A New Day?[col. writ. 11/7/12] © ’12 Mumia Abu-JamalThe 2012 election was a masterpiece in the role of money versus real issues in the future of the United States.According to some accounts, over 6 billion dollars in ad buys flushed through the media system. And while it was like Christmas in newsrooms, in radio stations and TV accounting rooms, the glut of advertising was mind-numbing.In truth, this campaign wasn’t run on big ideas, but on personality, on aura, or on likability. On this score, Barack Hussein Obama had more of this stuff than his challenger, Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney. This election was inspired, in part, by the unpopular Citizens United opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court which decided that corporations were people, and that limits on campaign spending were unconstitutional.It wasn’t a blowout, but it was a solid win, one that was done by hard-core organizing, and by the votes of a large majority of Jews, 71% of Latinos, the majority of women, the LGBT folks, and working class people in Ohio and Pennsylvania.In 2008, Obama won by some 9 million votes. This year, he won by roughly 21/2 million votes. But a win is a win is a win.Obama, once a community organizer (and derided for it), organized the hell out of the electorate – and won big in the Electoral College.  With 270 votes the winning margin, Obama scored over that number with the Ohio win, even with Florida undecided for hours.It should be noted that the majority of whites did not vote for him.But that wasn’t necessary to score.Barack Hussein Obama made history in 2008; he made it again on election night.It means something that a Black man won the U.S. presidency back to back.It means that the U.S. electorate is changing, and in some ways, the president reflects that change.But it is also true that Republicans shot themselves in the foot by nominating a man who was so open to so many attacks.  The crazy comments about rape by 2 GOP senatorial candidates and Mitt Romney’s refusal to disavow their remarks, certainly didn’t help them among the largest constituency of all – women.--© /12 maj