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To carry their presidential standard, the Republicans selected a Mormon plutocrat - a man who made his fortune by gaining control of companies, driving them as far as possible into debt, enforcing draconian cost-slashing and sales of assets, and then selling off whatever was left of the companies if they survived or leaving the carcass and their creditors for dead if they didn't - a man who couldn't be bothered to more than half-heartedly disguise his tax evasions and off-shore accounts - a man who seemingly has no connection to, or empathy for, the lives of most Americans - a man who was completely bought and paid for in a billion dollar campaign underwritten by billionaire interests with political axes to grind - a man who was, in short, a caricature of country-club Republicanism . . .

. . . and 58 million people chose him to be their next president.  Or at least they detested Obama enough to cast a vote for Mitt Romney and his backers.

Nevertheless, Obama is president. Although I wish we had a leadership that was working toward creating a sustainable future for us - rather than pretending the status quo is somehow sustainable - It's obvious that Obama will do more good and Romney would have done more harm - so I can at least take that away from this very, very expensive year of political theater.

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