Why the Democrats Won the 2012 Election

Here is why I believe Obama won the presidential election and generally gained ground in Congress.

In a word - Consistency

1. He stuck to his principles.

2. Obama had a consistent narrative without any major outbursts by rogue members of his party.     Republicans wre inconsistent in regards to their conservatism or moderation concerning social and entitlement issues.  This resulted in a lack of cohesion, and allowed Romney to be associated with lightning rods in the party.  What's more, Romney's inconsistency with his own narrative (47% and the pivot to the center) was equally damaging.

3. He maintained consistent appeal to minorities and the middle class.

4. He fared better with fact checkers.  ('more' consistent telling the truth)

5. There were no major principles broken or renegotiated during term or campaign.

6. Obama's willingness to overlook political gain and take steps he believed would be beneficial to US healthcare, despite losing political power helped show a consistency that didn't change with the tides of popular opinion.

Six may be considered a stretch for using the term consistency, but I constantly hear people complaining about not wanting politicians to cow to pressure.  I see the healthcare bill as an example of the president refusing to bow to pressure, despite the high political risk.

Even if you don't agree with his policies and ideologies, I don't believe that you can look at Obama's track record and call him a massive liar.   Alternatively, Romney came off as a wiley coyote willing to do whatever it took to become president.

To add to Republican inconsistency, I'd like to note one other issue of the Republican party.

No more that 2 presidential elections ago, Republicans were touting the 'character' of their candidate.  They did this primarily by pointing out religious affiliations.  Now, that element of Republican campaign strategy is almost completely gone. I believe in the 2012 race, Obama was the candidate with better character.

There is almost a vacuum in that space as all but the youngest are fully aware of the missing propaganda. The void left is a reminder that Republicans are truly not a 'Christian' party, but a party interested in winning elections, a party willing to do what it takes to get votes, whether that is enlivening Evangelicals, or dropping the Christian moniker from their agenda.  To be clear, I am saying that the Republicans are playing politics, and not sticking to ideals that some voters felt were core elements of the party. This has to leave some angry at being left behind.

I predict that the Republican party will further detangle itself from the Evangelical right as time goes on.  This may create turmoil as the Tea Party (which has proven to be somewhat of a political liability) will have to be dealt with.

The question I leave you with is, If the Republican party drops Christian morality issues as part of its agenda, how long before conservative Evangelicals start re-evaluating their political ideals on issues unrelated to morality.