If President Obama loses the election, upon which reasons would you attribute it to?

I would blame the Civil War, and the government not letting the South secede when we had the chance! Viva La Revolution! Teehee

If he loses, I would blame his first four years performance.

Money’s influence. Obstructionist congress.

The primary factor is his performance in office (as @DrBill already noted), which disappointed a lot of people, especially on the left. However, I’d say additional factors include the influence of PACs (as @Judi mentioned), the poor economy, the political and social divisions in this country (including racism), and just normal partisan politics.

Voting fraud. Seriously, though, I think it may come down to apathy. If people aren’t fired up enough to vote for him and decide to stay home on election day, it could be his undoing.

Most likely the economy.

It’s all Bush’s fault!

The fact that he was a pussy that did not manage to do the things he said, and proved he is not the right guy for the job.

Well, between the fact that he is most popular in places with poor education, the fact that he and his family own the voting machines that will be used in a few states, and other circumstances, I don’t think we will every be able to satisfactorily explain a Romney victory.

Voter apathy and voter ignorance. I worry about voter fraud as well, but it seems a little preemptive to say it will definitely happen, or that it would have a deciding effect on the election.

I think it’s a moot point, though. He will win.

The madness of the slight majority of the american voters.

Poor performance (we should have gone with Hilary!)

But really he should win by a landslide simply by being the lesser of 2 evils!

@ucme By “voter” do you include those recently disenfranchised by changes to the voting laws?

@jerv I refer to those responsible for putting Rommers in the white house by virtue of placing their voting intentions on him, regardless.

George W Bush for screwing things up so bad in the first place.

Republican obstructionism and the biggest right wing propaganda campaign since the fall of Nazi Germany.

@poisonedantidote Didn’t do the things he said he’d do….
-DADT no longer scaring our homosexuals in the military.
-Start treaty with Russia will lower # of nukes on planet by ⅓
-Our troops are out of Iraq.
-Our troops are in Afghanistan where they should’ve been in the 1st place, and have a set date to leave… and Afghanistan’s government/military is taking over duties.
-Al Queda decimated, 9 out of top 10 members (including Bin Laden) dead or captured.
-Added about 5 million jobs in the past 2.5ish years. Taking away the job losses from his 1st 3 or so months (which were very plainly attributed to bush), he’s a net + 4 million jobs after inheriting the worst economy since the 1920’s.
-Two new liberal supreme court justices, women and minorities no less, as promised.
-A healthcare overhaul that will save the country 100 billion dollars over the next 10 years, and ensure up to 40 million more people.
-The lowest taxes in about 50 years.
-Saved the auto industry from total collapse.
-Across the board funding for alternative energy research and production.
-Most drilling on US federal lands and public lands in history of the nation.
-Massive expansion of natural gas drilling from the stimulus bill.
-The most severe restrictions ever on Iran, with Russian and Chinese approval.
-Implementation of large portions of the Dream Act.
-Lilly Ledbetter act guaranteeing equal pay for women.

I could go on like this for a while. But I’m sick of hearing this BS argument that he didn’t do anything he said he would. Is there a lot not yet done? Oh most definitely… But he easily accomplished more in 4 years than the last two presidents did in 16.

@tedd Pity you don’t hear this list in the media.

When it comes down to it, most Americans are pretty stupid.

That’s also how I explain Bush winning twice.

@Qingu I was stupid. In 04 I had just become old enough to vote, and I didn’t follow politics very closely. My immediate family was loosely conservative and didn’t really follow politics either. What very little attention I paid to the 04 campaigns led me to believe that Bush would keep us safe and Kerry was a flip flopper…. I ended up voting for Bush… Come to find a few years later when I actually started following politics and fact checking the lines they feed us… it was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done.

Who checks facts? The only people who care about facts are tree-hugging, baby-killing, God-denying anti-business hippies who hate America!

Dam straight @jerv !

say, do you know where I can get another “Nuke a Gay Whale for Jesus” bumper sticker?

@rojo Is it wrong that I would totally buy that bumper sticker?

My temptation is to complain about the process, religion, the influence of money, the mainstream media, etc. But I don’t think we can really get around the fact that the US population just isn’t very bright.

@tedd – Fascinating about the 04 vote. It seems that you might be in a position to understand this from a unique perspective. Are you able to recall the major influences during that time? Were you watching tv? If you read, were you reading a particular type of book? And more importantly, what got you to start following politics (and its associated reality)?

@tom_g In 04 I didn’t watch that much tv at all, and what little I did wasn’t the type that often had political commentary or even commercials. You have to remember I was a senior in HS, much more concerned with finding some kind of party to go to or a girl to sleep with. I was very loosely influenced by my friends (most of whom were not yet into politics either) and my family (who as I pointed out aren’t very heavy followers of politics). It just came down to “this guy is in here, I think he did good on 9–11, I would pick “safety” as the #1 issue and I think he’s good at it, and I don’t like that the other guy is a flip flopper”... lol, in retrospect I didn’t even know wtf a flip flopper was at the time. I was the epitome of uninformed voter.

While I’d always had my basic political tenants (which leaned democratic), I never followed politics until I started dating a girl (who is actually on fluther, though I no longer know her handle) who was very liberal and followed politics very closely. She got me following it, and I began to see how incredibly devoid of decency and sense the Republican party was.

@tedd – Very interesting. I bet your approach as a young high school kid is similar to many people who vote. In some ways this is terrifying, but in others it’s somewhat comforting. You weren’t intentionally being evil by voting for Bush, and once you actually turned your attention to the issues, your politics greatly improved. The terrifying part is that flip flopper worked (just like communist, socialist, etc).

I have had a “conversion” myself. There was a time that I supported and voted for real progressive third party candidates. Now, I have given up and gone all lesser-of-two evils. It wasn’t so much that I learned more. Rather, I think I realize that the difference between Democrats and Republicans is enough to matter. (I went… Clinton/Nader/Nader/Kerry/Obama. And no – I wasn’t in FL in 2000.)

@rojo you don’t hear it in the media because they fact check before publishing .

@DrBill
Good one! I almost laughed.

I would attribute it to his receiving less electoral college votes than his competitor.

presidential candidates are all heads on the same hydra anyway

@Blondesjon, they’re not, but I’m glad you’ve found a way to make yourself feel superior to both sides of this debate without actually demonstrating the slightest knowledge or engagement with the issues involved.

@Qingu . . . I get all the education I need watching both sides beat their chests and fling poo at each other, thank you very much.

for the record, i don’t think you really feel glad at all