The Emerald was surprised and disappointed at John Kerry’s poor showing in Tuesday’s election. While the outcome still hinges on provisional ballots in Ohio, Kerry thoroughly lost the popular vote by almost 4 million at one point. It appears as if the terrorist attacks have had a more profound and lasting effect on the nation’s psyche than we first realized. George W. Bush’s strong showing is a testament to the fear still griping the American people. This election should go down as the “Election of Fear.”
After four years, President Bush has proven himself to be a poor leader who could not control government spending and a poor commander-in-chief who, even many supporters will concede, tragically botched the war in Iraq. Bush’s approval rating on Nov. 1 was below 50 percent. With these massive failures, at another time in history, this president wouldn’t stand a chance at re-election.
But we live in the post-Sept. 11 world, where Americans are so desperate for the comfort of Bush’s macho rhetoric about the war on terrorism that they are willing to put up with his incompetence. Kerry’s perceived flip-flopping created an air of uncertainty about the candidate. Swing voters feared Kerry’s internationalism, which was further emphasized by Bush’s misleading negative campaigning. Fear of the unknown kept swing voters from seeking the new direction that they ultimately desire.
In addition to a paralyzing fear of terrorism, the country also appears to be shifting socially conservative. For example, bans on same-sex marriage, which were on the ballot in Oregon and 10 other states, all passed, many overwhelmingly: In Kentucky and Georgia by 3-to-1 margins and in Mississippi by a 6-to-1 margin.
With Bush destined to appoint at least one, but probably more, justices to the Supreme Court, we will most likely have all three branches on the government controlled by Republicans, if he wins. So much for the separation of powers. This means that we are more than likely to see the end of a woman’s right to choose and a further erosion in the separation of church and state. The neoconservative agenda to project American power in the world through military preemption and nation-building will continue. And, ironically, America will be less safe for it.
As we at the Emerald watched the election results trickle in Tuesday it became clear just how deeply and passionately divided we are as a nation. We are divided geographically and generationally. We are divided by race, ethnicity, religion and gender. Two fundamentally different groups of Americans with two fundamentally different world views are currently waging a fierce political war over the future of this country. And liberals are slowly losing ground.
It is still too early to tell if there was widespread voter fraud — or “hanky panky” as Wolf Blitzer called it — in swing states like Florida and Ohio. The Emerald still doesn’t trust the electronic voting machines that counted about 30 percent of the votes this year. But assuming everything was legal, the country was able to come together and peacefully conduct the most important election of our lifetime. We did so without bloodshed or mass chaos. This alone is an accomplishment that the majority of nations in the world can only dream about. America went a long way toward repairing the negative impression left after the 2000 election. That is good news indeed.