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| Sunday, 7 November 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Re-election of Bush : Turning point in American life Globescan by M.P. Muttiah The five-billion dollar American Presidential election is over, allowing incumbent President George W. Bush to reign the superpower for another four years. Observers said that this was not a mere election triumph but a turning point in American life, proclaiming the mesmerised moral values. Bush has increased his share of the vote among women, Hispanics, older voters and even city dwellers significantly from 2000, made slight gains among Catholics and Jews. He turned a 500,000 popular vote defeat at the previous election into a 3.6 million popular vote victory last week. Bush also achieved what no other contender had managed since Senior Bush in 1988, winning more than 50 per cent of the vote-higher percentage of the popular vote than any Democratic candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. He has also won clear control of both the legislative and executive branches of the US government. President Bush's chief strategist, Matthew Dow, noted that Bush had now become the first Republican president to be re-elected with majorities in the House and Senate since Calvin Coolidge in 1924, and the first president of either party since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 to be re-elected while gaining seats in both houses. The international community focussed on President Bush's policy on Iraq, his unilateral actions defying the United Nations and ignoring allies such as NATO and predicted a victory for John Kerry. But the American voters decided otherwise. Instead of foreign policy, they foresaw a new vision in Bush for the destiny of their nation. George W. Bush achieved mostly through the mobilisation of the evangelical Christian vote on the basis of overtly religious appeals. Republicans conducted a deeply reactionary campaign, based on hypocrisy and political smears and playing on the fears, insecurities and confusion of key sections of the people. Kerry and his party ran on the basis of a hypocritical and two-faced campaign appealing to anti-war sentiment, while supporting the war, appealing to the economic concerns of working people, while promising financial austerity, criticising the Homeland Security Act, demanding stronger police-state powers in the war on terror. They were incapable of effectively countering the Republicans' strategy of exploiting the fear of September 2001 attack. In this sense, Bin Laden's television speech too contributed to Bush's victory. President Bush's first four years marked the lose of more jobs than he created since the time of Herbert Hoover. His tenure in the past four years marked the decline of living standard since the number of Americans living below poverty line rose from 4.3 million to 359 million. He provided 145 billion dollar tax breaks to the rich shortly before the elections. The budget deficit, falling from a surplus of 263-billion dollar in 2000 to 413-billion dollar in 2004. Bush conducted an unpopular war in Iraq since the Vietnam war. Amidst all these, Democrats have proved themselves that they were unable to oust an administration that was installed by undemocratic means in 2000. Reports say that the new Bush administration would be pressed with economic concerns, especially the creation of jobs, the huge budget deficits. It is expected that social programmes could be slashed as Bush hopes to pay for his tax giveaways to the wealthy and close the budget deficit. Big businesses favoured the Republicans at the Presidential election. Bush is in favour of light touch regulation. He has promised to cap lawsuit damages. The US Supreme Court would also see a change with a conservative character since Bush is to make first appointments to the Supreme Court in 10 years. With the court split in three ways between conservatives, moderates and liberal, the results of last week's election for the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives has placed Bush in a stronger position to carry out a realignment that has long been part of the Republican agenda. The nine Supreme Court judges are appointed for life. Bush, during the 2000 election campaign, listed his favourite judges as Justice Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. During his first term Bush spared no efforts to put a conservative cast on the lowest federal courts, appointing some 200 judges. Several of his nominations were vigorously opposed by the Democrats and blocked by the Senate. Commentators are of the view that the Republican's tilt towards the right has been a protracted process and the collapse of the Democrats is the result of a long evolution. For more than a generation, the Democratic Party has disassociated itself with any policies considered suspect in corporate circles. Bush's Iraq occupation created discontent internationally. However, he would go ahead with plans for the Iraqi election. More changes are expected in Iraq issue as Bush's point man for international terrorism policy quit yesterday. Cofer Black, the US State Department's co-ordinator for counter-terrorism, caused an embarrassment when the administration had to revise a faulty report he oversaw that had been used to argue that Bush was winning the war on terrorism. The resignation was part of an expected dramatic changes in Bush's war team during his second term. Several world leaders have now started to think that they have to put up with Bush for another four years. Most of the European leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berulusconi, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, German Interior Minister Otto Schily, said that despite differences over Iraq, Iran and the NATO, they would try to normalise the trans-Atlantic relations. Arab League Chief Amr Moussa hoped Bush would actively push forward the peace process in the Middle East and try to help establish a new Palestinian state in 2005. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that Bush would devote himself in establishing a Palestinian state as well as rescuing security, stability and sovereignty in Iraq and destroying weapons of mass destruction in the Middle east and the world. Palestinian leaders too expressed the same view. Meanwhile, former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who was instrumental for Camp David Agreement between the United States and Egypt that tilted the Middle East scenario, has called for new world order. He said that George Bush should take the initiative to define and then maintain an international system that reflects the new, revolutionary aspects. 'The dilemma of our age was perhaps best summed up by the philosopher Immanuel Kant over 200 years ago. In his essay, Perpetual Peace, he wrote that the world was destined for perpetual peace. It would come about either by human foresight or by a series of catastrophes that leave no other choice. which would be the ultimate question the re-elected president would have to face.' Meanwhile, candidates are preparing for the 2008 Presidential election. Those prospective candidates are already manoeuvring for positions. Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee John Edwards said the fight had just begun. Senate majority leader Bill First of Tennessee was the first among the prospective GOP candidates. Senator John Kerry could contest again. Kerry's defeat and concession speech had cleared the way for the 2008 contest by both Edwards, now a Senator and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. The former First Lady has plenty of name recognition and wide following. There are also many other prospective candidates as well. |
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