Gee.....What Went Wrong? Let's See.......

I think we can guess which way Big Bird voted.

One of the great things about being the host of TheReading Circle talk radio show is the people who I have met since the inception of the show. I have developed wonderful relationships with many of the authors who have appeared on the show and such is the case with author DenriquePreudhomme, author of The Undisguised Truth: Thought-Provoking Social and Political Commentary, Stranger Than Fiction and Reflections of Realism. Ms. Preudhomme is always fascinated by how when something goes obviously wrong the question always comes up “What Went Wrong?” Every time either one of us would see that question in the press, we would email, text or call each other about it and it became a running inside joke between us. We always had a good laugh about the asking of "What Went Wrong" about a situation when it was abundantly clear what went wrong. The 2012 presidential election is yet another example of this. It was very clear to me concerning what went wrong for Mitt Romney. 

When Republican candidate Mitt Romney lost the presidential election on Tuesday night, Denrique was one of the people who popped in my mind because I knew on Wednesday someone would indubitably ask the question “What Went Wrong?” I knew with so many people (including the candidate) expecting Mitt Romney to win, that the re-election of President Obama would be viewed as an upset and the pundits would have to ask “What Went Wrong?”  Well sure enough they did.  Well this post to The Critical Thinker is here to address what I see is an obvious answer to what went wrong.
 I don’t understand how Mitt Romney could expect the very groups that he pissed off to then in turn vote for him on Election Day.  What went wrong is Mitt and some of his other Republican colleagues did a fantastic job of alienating just about every group from whom they sought votes.  If you look at the voter turnout for President Obama by group, you will see a relationship between the percentages of the groups who voted for President Obama in droves compared with Mitt Romney and the commentary made about each group by him (Mitt Romney) or one of the Republicans running for office.
 Let’s take a look and see if you can figure out “What Went Wrong?” Let’s look by group and commentary made about each group by Mitt Romney or one of his party members.

WOMEN (60% voted for President Obama)

Commentary by Romney or Republicans:

"From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare,” he replied. “If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."  Todd Akin 

"I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."  Richard Mourdock

 “I have no abortion-related legislation on my platform but I would reinstate a policy banning nongovernmental organizations from using federal funds to provide abortions.” Mitt Romney

ASIANS (73% Voted for President Obama)

Commentary by Romney or Republicans:

Mitt Romney and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan on Saturday tagged China as "cheaters" in the global economy and accused President Obama of being soft on a country whose trade and currency policies are hurting the U.S. manufacturing sector and the middle class.

"Let me tell you, on Day One of my administration I will label China a currency manipulator. We have got to get those jobs back and get trade to be fair." Mitt Romney

AFRICAN AMERICANS (93%)/HISPANIC (71%)

Commentary by Romney or Republicans:

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48—he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people—I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not, what it looks like. I mean, when you ask those people…we do all these polls—I find it amazing—we poll all these people, see where you stand on the polls, but 45 percent of the people will go with a Republican, and 48 or 4…” Mitt Romney

"We're not going to round people up" but rather, financially struggling undocumented immigrants would choose to return to their home countries of their own volition. The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here," he said. "And so we're not going to round people up." Mitt Romney 

Romney suggested his administration would make it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs, which would in turn lead them to seek work elsewhere.

Romney told the contributors that "women are open to supporting me," but that "we are having a much harder time with Hispanic voters, and if the Hispanic voting bloc becomes as committed to the Democrats as the African American voting block has in the past, why, we're in trouble as a party and, I think, as a nation." 

BIG BIRD(100% Voted for President Obama)

Commentary by Romney or Republicans:

“I’m sorry Jim, I’m gonna stop the subsidy to PBS,” Romney told debate moderator Jim Lehrer, who is executive editor for PBS NewsHour. “I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not gonna keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.” 

I think when you put it all together, one can figure out what went wrong. People are not going to vote for someone who is degrading them or putting them down. People who are called “cheats,” and “manipulators,” or told to “self-deport are not going to vote for you. People who are told that they will never take personal responsibility and care for their lives, or who must have a baby after they have been raped are not going to vote for you.   So when you ask “what went wrong” we can only come to the conclusion that you can’t piss folks off and then expect them to vote for you.  That expectation is what went wrong. Mitt felt that he and his colleagues could say any old thing , any old kind of way and then expected these same voters to vote for them. That’s what went wrong. Congratulations President Barack Obama on your re-election. What went wrong for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party is something to critically think about. I invite your feedback by clicking the red feedback box to the right of your screen and in the commentary section of the blog. I also invite you to follow the Critical Thinker on Twitter @thinkcritical01.