Ambushed At The Polls
US President George W Bush has won a second term. The event seems to resonate beyond its small 21st Century borders, summoning forth old ghosts and pointing towards future spectres. And yet, it came down to a simple equation. The man who was more real to more people won.
Quoting from Lepanto again:
The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery...
President Bush, for all his apparent inability to forge international consensus, or even to bow to its seeming necessity, has got some painful issues very clear in his mind. He has the largest weapon of mass destruction of all, the United States of America. He has a domestic plurality now, of sorts — he has increased his legitimate right to govern, both in the popular vote and in the electoral college, and with both houses of Congress sharing his affiliation. He is not shy to use any of that.
He knows how to build a win out of chaos and what looked like a 50/50 split all the way down to the wire. He knows how to fight a war abroad while putting out fires at home. He seems to have a horrible socioeconomic record, though, but things in those areas may yet come right. Even more important, he knows who his enemies are and doesn't try to make peace with those who won't make peace themselves. He is no wimp.
In the final analysis, the bottom line for most people was, "Will the man we vote for be true to himself? Will he make decisions in good faith, whether right or wrong?" It was hard to tell with Senator John Kerry.
Quoting from Lepanto again:
The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery...
President Bush, for all his apparent inability to forge international consensus, or even to bow to its seeming necessity, has got some painful issues very clear in his mind. He has the largest weapon of mass destruction of all, the United States of America. He has a domestic plurality now, of sorts — he has increased his legitimate right to govern, both in the popular vote and in the electoral college, and with both houses of Congress sharing his affiliation. He is not shy to use any of that.
He knows how to build a win out of chaos and what looked like a 50/50 split all the way down to the wire. He knows how to fight a war abroad while putting out fires at home. He seems to have a horrible socioeconomic record, though, but things in those areas may yet come right. Even more important, he knows who his enemies are and doesn't try to make peace with those who won't make peace themselves. He is no wimp.
In the final analysis, the bottom line for most people was, "Will the man we vote for be true to himself? Will he make decisions in good faith, whether right or wrong?" It was hard to tell with Senator John Kerry.
etched with acid at 7:47:00 am
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