Obama Wins: But is this the ugliest win in presidential history?

I'm not a historian so I can't even answer my own question, but one has to wonder if this might go down as the ugliest 'win' in US Presidential history.

The reason I say this is the following - if the projections on Huffington Post site (as for 11:43pm Eastern) hold, it looks like Obama has won the electoral college (and hence the Presidency) yet could still easily lose the popular vote.

(note: as of 12:12am, while electorally Obama is at 290 electoral votes, Romney still holds the popular vote).

In addition to potentially losing the popular vote, more states voted for Romney. If you didn't take the electoral college into consideration you'd have thought Romney won (the map is covered in red more so than blue).

One has to wonder if this is perhaps the ugliest win in US Presidential history as a result.

From a PR perspective this is about as bad as it can get for the next four years.

The best case scenario would have been a decisive win for either Obama or Romney. Then the media and the narrative in the country would have changed.

A split decision like this means partisanship will only get worse in Washington (if that's even possible). The media narrative will continue to be as toxic as it has been for the past four years (with Rep media trashing the president and Dem media excusing poor leadership).

Even if Obama manages to squeak out the popular vote when all is said and done, he's got a giant mess on his hands. Half the country does not want him as president (so much so that they voted for Romney, who almost no one was genuinely enthusiastic about).

So there you have it, four more years of Obama. Those that love him will be happy. Those that don't will be disappointed.

But the real story in my opinion is not whether people are happy or not, rather, it's the ramifications of such an ugly win. This spells another four years of toxic partisanship that will make getting anything done almost impossible.

The PR challenge for Obama is the same now as it was in 2008, can he unify a country whose political and economic fabric seems to be on the verge of tearing itself apart at the seams?

Only time will tell.

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