Though the outcome of the election is still contested, should the likely come to pass, Mark Schmitt considers something that I think is a very apt description of how the next four years will treat a Bush administration:
But politically, it at least avoids a situation where Kerry would have borne the responsibility and blame for Iraq or for raising taxes. All accountability now rests with Bush and his party. Everything that's been swept under the carpet until after the election will come creeping out. And the best use of all the resources of people, brains, money, and coordination that's been built this year, in addition to developing a stronger base of ideas, is to find ways to hold Bush, DeLay et. al. absolutely accountable for their choices. I really believe that this will be like Nixon's second term, and thus the seeds of a bigger long-term change than could have occurred just by Kerry winning the election.The Pottery Barn rule of governance is unmitigatible for a second Bush administration, says Schmitt rightly. A Kerry administration means that Kerry surely takes the blame for Iraq and the economy; the GOP have just been struggling too long against the plain reality to paint a pretty picture there, and it won't keep through another administration. A second Bush administration means that Democrats will not be cleaning up the mess.
Can the GOP make drastic changes to American governance with their new mandate, thereby promoting a structural balance that favors the right? There's DeLay, there's the courts . . . it's all a little breathless to think about right now, but I think that the great energy the left has summoned for this campaign will probably go toward preventing those eventualities.
Posted by Kriston at November 3, 2004 9:46 AMI felt very similarly regarding the administration and responsibility. At least there will be absolutely no doubt as to who ran it all into the ground.
Posted by: leslie at November 3, 2004 4:41 PMBush has made mistakes, there is no denying it. But I have a suggestion, if I may be so bold. He's been re-elected, like it or otherwise. Give the President a chance. Mr bush is not incompetent he knows he will take full responsibility for further failure in domestic policy and especially regarding the fiasco in Iraq.
A sensible man, will correct his failures. Lets give Bush a chance before we write off our President. Last I checked we were "one nation" under god....lets act like it.
Please, Brian. This president and the Republican party have done so little in the name of bipartisanship and compromise, you can't seriously be feeding us this good-of-the-nation bullshit. We'll keep looking at the issues and trying to figure out what exactly is going on and what we think is best for the country. I don't know what the hell you're encouraging us to do, but if it's supporting an agenda we already didn't agree with (for more reasons than that it is the president's), it's not going to happen. I don't know why you think it would.
Posted by: matty at November 4, 2004 1:42 AMHow can a president who wasn't elected the first time be re-elected???? I think the obvious divisions in our country are only going to polarize further and I, for one, will join the side most opposite this administration. I agree that the loss for Kerry may have a value added benefit in laying the responsibility at the feet of those responsible. I hope that the pressure can be increased on all fronts to hold the administration accountable for its many questionable acts and judgements.
With respect to rallying behind our President because he is the leader of the best darn country on Earth - sorry. I can't even listen to him mangle a speech on the radio and I have no respect for a C student, drunk driving, cocaine sniffing dodger of military service - how can a man who isn't a leader, isn't a uniter, isn't an orator, has no particular charisma and absolutely no understanding of the foundations of statesmanship end up being the President of the United States? The only answer is that he was installed by those who stand to benefit by manipulating the presidency. These nefarious characters are the same guys that thought that invading Iraq would have so many value added benefits like all that oil and all those reconstruction contracts but they miscalculated by assuming that Saddam would take responsibility for the sanctions that were killing Iraqi children and not blame it on the US. They miscalculated by forgetting that the last Bush administration left tens of thousands of Iraqis who rose up against Saddam in a revolt staged to coincide with the US assault to die at the hands of his security forces - and that assuming those left over would be welcoming us with open arms.
This miscalculated that the US people wouldn't notice a diversion from a limited military policing action against Bin Laden to an all out war in Iraq because we would be too busy loving all that oil, reconstruction money, democratic strength in the Middle East, and that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you see a US flag on a war machine as it is bombing most of 100,000 human beings into oblivian (mostly women and children and non-combatants according to a recent survey of Iraqi deaths since the war began)...
They miscalculated in so many ways that you can practically grab any news item involving the adminstration today and smell a rat. I hope we can catch up with some of those lurkers who pulled the strings for this adminstration and tree them in the next four years....it really would be great to see this second term go the same way as Nixon's second term. I hope accountability catches up to this administration while there is still a chance to confront them.
Idont know any one except John Kerry that could have said it better. YOu are profound and at the end of the day the republican House, Senate and the President G.W. Bush is & will remain completely responsible thereby causing an almost automatic democratic victory in 20087 by land slide. They have the ball of wax, so Bush voters I have one thing to say to yopu all.Don't cry to me or any one of us when your broke, unemployed about to file bankruptcy and you have a dying son or relative in Iraq. You wanted it so bad you stole the first one and now scared 51% of the country into thinking without Bush we would all die. Now you got it GOOD LUCK I wont give a crap about your mistake & the misery it causes you.
Posted by: Raymond at November 4, 2004 10:49 PMi'm Joe tippit and Bush sucks
Posted by: joe tippet at November 10, 2004 8:11 AMMy name is Joe Tippett and i'm gonna kill Bush
Posted by: Joe tippet at November 10, 2004 8:14 AM