Character is superfluous.

Although a few states, including Florida, are still to declare their results Obama is already across the magic figure of 270 needed to assure a second term as president. Already analysts are looking at demographic patterns, hurricane Sandy which interrupted Romney's momentum, the latest figures showing a slight improvement in the economy and Obama's campaign organisation which was able to get individual voters out to vote. What no one is talking about is whether Romney deserved to be the president of the country. It is not just that Romney came across as a shifty person for hiding his money overseas and refusing to reveal his tax returns but that he would say whatever it took to please his audience, frequently contradicting what he has said before. To call him a flip-flopper is to trivialise his instinct to do whatever it takes, no matter how devious, so as to achieve success. He is a Serial Liar. Maybe that is why he was so successful in business. To have a thick skin with no sense of honor must be a great asset to have in the cutthroat world of private finance, which was Bain Capital. Buy up a company in distress, strip out the best assets and sell them off for profit and then junk the rest along with the workers who lose their jobs and livelihood. Ruthless and unscrupulous. And this was what he was offering the country. Reduce taxes for the rich and cut Medicare, Medicaid and welfare for the poor. His comment about how 47% of the people see themselves as victims and are dependent on government handouts was not a gaffe as he made it out to be but something he truly believes.  Economists say that the economy is going to grow at 4% in the near future and unemployment will fall to 6%. Provided Europe does not collapse or China does not go into a recession. That is what Romney was banking on. He kept repeating the same mantra of reducing taxes, increasing military spending and balancing the budget by cutting expenditure without going into specifics. Just win the election somehow and then take credit for economic growth which would take him smoothly into a second term. One man who recognised the danger is Bill Clinton who wants his wife Hilary to stand for president in 2016 and so he campaigned vigorously for Obama till the end. It is no wonder that people the world over have developed a revulsion for politicians. In India too the Congress inherited a booming economy due to reforms by the BJP and easy liquidity globally. They used that growth to allow trillions to be looted and spent trillions to bribe the electorate to win a second term. Now they blame external factors for growing inflation, expanding deficit and a threat of credit downgrade to junk status. To cover up their crimes they have increased taxes to such levels that growth is being choked off. The only remedy is to have severe punishment for economic crimes. But who will bell the cat?