Since we are entering full-scale second-term scandal mode, what with Benghazi and the IRS scandal, it's worth stepping back to think about what things would be like if Mitt Romney had won.
We would have divided government and a combative media looking for every opportunity to brand Romney and his policies as cruel and unfeeling. Because that's what political liberals do, whether in the mainstream media, in the activist groups, or in elected office.
But now we are going to see four years of developing scandals and coverups. The mainstream media won't like it, and will have to be dragged kicking and screaming to cover it. But the protracted nature of the experience will energize conservatives and Republicans and demoralize Democrats and liberals.
That makes it much more likely that the 2014 midterms will see a switch in the Senate to GOP control and much more likely that 2016 will be a change election, rather than a Four More Years election.
The downside is that the nation's politics and economy will drift for four more years, as the Obamis are forced to concentrate on fighting investigations and sub-poenas and running belated coverups instead of actually governing.
I know. That could be a good thing if it prevents them from wreaking more damage to the economy and to society. Hopefully it won't be worse than the 1973-74 period when inflation spiralled upwards ending in a nasty recession.
But the encouraging thing is that by November 2016 the American people, even including perhaps the emerging Democratic majority of women, minorities, and young people, will be thoroughly fed up with the Obama administration that promised Hope and Change and a fundamental transformation of America. The partisans will not blame their hero of course. They will suspect that over-zealous underlings or dark forces "done him in." They will think that President Obama had good ideas but was betrayed by forces beyond his control.
But if Romney had won they would be blaming him for anything that went wrong, because that's what the mainstream media would be telling them.
Then there will be the moderates and the independents. They will not be so forgiving. They will see that everything has gone wrong, from home prices to health insurance. And they will think it is time for a change.
Will they be ready, in 2017, for a Republican president and a Republican Congress to cut spending, fix the entitlements, and cauterize the crony capitalist economy? Who knows? But it is up to the winning Republican candidate to persuade them.
And we will be, at least, four more years into the fracking energy revolution.
We would have divided government and a combative media looking for every opportunity to brand Romney and his policies as cruel and unfeeling. Because that's what political liberals do, whether in the mainstream media, in the activist groups, or in elected office.
But now we are going to see four years of developing scandals and coverups. The mainstream media won't like it, and will have to be dragged kicking and screaming to cover it. But the protracted nature of the experience will energize conservatives and Republicans and demoralize Democrats and liberals.
That makes it much more likely that the 2014 midterms will see a switch in the Senate to GOP control and much more likely that 2016 will be a change election, rather than a Four More Years election.
The downside is that the nation's politics and economy will drift for four more years, as the Obamis are forced to concentrate on fighting investigations and sub-poenas and running belated coverups instead of actually governing.
I know. That could be a good thing if it prevents them from wreaking more damage to the economy and to society. Hopefully it won't be worse than the 1973-74 period when inflation spiralled upwards ending in a nasty recession.
But the encouraging thing is that by November 2016 the American people, even including perhaps the emerging Democratic majority of women, minorities, and young people, will be thoroughly fed up with the Obama administration that promised Hope and Change and a fundamental transformation of America. The partisans will not blame their hero of course. They will suspect that over-zealous underlings or dark forces "done him in." They will think that President Obama had good ideas but was betrayed by forces beyond his control.
But if Romney had won they would be blaming him for anything that went wrong, because that's what the mainstream media would be telling them.
Then there will be the moderates and the independents. They will not be so forgiving. They will see that everything has gone wrong, from home prices to health insurance. And they will think it is time for a change.
Will they be ready, in 2017, for a Republican president and a Republican Congress to cut spending, fix the entitlements, and cauterize the crony capitalist economy? Who knows? But it is up to the winning Republican candidate to persuade them.
And we will be, at least, four more years into the fracking energy revolution.
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