By Ed Morales –
President Obama won re-election in large part due to overwhelming support from women, African-American and Latino voters. Obama’s victory in the general election was not by a huge margin — despite winning by almost 100 electoral votes, he squeaked by in the popular vote — but his victory spoke volumes about America’s new voice. According to exit polls, he won despite Romney capturing about 60 percent of the white electorate.
The fact that he won even though his first term was mired by a sluggish economy and not distinguished by strong political victories other than his health care reform bill was impressive. But when you factor in the more than $1 billion spent by pro-Republican groups on the national elections, as well as various efforts to suppress minority and elderly voting in key states, it’s clear who the new majority is.
Perhaps the biggest shift in favor of Obama this time around was in the Latino electorate, whose support for the president increased to almost 75 percent by some estimates. Romney’s dismal rhetoric toward undocumented immigrants offended the community as a whole.
Just eight years after George W. Bush was elected in 2004, the GOP share of the Latino vote shrank from around 40 percent to somewhere near 25 percent. This change is a significant one for both parties.
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly announced solemnly that the election proves “the white establishment is the minority.” But while he was speaking the truth in a way, his contempt for people of color compelled him to say that it was because these groups “want things,” implying a “free ride” from government.
O’Reilly could not have been more wrong. What the new majority wants is not entitlements, but equal rights and access to power. We want health care policies that truly serve the majority at a reasonable cost. We want an end to tax policies that favor the wealthiest. We want real immigration reform that ends criminalization and the collateral damage of increased discrimination.
It is time for Obama to deliver on the promise of his candidacy. Bipartisan efforts are welcome, but only as long as they don’t involve the imposition of unfair burdens on the poor, working and middle classes to satisfy the austerity agendas of bailed-out financiers.
The new majority has spoken, and it time for Obama to double down on audacity and deliver on what most of America has long been hoping for.
13 thoughts on “The new majority has spoken … again”
For those of you so quick to criticize, you need to think about what President Obama accomplished in his first term. Even if he had done nothing else of significance (which of course isn’t true) his healthcare reform is MAJOR and would stand alone. How many decades have we been saying our healthcare system was in complete shambles and something needed to be done ASAP? This is a president who actually DID something about it instead of just talking about it. You think it was easy? I think you know better.
Just wait. President Obama will go down in history as one of our greatest. I’m sorry if some of you can’t handle that but I, for one, am very grateful to have him as our leader. Our circumstances will continue to get better. He’s not even close to being done yet.
He only won because there was over 100% voter turnout in many urban democratic areas in toss up states.
Prove that assertion. And not with a link to one of the conservative-crazy websites.
@bodacious, it doesn’t matter what web page we find because the left will say they are all crazy. I found over a dozen websites with articles about the voter fraud, some places over 106% voter turnout. The main county in Ohio had 98,000 registered voters yet 106,000 voted. All you have to do is Google election afraid 2012 and I guarantee you, fox news will not be one of them even though they did report it, I was too busy watching CNN but I heard fox reported it. They all agreed that the only states that DID NOT have voter fraud was the states that required voter I.D. Plus some of those same websites reported 40 states filed petitions of secsession.
Maybe…you and others seem to believe that voter fraud is a large problem. When I google it I find that it is very rare. I follow the news pretty closely and I’m not hearing about it. Your guy Mitt seems to be crying about a lot of reasons why he lost the election but voter fraud isn’t one of them. There are some countys in the US that have more registered voters than residents but that doesn’t mean voter fraud has taken place. The numbers are a result of people moving and dying. But to make any claim that voter fraud is running rampant and Pres Obama won because of it is just false.
One day it was on almost every channel and all over the internet but I haven’t heard anything about it since.
Maybe don’t you think that if it was as big a problem as you and a few others claim, that it would be all over the news everyday and on every channel. I watch O’Reilly (only for some laughs) just about every night. He or his guests aren’t talking about it. It is a nonproblem. Someone is blowing smoke up your a**.
This is very funny. Are you really serious? They don’t even oknw what this health-care will do to cost or anything else. Remember Pelosi saying we won’t know what is in it until we pass it? He won because the people you sight are most likely getting a Govt. check. Heck half of them you talk to have NO reason why they voted for him other then they like him. So my wife lost her job and health care. Now she has been turned down for ins. In 2014 I will get FINED $1200 from the feds and still have no health ins. on her. How the heck is that helping? IF he was white and not black he would not have won and you know it but won’t admit it. How many of those voted even had the legal right to vote. One good think is we will only have to try to make it thru another 4 yrs with him as a non leader. BUT he sure likes being on a lot of TV talk shows.
Ed, you and people like you are the reason Romney lost. I know a lot of people that voted for Pres. Obama and none of them are on any kind of welfare. The idea that most of the people that voted for the Pres are on welfare is just plain wrong. I know that you and your kind won’t believe that but it is true. we voted for Pres Obama because he is the bestman for the job. Not because we are getting welfare checks.
Obamas re-election will bring a new chapter to America. It will be Chapter 11
I wonder how many of the latinos were here legally?
They were all here legally. Remember Obama used his exective power and waived the majic wand a couple months back and let them all stay. And remember that the next time some AH Democrate trys to tell you how and election can’t be bought like the Republicans tried this year!!!!
The Democratic party is no longer the party of the working class. It has sunken to bottom feeder lows and is now the party of the non working class blood sucking off us workers.