A Sigh of Relief

The morning after, I am happy that the good sense of Americans countrywide has prevailed. The French-looking pretender has conceded defeat (the French seem to be really good at that, non ?) and Bush is secure in the knowledge that he is starting a second term with a resounding, indisputable mandate.

I do believe that Bush will be magnanimous in victory and conciliatory in his approach to governance for at least the first year. He's not stupid - he knows he's made mistakes but had to be careful about expressing that in the runup to an election.

THERE IS AN IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS. First stop: ditch the Moore/Streisand/MoveOn.org radicals and move back to what made Dems the party of the people by elevating sensible spokesmen. This race would have been much different, and winnable by the other side, if Gephardt or Lieberman had been the challenger. True democracy always demands an accountable, active, and responsible opposition.