Agreed. This is a cult of personality. Democrats are going to read way to much into it, and over reach. A lot of people just like the guy, and were waiting for the tiniest reason to vote for him, and Sandra gave it to them.
I guarantee you that just about everyone is going to read this result wrong.
Pretty much agreed. I think it was for more fundamental reasons than the hurricane though. I think most of Obama's voters were disinterested in the campaign, and in politics in general. I'm thinking of people who ethnically identify with him or women who see him as "boyfriend material" who probably did not follow the campaign or even watch the debates. But when they heard, perhaps through word-of-mouth, that the election was this week, they were ready to march to the polls and express their love for Obama.
I think one important read is how many voters Obama lost between 2008 and 2012. He doesn't have much if any increased mandate here than he did after the 2010 mid-term election by any measure. So far Romney has 7 million less votes than McCain got and Obama 17 million less than he got last time.