A Smooth Ride and A Safe Landing?

Well, at least we didn't crash and burn, as I feared we might.  I really expected and was prepared for a long election night, followed by a drawn out legal donnybrook of court filings in several critical, closely contested states.   I said as much in the last two posts.  But it didn't happen, so I was happily wrong.

I also explicitly indicated that this opinion was not reflective of any disagreement with statistician par excellance, Nate Silver, who called the outcome more or less on the nose.  Quite the contrary, I have no quarrel whatsoever with empirical evidence, or the proven methods of uncovering it.  Rather, my expressed concern was that experience had shown there is decidedly more to determining election results in our system than a straight counting of the votes cast and/or the votes which were meant to be cast.  In other words, there is a whole hell of a lot of cheating and illusion that goes on in this, the beacon of liberty and freedom, and gold standard of democracy.  A whole hell of a lot. 

I won't tediously rehearse, but will at least briefly refresh memories of relevant instances, to wit: the blatantly stolen, Supreme Court determined 2000 presidential election, along with the still mysteriously "wrong" exit polls in the 2004 presidential contest, which had Kerry besting Bush all day long.  So, go figure.

And that is indeed the point.  Elections here are not a numbers game alone; they are a numbers, people, and power contrivance.  This is the ground upon which I stand, and have not one inch been pushed from.  In fact, the outcome of this race ironically solidifies the foundation of that view. 

The internal plutocrat machine apparently suffered from a raft of  Karl Rove/Ralph Reed  OZ-like conclusions, manufactured exclusively in the interest of the producers at the expense of the consumers of the information.  In the end, Romney was more the victim of his own PR than the Obama campaign.

Certainly this was reflected in the last Romney/Obama debate, wherein Romney behaved as though he had the lead and didn't want to blow it, as opposed to the aggressive, lying, brute he had demonstrated a talent for being in previous meetings.  He really thought it would be an outright decision in his favor, or at least close enough to steal.  The Romney campaign was all lawyered-up and ready to go into at least four of the most important battle-ground states to take a close race.  In the end, it was caught off guard and mistakenly at ease.

If you depart from this outlook, fair enough.  But just consider that the treasure trove of electoral votes, known as Florida, has not been officially awarded as this is written, on the Saturday following the Tuesday election.  If the margins had been almost infinitesimally closer in at least two of the other seven or so battle-ground states, this contest would be undecided today.

Speaking of today, it is the first day of another too brief, chore filled weekend during which I am tasked by sundry calls other than blog posting.  So, enough for now.  But there are several subjects waiting and needing address.  They include the signals of continuing Republican reactionary policy essayed by customary suspects such as Charles Krauthammer, and signs of more limp-wristed, hand-wringing capitulation from zerObama.  Hope to get to it this evening.

Stay tuned.