If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Oh, what might have been..... Consider what Mitt Romney might have been---as candidate, as president..... While I am very pleased Barack Obama was ...
As the reeling Republicans and strategizing Democrats debrief about 2012 national election results, they should remember six things about the Latino community.
It is not an overstatement to say that the Latino vote delivered the presidency (and several Senate races) to Democrats. Now it is time for President Obama to quickly take advantage of the momentum.
Despite months of uncertainty, on November 6th Barack Obama decisively defeated Mitt Romney. There were ten other notable winners and losers in the 2012 Presidential election.
How is it that the state that incubated the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan is now so deep blue Democrat that Mitt Romney hardly bothered to campaign there?
If Romney had developed a greater ability to be authentic by confronting the patterns of denial and self-deception that automatically came with his aspirations, he likely would have been able to stand up to the politics of fear -- and elected president.
In the final days of the presidential campaign, President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that it was time to reap a peace dividend as America's wars wind down. Nation-building here at home should, he insisted, be put on the agenda.
Another frequent post-election question we hear is whether President Obama has a "mandate" with the results of this election. Once you're elected president, you're president -- that's your mandate!
With the ideology that success is unimportant and the man with experience redistributing wealth is more qualified to lead the nation than the wealth creator himself, Ayn Rand's prophesy is becoming disturbingly similar to reality.
The days ahead will require commitment and tolerance from all of us, but we will not forget why we voted for this President. We will continue to fight for those who may not have a voice, and we will deflect negativity from all sides. We must be strong enough to emulate those stronger than us like Mandela, like Dr. King.
President Obama still has the opportunity to have a transformational presidency -- but, as he has said again and again, bringing about the changes we need is going to require the active participation of all of us.
The degree to which the electorate is divided today is a true threat to our democracy. That's got to change.
The Republican Party needs to rethink its foreign policy if it wants to win support at home and abroad -- the two are interconnected.
"It's time for us to stop fighting the left's identity politics and start embracing them. We can appeal to groups as well as the Democrats do, we just need to make it a priority."
Perhaps, instead of trying to "win the hearts and minds" of the folks in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, Republicans could start doing so here at home, with all Americans.
There are a couple things on the 2012 ballot that carried a lot of weight for me: the presidential election and Washington State's Referendum 74 legalizing same sex marriage were personally significant.
