Wow. sour grapes. Ugly? Romneys whole campayne was based on lies

Jeff: How can you say that he squandered the first four years?  Do you remember what was happening in the US in 2008?  Seriously, it was almost economic armageddon, when Paulson and his cronies were trying desperately to gut the economy to stay out of jail and band-aid a country they had wrecked with the help of the putative 'Decider'.  The fact is, we ARE better off now than we were four years ago.  If only in the sense that we have a fighting chance.

I'd say that the American people can't wait for 2014 to turn the country's focus of renewal upon the so-very-out-of-touch House of Representatives.  Those there that are still living in the gilded age need to go outdoors and sniff the winds of change.

Classy piece Jeff.  How's the song go, "Money can't buy you class."

Jeff hands us yet another tragic example of how empirical reality seems to be one of the prime casualties of the current political climate. I respectfully disagree with the picture you sketched here. In colonial times, people could spout off in the local tavern and say outrageous things, and they would be heard by a small handful of people, and gone forevermore. These days, people can impulsively spout off on a keyboard, it is transmitted to millions in an instant, and then lives forever. That single change in life structure has imposed on all of us a problem which we have not yet learned to handle. What is real to one person is a function of feelings, personal history, and ability to see. And even more importantly, the ability to process what is seen. Take then, a portrayal of a scene which is impaired because the person is simply incapable of understanding. They offer an inadequate rendering of the scene. The inadequacy could be over-simplification, intentional distortion in the service of self-interest, or any number of other failings. As those twisted renditions of reality mount up around all of us, the impact is a more generalized loss of what is true. Too often, Mr. Jacoby, I see you as contributing to that loss of truth. You are someone who aspires to give voice to the more conservative viewpoint. I challenge you to aspire to a higher level of integrity. There is value in the conservative viewpoint. Find it. Express it with elegance. Challenge yourself to look for the consensual empirical reality, and not the type of distortions you peddled today.

... and rarely has a President ever faced such intransigence and unwillingness to compromise from a spiteful group of putative GOP leaders. Mr. Jacoby your words have the stench of a sore loser.

Jeff, you need to stop letting Sununu put words in your mouth.   Romney did zero to merit election.  

Cheers, Jeff!!! It's a great day in America, and a great day for Americans and other freedom loving people of the world. I always believed that if God was real, and if he was the loving God of inclusion and equal rights for everyone, he had to be a Democrat. I was right!!!!! Yippee!!!

Oh come off it Jeff.  The wave of adulation you describe Obama riding into his first term crashed into unfailingly obstructionist Republicans in Congress and a viciously insulting Right Wing pundisphere, both committed to little more than his defeat. They never had any intention of cooperating with President Obama.  The mistake made by the President and his supporters was not exposing and isolating them for the dangerous, disloyal political game they were playing at a time of real economic peril.    

Note to "Voter suppression" Jacoby: doubling down on right-wing policies (and your extremist approach) might not be a growth venture. As with your friend George Bush following his re-election in 2004, Obama has earned a lot of political capital with this victory, and I have no doubt that he intends to spend some of it.

WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Unfortunately, Jeff, question 3 lost, so that's not an option for you ... a shame

If you are looking for presidents that have squandered historical levels of good will, I submit to you one George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq.

Welcome to the United States of Not Only Rich White Men Who Bow To Religious Nuts to Increase Their Wealth

A little sour grapes? All that matter are results and Obama gets results.

Liberals knew that it would take more than four years to wash away the stench that Bush left on the country. In 2014 the House will be in Democratic control as well. The Democrats will save the country. The republican party of sore losers and right wing nut jobs will soon follow the path of the Wig Party. Why don't you join them.

Jeff, you really are an ignorant fool.

It was actually a pretty good night for democrats in general.  Romney, through his inability to articulate any core principles to which he would reliably stick, pretty much doomed himself.  Unless the republican party can wean itself from a primary process that selects only the most ideologically extreme for the nomination, they are going to be in trouble.  It will be fascinating to see whether the republican party doubles down on its current version of "conservatism" or whether they moderate their positions to increase their base.  I think that the Atlantic was speculating whether someone like Jeb Bush needs to finally call the party out and have a come to Jesus moment.  We'll see.  Oh yes, one last observation.  Wasn't it great to see religious interest groups pushed to the background?  Maybe the politicalization of religious faith is ebbing.  I sure hope so.

Grace in defeat is the true mark of reason. / / / I suggest we all resolve to move forward as one people, willing to disagree, but also willing to listen, to be sure that all are heard, so that our ideas are tested, and that our decisions are sound. I suggest we put away our partisan vitriol, turn off the propaganda machines, put on our thinking caps, roll up our sleeves, and get to work.

Way to completely absolve the Republicans Jeff. Adelson spent 100 mil, McMahon 90 million, the filibuster reighns supreme, and you leave all of that on the table. Brave guy, you!

Wow.  Really, Jeff?  Your articles are usually so well reasoned and lucid.  This particular diatribe just sounds bitter, and not a little petty.  Disappointing.

HUH? Did you miss the the Tparty backlash to the first African American President? Did you miss the birthers and obstructionists?

I am not angry that is was close. I am angry at goons like Trump who tried to manipulate the electorate with BS. But I would welcome any debate on real issues.

The electorate has changed. The demographics of the 2 conventions were in stark contrast to one another as were the demographics last night from election HQ of the candidates.

And, seriously, can we put the rancour to bed today? Let's look to a future in which people are less afraid of people who look different from them or who think and act differently.

FORWARD! To a more civil America with less obstructionism.

Sore loser Jeff Jacoby did not get the message.  His brand of political idiology backed by overly monied individuals did not make the sale to the American people.  The ugliness he describes is the citizens of this country realizing that reactionary thought has lost its cache.  What unmitigated whining by this columnist.  Instead of learning that a road forward has been opened he chooses to slam the door on those who want a better nation.  Shame on you Jeff Jacoby and your Heritage Foundation overseers.

Winning ugly, Jeff, is still winning.  We now need to get on with the business of the country.  I hope the House of Representatives chooses to do so and not to obstruct it. 

A rather puerile response to what was a decisive victory for President Obama. The people have spoken. 

It was a narrow victory, not a decisive one, and in the end it was tiny majorities in a handful of swing states that made the difference.  The popular vote was practically a tie, 2.5 million more for Obama out of 120 million votes is no landslide.

I wish Obama well and I hope the country can put this bitter period behind us and move on.  There are really important problems that need solving.  

However, the gloating, jeering tone of the Obama supporters on their blogs and news sites does not reflect a gracious and unifying attitude.  Too much water under the bridge, I'm afraid.  It's going to be a long 4 years.

Winning ugly and mean is only ok when it is done by a liberal.

Mitch McConnell's one-term-President remark will live in infamy. There had best be a sea change in the overall attitude of GOPers in the House or 2014 will be even more shocking to Republicans than 2012 turned out to be. The Obama presidency may have been launched on the wings of eagles but it ran smack into the intransigence of bitter, selfish rightwing pigs. The voters have spoken...let's see if rightwing zealots have their hearing aids plugged in now.

I guess this means we can 'look forward' to four more years of acrimony and sanctimony from Jeff Jacoby and the partisan trolls on both sides in the online environment.

Romney Rove and Koch are the ones who "...spent a vast fortune trashing his opponent". You sound like a sore bitter loser, blaming everyone else for the Republican party's mistakes.

Keep crying Jacoby. It's the stupid Republican Party that ran an ugly, disgusting, RACIST campaign. You and the wackos like Rove, Trump, Limbaugh etc etc lost. Get over it loser.

Look...I'm tired, but you cannot absolve the Republicans of all blame? The filibuster was used more than at any time over a four year modern presidency...more than the entire 8 years of Bush! Adelson spent more than 100 million to help the birthers and Trump is calling for revolution...where? From the comfort of Trump Towers as minimum wage workers serve him plate after plate of crow? Come on Jeff...

Oh, please. Before you publish future columns, why don't you think for one minute about whether you would feel the same way if the parties were swapped. Had Romney won, would you really be writing about "an ugly victory"? Sheesh. Your thinking is so weak, it's embarassing.

Jacoby writes an ugly article.

And the Ugliest part still remains. Unanswered questions on what happened with the benghazi, Libya attack, and why Barack Obama and hillary clinton immediately chose to say "The Video Did It". The House should still continue to investigaste this and call in people for questioning. This represents a complete failure of Barack Obama's role as Commander in Chief. America's enemies must be happy now.

The plight of the obstructionist Republicans like yourself just isn't appreciated in this country is it. 

Jacoby ... this is bad ... even for YOU.

Jeff, I generally disagree with you, but when you write a piece based in reason, I can at least respect your argument and your position, but when you write a piece like this, based solely on emotion, I feel free to dismiss you as nothing but an ideological fool. This piece, and your last 'voter supression piece, are prime examples, and in my mind they do nothing but move you towards irrelevance. Write with your head, not your heart, or find a new outlet where the difference between the two is neither noticed or appreciated.

So a guy who would have to move slightly to his left to fit the legacy of Richard Nixon's positions beat a guy who would have to be slightly more human to fit legacy of Richard Nixon the candidate, and Jacoby's response is to deliberately misunderstand such anger as there was came largely from the sense that Obama briefly seemed to believe he'd already won well before election day.

Jeff, you are one silly, ideologically myoptic person....

Another colossally inept piece from Mr Jacoby. His use of the term "ugly" is especially disingenuous in that Governor Romney essentially tried to lie his way into the White House.

sorry, make that myopic and give me a 'F' in keyboarding...

I think you've gone over the edge, Jeff.  

Blogger JVC23 noted that "Obama gets results" The mainstream media won't talk about this, but as far as Obama's foreign policy is concerned, Obama definitely gets results. But the results have all been in favor of Russia, China, The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Libya, Assad in Syria, and of course Iran. Obama and Hillary Clinton won't tell the American people that he will avoid a military confrontation with Iran like the plague, even if this means that Iran gets a nuke. The fact that obama wants to cut the military budget way down is a sure sign of this. Israel knows this. The anti-American and anti-Israel UN sure isn't going to stop Iran.

Dude, that's the first and last time I read you. Clearly your opinion doesn't intersect with much reality. Don't know any angry Obama supporters, and he was outspent 2 or 3 to 1. Are you meant to be the Globe's token wingnut?

Are there no intelligent conservatives that could write for this paper.  This man is intellectually bankrupt.

Do you realize, Mr. Jacoby,  that you just described Mitt Romney's campaign? He fought dirty all the way, and all it did was prove that the White House is the only one he couldn't buy.

Nothing Ugly about it... I read your pieces now and again.. and as always you may as well be writing from Mars.

All true. Obama would not have won even the first term had it not been for the 8 terrible years of the Bush Administration. 2 wars without financing; over 10 trillion in debt and yet tax cuts; incompetetant appointments. This race was indeed 4 more years of running against the same policies that sunk US when Bush was President. Romney and the Republicans did not help themselves (or US) by keeping the same faulty platform: a reasonable  Republican platform -- more character, more truth, better arithmetic -- might have forced the Democrats the improve also. 

Same old, same old.  As usual the schoolyard bullies whine and cry when they get a little payback- a dose of thier own medicine.  They dish out the abuse, but they can't take.  Crybabies.  Whiners.  

This column strikes me as very ungracious at best. It totally ignores, for example, that Republicans played "ugly" also during the campaign. As well, it implies voters were mere dupes of superior negative Democratic advertising. How about giving the electorate a little more credit for being thoughtful? (You should have heard, for example, some of the political conversations in my office prior to the election. And, yes, there were pro-Obama, pro-Romney, and unaligned voters in the mix. We had some good conversations as a result.)

The lack of introspection is staggering

Jeff, the really ugly thing is your unbridled hatred of this President. If you'll recall, in 2004, the incumbent didn't exactly cruise to victory either. Elections have changed. You have not. You still don't get it. You never will. President Obama won because enough people realized Mitt Romney is a flip flopping fraud. Simple as that.

And sorry, Jeff, I guess not enough people bought your argument that we really don't need to vote. What a bummer for you.

Somehow I got stuck and idnt finish the comment. I agree with geolovely, we need to as the "UNITED STATES" of AMERICA to be just that. Jeff, I guess by spoutiing the drib on this video helps keep your job, I'm sure you knew there would backlash to that,  so the bosses are like... hey look you have readers! thats great..... sad, once again sad... 

As Joan said the President four years ago was not going to be able to realistically live up to the expectations that were set both by the Dems and his speaches, however at that time the country was in such bad shape from the prior 8 years, how are we as (supposed to be) intelligent people believe that all that could have been fixed in four. As Joan mentioned within Washington, "obstruction" was the call for the next four years regardless if it would assist in getting the country back on at least one foot! Econ101 will tell you that our economic system is not controled by the president, this is not a dictatorship or autocratic system of government. Everything goes through the process. but when there is sometype of obstruction in that system there lies the problem. 

we have people talking about gas prices and many things that are not controled by washington 9except those who have large investment in oil etc) 

Like a true partisan - one thinks of Karl Rove's bizarre Ohio misjudgments last night on Fox - Mr. Jacoby attempts to ride aloft on the wings of a fundamental distortion of the facts. Indiana and North Carolina have been staunch Republican strongholds during my four decades of voting, and Senator Obama's 2008 margins of victory were slender (14,000 votes in NC). That they went Republican yesterday wasn't particularly meaningful, and certainly no sign of 'winning ugly'. In fact, Mr. Jacoby has conveniently ignored the trends that go counter to his argument, such as the swelling margins of victory in states like Nevada where the Latino demographic is expanding. To take the long view - a perennial challenge for Mr. Jacoby - one might well conclude that the culture is continuing to drift away from Jacoby's and Republican notions about American attitudes. Voters are increasingly tolerant (gay marriage referenda that actually passed!) and multicultural (Republican disappointment, voiced aloud: not enough "angry white men"). Furthermore, the younger you go, the more dramatically the scales tip toward progressivism. PREDICTION: it was painful for the Democratic Party to move toward the center in 1990 and 1992, and it will be painful for Republicans during the next cycle, but many already recognize that such a shift will be necessary as the face and heart of the country continues to change. Nothing ugly about that, Mr. Jacoby, is there?

Ugly is a political pundit who rails at the electorate for their lack of understanding, when it's the pundit's pre-conceptions and prejudices that blind them to the new realaities.  The fact is for 30 years the GOP has moved inexorably to the right, to the point where they now they have drifted far off the phone and touchpad screens of the new electorate.  Anti choice, anti gay rights, anti immigration, pro trickle-down economics, maginalizing women and minorities, all papered over with a gauze of false inclusivness?  There simply are not enough angry white men left to win national elections, and it's time for a new strategy.

I think it would be more accurate to say that this is an 'ugly column.'  It's petty, small-minded, and unworthy of the Globe...and I'd hope that your editors would take a close look at what you've scribbled here and call you on the carpet.  Just incredible.

Obama won because he has a virtual lock on the minority vote. Why do minorities vote overwhelmingly for Democrats? Gee, that's a tough one!

This is the saddest piece of journalism I've ever had the misfortune of reading. The beauty in our country comes in reuniting after the elections as we come to terms with what the popular majority desires. I pray that one day you might see that sir, but until then I'll have to assume you were born unto a vast inheritance and have never known moderation or piety, so much so that you're terrified of the compassion and decency that President Obama espouses. It's people like you that keep this country from moving forward, and I do indeed wish you the best that you may one day learn to care for anyone other than yourself.

Don't be a sore loser!

Jeff, you're better than this.  You're bordering on Trump's territory to becoming irrelevant.  I'm guessing that if Romney won by the same exact reverse numbers you'd be writing a different column.  Think about that when next time you put fingers & thoughts onto a keyboard.  Many of your columns cause me to think of the other side's argument(s).  This one did not.  Read you next time.

No Jeff... you've got it exactly backwards: Obama supporters shouldn't be shocked or disappointed that the election was a close one, it's Republicans who know that the economic troubles were a gift to be exploited for electoral gain that they utterly squandered. If Repubs have any collective sense at all they will come back to the middle(where Obama is and has been) and repudiate the fringe nonsense that they've been trying to mainstream for the past decade. 

Please Globe Editors Please Please Please give us a new conservative columnist. Please give us one who is thoughtful and intelligent.  I know there are people out there that disagree with me that have a modicum of sense. It's not that I don't want to read any one who disagrees with me. I just would like someone who can make reasoned and intelligent arguments for their side. But really, Jacoby and Sununu, are they the best you can do???

and the point of this was? It is an ugly article at a time when dialogue is our most immediate need.  Civilized dialogue that is.

I want conservative republican opinions but I want them to be more thoughtful.

Aww! Poor Jeffy lost another one. If you don't extract your head from your rectum very soon you risk the chance of landing in the same pile of crap Romney, Akin and Mourdoch find themselves in this morning. Please grow up and stop whining, Jeffy. It's very unbecoming.

Four more years! Four more years!

Must have been a very bad night for Jeff since he wrote this paragraph under the influence of sorrow and ugliness himself.  Not a fan of yours, Jeff.

Sour grapes to you too, Jeff.

Hahahahahahaha!  Well, the good news is that Jeff Jacoby and all you traumatized Massachusetts right-wingers can apply for prescriptions for medical MJ to treat your trauma, and you can stay in a fog for the next four years.  See ya ---- wouldn't want to be ya!

Jeff does have a point-Obama is the only reelected president in US history to get fewer electoral and overall votes the second time than the first (and the first in nearly a century in either category).  Look it up

"fooltastic"  I saw your comment on "conservatives" writing in the comment section.  We often do but are dismissed by the "radical right", the libertarians as not conservative enough as if this grand old philosophy has levels.  There is plenty of good conservative thought out here it is just that we are shouted down by the crazies.

Jeff, your lack of historical knowledge really hurt your analysis of this election. An incumbant US President is almost never re-elected in tough economic times! Ask George Bush about that. After Dessert Storm his popularity was at a zenith but just a few years later Clinton beat him soundly on economic issues. That Obama won at all with the terrible economy he took over is a miracle. That he won shows how strong his support really can be and is. Couple this with the fact that many Americans would never vote for a candidate of color and his victory last night becomes epic!

The only thing ugly about Obama's first term and the campaign is the wall of lies and partisan obstruction Republicans and righties like you, Jeff, put before the president. From the party and the opposition who has repeatedly called Obama unAmerican, who came up with bizarre theories of Obama being an "anti-colonialist Kenyan"; who insisted Obama had dark pro-Islamist extremist sypathies and was an antiSemite; who stated right from the getgo that their number one priority was to make sure Obama failed; who fought tooth and nail a health care reform plan that was a carbon copy of their presidential nominee's own reform (which Republicans praised at the time) and also amazingly like the very one proposed by their 1996 presidential nomimee Bob Dole, simply because it was the Dems proposing it; who engaged in exponentially more filibusters than any other Senate minority, obstructing even the most minor of bills and appointments that were always passed by simple majorities in the past; who fought any and all bills aimed at juicing the economy because they wanted the economy to stay bad to hurt Obama's chances at a second term. Oh, and Jeff, Obama didn't struggle to eek out a 270 vote electoral win, he's winning 323 electoral votes with the only states that are different from '08 being Indiana and N.C., two usually GOP states where Obama just barely by a few thousand votes won last time. Given all this and more, it's amazing the gall you have Jeff expressing the charges in this column. God help our nation if the Republicans and conservatives approach the next four years with your attitude.

Romney didn't lose because Obama ran an ugly campaign. He didn't, and if there was ugliness this cycle, Republicans were reponsible for more than their fair share. Romney lost because he had to veer way right to have any chance of winning the primaries, and then was unable to etch-his-sketch back to right-center to win. This is Republicans' real problem. Their primary system rewards and promotes only the rightest right wingers, which are unacceptable to more than half of the American public. Face facts, a center-right Republican like William Weld, or the Romney, who ran successfully for Mass. Governor, would have crushed Obama. The problem is, he couldn't even be confirmed as Ambassador to Mexico because of Republican troglodytes like Jesse Helms wouldn't even let him come up for a vote.

You might think Jacoby could graciously put away his hatchet for 24 hours, but apparently he can't do that, which says a lot about him. His flawed character is so obviously on display in this column that I don't think I need to comment further.

Obviously Jeff had a deadline. As far as I see Obama did much better than predicted. Taking every swing state except North Carolina and Florida is leaning his way too as I write this.

Disagree. The worst squandering of the past 12 years was when GW Bush failed to capitalize on the good will generated to Americans after 9/11. The consequences of that squandering are much worse. Obama disappointed many but he didn't start 2 wars based on knowingly false intel and then antagonize our supporters.

"Kitch"  As a Vietnam I have to agree and disagree all at the same time.  Surely one is entitled to an opinion regarding war and peace whether one has been in the military or not.  However, those of us who have seen combat I believe have a certain higher degree of shall we call it "military cred" in saying, "whoa before you jump on the go to war bandwagon."  We view war as the last alternative because we know first hand the cost of war.  It is so easy to sit back and say, "yes there is a moral obligation to go to war", when one doesn't have to go and hasn't gone.  It is one of the reasons I do not like the lack of a draft in this country.  It was the draft and its impact upon a large portion of the country that led to the end of the Vietnam war. 

So while yes I agree everyone has the right to an opinion.  I disagree with idea that one shouldn't use the term "chicken hawk", for it was indeed the Dick Cheney's, the Mitt Romney's, the arm chair patriots, who sent me off to war while they literally dodged the bullet.  While I may not consider you a "chicken hawk" as I don't know you well enough to do so, there are many out there that I know who would easily send others off to fight their wars, but would never consider it themselves, those are indeed "chicken hawks."

What a petty, small-minded column. This is the first column of Jacoby's that I've read since he was suspended for plagiarism a decade ago. Reading his column was pure schadenfreude, but I can wait another decade before reading another Jacoby rant. I agree with other posters that the Globe is doing a disservice to its readers keeping Jacoby employed. The NY Times has well thought out columns by Douthat and Brooks. Why does the Globe waste the space and ink for this Karl Rove wanabe. Maybe the Globe can hire Eric Fehrnstrom to take over the prime conservative spot on the OpEd page. Eric appears to be in need of new employers. Maybe Eric F. can etch-a-sketch his own career so he can be taken seriously as the new voice of MA conservatism.

Sore loser.

John Boehner said today to the President, that he and the Republican party is ready to be lead.... is this the first move by Republican on the Chess game of the politics played with our (the people) lives. I can hear it now..... Mr. President we announced on the first day after your re-election, that we were ready to follow and be lead... you have not done that! Obama. your move sir... Do the Republicans understand that, they like the Dems are elected servants of the people of this country? They are charged with the public resonsiblity of working together for they very people that voted for them to represent them in and to the government!

The republicans made the statement that "their mission" was to make sure this president served only one term. versus what they were elected to do for the people. Maybe, just maybe, if we or they would get back to doing just that! I'm willing to bet;

1. GDP would grow

2. Jobs will be created

3. the economy would expand and still keep inflation in check.

4. immigration concerns would be addressed intelligently

5.  manufacturing / infrastructure would begin to provide oppotunites for continued job growth

6. there actually be a middleclass

7. get the national debt under some type of control

8. what is the best foreign policies to help keep us from engaging in pointless, winless wars

this list could go on and on.... is this the United State or the Divided States of America? idealistic? do we want to really do something to bring the economy back with a strong foundation in investmet, lending, among all the other issues that have negatively impacted this counrty...... I heard a guy on the phone in the mall today who said.....it was those F_____g unions, #%*#%,  and those ______ who did this to us!  whew! like Jeff's comments in the video and written...... dont what to call that........Sad, just sad..... our politics depends on a under informed populus so as to spin facts and fraud however they want us to beleive it and so, so many follow like sheep... until they run over the cliff, do they realize they have been lead to their own dimise..... God Bless America!! we need it! 

My most enduring memory of the republican leadership after Obama's election was Mitch McConnell saying the republican's number one priority was to make him a one term president. And their actions over the next four years bore this out, especially during the fiscal showdown where the republicans actions caused the United States' credit rating to be downgraded. Besides my relief at not having Mitt Romney in the White House and Paul Ryan a heartbeat away from the presidency, I am so glad that the republicans' tactics of demonizing Obama and prioritizing damaging him politically over governing the country were not rewarded. Obama didn't squander any mandate or good will. I think he figured out that the republicans were not going to play ball with him and acted appropriately.

Small and petty little man.

Gee, you're such a sore loser.

If the Republicans would work for the benefit of the country instead of attempting to get a black man with a muslim sounding name out of office, maybe this great nation would be much further along the road to recovery. Heaven forbid that he would get the deserved credit for getting us out of the biggest economic mess (caused by, wait for it, Republicans) faced by this country in many, many years. Hey, right wingers, time to wake up and do the job you were elected to do.