Dr. Charles Krauthammer joined Bret Baier and the Fox News coverage on election night as soon as Fox called Ohio for Obama, though the president had not been declared the winner yet. Like many of his recent TV appearances, Krauthammer appearance was filled with both vitriolic hatred and bitterness. He was so maliciously weird that he offered to prescribe free drugs to everybody.
Baier: We wanna bring in Dr. Krauthammer, who is a psychiatrist and he may be able to weigh in (laughs) with some of the back and forth we’ve seen.
Krauthammer: I know enough about psychiatry to know never get in between Karl Rove and the decision desk. So I’m going to leave the titans to fight it out and I’ll simply go which is pretty clear that even… [stammers] It’s almost…the chances are infinitesimal that Romney pulls this out. I think the real story here is that Obama won, but he’s got no mandate. He won by going very small and very negative and we are left with a country exactly where we started, but a little worse off. The Republicans are in control of the House, probably a little bit stronger [he’s wrong, Republicans lost seats]; they are not going to budge. There’s no way in which after holding out on Obama for two years they are going to cave in. And Obama doesn’t have really anywhere to go. He governed very large in the first two years . When he had control of Congress he nationalized health care. He passed the largest stimulus and energy policy and tried to enact them and when he lost control of the House he stopped.
In order to win reelection he went small, stayed small and put together his constituencies here and there and he put it together enough that he won. If he gets the majority of the popular vote it’ll be very small if there’s any and even in the electoral it’s going to be a rather small majority particularly if Virgina and Florida go to Romney. <They didn’t> So this is not a mandate either in the numbers or the way he campaigned.
Obama's popular vote lead has passed two million votes so it's a big win in this environment. Do you remember Republicans telling America that Bush had no mandate because he lost the popular vote by half a million? Neither did I. And let's all remember how negative, small, vile and vicious Republicans have been attacking President Obama since he walked into the oval office.
Krauthammer: He did not campaign on any ideas, anything large, anything important. He didn’t address entitlements, tax reforms or anything like that so what will he do? I think he’s got, I think he’ll go back to who he is. People have said he should be a Clinton and compromise, have a successful second term , but he is not instinctively a moderate [Oh, like Krauthammer is a moderate]. He is a man of the left and he will try to push his agenda through [gee, isn’t that what the victor does?] with what he thinks is a mandate and I think we are going to be exactly where we were let’s say a year ago with the debt ceiling argument next year. The problem is the country will slide right threw a second term because I don’t see give on either side particularly with a president and a very weak mandate for a second term.
Talk about a manic-depressive rant. I think he should take his own advice and write a script for himself. Something very potent.
Kelly: Charles, what...
Krauthammer: If that sounds kind of negative I think I've depressed half the country so as a psychiatrist I will offer to write prescriptions for anybody who needs them. Just write me at Fox News. I'll take care of it.
Kelly: As a lawyer I counsel you not to do that. I want to ask you: What does this mean for the Republican Party.
Krauthammer: Well, I'm not as despairing as many people are. <Did he just not know how he sounded?> I think this was an unusual election because Romney was a transitional figure. I thought he ran as good a campaign as he could. I think he did honorably well.he came pretty close, but he as a man, he's a north east liberal and that's not where we're going. <wow> That's not where the future of the party is and I'm optimistic because there's a very strong Republican bench that did not enter the fray.
We had a very weak field among the,in choosing the candidate this year. Romney was the only one remotely presidential and he was the logical candidate. But think of those who didn't run, of course Paul Ryan who I think will become a leader in the party, you'll have a whole rising young generation Kelly Ayotte, Bobby Jindal Nikki Haley, Ted Cruz the new Senator from Texas. Marco Rubio. This whole generation who were just a year or two short in their careers from running this time are all going to be in the fray next time and I think they are the future.
He immediately forgets about what actually happened to the Republicans in this election and moves on into never-never land. You remember how high-flying prospects in MLB and NFL draft picks often turn out. Most of them are busts when they have to step up to the plate in prime time.
