Day: October 28, 2012

“The October Surprise” Is The Wrath Of Nature!

The traditional line is that in any Presidential campaign, there is an “October Surprise”, which can transform the race.

Who would think it is the wrath of nature, represented by Hurricane Sandy, a “Frankenstorm”, a storm of the century, which will soon devastate the Northeast and Midwest, an area of over 60 million people, and will likely cut down voting numbers, although many have participated in early voting, some indications being possibly 40 percent of the voting population.

This could have a dramatic effect not only on the Presidential election, but on Congressional and state elections, and transform our future in ways we cannot yet imagine!

This can, therefore, be seen as a moment of crisis, and a moment for urgent leadership by President Barack Obama, and appropriate reaction by Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

If power is out for an extended period of time, it could lead to millions not voting, and could also lead to lawsuits regarding close election results.

One has to wonder what the power of nature is trying to say to us, a country deeply divided, and sadly, unlikely to change as a result of this highly charged Presidential Election of 2012!

Will 2012 Presidential Election Mirror 2000 Presidential Election?

There is a growing possibility that the Presidential Election of 2012 will become a reprise of the Presidential Election Of 2000, where the winner of the popular vote does not win the Electoral College, and therefore does not become President of the United States.

This time, the Democratic incumbent, Barack Obama, would be the lucky recipient, while last time the Republican candidate, George W. Bush, was to become the fourth Presidential nominee to fail to win the popular vote but become President, after John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford Hayes in 1876, and Benjamin Harrison in 1888.

Some would say that such a result, with Obama being reelected, although losing the popular vote to Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, would be “justice” for what happened to Al Gore, the Democratic nominee in 2000.

But there is a major difference, in that Obama is already President, while Bush was competing for the position, but was not yet our President.

It would be the first time that a sitting President was reelected without the popular vote of the American people, and would make Republicans say he was “illegitimate” to be our President, something already said, but still would be a great tragedy,and probably guarantee another four years of stalemate and gridlock.

It would make, more likely, a move by the Republicans, if they controlled the House of Representatives, which seems likely at this point, to move to impeach the President, as they succeeded in doing to Bill Clinton in 1998.

It would be a political circus, which would paralyze the nation, and the Republican Party would do everything it could to undermine Obama, and to attempt to make it seem as if he was a failed President, to stain his name in history, even if they had been unable to dislodge him from the White House.

It is hoped that this whole scenario will not happen, and that Barack Obama will end up winning the popular vote, but with the impending Hurricane Sandy, likely to cut down voting totals in the Northeast and Midwest, considered strongly Democratic at least in the Northeast, it could assist Romney in winning the national popular vote, and even the Electoral College win is certainly possible for Romney, although still considered unlikely.

With the impending storm, there is a lot to pray for, regarding safety of the population in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as the future of the nation after the Presidential Election Of 2012. We are living in very difficult times, and have to hope for reason and tolerance, without any certainty of either occurring!