices who retire or pass away during the next four years. With four justices in their mid to late seventies right now, there’s a real chance he will get at least one or two more nominations. All conservatives and libertarians can do is hope that Justices Anthony Kennedy (76 years old) and Antonin Scalia (also 76) will remain healthy and uninterested in retiring."

William A. Jacobson; Dunkirk  "So what is the path now?  Stand with House members, they will need all the support they can get. Don’t compromise on principles, and push the eventual legislative compromises to the right as much as possible.
"View Tuesday as a substantial setback but not the end."

Michael Barone says the country is no longer culturally cohesive.  "Now the two Americas disagree, sharply. Government decisions enthuse one and enrage the other. The election may be over, but the two Americas are still not on speaking terms."

Thomas Sowell; Obama’s contempt for American constitutional democracy.   "The 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides for “equal protection of the laws” for all Americans. To have a law that can cost an organization millions of dollars a year either apply or not apply, depending on the whim or political interest of the president of the United States, is to make a mockery of the rule of law.
...."What does your right of freedom of speech mean if saying something that irritates the Obama administration means that you or your business has to pay huge amounts of money and get hit with all sorts of red tape under Obamacare while your competitor is exempted from it because he either kept quiet or praised the Obama administration or donated to its reelection campaign?"

With first post-racial president reelected, ‘F**k white people’ trends  "We’ll dedicate this post to Mark Ruffalo, who declared an Obama reelection a victory over bigotry and racial hatred. These certainly aren’t representative of all Obama supporters out there, and we’re guessing some of them are sarcastic, but there were enough of them to get a trend going, sadly."
Obscenity and racial bigotry spoken here, so be advised. This is how victorious Democrats speak.

Lets do this one again

Five ways the mainstream media tipped the scales in favor of Obama   "Given Obama’s record, the Romney campaign could have overcome much of this media favoritism and still prevailed — indeed, they almost did. But taken together, these five trends took the media’s historical bias to new levels this year, and saved Obama’s presidency in the process."

Forbes; American Voters Choose Obama To Lead Us - Down The Road To Ruin  "Despite a good look at the bankruptcy of entitlement democracy playing out across the euro zone, Americans have gone to the polls demanding to join the death spiral. Offered a clear choice, the promise of free stuff vanquished our abandoned  heritage of freedom."

Jerusalem Post

Jennifer Rubin has these thoughts:  "As for President Obama he’ll need to do what he didn’t in the first term: address our fiscal mess, reform entitlements and the tax code and deal with foreign threats in a responsible manner. As Americans we should hope he’s learned something and will surprise us with newfound moderation and courage. If not, we’re in for a very rocky time."

Michelle Malkin; Obama gets his “revenge,” but conservatives must stand tall "My counsel to you tonight: Please, do not be bitter. Do not fall prey to the Beltway blame game. Do not get mired in small things. Do not become vengeful creatures like our political opponents who voted out of spite instead of love of country."

Ongoing post for election night

Watch this space for notes throughout the evening. I'll be doing commentary and stories, but one site doing excellent statistical blogging and tracking electoral calls is Weasel Zippers

'WHITES-TO-HELL' PASTOR TO JOIN OBAMA  "Despite recently being condemned for ranting from the church pulpit that “white people are going to hell,” Rev. Joseph Lowery will be attending President Barack Obama’s election night party in Chicago."  This is troublesome as well.
Related to this Freedom Fighter's Journal post as well: BLACK RACISM ON DISPLAY IN NYC BARBERSHOP   "The controversial answer came from one of the men who candidly said, “Turn black!” Another added, “Drop out of the race.”
"Clearly, the vast majority of American blacks are voting for the Communist-traitor-president Obama for one reason only: HE IS BLACK! America does not have a white racist problem - America has a BLACK RACIST problem...big time. ...and that is nothing to laugh about..."

Obama has brought the worst in so much of  this country and is adored by many in spite of or because of it.  New tone? Death wishes, threats of ‘If you vote for Romney, I’ll kill you,’ we ‘will f*ck sh*t up’ if he wins   One such:

Who wanna f**k some s**t up if Romney wins tomorrow?

Just in at 16 minutes after the hour:

Election night Twitter feed from Legal Insurrection

The better man did not win; the better campaign has put the petulant juvenile in for another four years. This makes us begin to figure out what has America become and is reflected in the posts coming out.
The End of the America I Know; "What do we have to look forward to? "

Trillion dollar deficits every year for the next four years.
Massive tax hikes.
Lower standard of living for the next generation.

Obama’s Missing First Term: Coming Soon?
"The conventional conservative take on all this is fear that a reelected Obama will have a free hand to fill in the blanks, transforming the country in the process. Yet if the mere prospect of Obamacare was enough to spark a first-term tea-party rebellion, what will happen when the massive changes Obama has carefully backloaded to his second term actually hit? There’s a small industry of conservative policy wonks warning about the coming consequences of Obamacare. If only part of what they say is true, we could be in for a popular backlash that makes the first tea-party wave look small by comparison."

All that remains to be seen this evening is where will Obama supporters riot and burn?

A love song to Obama, with thanks

Jewish World Review

Bubba: “Who Wants A President Who Will Knowingly, Repeatedly Tell You Something He Knows Isn’t True?”…

Like telling the American public the attack on our consulate in Benghazi was the result of a protest over a Mohammed movie?

“You are laughing, but who wants a president who will knowingly, repeatedly tell you something he knows is not true? When I was a kid, if I got my hand caught in the cookie jar, where it wasn’t supposed to be, I turned red in my face, and I took my hand out of the cookie jar.”

Republicans not likely to take Senate

Rick Moran   "With a slew of vunerable incumbents, it was thought that the GOP would have a fairly easy time in fashioning a Senate majority in 2012.
"But poor candidates, well funded Democrats, and an electorate who appear to be happy with divided government, has probably derailed GOP chances for a victory."

We will not forget...

American Conservatives