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What if we had a system that placed all winners and leaders as people who had mostly come in second place?  After all, there are very successful sports teams and players who are moneyed and who are known better for placing more than the occasional infrequent title won by others.  Politics in the U.S., however, only deals with money in part, and success in any administration here is not solely dependent upon wealth; probably a good thing as otherwise we'd have kings and queens instead of national elections.  Most people know that despite the consistency of some second place finishers, our nation, like many free nations in any election chooses its leaders based upon the plebiscite in which (barring the revolutionary ideas and rules controlling votes through the electoral college that occasionally have reversed popular votes in the past) the person receiving the most votes becomes chief of state.  In other words, no one really remembers who finished second in many U.S. national elections, despite the importance of this for the administrative process. 

 

The power of the presidential election as we know it is one candidate can win the office of chief of state without (1) having raised the most campaign money, and (2) appealing and pandering to special interests and power interests within our region.  It is true that the Republicans toward the end of the campaign this year had raised more money, and that Obama as victor of the presidential campaign contest in all appearances was re - elected without having become beholden to industrial interests, Hollywood, financial and commercial interests and the general business community that has sat the sidelines in the post election talks about what we have to expect going forward for the next four years.  The thing that clinched the election for the president was indeed his good showing in the second and third debates, and his campaign rhetoric in the last days before election day; and his being supported by the Clintons who still carry the mantle of an outstanding Democratic presidency during the 1990's from at least the standpoint of macroeconomic growth.  Even the Carter policies of the 1970's have found a home in the Obama presidency in the way of policies of 'priming the pump' to bring back jobs, the level of federal spending, foreign policy and other areas that matter to all of us.

 

Ohio, Michigan Wisconsin, and then Pennsylvania, …  Even Nevada mattered yesterday as I heard a local news show on the U.S. West Coast broadcast a piece on the importance of Nevada and its four cities (where most people in the state reside,) of which Reno and Las Vegas, and the broadcast was considerably and interestingly detailed.  The U.S. Democrats, apparently in this election contest, had their own super - statistician, maybe even a virtual one, parsing, slicing and dicing those numbers with respect to undecided, uncommitted, and other voters in select areas.  This undoubtedly contributed to their campaign efforts and paid electoral dividends in the end. 

 

Remember that Mr. Romney, though everyone might not remember him forever, waged a fierce campaign, and he was classically and characteristically Republican in his showing in all three debates and his approach to people in the campaign arena.  The Democratic party is the party of urbanity, sophistication, pro - choice, …, and people watching our country at this point have to come to terms with the issue about whether the Obama administration will become now more aggressive with respect to its public policy agenda in additionally affirming its identity and greater influence on the world stage.  People like me seriously doubt that the Obamas can now be accused of populism or using the office of the presidency for liberal  or more progressive social agendas as the talk in most areas analysing the current president's policies is quite moderate in nature, and the country's conservatives are more powerful now than they were in the 2008 presidential election, having made the national election a closer contest this year.  The chief executive now also has to answer apparently to a Republican - controlled Congress and to his conservative constituents as well if he is to chalk up additional political wins to his scorecard, and in his victory speeches he has pledged to reach out to everyone to make the political process work better  under his supervision. 

 

That Mr. Romney as a Republican candidate suffered for being identified as powered by moneyed interests who are out - of - touch was an old party line that has been around for at least a few elections and one that some conservative candidates have refuted on their way to national wins.  We as a country are apparently also benefiting from more liberal policies as the recent employment figures indicate and economic predictions for the immediate future are much better, issues around the "China Challenge" appear to be within the realm of being resolved some time soon, we have a vice - president who is influential and moderately conservative despite his party affiliation, and the high - profile government departments have also found reprise and renewal with the gifts that have been earned in the latest national election itself.  Despite that a good number of people do not necessarily like the classic political patterns characterised by the Democrats at this point, and indeed more voters this year expressed a desire for dealing directly with the twin deficits and the size of government, this president and his high officials do have a chance to reify certain opportunities including further resolving difficulties in the Middle East, petrol politics, financial and fiscal reform, further progress in addressing the chaos of foreign policy, defense preparedness, national security, immigration (as pledged), to name a few, and more.  The national papers in the next few days should examine all these and some others that were in the headlines during the campaign and that need to be summarized and talked about.  This president as re - elected has established his own identity and that of his liberal constituents upon the institution of the office of our American chief executive, and the tone of it is optimistic and hopeful to mention the least.  People like me wonder what Tony Blair would have to say about this.