expressions - What does “As for Romney, the G.O.P. is over him” mean?


New Yorker (March 4) carries the article titled “Ann and Mitt Romney’s lost fairy tale” portraying an interview of Mr. and Mrs. Mitt Romney by Chris Wallace on Fox News on Sunday, which ends up with the following statement:



“Romney said, “We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs. But the ride ends. And then you get off. And it’s not like, Oh, can’t we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life?” Maybe Congress thinks that we can. As for Romney, the G.O.P. is over him—mostly. “



Though it may look quite obvious to native speakers, I’m at fault to interpret the phrase, “the G.O.P. is over him.” Does it mean that the G.O.P. forsook Mr. Romney, or the G.O.P. is the past tense to Mr. Romney ?


Can it be possible for any major, decent political party to dump its former leader or champion like old shoes - 弊履の如く捨てる- in Japanese expression, simply because of his not making it, or vise versa?


Is “over” used here in the same way as ‘over’ in ‘game over' or 'done’?


I consulted OALED at hand. It provides 10 different definitions of the word, ‘over’, among which I find (6) not used or needed, and (8) ended. I wonder if either of them could be applicable to the ending phrase, ‘As for Romney, the G.O.P. is over him—mostly,’ but I’m not sure.



Answer



To "be over (someone)" is an idiom that means a relationship is finished. For example:



I'm so over him!



I believe it comes from this definition of 'over':



11) having recovered from the effects of she's not over that last love affair yet



So in the particular example, it means that the GOP is no longer enamored with Romney. The fairy-tale-like relationship is over.


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