Re-elected, Obama promises to end gridlock, sustain hope
November 7, 2012
A long, fierce and expensive campaign came to a close Tuesday night as President Obama was re-elected after nearly sweeping all of the crucial swing states. Meanwhile, the Senate and the House remained in Democratic and Republican hands, respectively.
Several major media outlets gave Obama the victory at approximately 11:20 p.m., with projected wins in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio — a state that has widely been labeled as the deciding factor in the presidential election.
At the time of publication, the electoral vote stood at Obama’s 303 electors — well above the 270 threshold needed to secure the presidency — to Gov. Mitt Romney’s 206, according to ABC News.
Despite conceding the victory to Obama, Romney emphasized his vision for America.
“I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction,” Romney said in his concession speech. “But the nation chose another leader. And so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation.”
John R. Wallach, a professor of political science at Hunter College, identified a number of recent factors that contributed to Obama’s victory: continuing inability of Romney to relate with voters, the sexist positions taken by many of Romney’s supporters and Hurricane Sandy that fortified Americans’ confidence in Obama’s leadership and government.
Wallach said the outcome of the election had been clear for weeks, if not months.
“The election was very much in his pocket before the three debates, which was historically unusual,” he said.
Voters from swing states, including Gallatin freshman Hannah Cohen, were especially jubilant about their influence on the outcome.
“I’m really pleased that Colorado swung toward Obama and that I was part of that swing,” said Cohen, who sent her absentee ballot to her home state via express mail during the time when New York City was out of power because of Sandy.
Rachel Kaplan, a sophomore at Kenyon College and an Obama supporter who voted for the first time in Ohio, agreed.
“It was a really important state for him to win,” Kaplan said. “It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that I contributed to Ohio going blue.”
CAS junior Caitlin Semo, who worked at Obama’s New York campaign headquarters, was e
qually as enthusiastic.
“It was amazing. We won everything we wanted to win,” Semo said. “We accomplished all the goals we wanted to.”
However, many still worry about the direction in which the country is headed.
“I’m obviously kind of disappointed [and] still kind of worried about my future, if we can continue at this rate of spending money and take account for it,” said Graham Rapier, a Steinhardt freshman and member of the NYU College Republicans.
Will Cromarty, chairman of NYU’s College Libertarians, was also unenthused.
“We predicted that the winner [of the elec- tion] would be the pro-bailout, anti-marijuana legalization, pro-Fed, pro-Patriot act, pro-[National Defense Authorization Act], anti-gun, pro-war, pro-socialized health care, pro-deficit spending candidate,” Cromarty said. “We were correct.”
Some concerns were raised on the divisiveness that this campaign brought to the politi- cal spectrum, especially on racial issues.
“This was perhaps the most racially polarized election in recent years,” said Charlton McIlwain, a Steinhardt professor of Media, Culture and Communication. “My prediction is that race relations will be fraught with acrimony and, in many ways, increasingly combative in coming years.”
But Obama assured Americans that would not be the case in his victory speech, which began early Wednesday morning, at approximately 1:35 a.m.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight,” Obama said to an ebullient crowd in Chicago. “You can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”
In a powerful closing remark, the president emphasized the unity of the nation.
“We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states,” Obama said. “We are and forever will be the United States of America.”
A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Nov. 7 print edition. Additional reporting by Gentry Brown, Kayana Jean-Phillipe, Nicole Brown, Veronica Carchedi, Pia Brar, Emily Bell, Tricia Lin, Margaret Eby and Kevin Burns. Andrew Karpan is a staff writer. Email them at [email protected].
