I would recommend to take it easy on this.
There are a few positive things left.
Hope needs trying to count them, as people need hope.
Bush was now very clearly elected president, elected now
for the second time in a row.
It is good to respect the will of the people;
otherwise, this is not a democracy, and the Democratic party
would not deserve its name.
Bush has made some things wrong during his first period.
Iraq's current anarchy probably the worst of them.
Maybe he would make some things better this time - it's not impossible,
especially if he's pressured by public opinion.
Policies about what to do with Iraq are pretty much tied
by events on the ground. Probably it will be not very different
from whatever Kerry would have ended up forced to do.
Cultural war has been very divisive; but hopefully, some of the division
was due to the campaign itself. Reaching out to people on the
other side is a good thing to try now.
Some people naturally straddle the cultural war; I know for instance
one born-again Christian who is very adamant about voting Democratic.
People like that are natural uniters.
We need them now.
Bush conduct on the war on terrorism was up to now a mixed bag of good
and bad - Afghan campaign overall good; some serious problems
about treatment of innocent suspects of terrorism by the FBI,
military, and other agencies; muddled issues at best in Iraq,
with a definitely poor political execution.
But one good thing has to be rescued; Bush never wavered about the
importance of that issue.
Kerry also never did waver on this point; but many people in the
Democratic party were tempted to do so, and could have had power
in his administration. At least that particular trap was avoided.
Any other positive things?
Surely those good people in this list who voted for Bush
have some more good things to say about him.
Ruben
Considering packing out the USA - but by no means due to Kerry's loss
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