Barack Obama Didn't Win, the Republicans Lost

There's no mandate for Obama, and in 2016 we'll see the effects of his presidency

By Judson Phillips

, Founder of Tea Party Nation

November 7, 2012

Obama might have had a mandate had he won last night.

He did not win. The Republicans lost. If that sounds like splitting hairs, it is not.

By all rights, last night should have been a Republican night. The map should have turned red from sea to shining sea. Obama was running for re-election in the middle of the Great Obama Depression. The last time the economy was this bad was in 1936; unemployment and gas prices are twice what they were the last time the Republicans controlled government.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]

In addition, of the 33 Senate seats up for grabs, 23 of them were Democratic seats while only 10 were Republican. All things being even, the law of averages alone suggests that Republicans should have picked up three or four. As it is, their best case scenario is they will keep the number of seats they had and with two races still too close to call, could even lose seats.

Obama did not get a mandate. He got incompetent opposition.

Mitt Romney now joins the list of moderate Republicans who cannot win. He gets his place right next to John McCain and Bob Dole.

There is no mandate for Obama. If the American people were going to give him a mandate, the House would have either changed hands or would have at least had a much smaller Republican margin.

[See photos of 100 Years in Presidential Races.]

There is no mandate, but there is a lesson. Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to have a huge mandate. He was a conservative. The last Republican to get two terms was George W. Bush. He had the good sense to run as a conservative, even though he was a big government Republican.

There is a clear lesson for the GOP here: no more moderates.

As for Obama, he will believe he has a mandate. We will see taxes and spending rise. We will see energy prices explode. And in 2016, we will see anger from the American people like we have not seen since 2009.