Barack H. Obama has been re-elected President of the United States.
At 11:18pm EST last night, all major networks broke the news of the new president. The predicted long night and delayed results were all a mirage. Mr. Obama pulled away early and seized his seat in the Oval Office for 4 more years.
African-Americans, Latinos and younger voters joined a huge contingency of women voters to hand Mr. Obama the victory. By contrast, White Males and older voters were the supportive block behind Mitt Romney. For a country with a rapidly rising minority base, the formula of success for Romney was exceptionally narrow and not one the GOP can count on for the future. President Obama won 50% of the popular vote, while Mitt Romney won 49%. That translated into 303 electoral votes for the president and 206 for Mr. Romney. As of this writing, the State of Florida was still too close to call but considered very much in play for the Obama camp.
In addition to the states he was expected to win, Mr. Obama also took Nevada, Colorado, Ohio and Virginia. Only the states of North Carolina and Indiana, which he won 4 years ago, went to the Republican column this time around.
For an extended period last night, Mitt Romney did not easily accept defeat and, fueled by rhetoric from Fox News, initially refused to concede. But around 1am the writing was inevitably on the wall and Romney made the fateful concession call to President Obama and finally accepted what America had already known for hours.
Mitt Romney will now fade into oblivion, with no office or political position to retain relevance. His future is unclear. As for the Republican Party, they are majorly defeated and last night’s win seriously puts into question how they can survive as a major party beyond this enormous win. Their reputation as the party of exclusion, while Democrats have successfully made their case for being the party of inclusion, has not gone unnoticed.
But that was yesterday. Today, we awake to 4 more years of an Obama presidency and the promise of things to come.
