The November 6 Election. Part 1

On the night of Election Day—that is, Tueday, November 6--President Barack Obama said that he had prepared two speeches, one for use in the event of winning the election and the other a concession speech should he lose.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, only wrote one speech—a victory speech.

Not only was that foolish, in hindsight. I feel it shows overconfidence and cockiness. Not to mention foolishness. Surely a mature and wise person has learned that "ya never know," and knows about the "fickle finger of fate."

When I was in high school I memorized a passage from "Sohrab and Rustum," a poem by Matthew Arnold:

. . . and though thou thinkest that thy knowest sure thy victory,
Yet thou canst not surely know,
For we are all, like swimmers in the sea,
Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate
Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall.

And there's a bit more; it ends with, "Only the event can teach us, in its hour." Now I'd say this is not rocket science. Yet it's evidently an idea that Mr. Romney evidently has not been exposed to or has not ever contemplated.

Update, November 12, 2012
To try to be more charitable, maybe Romney's mind, in not seriously contemplating the possibility of losing the election, was pretty much like that of the young man going off to war, who is certain he will return. Or maybe even the smoker who is sure he or she will not develop lung cancer. It always happens to the other guy. That's called denial and it's pretty common human behavior.