03/11/2004 7:37:06 am
Four More Years! According to the predictions, President Bush is now just one electoral vote from winning. He leads by some four million votes nationally. Still, several important swing states are too close to call, such as Ohio. Yet it seems certain to say that Bush is the winner of this election and that this win is decisive and clear. Of course there will be close states and the temptation from the other camp to let their lawyers make an effort will be strong. Still, the margin for Bush in electoral votes may turn out to be large enough to make it pointless. One observation from this is that the record high turnout which was expected to benefit Kerry did the opposite. The tied race shown in the polls was not real. Second, the Republicans seem to get an even larger majority in Congress. Third, what will happen with US policies after such a personal victory for Bush has to be analysed further. But despite the Republican grip on the political power, Bush now has to be the uniter instead of the divider. He will have to heal some of the deep divisions in the country. And after the loss for Kerry, the Democratic party will probably have a tough debate about its policies and future direction. In sum, this was an election that should have been almost impossible for Bush to win. Due to the economic recession, the net job loss has been large and there are great problems in Iraq. But again he surprised and surpassed expectations.