Eight years ago, Senator Barack Obama became the first black President in United States history. His landslide victory against Senator McCain was propelled by a historically unpopular incumbent Republican, the financial collapse of 2008, and the opportunity for the American people to make history. Hope and change, ruled the day. Obama had control of both the House and Senate, thanks in large part to President Bush’s failures. The rubber stamp was available.
Six years ago, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid, rammed Obamacare down the throats of the American people, in strong objection by the electorate. The image of Pelosi and others within Democrat leadership marching down the street in Washington, D.C., in defiance of the American people, sticks out in my mind vividly. That same year, the people revolted, handing control of the House over to the Republicans, who pledged to repeal the “Unaffordable” Care Act.
Two years later, President Obama was re-elected, in spite of being underwater in terms of voter approval. However, the people had enough of the blank check they had given Congress, and began working on giving the Senate back to the Republicans. If not for poor candidates in Missouri (Todd Akin) and Indiana (Richard Mourdock), the Senate likely would have flipped. Unfortunately for Obama, a key undercurrent was developing, which was the first real sign, aside from the rise of the Tea Party, that the American people had had enough – a record number of state legislatures, and legislative seats, were now under Republican control. And, Democrats continued to lose Gubernatorial positions.
In 2014, the Senate finally changed hands, thanks to victories by Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Cory Gardner (Colorado), and Tom Cotton (Arkansas), among others. Republicans also bolstered their majority in the House, to record levels.
Then came this year, the final rebuke of the Obama presidency – not only did the Republicans maintain control of the Senate, and the House, they picked up Gubernatorial seats in New Hampshire (where incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte lost to her Democrat opponent), and in Vermont. Yes, Vermont, the state Bernie Sanders represents. And, the unthinkable happened as well – Donald J. Trump was elected President, against all odds.
Mr. Trump overcame a liberal bias in the media, the most powerful political machine in modern American history, an onslaught of negative ads (many using his own words, in all fairness), and deficits in the polls, to defy political science. Not a single poll, factoring in all 4 party candidates, had Trump winning the popular vote; and, he didn’t. But, no one could have predicted that Trump would win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, or Michigan, which he is likely to do.
Mr. Trump has re-written the political map. Why? Because the American people are sick and tired of being treated like 2nd class citizens, by the political elites in Washington. They are sick of the media telling them how to vote, and sick of corrupt politicians passing laws that have no impact of themselves, but crush the rest of us. They are sick of their jobs being shipped overseas, and electing politicians that don’t do their bidding, and instead, do the bidding of donors and lobbyists.
This is not to say that the candidacy of President-Elect Trump wasn’t flawed; indeed, it was. Make no mistake about it, our 45th President is not a conservative, and he has much work to convince people like me, that he was the right choice. However, 1 thing is perfectly clear – the American people rejected 4 more years of Obama. With all of Mr. Trump’s flaws, they paled in comparison to those of Hillary Clinton.
Come January 20th, 2017, he will officially be President Trump. He will have his opportunity to get to work, including repealing Obamacare, ending the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran, repealing all of Obama’s illegal executive orders, and return power to the states, justly required by the 10th amendment. If he succeeds, he will effectively erase Obama’s legacy, eradicate his signature accomplishments, and turn the last 8 years into nothing more than a mere footnote in American history.
Mr. Obama’s presidency, thus far, can be considered a success, insofar as his ability to get his agenda accomplished. Wipe those accomplishments out, however, and he becomes the greatest failure, in American history.
The American people, are counting on that.
Where I was Wrong
Clearly, I was wrong on some things during this campaign. In retrospect, I was wrong in believing that nominating Trump would cost Republicans the Senate, and potentially the House. If anything, it would appear that Mr. Trump was a buoy for Republican candidates in the Senate, and in the House. In Wisconsin, where Ron Johnson won re-election, Trump also won. Pat Toomey was successful in Pennsylvania, another state Trump won. In fact, all the states that Trump won, the Republican Senatorial candidates won – Florida (Rubio), Georgia (Isakson), North Carolina (Burr), Missouri (Blount), Pennsylvania (Toomey), Wisconsin (Johnson), Ohio (Portman), Indiana (Young). The states he lost in (Nevada and Colorado), the Democrats won (Cortez-Masto, Bennet).
On my predictions, I had the race at 272-265 Clinton, although I had low confidence in my prediction that she would win. All of the swing states, save for potentially New Hampshire, Virginia and Nevada, Trump won. He won Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, likely will win Arizona. That made all the difference in bringing him from 265, to where he will likely finish, around 300.
In the House, Republicans lost only 6 seats. I predicted 10-15. 6 seats is a surprisingly low total, considering Hillary won the popular vote.
In the Senate, I predicted a 51-49 split, and it will be 52-48. I had given Pennsylvania to McGinty, which accounts for the error.
Lastly, in the Gubernatorial count, I had it 32-17, and it’s going to be 33-15 it would appear. Still outstanding, is Pat McCrory vs. Roy Cooper.
Not bad.