Health & Fitness
President Barack Obama - A Victory For America
November 6, 2012 - A Victorious Evening For American's Democrat Party
America's Democrat party, as well as all of the like-minded voters in New Hampshire, have a bunch of reasons to celebrate after last night's election returns, even with the two-day storm predicted for Wednesday and Thursday here. President Barack Obama defied many odds and billions of dollars of GOP and CITIZEN'S UNITED dollars to win a resounding victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. His win was made possible by emerging on top in a number of crucial swing states in close finishes, including Colorado, Virginia and, most importantly, Ohio. The win was announced by the major networks at around 1115, and a major source of amusement for all Obama supporters who had FOX NEWS on at that time was the treat of their arch conservative contributor Karl Rove almost going apoplectic over the admittedly-early Ohio call, followed by Sarah Palin being, well, Sarah Palin in her anti-Obama follow-up commentary. Great TV for the president's fans, but a very bitter pill for the Romney camp.
Our southern-NH voters, Republican and Democrat, made their voices heard big-time as well, turning out in near-record droves as befitted such a critical election cycle. Democrat voters can be overjoyed that the Granite State elected by strong margins Maggie Hassan as new governor replacing four-term and popular outgoing John Lynch, and also electing Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter to Congress. All three of these estimable women will work hard for the middle class as opposed to pushing the divisive social agenda that the last two years have seen here. Hassan will unfortunately continue to have the same problems with the NH House that Lynch endured, with GOP head Bill O'Brien's easy victory to continue his hold on the speaker's seat. Apparently O'Brien's style of leadership that has alienated both Democrats and moderate Republicans as well as hamstrung Lynch and forced him to veto as much destructive legislation as he could didn't sway the voters in Mont Vernon and New Boston.
But Democrats can be proud that with Hassan's victory over Ovide Lamontagne the Tea Party has been kept out of Lynch's seat, and with both her passion for middle-class ideals and her reach-across-the-aisle style, Hassan should fill it well.
Find out what's happening in Salemfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Here's a partial list of what Americans can expect from Washington over the next four years, all obviously contingent on whether or not GOP House speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell will realize that they can't vote against everything Obama and the Democrats attempt to implement for four MORE years.
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With Obama's victory the Bush temporary tax cuts, slated to close this December 31, will end. This will increase tax revenue from both millionaires and corporations over the next decade and will render the national deficit, currently at just under $500 billion, to zero sometime in 2016. A Romney victory would've enabled the GOP to continue the breaks after he took office, resulting in the same skyrocketing shortfall that occurred temporarily in 2009-2010 as Obama and his administration wrestled with the inherited recession, auto bailouts, the AIG imbroglio, etc.
Find out what's happening in Salemfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Barack Obama has presided over a 32 month-straight record of national job growth, despite the GOP spending his entire first term preventing many submitted job bills from going into law. This has resulted in a slower employment recovery than we would've had if the Republican Party hadn't decided to spend the past four years stymying all Democrat efforts to accelerate the process. The expected growth from 2013-2017 according to economists and mathematicians should be approximately 5 million new jobs, taking the nation's current population (314 million) and its expected increase into account. But an important game changer that would dramatically raise this prognostication would hinge on the president's ability to pass one or more of these employment bills that have been held in limbo for years. The question is whether or not the Republicans in Washington, including the still-existing Grover Norquist-cowed Tea Party members, will be more willing to compromise than they have been for the past two years. Boehner in particular has his work cut out for him on that score, as he and his cabal thankfully no longer have the "one-term President" sword to hang over Obama's head anymore.
Regarding our bloated military budget, the Obama administration will push cuts that will result in the lowest spending in that area since 2004. With the Iraq War a not-yet-distant memory, and the upcoming end of the Afghanistan conflict in 2014, this is an area that contains obvious savings potential.
There will be NO national privatizing of Social Security, NO vouchering of Medicare, and the welcomed continued expansion of OBAMACARE will go on, resulting in both deficit reduction as well as more benefits for American citizens. The War on the Elderly is over for now.
There is a chance that not just one, but two Supreme Court justices will be retiring in the next 4 years, allowing Obama the opportunity to put his stamp on their replacement(s). Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy are both 76 years old, making both of them prime candidates for retirement during Obama's second term. One can be pretty sure that an Obama nominee if warranted will be at least along the lines of Kennedy or one of the centrist/liberals already on the Court, and not a far-right ideologue like Scalia. This would assumedly prevent a new conservative justice from being added who would vote to overturn Roe V. Wade or allow all the other anti-female legislation going on now in many states against Planned Parenthood and the like from taking hold nationally. So hopefully the end of the War on Women is in our sights now as well.
Pell Grants, instead of potentially being slashed considerably, will be enhanced, continuing the Democrat party's education-first mindset. There's also a good shot that many states whose Tea Party legislature has eviscerated school and education funding (like the 60% university cuts right here in New Hampshire) will realize at least more assistance from Washington to make up part of the difference. This continues the Democrat philosophy that a nation can't be a strong one without an educated workforce.
The housing market, like the recovering job market, stocks and mutual funds, etc. are all exponentially improved since Obama's inauguration in January 2009, although you wouldn't know it from the continuous drumbeat of negativity and false advertising that the GOP has kept in effect for the past 4 years. No reason for why all of this goodness won't continue, and the worldwide joy (just like in 2008) that was in evidence at Obama's victory last night dovetails with continued trade and relations with these countries, our allies. Domestic markets, unfortunately, remain linked in with the ongoing financial fortunes of the European Union, and will continue to bear watching.
But there is no comparison with the United States of today with the rudderless, drifting debacle that our nation found itself in 4 years ago, necessitating the Obama administration and all of our citizens to exceed the call of duty to rectify. And with Obama's reelection the recovery can continue without the backsliding to the past decade that a Romney victory would've led to. The George W. Bush years are now finally over.
