With the dawning of a new year fast approaching, it’s worth taking a look back at some of the people, personalities and events that made 2012 memorable. While some individuals (winners) merit praise, others (losers) merely earned our collective contempt. Here’s my list of some top standouts.
The Winners:
Barack Obama
Obama is by far the most obvious winner of the year having survived a hard-fought presidential campaign in a tough economy to be re-elected to a second term. He is now posed to become one of the most consequential Democratic presidents in history. His decisive electoral college sweep left Mitt Romney and the GOP stunned and confused.
Bill Clinton
Bill stepped back into the national spotlight in grand rhetorical style with his delivery of a truly awesome Democratic convention speech, by far the best of both party conventions. He in no small measure deserves considerable credit for helping to get Obama re-elected, and Obama knows it.
Gay Marriage
The cause for marriage equality had a great year in 2012 with the number of states legalizing same-sex marriage expanding to nine total. The most significant victory came from three states (Maine, Maryland, Washington) where voters, for the first time, supported ballot initiatives on marriage equality. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court will review the decision striking down California’s Prop 8 as unconstitutional, full nationwide recognition of same-sex marriage is likely less than a year away.
Nate Silver & Polling
Numbers expert Nate Silver was bashed by the Right for daring to offer sound polling-based predictions about the likelihood of an Obama presidential election victory. His methods and pitch-perfect predictions prevailed, making conservatives look whiny and foolish. Election polling isn’t magic; it’s a scientific means of collecting opinion data on a large group. When done correctly, it’s often surprisingly accurate. The simple truth: Politicians who whine about polling results are usually the ones who know they are losing.
David Axelrod and David Plouffe
These two Obama campaign gurus deserve high praise for their sheer campaign genius. They helped forge a formidable re-election strategy, voter coalition and ground operation that dwarfed any well-financed efforts by Romney and the GOP.
The Losers:
Mitt Romney
Romney learned the tough lesson that having lots of money is no guarantee of election victory, no matter how long you‘ve been running for high office. Also, having a strong business resume is no substitute for a lack of political integrity and personal authenticity. This political phony struggled from the outset of this campaign to connect with voters. In the end, they wisely rejected him and his disingenuous attempt to recast himself as a moderate late in the campaign.
Lindsay Lohan
Enough already likely sums up what most people probably think of Lohan and her endless saga of reckless and self-destructive behavior. My advice: Go to rehab; see a shrink; just please stop tormenting us with your celebrity antics. And by the way, even with a good makeup job, Elizabeth Taylor she is certainly not.
Rush Limbaugh
This always obnoxious rightwing windbag reached a new low when he crudely and reprehensively denigrated college student Sandra Fluke because of her advocacy for women’s contraceptive rights. Limbaugh’s toxic rhetoric pollutes the air with angry hate-filled drivel that does a disservice to both his party and our body politic. It is long past time for this arrogant and polarizing loudmouth to leave the stage.
People Who Camp Out at Apple Stores
I mean, really? It’s just a phone people -- get a life.
Tea Party
Thankfully, after a over-hyped rise to power in 2010, the tea seemed to have cooled for this bunch of renegade leaders. Their unwillingness to embrace sensible compromise did nothing but make efforts to get things done in Congress all the more difficult. But in the aftermath of having suffered big loses in the November election, this party and all its extremist nonsense may be over.
Religious Right
This once powerful Christian conservative group doesn’t seem to pack the punch it used to for the GOP. As a key constituency of the Republican base, candidates still kneel at the group’s alter for electoral support. But with issues such as gay-marriage clearly on the rise, the group has lost its persuasive voice on social issues. Figuring out how to straddle the line between appealing to more socially liberal young voters while satisfying the demands for moral purity from their religious base will be a difficult task for GOP candidates. All I can say is, “good luck with that.”
Nancy Grace
As HLN’s queen of exploiting human tragedy for entertainment Nancy Grace is herself a disgrace. Her characteristic faux outrage and overbearing tone is nothing more than a thinly veiled cover for shameless sensationalism. Viewers have heard enough from this phony drama queen and her tabloid news antics. HLN needs to eliminate her show and give that time slot to someone of far greater value.
Karl Rove
Rove was once considered to be a master Republican political strategist for the electoral wins he helped orchestrate for the GOP under George Bush. Today, he has become a overrated has-been who raised a campaign fortune but still failed to deliver a GOP election victory. His embarrassing Fox News meltdown on election night when he protested Ohio being called for Obama showed just how out of touch he was with political reality. Rove once audaciously proclaimed his goal to achieve a permanent
Republican majority in Congress. And just like this plan to regain GOP
control of the U.S. Senate, things didn't work out so well.
Chick-fil-A
After bad publicity from a much-publicized boycott in response to views
expressed by the fast-food chain’s owner opposing gay marriage, the
restaurant learned the hard way the value of keeping personal views
separate from company business interests, which is selling a product
that turns a profit and not moralizing about social issues.
