I don't know what campaign you were watching, but I heard a lot about governing philosophy. Abundantly from the Democrats side, but also from the Republicans. Of course, they won't go into minute detail about policies on the national level; most people simply don't want to hear that. But it seems clear to me that Obama's political philosophy resonated with more people than Romney's.
ITT we confuse talking points and identity politics with PHILOSOPHY.
Jesus. You know the intellectual landscape is bleak when even hackers are willing to entertain the notion that democracy/mob rule has anything to do with philosophy, or that politicians operate in line with some sort of rational ethic other than straight forward power broking.
It's so easy to play the cynicism card that everything is pandering to mob rule, but if you listen closely many of Obama's major speeches lay out his governing philosophy. I'm a bit too lazy to dig up exact quotes, but his "you didn't build that" speech is a good example. Also parts of his victory speech just last night, and his DNC acceptance speech. It's actually kind of funny that you say he never lays out his governing philosophy, because one of his biggest criticism was that his speeches are too high level and never delve into specifics. Just goes to show that people will rationalize whatever position they already believe.
