It is estimated that Mr. Sheldon Adelson spent between $53 to $100 million in the political campaign and the election. The Koch’s Brothers also spend tens of million dollars in political campaign. Mr. Carl Rove spent over $400 million for election of Tea Party members and other Republican candidates including Mr. Mitt Romney.
At the end none of the candidates supported by these groups were elected to the Congress and as we all know by now nor was Mr. Romney elected to the White House. One should wonder was it worth it to spend all these money and having no success whatsoever? The reasonable answer would be “absolutely not”, but that is not what is heard from Mr. Rove and others. Mr. Rove blames the President Obama and his team for negative advertisements, rather than admitting that he and his team took a wrong path and their policies and tactics were ineffective and backfired. The old cliché that the more money spent on campaign, the higher chances of winning did not apply here. No wonder it is called an old cliché, because it is an old one and in this round of political campaign it was proven that the public cannot be misled by pouring millions of dollars on negative or false advertisements, as Mr. Rove’s team was not able to so to speak “ buy the vote”.
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in political ads and off the chart allegations made against Mr. Obama and all the negative campaing, the people of the United States were not persuaded and still voted for the current team in the White House. In fact, one could go further by stating that the effort of Mr. Rove and his team solidified the forces against their efforts and the result was success beyond imagination. The Democrats picked up two more seats in the Senate, one independent was added to the Senate, and two more Democrats were added to the House of Representatives. Also in many state elections the Democrats did much better in particular in gubernatorial elections.
What if Mr. Adelson and the Koch Brothers would have spent their money on social programs? Wouldn’t they be treated as heroes, rather than losers now?
What is next for Mr. Rove? Logic would mandate that Mr. Rove’s political influence should be over and his gigantic failure in the election was indication of his lack of understanding the public and the direction that the US citizens want the country to take. Too much emphasis on a very narrow group of politicians who were influenced by Tea Party, caused Mr. Rove lose the bigger picture and in the process tainted the Republican brand, as what the Tea Party members stand for are not what the Party of Ronald Reagan stood for.
Mr. Rove could not realize that directing the Republican candidates in the same path as the one during George W. Bush era would end in failure. Mr. Rove raised and spent $400 million on behalf of many Republican candidates and could not deliver even one successful outcome.
Mr. Rove was smart enough to make Governor George W. Bush a two term President, but he should have realized the fact that Mr. Barak Obama defeated Senator McCain and became the President was repudiation of the Bush’s policies and continuing on the same path and policies in 2012 election was a giant mistake. It is quite surprising that a man of intellect such as Mr. Rove could not realize that directing the Republican candidates in the same path as the one during George W. Bush era would end in failure. Mr. Rove raised and spent $400 million on behalf of many Republican candidates and could not deliver even one successful outcome.
This failure should not be taken lightly and the Republican Party needs to seriously re-examine the direction of their party and what policies they need to implement in order to get the majority of the Americans on their side, if they want to be considered as a major and relevant Party. The views of some of the candidates running for the Congress were beyond any logic and reason. Furthermore, the volume of misinformation being projected was counterproductive. The Republican Party has two years to re-evaluate its platform, to be successful, they may need to exclude political advisors such as Mr. Rove.
