Romney miscalculated.
No, he wasn't wrong on the issues... necessarily. He did have a vision going forward... and specific plans to address the underlying problems facing all of us. He spoke to all Americans about a better economy and more opportunity. But he miscalculated about what was important.
Obama did not miscalculate.
Obama's team better understood that politics is not like war at all. In war, there is a rallying cry to defend the nation. People are willing to sacrifice so that the nation is protected and survives. World War II showed the essence of that. We call the people who fought and sacrificed during that war "the greatest generation" not for what they got, but for what they gave.
Politics is the opposite of war. Romney's team failed to grasp that. It is not about rallying Americans to do what is right and best for America. Obama's team grasped the essence of politics and what it takes to win: appealing to the selfishness and self-interests of any and all self-described "groups."
Obama won by appealing to:
- Unions - special treatment in the automobile companies' forced bankruptcies
- Women - special treatment in the form of "free" contraceptives and fighting against the "war on women"
- Homosexuals - ending "don't ask; don't tell" and supporting "gay" marriage
- Hispanics - pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens
- Blacks - expanding social "benefits"
- Muslims - expressing his common heritage and experience
- Government workers - expanding government
- Elderly - fear mongering
Obama's team wove specific stories or provided specific incentives or special privileges that made each group feel threatened by Romney... regardless of the real relationship of those stories, incentives and privileges to the well-being of the people who saw themselves as "members" of those groups. Obama appealed to greed and fear... couched in terms of "fairness."
Meanwhile, Romney tried to appeal to the intellect and logic of everyone without regard to their special interests. He appealed to concepts and ideals. He appealed to the America of the 1940s.
Obama's implied slogan was, "Ask not what you can do for America; ask what America can do for you." He appealed to the western Balkans of the 2010s.
Obama has come a long way from the Democratic presidency of John F. Kennedy. We've come a long way from "the greatest generation."
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