Kerry has conceded, and the election is over. Finally. For better or worse, I have to write about it.
I’m not happy that Bush won. I don’t think he’s done a respectable job governing this country over the past four years. The United States is in a very difficult position in the world right now. Iraq is a mess — better off without Hussein running it, yes, but it’s undeniably a big, violent mess. The US economy is not in a particularly good place either, with the dollar losing strength, jobs still not being created in large numbers, and insurance costs continuing to rise.
I think Bush has made mistakes in judgment that have cost the United States the good will of large portions of the world around us. As he has said, his first responsibility is, of course, to his citizens, not to the rest of the world. However, that doesn’t change the fact that we are citizens of the world, and we need to cooperate with other countries to be successful in almost anything. He made a big deal during the debates of portraying himself as someone who wouldn’t do something he thought was bad for the country because it was “popular”. He was probably alluding to the fact that he is not well-liked in most other countries. There’s a big difference between doing the right thing in the face of a contrary political climate (as in Profiles in Courage), and making decisions that fellow countrymen and people around the world think are unwise for reasons other than mere politics. For example, taking the country to war prematurely because you don’t want to wait for the weapons inspections to complete. That decision, while history may judge it to be the right course of action in the end, was carried out in an irresponsible way. Bush remains completely convinced that his decisions are the right ones, because those decisions are the ones that he made. Once they’re made, they are defined as right.
I’m not happy, but I’m also not surprised. Bush won the election on the platform of the war on terror. He has been the one leading us since he declared it, and the majority of voters believe he should continue to lead us for the next four years. He was not a strong candidate, as Glenn Reynolds writes, but he pulled it off. At least this time around he appears to have won the popular vote, with a margin of more than three million votes. That’s a lot of people. Supposedly JFK said that even a one vote margin represents a mandate, but I disagree. Bush has been running his administration as if he won by a landslide. This time he did win, but it was painfully close and hotly contested among the people. I desperately want to see that state of affairs acknowledged, respected, and truly dealt with.
Update: This is the sort of foolishness I’m talking about when I talk about a so-called mandate. William Bennett has apparently been watching a different campaign than I have.
Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law.
I think he’s wrong on both counts. Bush takes great liberties with the truth on issues (which is not decent), and he won by inches (which is not a mandate).
In discussions with people I know leading up to the election, the topic of judicial nominations, and presidential power more generally, came up a lot. Both candidates made a lot of promises throughout the campaign: to cut taxes, lower health care costs, boost the size of the military, keep jobs in America, and so forth. The president alone, of course, cannot do most of these things. Executive orders can do a lot, but congress does most of the heavy lifting in making campaign promises come true. They also have to confirm judicial nominations.
At this point, though, Congress is not evenly divided. The Republican majority looks like it’s going to be even stronger now than it was leading into this election. Congress is supposed to serve as a balance, not just a rubber stamp, and I’m afraid with this shift in power that we’re going to see more stamping. There’s a lot of talk from Bush about “activist judges,” and how he doesn’t want to see “activist judges” sitting on the courts. He says he will appoint judges who interpret the law strictly, and don’t bring personal beliefs into the mix. Bush’s past nominations have included judges who have publicly stated that abortion is a sin. The law says that abortion is legal. A judge interprets and upholds the law. If you are a judge, and you are trying to overturn a law, you’re an activist judge. That’s my understanding, and so my understanding is that Bush actually does want activist judges. If Bush manages to appoint, and Congress confirms, a Supreme Court justice who actually ends up being moderate and a stoic judge of the law, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I know a lot of people in my family voted for Bush, and that’s fine by me. This time he has won by a majority in the popular vote. I’ve said many times that I can deal with a president with disagreeable politics as long as the majority put him there, and this time that happened. Many people that I respect are supportive of Bush, and that makes me feel better about it. I know people who have looked at the Clinton administration as something they “survived”, and I know people who feel the same way about Reagan, and the two Bushes.
There was no candidate in this election cycle that everyone could agree on and rally behind. Everyone has been disappointed at one time or another (and probably often) by the two people we had to choose from for president. The process is not making most of us happy. Of the people I know who voted for Bush, I’m sure many (maybe all) of them were wishing they had someone who was a better diplomat, more respectful of science, a more careful decision maker, a true uniter and leader. Similarly, while I think Kerry would make a better president than Bush, we would have been more or less settling for him. Although I did feel pretty good about his policies, the biggest thing Kerry had going for him was his state of Not Being Bush.
This country will certainly survive. While there are a lot of things that are in tough shape and need improvment, we’re not going to hell in a handbasket. The American people are defined by more than their president. I predict Bush will make a lot more mistakes, and we’ll all be happy to tell him not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out in 2008, but he’s not going to destroy us. We won’t let that happen. I hope that somehow he will be stricken with humility, that he will acknowledge that most of the electorate (red and blue) believe he has to do a better job in the next four years. He must earn our trust and be a leader we can be proud of. I don’t expect it, but I certainly would love to see it happen.
Surprise me, Mr. President. Make me proud. I’m begging you.