Monday, November 12, 2012; 11:39:19 AM Eastern
The new electorate
- It's fascinating to watch the Republican pundits hash it out post-election. I find many of them are saying things I wished they would have said before the election. Particularly this wonderful piece by Wick Allison at The American Conservative. Really nails it. Top to bottom.
- This Obama ad came out shortly after Romney's 47 percent video. Something Republicans should think about now. And this one too.
- Ryan Lizza in the New Yorker explains how the Republican Party is one state away from no longer being a national party. If they lose Texas, the Democrats will have a lock on the White House. No more "battleground" states.
Jonathan Chait writes in New York that we just had a class war, and the middle class won. But now that the war is over, "what the people want is all fairly beside the point," he says. It's understandable, given what he does, that he feels that way, but he couldn't be more wrong. - When everything settles down to the new normal, the pundits' view will probably be only slightly different from the old one. But the people, I think, are ready to move faster than the pundits are. I think part of the Democratic Party gets that, but I don't think they'll give up the power they would need to, in order for them to change at the pace the electorate is ready for.
- I knew we'd get here. Obama won by making his own excellent Facebook. But we need our own tools, so we can drive the political process even when there isn't a looming national election.
- The people have to drive their own policy.
- And it's happening -- legalization of marijuana was not a corporate-driven thing. Wasn't done by lobbyists. Same with gay marriage.
- So the pundits will stay in the new reality where they are comfortable. And for the first time in a generation, the people get to drive on into the future, and define where we're going next.