Postmortem

The bad guys won.  Unfortunately, the tactics of lying about your opponent and then accusing the opponent of lying worked again.  But just barely.  Barack Obama may have easily won the Electoral College but received slightly over 50% of the vote compared to Mitt Romney's 48%.   That is not a great vote of confidence in the Liar in Chief.   More revealing of the electorate's attitude, Democrats gained seats in both houses of Congress, although most of those votes were extremely close as well. That should not have happened.  Obviously there was more to it than Obama's rock star personna that carried the day.

The post election pundits almost universally claim that demographics were the primary determinant of re-electing Obama, and that demographic trends spell doom for Republicans.  That certainly is a critical issue as the two fastest growing ethnic groups in America, Latinos and Asian-Americans, joined African-Americans in overwhelmingly voting for Democrats.  Republicans will never win a majority of the black vote, but the allegiance of the Asians and Hispanics is not necessarily irreversible if Republicans use a little more common sense in attempting to attract them.  Regarding Tuesday's election, I think there are a few other easily remedied mistakes that were also important in deciding the outcome.

The biggest problems Republicans have are self-inflicted.  I would suggest they do three things differently in future elections -

1.  Once anyone on the Republican Party ticket says anything really stupid about rape, kick them out of the party and replace them with someone who is not a moron.

2.  Forget trying to explain economics to the American people.  They are too stupid to understand it.

3.  Stop opposing raising marginal income tax rates on folks making over $250,000 a year.  A minor increase in the tax rate would have a limited impact on incentives for capital investment, much less of an impact than Democrats plans will.  Be out front on the issue, not behind.  Better yet, consider eliminating the income tax and implementing a consumption tax on all spending but basic food, clothing and shelter.  Maybe even propose a wealth tax on those with assets in excess of $100 million.  And don't stop pushing for the elimination of loopholes.  Those would be ideas that resonate with voters and might help dispel to some degree the notion that the Republican Party is the party of the rich.

Looking at a national map (red vs. blue) of the districts won by Democrats you can't help but notice they are comprised of those with the highest incomes, the lowest incomes, and the heavily subsidized (welfare recipients, public employees, farmers).  Those won by Republicans are the working middle class.  It wouldn't hurt for Republicans to someday point that out.