A LITTLE MORE THAN THREE WEEKS AFTER THE ELECTION, there is at least one lesson we can take away for certain: Old rich white guys no longer rule America.
Here, let me be clear. President Barack Obama’s election to a second term took a crowbar and smashed the grip of the power-clasping hands of a class of greedy, exploitive, older, rich, white men. At the same time, his re-election put a stake in that pasty, tattered, but until now powerful carcass of an irrelevant Republican Party.
The once glorious and honorable party of Lincoln and Ronald Reagan that had slid into the hands of narrow-minded bigots, elitists and oil oligarchs like the Koch brothers has been cast over the political cliff. It lies in a heap in the charred ashes of political ineptitude to worry its fate, as around the communal campfire sit high-energy, multi-colored, multi-cultural young men and women with pleased smiles who are saying, “Now it is our turn, so you guys in Congress better straighten up and make our government work.”
The 2012 presidential election was as simple as that, actually. While I know there have been and will continue to be millions of hours spent in complex analysis — as well as great consternation and thrashing about by conservative commentators, who most likely will blame the mainstream press, uninformed voters or just about anyone but themselves — Obama won because America has changed. Its citizens are younger, diverse, environmentally conscious and sick of having their resources siphoned off by the superrich.
Oh, yeah, and because Mitt Romney says amazingly dumb things, and his political backers and advisers are shamefully inept.
The fact that Obama and his campaign chief David Axelrod dusted off the same successful 2008 campaign playbook — basically a coalition of all those who were not old, rich, white guys and their hangers-on who had never tasted a Mojito or used Facebook or Twitter — to cruise to victory shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to any insightful American. And it certainly shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone living in California, where a diversity of citizens and plurality of voters have been the norm for decades.
So if Obama’s campaign wasn’t new, unusual or hard to understand, what was it about Romney and his campaign that caused such a failure? Mostly, it was the basic things that neither he nor the party brain trust could get right.
Remember, Romney ran as the great hope for business, with an undisclosed plan to create jobs and kickstart the economy. Yet he couldn’t come across as insightful, capable or even competent. He just couldn’t get the basics right.
Let’s start with the first misstep, which was not so much Romney’s fault as the fault of the Republican Party. Essentially, the party picked a candidate with a privileged, elitist background; an ultra-rich, corporate pirate who had fired thousands of American workers and outsourced even more jobs. This was their candidate in the middle of America’s worst economy since the Great Depression? And he was trying to make Americans believe that he understood the needs of small business and could create jobs for the working class? Huh?
The story kept getting worse. Instead of hot dogs and a game of hoops in the backyard, Romney had three mansions and several Cadillacs, and he played horse ballet with million-dollar ponies. He had a car elevator, for crying out loud.
The guy had been running for president for years and couldn’t get his finances straight. Who runs for president while keeping millions in an offshore bank account?
Frankly, Romney should have taken his vast wealth out of the hedge funds and blind trusts and put them into Treasury bonds. Then he should have moved his checking account from the Cayman Islands to Travis Credit Union. No one would have criticized a candidate for owning Treasury bonds, and they would have provided a regular income. Bond income is taxable as ordinary income, so Romney would have been able to boast that he paid 30 percent tax instead of 14 percent. It is a lot more effective to complain about high taxes when you’re actually paying them.
So it went, all along. Romney and his campaign just couldn’t get it right — from the mishandling of his tax returns to insulting the British on the eve of their highly successful Olympics. When he should have accelerated out of the convention, he barely lurched, leaving behind a series of mistakes like ignoring military service personnel in his acceptance speech to letting an octogenarian Hollywood actor with an empty chair upstage him on his nomination night. (It didn’t help that he followed Clint Eastwood with a dud of a speech.)
As Obama cruised along, hitting all the right notes in his campaign, appealing to the new America, Romney fumbled.
Years earlier, he’d hobbled himself by penning an insult to his dad’s auto industry titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” — talk about writing off the Rust Belt. But Romney wasn’t done there. He had a whole lot of immigrant and Hispanic bashing to do to ensure the nation’s fastest-growing minority group fled his party in droves.
The nutty comment about “47 percent of Americans don’t pay income taxes” may have been his biggest mistake, but it was not a lonely mistake. Already behind the eight ball in Ohio, Romney’s late ad campaign falsely claiming Jeep was planning to leave the state for China was instantly rebuked by Chrysler’s CEO, and the backlash in Ohio was fierce and possibly decisive.
But Romney’s worst move was arguably his choice of running mate. Paul Ryan came across as someone who just wasn’t ready for prime time, a self-conscious and contradictory kid on the national stage. Contrast Ryan to someone like Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey who looked heroic during Superstorm Sandy. Christie had no qualms about putting people before politics and crossing party lines in the face of an emergency. That’s leadership. That’s statesmanship.
Or say Romney had picked Marco Rubio as his running mate and reached out to the new America. He would have been seen as someone who understood the nation’s growing pluralism. He would have seemed like someone capable of leading his party, and possibly his country, into the multi-hued light of the new reality.
In the end, the lack of competency from the candidate and his campaign pushed the “Grand Old Party” over the ledge. A better candidate and strategy might have made it closer, but the epic loss vividly revealed that old, rich, white guys lead no more. For it’s time they, and their corporate masters, put their spectacles on and read the writing on the wall, and give up their tax preferences, offshore accounts and unearned privileges. We can only hope that eventually the Republican Party rises from the ruins of its electoral failure and joins the rest of us as we try to figure a way out of this mess.
These days, for too many of our citizens, America is a dark, cold, unwelcoming place. But as we huddle around the fire, clinging to each other for hope and warmth, we know deep in our hearts that we can scoot closer and make room for all.
Just tell that guy with the silly grin to get rid of the dancing horse.
Grant Cooke is a long-time Benicia resident and CEO of Sustainable Energy Associates. He is co-author, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Woodrow Clark, of “Global Energy Innovation: Why America Must Lead” (www.globalenergyinnovation.com), published by Praeger Press. Cooke and Clark are currently writing a second book titled, “The Green Industrial Revolution.”
Sharing is caring!
“President Barack Obama’s election to a second term took a crowbar and smashed the grip of the power-clasping hands of a class of greedy, exploitive, older, rich, white men.”
Funny, I have not noticed any change. Seems like “greedy, exploitive, older, rich people” are still in power. Big deal whether it is “white men” or “white women” or “black men” or whatever combination. The problem is the mindset, not the color of the skin or gender.
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.- Helen Keller
Dear Grant,
Thank you so much for saying what I feel and for sharing in my joy at the outcome of this election. I am so sick of the rich white guy mindset of our government and so thrilled that Barack Obama has been re-elected.
This time our President will make things happen more quickly since I doubt that there will be as much resistence as there was during his first term.
I applaud you!
Judy Goldsmith
Judy,
Thanks. Pluralism came to California many years ago. Looks like the rest of the U.S. will move closer to multi-cultural, multi-dimensional world.
Congratulations, Grant, well stated and summarized. Let Romney and Ryan join the other white boy cadavers of the GOP, Bush and Cheney, bozos all…make room for Mitch McConnell and What’s his Name Norquist, anyone succumbing to his Oath or Pledge has to be living in the 4th Century–where pray tell does this nonsense come from? Non-humanitarian greed must have been shallowly glorious in its day…how tragically pathetic. The GOP self-extinguished itself, let that be a lesson to the Roves and Kochs and Limbaughs and Fox News…tragic bozos. What will they do for an encore? Lament and weep offshore? – pb
Rich guys are always in power. Obama is half white isn’t he? And he is old by most peoples definition.
Actually, that’s what is election demonstrated. Rich guys are losing their grasp on power, the tide is turning to a much more pluralistic electorate. With luck, it will be a much more compassionate and level playing field.
Grant Stated: Years earlier, he’d hobbled himself by penning an insult to his dad’s auto industry titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” — talk about writing off the Rust Belt.
Dear Grant,
One of several things are possible when one considers the above statement:
1) You did not actually read the editorial written by Romney.
2) You are comfortable with a purposeful deception of the facts regarding the actions taken by 0bama, as pertains to both the bankruptcy of GM as well as the distortions made regarding the editorial, so as to promote the re-election of 0bama based on a misinformed electorate.
3) You are actually unaware of the fact that GM did go bankrupt.
Fact Check: Letting Detroit go bankrupt
Written by a top of the class Enviro Greenie. Only to enhance his own stock. Rich, white old men. Now lets see. Look around Grant at the Senate and tell me how many Liberal Hispanics there are. Try none. Republicans two. How many Hispanic women govs do the Liberals have? Try none. Republicans one and also both a male and female that are also minoritie Govs. I am not complaining about the lossw The Obama team did a good job on Romney. Must give them credit for that. Buts lets not get carried away with the demise of the Republican party. . In 2008 the Liberals had 59/60 Senators now 55. In 2008 they controlled the House of Representatives now in the hands of the Republicans with a nice majority. Sixty percent of all Govs and state and lower houses in the hands of the Republicans. Try this one on for size. Wisconsin Republican Govenor and both the upper and lower house in total control by the Republicans. Many said that the Liberals got more total votes in house races than Republicans. True by about a half million. Now the rest of the story. California had 6.2 mil Liberal votes and Republicans had 4.0 mil. That difference was the whole story for the Liberal vote advantage. Without California the Liberals got hammered. Californiae even elected a Republican Hispanic to the house. This election was won by President Obama but not in the dramatic fashion the Liberals think. Many of the swing states were decided by very few votes and that will be reversed next time around. Yes the Republicans lost the Hispanic vote. But remember W got 44% of Hispanic vote and the Republicans are hard at it right now to get that vote back up to those numbers. Grant you better look into who are the old, white and rich politicians. It is not the Republican party it is the Liberals with not only men but old wite women who are ready for the home. The Republican party a very young and lively party that is not going to go away. Grant President Obama is in for a big shock on all his EPA rules. Maybe that is why you are doing work out of the country. Grant sit back and look around. Benicia, Solano and the rest of California is not a model for the future of this great country. yes I was wrong on my predictions, but three out of five puts me in the Hall of Fame. I have been wrong on only two Presidential elections since 1960. Not bad for an old white man with p0enty of energy left. Onward and upward. Waiting for all the Poets comments filled with silly statements and censorship advice. Also what we should call the American flag. Just a very strange group this poet group.
A lot of distortions and at least one counterfactual statement here, Bob. “Many said that the Liberals got more total votes in house races than Republicans. True by about a half million.” Wrong, as I have shown. It was a million votes. You keep getting this one wrong. Get it right. Bloomberg and AP agree with me. Checkmate.
Now on to the distortions. You are fond of pointing out that “Sixty percent of all Govs and state and lower houses in the hands of the Republicans.” But what states are we talking about? Try the likes of Wyoming and Idaho — states with far fewer people. (True, there are exceptions, like Texas. But look for Texas to start turning purple in the next 10 years as Hispanics increase their numbers.) I like that you mentioned Wisconsin — but I find it interesting that in Wisconsin, despite the apparent GOP domination, the president rolled to an easy victory and the people just elected an openly gay Democrat to the Senate. The GOP had best not get comfortable with their majority there.
“In 2008 the Liberals had 59/60 Senators now 55. In 2008 they controlled the House of Representatives now in the hands of the Republicans with a nice majority.” Not as nice a majority as it was a month ago. Watch your fortunes continue to plummet, in large part due to demographics, in no small part because of a losing message, and especially if the GOP causes everyone’s taxes to go up in January.
“Yes the Republicans lost the Hispanic vote. But remember W got 44% of Hispanic vote and the Republicans are hard at it right now to get that vote back up to those numbers.” W’s total was a high water mark. The figure has dropped the last two elections — even McCain, from Arizona, couldn’t muster 40 percent. Romney got a miserable 27 percent. If the GOP wants to change that they’d better start by embracing a Dream Act-type immigration bill, for starters. Again the president and his party hold all the cards here.
“The Republican party a very young and lively party that is not going to go away.” Ahem — http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/boehner-statement-gop-steering-committee-recommendations-committee-chairmanships-113th … What do you notice about all those names? Have a look at the faces, too. Boehner needs to get his hands on Romney’s binders full of women.
I do agree that the Republican party is not going to go away. There will always be people with bad ideas. We just need to marginalize them — or sit back and laugh as they marginalize themselves.
Finally, I note with chagrin that you have revived your use of “Enviro Greenie.” Sad that you lack the creativity to come up with a new term. You old windbag.
As long as you want to complain about White men, you may want to take your complaints to the White House as well:
Obama’s Top White House Aides are Almost All Men
Top Ten 0bama advisors: 9 white men, One woman, Valerie Jarrett, who is African American
Huh, isn’t Hillary Clinton a key part of the team?
Susan Rice comes to mind. Michelle Obama might have the president’s ear, too.
Re: Michelle,
If you had read the article, you would have seen that point is covered.
If you paid any attention to politics, you’d know it’s a losing argument to say diversity is a weak point for Dems as it is for Republicans. It simply doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s like the national security question: for some reason the GOP always has gotten stronger marks (this may be changing). I think it’s because you’re such a male-dominated, truculent bunch. Seems logical you’d be more warlike.
By the way, where have you been DDL? I’ve been looking for more columns insulting the intelligence of the voters. Very disappointing not to get to read that penetrating insight on a weekly basis.
It is so nice to be missed by you.
I never insulted the intelligence of ‘the voters’ (as in all of them), I only insulted those who actually believed some of the crap coming from the Dems.
There certainly are intelligent Dems who agreed on the strategy of deception so as to fool those who are stupid. This is really a sad state of affairs in that the ‘Demoncrats’, as well as many of their supporters, actively engage in such deceptions.
Grant’s column here perpetuates those misconceptions and many are fully on board, as witnessed by the comments.
Yes, Dennis, to miss your weekly bias is disappointing. Feeling drained? Weakly? I’m still waiting, not for evidence of, but clear statement of your encompassing vision of the world and this nation. Are they connected? Oh, excuse me. I’m probably asking for poetry and you don’t go beyond rhetoric.
Actually, back in the day (ages ago it seems) when you were in a more amicable mood, I believe I sent to you some poetry I had ‘written’, I qualify it with the scare quotes because it was a humurous poem, modeled on a piece you had done.
I simply improved upon it, which was not a dificult task, to be honest.
Hillary is not a “White House Aide”, which is what the article is about.
Sorry Real American check your facts. I am right. It was 549 thousand not a mil. A month ago it was 242 seats now it is 234. Not much of a loss. Is Jay, Dick, Patrick, the NY^ guy, Feinstein, Boxer, the Maryland Senator, Harry, Hillary, Joe and Pelosi just to name a few all young spring chickens. I think not. Remember Real Amertican no young Hispanic Liberal Senators. Not one. No Hispanic Govs. Yes the 2012 election was won by President Obama. The Republicans did a little house cleaning. Now they are up and running. 2014 may ot be the big year that Liberals are saying it will be. Yes I have started using Enviro Greenie. Grant Cooke told me he liked it. So why not use it. It only identifies political enviro leanings. Have at it Real American. I new you would jumb in with your far left comments.
And I knew you would muddle around with your half-baked “conservative” ideas. Watch as your party, in its agonized effort to remain relevant, alienates the geezers and the tea party. Internal division will abound. You will be torn asunder, breaking off pockets of libertarians and secessionists (already a major factor) and others disillusioned by the pragmatic approach. Meanwhile the rest of the country is moving forward, and to them you’re tarnished for a generation, perhaps more. Check out that lineup of albinos Boehner is tapping to chair committees.
Also, you appear to be relying on vote totals from the two days after the election, which have changed, and will continue to change, the margin growing in favor of Dems because uncounted votes are largely coming from New York and California.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-16/republicans-can-t-declare-mandate-with-more-democrat-house-votes.html
“Not much of a loss.” But a loss is not a gain — and redistricting won’t save the GOP next go-round.
Sorry Real American your info is old and not up to date. Try again. I am correct. Get over it.
I have provided a link. You have provided an assertion without evidence. I win. Again.
Stop it Real American. Go do the work yourself. I gave a specific number. You gave a left wing blog.
Bob you obviously did not click on the link. Bloomberg is not a left-wing blog. Fail.
What is it then?
Double fail. DDL or someone else, please help Bob out.
Stick your neck out Real American. Give me your prediction for 2014. Waiting.
I predict Barack Obama will still be president. And Bob Livesay will still be woefully misinformed.
Way to go Real American or shall I call you Mrs. Mike.
Dear Bob L., you do get a fact by one, woolly leg, once in a while, and your facility with pinning tags on complex matters is stunning. Rarely.
Proud to be an….
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8227913654_7c61b786c2_k.jpg
Me, too, Thomas. The alternative is — “unsustainable.”
No doubt Mr. Shelby. This is the logo for a band I was in about 10 years ago.
Dear Real American: Thanks for responding and countering Bob Livesay’s data. He no longer attracts my attention, his data is so skewed in such a way that he can only resort to attempting to demean the local poets group at the end of his tired oratory. I’m reminded of the perennial adult-4th grader who slaps his own butt in class to get attention. It’s too tiring a juvenile trick to win applause. pb
Thanks for reading Peter. Mission accomplished. I new I would get your attention. If my data is wrong prove it. You never come up with any data just silly whimsical comments that have no meaning. Cry cry all day long. What next the billboards.; Maybe I should rent one to remind the poet group who I am. That way they would have to rent one to comment back. No that would cost money and take some reeal original thoughts. Again Peter thankis for reading my comment.
BL:
You have no mission but self-aggrandizement, therefore no applause from me. Over and out–pb
“Thanks for reading Peter. Mission accomplished.”
By this measure, congratulations are in order to Grant. You got Bob to read your piece. Mission accomplished.
Congrats again to Grant. A great piece of intelligent writing on these pages too often comes down to an adolescent, slumber party brawl, just another pillow fight for old grumpy guys with no other place to air their wits but a local tavern with a peanut dish…I’m taking my cookies and going home…Good luck, amigos! “til next time. Definitely an Enviro-Greenie with a Moderate Democrat disposition..pb
Stop it Mrs. Mike. As you know I read all the articles and Comments. Evenmj yours Mrs. Mike. So get of your silly comments
Bob, please. I don’t write to enhance my own stock, nor am I self-conscious or insecure about who I am. I’m a life-long writer and have been at it for 5 decades. Like many other writers, I don’t really know what I think until I write it. So, that’s how and why these pieces appear. The reality is that the nation is beginning a re-evaluation of what it means to be an American in a once-thriving democracy that has lost its sense of purpose and self-respect. Since 9/11 America struggled with a sort of angst, or national vulnerability that came from the reality of terrorism. For awhile, we lurched to a Mayberry kind of mind set, where Andy Griffith and Clint Eastwood were the heroes, and greed, environmental destruction, and Middle East wars were the expression of American might. That era of glorifying greed and privileged laws/taxes for the super rich is ending as a new wave of American citizens emerge and struggle to claim their piece of the American pie. We are entering an era, much like 19th century New York CIty, where bright, energetic immigrants and newcomers will heavily influence our fortune and eventually take over our institutions. China is the new power of the 21st century, and America must adapt or it is in danger of being irrelevant.
Grant you are wrong on China. They will have their own internal problems just like Russia and Japan. We will be in the drivers seat. For sure on energy when the Enviro Greenies take a vaction and stop trying to put America back in the 1700’s. Sorry Grant America is still in the drivers seat and will continue to be.
Bob L., you may be half-right about China’s rising problems, but the driver’s seat is too full of debt certificates and service agreement documents to slide our butt behind the wheel for quite a while, if ever.
Interestingly enough, a recent article in The Economist lists the top ten countries to be born in to in 2013 as follows:
Switzerland
Australia
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
Singapore
New Zealand
Netherlands
Canada
Hong Kong
The US ranks #16
As an aside, President Obama has invited Mitt Romney to a private lunch meeting at the White House. He accepted. They will have it tomorrow.
I think the Romney’s are personable and amiable people in spite of everything, and their lunch at the White House will be both delicious and pleasant, all around the table. It’s a nice gesture by the President, to a pair who just suffered the very worst thing in politics, yet who are neither stupid nor without useful insights or possible help to this country.
I think most people disposed to conservative views and the Republican party, barring the most radical fanatics, are fine, respectable, even lovable folks. I regret what seems to me a veil over their minds that filters away all but the ruddy spectrum of visible light. With impaired vision of so many things starting with human nature, history, culture and immediate reality, how can they be expected to conceive a viable future?
Grant wrote: “Frankly, Romney should have taken his vast wealth out of the hedge funds and blind trusts and put them into Treasury bonds. Then he should have moved his checking account from the Cayman Islands to Travis Credit Union. No one would have criticized a candidate for owning Treasury bonds, and they would have provided a regular income. Bond income is taxable as ordinary income, so Romney would have been able to boast that he paid 30 percent tax instead of 14 percent. It is a lot more effective to complain about high taxes when you’re actually paying them.”
If all old white guys think things like this, Grant is absolutely right–“old white guy rule is over.” It’s not likely most old white guys (except perhaps Grant himself) would consider Treasury Bonds a smart investment these days. The only other white guy who claims Treasury Bonds are a smart place to invest our taxpayer dollars is Federal Reserve chief Bernanke–but this is not a straategy to “make” more money but simply to “print” money. This is a really bad idea another infamous white guy tried back in the 1930s–his name was Adolf Hitler.