George W. Bush is still the president of the United States. After an intensive election season that polarized the nation, Democratic candidate John Kerry conceded to the Republican incumbent, who Americans chose by a clear majority, on Wednesday morning.
Bush received greater than 3.5 million more votes than Kerry, giving Bush 51 percent of America’s popular vote and 274 electoral votes. Kerry garnered 48 percent of the popular vote and 252 electoral votes.
In his acceptance speech in
Washington, D.C., yesterday, Bush said he would work every day to fulfill his duties to America and lead the country forward.
He said the United States had faced various tasks in the last four years with “strength and courage.”
“Our people have restored the vigor in this economy and showed resolve and patience in a new kind of war,” Bush said. “Our military has brought justice to the enemy and honor to America. Our nation has defended itself and served the freedom of all mankind.”
He said he would continue to work on national issues, fight the war on terror with “every resource of our national power” and help
the “emerging democracies of Iraq
and Afghanistan.”
“To make this nation strong and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it,” he said, adding that he will do all he can to preserve the people’s trust.
It was a sweet victory for Bush supporters. One grinning supporter carried a giant Bush/Cheney sign down East 13th Avenue, crossing paths with a number of disappointed Kerry supporters.
“This is a decisive, clear-cut victory,” said Anthony Warren, the University College Republicans membership chair. “The people of America have spoken and the vast majority have cast their vote for George W. Bush.”
Warren said the College Republicans were confident by late Tuesday night that their candidate would win, and it was uplifting to get the final confirmation yesterday. He added that unlike his opponent, Bush was the right person to move the nation forward and fight the war on terrorism.
“George Bush is definitely the man who understands the war on terror,” Warren said. “His job is to defend the people of America and keep it safe.”
College Republican Executive Director Jarrett White said he is happy the president got re-elected. He said the president would continue to pursue his “overall conservative policy of limiting government” as well as his strategies on the war on terrorism, adding that the president did not base his decisions on those of other countries.
“I think he’s going to stick to
his guns and do what is right,”
White said.
Freshman Matt Dorsa said he did not think it was wise to change leaders in the middle of a war.
“I’m happy because I voted for (Bush),” Dorsa said. “I know it was pretty close till the end.”
The candidates and their supporters battled it out for months, crisscrossing the nation with divergent messages. Their campaigns invested millions in advertising to sway the voters. And the voters heard their call.
Almost 115 million voters cast their votes in the presidential election, some braving long lines at voting stations all day long. There were record turnouts in many states. In Oregon, about 80 percent of the registered voters made their voices heard, according to the secretary of state statistics. Kerry took the state of Oregon with 51 percent of the vote.
Many voters stayed up late into the night, watching with nail-biting anticipation as the drama unfolded on television screens, the states on the map slowly changing to either red for Bush or blue for Kerry.
At the end of the day, it came down to Ohio, the state that seemingly decided the nation’s fate for the next four years. At that stage, it was clear that if Bush got the state’s 20 electoral votes, it would be enough for him to keep his job. By early morning the White House had called Ohio and the presidency for Bush, but the Kerry campaign insisted on waiting for provisional ballots to be counted.
But by 8 a.m., Kerry’s team decided that even the provisional ballots would not be enough to win Ohio, and it was time to concede.
“The outcome should be decided by voters, not by a protracted legal process,” Kerry said later in his concession speech in Boston.
He said he had a good conversation with the president, noting the danger of division in the country and “the need for unity.”
“Today, I hope we can begin the healing,” Kerry said.
His voice hoarse and choking up at times, Kerry thanked his family, staff, volunteers and voters.
“I wish, you don’t know how much, that I could have brought this race home for you, for them,” he said.
However, Kerry said he would keep working for the Democratic Party’s ideals, as well as the issues that have been the focus of the campaign, such as the war in Iraq, the economy, health care and education.
“I believe that what we started in this campaign will not end here,” he said. “We’re Americans and America always moves forward.”
His running mate, John Edwards, who spoke first, also believed that the fight will go on, saying that people can be “disappointed, but you can’t walk away.”
“We didn’t start fighting for you when this campaign began, and we won’t stop fighting for you when this campaign ends,” he said. “Your cause will always be our cause.”
For Kerry’s supporters, it was hard to believe that the long journey is now — unsuccessfully — over.
“I think that Kerry being elected would have been the last hope for our country,” freshman Mari Babinec said.
She said if Kerry had won, it would have shown the rest of the world that Americans did not support current events like the war on Iraq.
Freshman Brittany Moss said she is against the president because of his policies on reproductive rights, the economy, assault weapons, gay rights, the war in Iraq and the “manipulation of the country through fear.”
“It makes me mad that the Democratic Party worked so hard … then Bush won,” Moss said. She added that by re-electing Bush, the nation is showing the world that it agrees with these policies.
“I don’t think there’s any hope,” she said.
Sophomore Brendan Coffin said he is disappointed.
“I am sort of flabbergasted that we could sit through four years of what he’s done and still want more,” Coffin said.
Coffin said he hopes that in his second term, Bush will be more focused on addressing the issues and allow for more open negotiations and less militarism.
“I’d like him to do what he says he’s going to do,” Moss said. “I’d like more honesty, a lot more honesty.”
With the votes counted and the decision clear, another chapter opens in America’s history. What remains to be seen is how Bush’s second term will play out.
“A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation,” Bush said. “We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America.”

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