Broncos 10, 49ers 55

For once, it wasn’t the economy, stupid. Plus, let me know when the women get their free whatever they were screaming about. I’ll just wait here, holding my breath.

The Oedipal eye-gougings have begun, as the O-Force pulled out a surprising (to me, anyhow) win not only for himself, but for all of the downticket stuff as well. The pundits on both sides can say it was close, but no, The Stormin’ Mormon got his Magic Batman Underoos handed to him in a skidmarked wad of failure and unspent confetti.

So much for the “crawling over broken glass” rhetoric, eh?

As I’ve said, though, this is the best outcome for the short term, because the fundamentals of the economy weren’t going to change with Romney, ObamaCare wasn’t going to get repealed with Romney, and the world wasn’t going to respect us any more with Romney.

It’ll take a while for the numbers to conclusively prove it, but many pundits are ecstatic/terrified that this is the harbinger of the Big Brown Takeover long awaited by both sides. I’m not sure I agree with this, for a couple of reasons. First, this electoral tilt may be due to a wider dispersion of a relatively static population of Latinos throughout the so-called “swing” states, but demographic trends show that as the U.S. economy declines, so to does the overall Latino 1st-gen immigrant population. Couple that with sharp declines in the demographic maps of Mexico, Central and South America, well, I don’t think it’ll be as much of an issue going forward. Besides, the exit polls show roughly a one-percent uptick in Latino voting nationwide, with an overall spiral of nearly double digits in voting nationwide.

Assuming that this isn’t a massive case of fraud and Chicago-style vibrancy, (and I don’t, entirely) how did this happen?

Romney won less overall votes than McCain despite voting upswings in counties that McCain won in 2008, and despite downswings in counties that Obama won in 2008. While logic would assume that these votes went to Romney, they didn’t get there.

Where did these votes go?

My guess is they went both third-party and/or vanished entirely.

Just because you cast a ballot doesn’t mean you punch the hole in the President box. Lord knows I didn’t. And it’s worth noting that the deficit of expected turnout for Romney is just about proportional to the estimated support that Ron Paul enjoyed in the primaries.

That’s not nothing, folks.

The more unsettling sign for the GOP (and where I almost suspect some element of fraud) is that the Senate completely defied expectations, by about the same deficits as Romney experienced. Could be bunches of ballots were disappeared by poll officials, could be that people in those states bought the hype that everything’s going swimmingly, I don’t claim to know.

Where does that leave us?

Just about where we have been for the past 23 months – a Blue Senate, a Red House, and a Yellow President. Many conservatives fear what Obama’s going to do now that he doesn’t have to run for re-election, but I’m not sure what he can do so long as the GOP House keeps up its end of the gridlock deal. Also, in the modern era, second presidential terms are notable for three things:

· Bombs

· Failed domestic policy initiatives

· Impeachment

We know President Predator Drone Strike never met an automated Hellfire missile delivery system he didn’t like, so that should continue unabated. Also, the political will for big ticket policy initiatives simply isn’t there. The Senate and the President haven’t ever passed a budget, for fuck’s sake. That brings us to impeachment, something that’s never been successful in the modern era, but as many two-term presidents have been legitimately threatened with articles of impeachment as have not. And Lord knows there’s plenty to work with, as Obama hasn’t gone a single quarter of any year without a major scandal, you know, if the press really were the Fourth Estate rather than a more sensational version of the White House Press Office.

So I imagine that the next four years will head in the same direction as the past two – which is down for all the metrics that matter, but I expect that no one is going to try to hide it anymore. Look for the unemployment rate to rise, along with prices, and for the value of the dollar to fall, along with wages. Expect a lot of businesses to shutter, expect a few to get by. Expect even more divisions, recriminations, and endless stories blaming everything that’s gone wrong in the past decade on the 113th session of the House of Representatives. Expect a lot of capital to walk away, and expect a lot of middle class people currently “elated” and “overjoyed” at Obama’s re-election (and the passage of more sales taxes for “education” funding) to wonder why things aren’t getting better.

As for the GOP, despite what I said earlier about Latino demographics, they’re done with competing on a national level. Actual conservatives have made it clear they’re staying home or voting third party, and that their votes don’t belong by fiat to the GOP. If the GOP couldn’t beat such a stumbling, scandal-ridden, clown of a buffoon in this economic, social, and political environment, then they will never stand a chance again. So expect some secession saber-rattling as well.

In short, expect more of the same, which I’ll gladly take from a lazy, aloof, golf-playing clown over a sober, work-a-holic equally liberal buffoon who would happily rape me with my underwear on under the guise of “limited government” and “compassionate conservatism.”

Anyway, bring on the Mayans, and enjoy your Thanksgiving.