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Sunday, May 20, 2012

At Least Obama Won The Popular Vote

I can't decide if I should be angry or start laughing hysterically about Marco Rubio's suggestion that Barack Obama is the most "Divisive Figure In Modern American History." Here is the full quote via MSNBC: --- "The man who today occupies the White House and is running for president is a very different person," Rubio said at a high-profile GOP fundraiser, where he claimed Obama has abandoned the ideals he ran on in 2008. "We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history than we have over the last three and one-half years." --- Rubio, of course, is referring to the only president to come into office with a majority of the popular vote. Of course, to be fair, his remarks does not want to measure Obama's "divisive" quotient based on anything that has happened since the last time all of America weighed in on his job performance. He just wants to say this about a president who, at the moment, seems to be coasting to re-election. Why would I boldly state that? Not so much because of Obama, but because of how much Mitt Romney has completely divided the Republican Party. But never mind that irony. Let's instead look at whether any more figures in modern history have divided America so much as Obama. Let's start with the last president, George W. Bush. That was easy. Oh, do I need to justify that? I would note, then, that the very first vote Marco Rubio ever cast as a member of the Florida Legislature was to cast aside the popular vote in Florida because of the recounts and instead have the Legislature simply award those votes to George W. Bush. The Supreme Court eventually took matters into their own hands in what may call a divisive decision. Then, Bush led a country frightened by 9/11 into an unwarranted war with Iraq. When George W. Bush was heading into re-election, the nation was so divided and the election so close that we didn't have the election settled until the morning after the vote (granted by Bush standards that was pretty rapid). I hope it is some time before the nation becomes as divided as it was during the reign of W. It certainly isn't so divided today, and doubt it will become so any time soon. Then, Obama is also much less divisive than the last Democrat we had in office, Bill Clinton. Now ridiculous justifications aside, Clinton was impeached. He led a nation that couldn't bear the thought of the White House and Congress being run by the same party. And the last president before that? The nation turned on George H.W. Bush to the point they voted him out of office. But if we start modern history two years ago, when Marco Rubio became the poster child for a political party eating itself, and when Marco Rubio won a Senate seat without winning the popular vote in Florida... Oh wait. There were decisive political figures that year too.

1 comment:

  1. Winning the popular vote, which Rubio did by a landslide (almost 20 points better than his nearest competitors), is not the same as winning the majority of the popular vote.

    --Tom

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