Why Obama Won

What I am about to write will not be startling to anyone who monitors the responsible national media, but it may come to a shock to those caught up in the echo chamber of the radical right.

Despite a lousy economy, which normally dooms an incumbent President, Obama won largely because Americans as a whole like him and trust him.

Part of the reason they like and trust him is he is bi-racial. Never forget he is the first non-white President.

Romney, meanwhile, looks, sounds and acts like every other President before Obama. We are, as a people, just tired of that same-old. (That's why I didn't run. :) I don't look right.)

This is not trivial. This is a diverse nation, teeming with people of all races, nationalities, sexual orientations, religions, lifestyles, and hopes for the future.

The Republican Party and its ticket were completely oriented to the past. They looked like the past. They talked from the past.

It's not that minorities and women and gay people or those of us who sympathize with those demographic segments want to vote for people who look or act like them -- far from it.

We just don't want to vote for people who don't get what this is all about.

White men, in fact, have a major positive role in this new coalition, but not if they are the type who tacitly support those idiots who tolerate or rationalize rape, racism, or are so poorly educated they don't know a socialist from a centrist.

Obama won because he is the most appropriate leader for the U.S., circa 2012.

This is an electorate trending toward same sex marriage, legalizing pot (personally, I'm ambivalent on that one), and embracing diversity.

We do not have romantic notions of how hard it will be to build a new America, one that reflects and celebrates our many origins and orientations. We know there is a tribal instinct where people of one stripe tend to hang together.

But we also know our future depends on getting along with one another and recognizing our common humanity.

Finally, we know that climate change is real, and we were grateful the President mentioned it last night, now he has been re-elected.

This, not "socialism," is the great common threat we face. Obama may now be able to do something about that. I hope so. That is the one of the main reasons he got my vote, which I cast on behalf of my 11 children and grandchildren.

Let's get moving on climate change, Mr. President!

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