Election recap

I predicted all 50 states right.  Someone really famous (in the world of geeks) also got all 50 states right:  Nate Silver, whose blog I read religiously.  I did not, however, copy him.  At the time I made my prediction I  think he still had Florida and Virginia going for Romney.  

The prediction that Obama would win 330-206 seemed like a gutsy call given that Gallup had Romney ahead several points among likely voters.  I'm not bragging; I was honestly scared on election day.  It seemed like O was headed for a landslide win but how could so many on the right be predicting a Romney win?

If I were a Republican I would be pissed.  It is one thing for a campaign to have false bravado to buck up the troops.  It's another thing to just be dead wrong in your internal polling.  In other words, I'd rather have my side lie to me and say, "We're gonna win!" rather than to be totally clueless.

Romney was so sure he was going to win that he had no concession speech?  Seriously??  The President's team was fairly certain of victory but they still had a concession speech in the can.

The most encouraging thing to me in the past few weeks is that the President is playing to his strengths in the negotiations on the poorly named "fiscal cliff."  It was his horrible performance in 2011 that gave me fear he would not be reelected. 

And it wasn't just the race for President... Gaining two seats in the Senate was unthinkable a year ago.  In the House, Democrats received more votes but Republicans still have the majority due to gerrymandering.  Pot legalized in two states.  Four states voted either for gay marriage or against a gay marriage ban.  

I'm proud to be an American.