The one that stands out is the question about what went wrong for Republicans, having lost the president’s seat again to a Democrat who seems to attract all-hate or all-love responses.

The popular way to explain it is to blame the candidates — John McCain four years ago and Mitt Romney this time around. That’s nothing new. Democrats also blamed Al Gore, John Kerry and their losing nominees.

McCain and Romney have to take their share of the blame, but Republicans’ failure to deliver the past two elections is a two-fold problem. First, Barrack Obama is certainly viewed in a different light nationally from how most Southerners view him. There’s no sense debating all the reasons why that is true, but the majority of Americans thinks he is doing a good job.

Secondly, and most importantly from my view, is that Republicans have become their own worst enemy. There is a case to be made that Republicans defeated both McCain and Romney.

Both of those candidates are considered good, decent, God-fearing men. If you recall, they both started their campaigns spouting a moderate, just-right-of-center message. It led to them being their party’s nominee.

Then they fell into the hands of the Republican political strategy team that forced them to cut out the moderate nonsense and sprint to the ultra-right stance on issues in order not to tick off that radical wing of the party, which happens to be the biggest campaign contributors.

Out of nowhere, two moderate Republicans started spitting out the hatred that the ultraright considers as the biggest issues facing our country: abortion, gay rights, too much government and a belief that it’s everybody’s fault but a Republican’s.

Granted, Romney and McCain fell into the trap. They could have stayed with their real beliefs and conducted themselves accordingly. The results certainly wouldn’t have been worse.

At some point, Republicans will have to realize it’s time to turn the page and focus on solving problems instead of focusing on the same issues they have been yelling about for 30 years or more.

They have to realize abortion, gay marriage and those issues are important to them, but those issues continue to exist even when the presidency, both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court were controlled by Republicans. Independents are figuring it out.

Issues that a president can influence include debt, health care, Social Security, Medicare, military, taxes and equality for all.

One thing is for sure, a Republican cannot address those moral issues from the White House if they never get there.