It does seem very empty that after all the campaign noise, money and drama, things are pretty much going to be the same.  The President will act like he can force upon the nation anything he wants, and thw Republicans who seek alternatives will be labeled racist obstructionists.  The President will use executive orders to pass laws he cannot persuade the congress to pass.  The media will continue to ignore the Benghazi attacks, and the economy will slog along as it has, ever so fearful of the taxes and regulations that this administration is planning to impose on business.  

In politics the only losers are losers.  In politics one seldom loses by winning.  But then again that is true in most endeavors.  Policy making, legislating on the other hand is always a losing endeavor for someone is always unhappy.  I noted "Richmonds" subtle swipe at the ACA.  A good example of policy making.  Take a Republican initative put a Dems. name on it, bingo it is no longer a good idea.  Fine, but the public is beginning like it more and more and it will continue to grow favorably over time.  Fact is, it was a good Republican idea.  You know individual responsibility.

The question will be this time around whether Republican's will again have good ideas have the President adopt some of them and then when the R changes to the D at submission time do the R's once again say nope now it's not a good idea.  Losing comes when politics get mixed up with policy.  There's always a common ground on issues until the political scorecard gets added up.  Was this President perfect?  No far from it.  But a loyal opposition, one that accepts its own ideas sure would be helpful.  If we can get that, then the real winners will be the American people.

I optimistically expect some changes. America needs 2 viable parties and the Republicans will change to do their share. They need to ease up on their weak platform of pro-rich with trickle down (doesn't work), anti gay and anti immigrant (wrong trend), pro extraction and anti environment (drill baby drill), pro religion and anti personal freedom, and pro war. Being pro American means backing off on all of these and backing away from the tiresome people who hurt the party and America's progress -- Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, Michele Bachman, Rick Santorum, and, most of all, Karl Rove.

Sununu says winners are losers and losers are winners. He is definitely GOP material.

The Senate rules do need to change. The country needs better working mechanisms for creating positive outcomes.

Did you read what he was saying, both sides need to give. Everyone seems to forget that Obama won by 3 million votes, not 30 millions. The country is divided. I will be the first to say that the GOP lives in a white world, hateful and is out of touch on most social issue's. Obama's economical policy's are terrible. The liberals seem to forget that not one Dem voted for his budget and for two years when they were in control they did nothing to rewrite the tax code or balance the budget. The public wants both sides to work together and get things done. The fact that Clinton was able to work with Republicans when they were in control speaks volumes. The radicals on both sides want to continue with the nonsense and the voters want the grid lock to stop.

I'd have been more impressed if Sunumu has used his column to analyze his former colleague Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who famously declared the first time around that his number one priority as Senate minority leader was to assure Obama didn't get reelected and as soon as this latest election was called doubled down on obstructionism. This column was just wasted space.

John,  what the GOP needs to do is to throw you, Rove, Norquist, and anyone else with the poisonous attitude that they alone represent the true GOP under the bus.   You are a menace to society.    You are a miserable political hack that only got elected on his fathers name, and whose father only got elected by promising that he would throw the citizens of New Hampshire under the bus before he would raise taxes.   The GOP and the nation has no need of people who think they are better than others and who seem to fervently believe that your issue was failure to get out the vote.    Get rid of the pledge, abjure Norquist, an unelected hack who wants to punish those who don't agree with him, and make it clear that the GOP will no longer be held hostage by their ilk.    Get the GOP back and you will get back the GOP voters who care more for their country than their party.

John says "The biggest winner on Tuesday night didn’t attend any of the late night campaign rallies; she didn’t even have her name on a ballot. Hillary Clinton didn’t spend months on the campaign trail — she’s done enough of that. Even so, President Obama’s reelection places her squarely in the catbird’s seat" Actually a major reason Hillary clinton didn't attend is that she is trying to HIDE from questions about what happened before, during, and after benghazi, Libya. She is equally guilty of a massive COVERUP as is Barack Obama. If the facts come out, her career should be at an end.

"Kitch" 

Well you and I just disagree regarding whether anyone is trying to hide the attack upon the West by Islamists.  I just see it reported and hear it every day.  It seems to me that someone who reads as much as you do which I'm quite sure is as much as I do has to be missing something to say the Islamist attack upon the West is being covered up.

Attaturk, you and "the system works" guy could be the biggest haters. Lets talk about your username...Mustafa Atatuk was a mass murder. He's killed 1,5 million Armenians, 500,000 Greeks and 100,000 Kurds. He's as evil as Hitler as Stalin. It was common knowledge that he was also a child molester. In turkey if you say anything bad about Ataturk, it could mean a life sentence. What a hero your guy is. And in your world the republicans are evil.

"LuvUSA1"  Your lack of knowledge of Kemal Attaturk is well simply amazing.  The Armenian genocide was an act of the old Ottoman Empire not Kemal Attaturk.  Now Attaturk himself failed to recognize the holocaust insisting that it was something other than it was, but to some degree the new state could hardly admit to its predecessors actions.

As far as "hater" goes I actually consider myself one of the few moderates on the board.  Being an old Republican and I mean old and of course an ex-Republican hatred is not something that runs in my vocabulary.  In fact I find it very insulting to be placed in the same category as "system" someone who wouldn't defend a position with a reasonable argument if his life depended upon it. 

I don't find Republican's evil.  I do find the "religious right" misguided and the "social conservatives" enemies of the Constitution, but evil,  hmmm, I'm not even sure I believe in "evil".  Anyhow I reject your allegations regarding myself and Attaturk.  In fact "Kitch" gave you a good book to read so that you might be better educated on the subject.  Overall like most reformers he could be a nasty guy, but then he lived in  a nasty neighborhood. Oh and he's not my hero.  I just like the name.  It beats the self-aggrandizement of "luvUSA".

HHK: Hitler was also seen as a reformer. He was big into the arts, free healthcare, education and separation of the church and state. He is considered the biggest mass murderers in History. Just because Ataturk did some good things, he still murdered millions of innocent Christians. So are you saying that Hitler is a great guy too? YouTube is banned from Turkey because they showed a cave where your hero burned 800 people alive. Since 2005, 60 journalist have been put in jail for writing about Attaturk Mass murders. Millions of Amernian children, women and men were murdered by your hero Atturk, don't cheapen genocide. In your world Hitler, Stalin and Attaturk were were great reformers. BTW:Hilter got the idea of the gas chambers from the Turks.

LuvUSA1, you remind me a lot of someone who posts here all the time. You posted 7x (and counting) on this single piece. Is our golfer really gone? "A tiger doesn’t change his stripes", after all. Very crafty though, in an obvious kind of way.

"LuvUSA"  A rather dumb question. "what happened to the 1.5 million Armenians."  They died in a holocaust brought on by the Ottoman Empire.  Duh! You see stuck. 

Hey John did you find dad a good rest home yet?

You're just like your father: a know-it-all.  I don't see any substance, or for that matter, any information, in what you are saying.  And by the way, I think we were at MIT at the same time.  But, just because you went to MIT doesn't mean you know anything beyond that which you learned there (engineering??).  And perhaps you have forgotten most of that.  

The American people know who the winners are. Mr. Sununu, you are not among them.