Who Won the Election: Obama Defeats Romney, Check Mate to Republicans

At roughly 11:15 p.m., CNN projected that Obama will serve a second term as president of the United States. Despite likely winning the popular vote, Mitt Romney will not become the next president, and President Obama will continue to work in the Oval Office.

Although the outcome is not official yet, Romney is not likely to carry any of the crucial swing states such as Florida, Ohio and Virginia. Romney needed to win all three of these states in order to contend. Therefore, Obama has been declared the winner.

Even though all of the votes are not in — and the Romney campaign is still not ready to concede the election — there is a strange feeling of defeat and hope for many of us. It's like playing chess with someone once they've said "check mate." You either can't see that all hope is lost, or you don't want to. In this election outcome, many of us are still left staring at the board after the Obama campaign said, "check mate."

So now, we start a new game of chess over the course of the next four years. It is strange because this new game of chess looks eerily similar to the last game. Republicans will continue to dominate the House of Representatives, and the Democrats will continue to dominate the Senate and occupy the White House. We will likely see the same divisive behavior in Congress and more unpopular legislation spearheaded by the president.

Many pundits rightly point out that despite the fact that a strong majority of the population sees the debt crisis, government spending, lower taxes, and the down-spiraling economy as the most important issues facing the future of this nation, Americans still voted for Barack Obama. This irrationality will be debated over the course of the next month.