We frustrated Republican voters can learn something important from this Tuesday’s election by asking ourselves a question: are we more disappointed that President Obama won or that Gov. Romney lost? The day before the election I received an email from “Mitt Romney” with the subject line, “Brett, I need your vote.” It sounds funny now, but I felt uncomfortable with the Romney campaign eliciting such personal support. This wasn’t about me electing Romney—this was about me unelecting Obama. Therein lies the problem. Previous generations loved a candidate like Reagan because they could rally around him without reservation. He knew why he was a conservative, so he was willing and able to question the premise of our modern bureaucratic state. Romney, official candidate of the Anti-Democratic Party, could only claim better—not fundamentally different—policies and leadership than Obama. No wonder Republicans weren’t “energized” by this candidate. In 2016, we’ll need a better war cry than, “Defeat him!”
