Four years ago, the election was handed over for decision to the
Supreme Court of the United States because of legitimate issues in
vote counts and disenfranchisement. But in this election, the
lawsuits were filed before the voting even began. And they continue
to be filed based on the most trivial loopholes in law and election
procedure.
Of course, the legal give and take will not subside for a while,
but it is quite clear that President Bush has been re-elected as
the president of the United States of America. Hence, it is also
clear that the American people have undergone a revolution in their
political mentality.
I understand that in the traditional sense Bush was not a strong
candidate. His opponents slammed him with accusations under which
any past president would wilt, accusations no past president had to
face. Under Bush’s watch, the economy went into a slump,
unemployment went up, and government tightened its stranglehold on
Americans’ private lives.
In foreign policy, Bush’s failures were even more marked.
He promised to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but did not
deliver. During his presidency, Americans were humiliated as
pictures from Abu Ghraib surfaced. He was blasted for ditching
military service.
Michael Moore’s propaganda piece nailed him again and
again with baseless accusations, while the 9/11 commission gave
legitimacy to many dreadful decisions that the pundits were
voicing.
On the other hand, and again in the traditional sense, Sen. John
Kerry was a strong candidate.
He had a presidential style that resonated both with the people
who voted for him and the aristocracy who backed him financially.
He looked good and debated well. He was as fine a candidate as a
candidate without principles could be.
The major and early accusation against Kerry was made by the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who attempted to tear up
Kerry’s military record. But sound advice from former
President Bill Clinton fixed that ““ Kerry moved away from his
heroism and into the issues. He expanded on what he meant by
“the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He made substantive attacks against the war and then came back
unexpectedly to support it, sometimes even appearing like a hawk,
with talk of “hunting down” terrorists.
That’s when he faced that final clamping condemnation:
Kerry was a flip-flopper.
This rudimentary charge Kerry could not evade, except by
flip-flopping again. And so Kerry had already lost.
Kerry had lost to a man who missed almost all the marks on the
checklist of sound presidential candidacy. Except for one ““
the mark was conviction.
The tangible upshot of this was the understanding that America
is in a time of war ““ a war for its prosperity and a war for
its continued freedom.
In modern times, indecision has not been viewed as a character
flaw. In fact, it has become synonymous with being
“diplomatic” and “engaging in dialogue”
and, the best and most rewarding one of all,
“non-partisan.”
In the recent past, an indecisive president meant someone with
an open mind who can consider all the options, talk with his people
and the world, and come to sound, rational decisions on policy.
But in this day and age, these intriguing words amount to
something dreadful, something ominously tragic for America’s
future.
For in the past, the decision was about campaign finance reform
or helping out Kosovo or upping taxes by 3 percent. The decision
now is if and how the president of the United States will protect
the most basic right of the citizen ““ the right to his own
life.
A terrorist, anti-American culture that thrives thousands of
miles from our easternmost bay is a culture that is rooted in two
precepts: first, an ideology directly opposite that of the United
States, and second, the will and the self-imposed obligation to use
force to achieve goals.
In combination, these two ideas mean that at any given moment
the United States might be attacked by chemical, biological or
nuclear weapons attained by terrorists from their sponsor states.
At any given moment, whole segments of America could be torn down.
This is not the politics of fear ““ it is the unfortunate
reality of our times.
The mentality of the American people has adapted to our new
problem.
Bush won simply by doing and saying what he thought and believed
to be right. All the political sophistry and tact in the world
couldn’t have gotten Kerry elected. At least not with this
newborn electorate.
Hovannisian is a second-year history and philosophy student.
E-mail him at ghovannisian@media.ucla.edu.