Shedding the Election Buzz

Amanda Walters

amanda.n.walters@gmail.com

Twitter: @amandawalters

Last week much of the country stayed up late (although not as late as some thought) in order to watch our democracy in action.  Now we all know the results; President Obama was elected to a second term in office.

But no one ever things about what happens now for those who didn’t win?

For some, the transition back to normalcy might be tough but for others it only means going back to business for the American people.

Congressman Paul Ryan is talking about finding areas where each party can compromise when heading back to work on Capitol Hill. Ryan doesn’t have time to mourn his ticket’s loss with the fiscal cliff looming ahead.

As head of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Ryan will have a lot of say in whatever negotiations take place in the coming weeks and is already agreeing with House Speaker John Boehner’s comments that revenue increases, although not necessarily tax increases, have to be on the table.

Ryan said that although the Republicans lost the election, he doesn’t think that the election was a mandate supporting the fiscal policies of the president.

Although many thought that enthusiasm would be on the Romney/Ryan ticket’s side, he says that the loss proved that the president was able to win in that area.

I thought that the CBS article was interesting because we often forget about what happens to the men/women who lose in the election after spending about two years on the road campaigning.

We usually just imagine them going back to obscurity to only be seen again when they support the next candidate but it’s important to remember that many of these men will still have a big stake in what happens to the country.

My favorite quote from Rep. Ryan in the article came at the end, "I think everybody's tired of talking about presidential politics, I am."

One thing we all seem to be able to agree on is that it’s good that the election is all over and the government can start working on the issues we face.