It would be very easy to gloat. It would be a no-brainer to point out that Karl Rove finally got what has been coming to him his entire political career when he miscalculated everything but the time of day and wasted all those millions of dollars he raised to get Mitt Romney elected.
It would be easy to make fun of the extreme reactions to Romney’s loss of the presidential election from those who threw themselves onto the ground screaming and crying and declaring that the United States of America is now dead. It would be easy to attack the 22-year-old California woman who made headlines, got the attention of the Secret Service, and got fired from her job for posting on her Facebook page, “Another 4 years of this [N-word]. Maybe he will get assassinated this term,” and told a Fox News crew, “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. The assassination part is kind of harsh. I’m not saying like I would go do that or anything like that, by any means, but if it was to happen, I don’t think I’d care one bit.”
It would be easy to shoot all these writhing fish in their backward barrels. Instead, I’m going to focus on these words from President Barack Obama’s victory speech:
“America, I believe we can build on the progress we’ve made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunity and new security for the middle class. I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”
I know I am walking on clouds right now, but those are three of the most important sentences I have heard a president speak in my lifetime. And it shows that America, by re-electing Obama, has hopefully tipped the scales in moving forward to make the United States what it set out to be from day one: a country where everyone is treated as equal, something that for more than 200 years has been anything but the case.
I just hope that those Republican politicians in power who blatantly and unapologetically refused to work with him on anything and held America hostage for four years by freezing any hopes of getting the economy up and going (which he did despite their hatred of him) will finally realize that those days have to be over, because the majority of the American people are just a little bit smarter than they gave them credit for and can no longer be treated like brainwashed lemmings while corporate America and the far right wing stand guard over social progress. It looks like maybe, just maybe, some of them are beginning to realize that the old blue mare ain’t what she used to be. At least I hope so.
To Mitt Romney, I would say, Okay, Mitt, for six years you’ve been a broken record, constantly talking about how you can create millions and millions of jobs. So now is the time to put your gargantuan stash of money where your mouth is. You can’t do it as president, but if you really can do it and weren’t just blowing smoke up everyone’s ass all this time, sit down with President Obama and go about making it happen. Establish something akin to the Clinton Global Initiative and focus on creating jobs in the United States. Work with him as a private citizen and save some face. Make it your life’s calling and stop worrying about what people do in the bedroom and what women do with their own bodies. It’s time to man up and — selflessly — do what you’ve been promising.
To President Obama: Embrace Romney in this respect. Give him a chance. I know you are still going to face a lot of stubborn Tea Party resistance no matter what you do or say, and that may never change, because so many of them are incapable of coming up with a thought that resembles compromise, but give it a whirl. See what happens. And then use your executive privilege to make sure that those three important sentences in your victory speech come to fruition.
Karl Rove, don’t go away mad; just go away. You are through. Retire and collect guns or something. No one needs you anymore. Not only did the majority of the people elect Barack Obama in 2008, but they also “re-elected” him against great odds last Tuesday. Take a hint. It’s a new, welcome, hopeful, inclusive, fairer, mind-bogglingly happy day for anyone with a heart, a soul, and an open mind.
