Newt Gingrich ‘Dumbfounded’ By Obama Win, But Admits Dems Scored An ‘Extraordinary Victory’

Newt Gingrich, the man who many on the left would say is the godfather of modern Republican intransigence, appeared this morning on Today to speak about President Barack Obama’s stunning electoral victory Tuesday.

Newt Gingrich, who himself was an early GOP contender before being knocked out by the jack-of-all-trades but master of none of the Republican Party, Mitt Romney, admitted that the right could learn a lot from an election that shocked many conservatives to their core.

Gingrich was honest about the post-election feelings he experienced, saying that the failure of Romney to score the Presidency for his party was an unexpected blow. He explained:

” … if you had said to me three weeks ago Mitt Romney would get fewer votes than John McCain and it looks like he’ll be 2 million fewer, I would have been dumbfounded.”

Newt had previously stated a belief that Romney would not only win, but win big. Prior to Election Day, Gingrich said on Fox:

“My personal guess is you’ll see a Romney landslide, 53 percent plus … in the popular vote, 300 electoral votes plus.”

Gingrich did not attempt to equivocate on his previous estimate, instead facing his failed prediction head on and saying:

“I was wrong last week, as was virtually every major Republican analyst. And so, you have to stop and say to yourself, ‘If I was that far off, what do I need to learn to better understand America.'”

Unlike Republicans who have spoken to a divided America, however, Gingrich was more circumspect and reasoned on Obama’s big win. Of the loss and the future steps the GOP should consider, he reflects:

“We need to stop, take a deep breath and learn … The president won an extraordinary victory. And the fact is, we owe him the respect of trying to understand what they did and how they did it.”

Do you think Gingrich would have fared better than Romney in the final showdown?