Most of America has been gripped by election fever this week, and it certainly seems the Democrats have trounced the ruling GOP good and proper. One has to wonder though, why almost half of America still insisted on voting for the same lame-duck government that has dragged this nation through the mire for the last five years.
Despite the mess in Iraq, the abandonment of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, a trade deficit of over $64 billion, and the steady flow of corruption and sex scandals emanating from Washington, nearly half of Americans still firmly believed in George W Bush and his band of………well….. fill in the blanks yourselves!
It remains to be seen how Nancy Pelosi and her followers will alter matters over the next two years. While George W Bush has publicly offered an olive branch and Rumsfeld has fallen on his sword, it is unlikely that the president will enjoy his final two years in office, given that he can no longer dictate his own terms or ride roughshod over any opposition. Indeed, it will be interesting to see whether he makes the best of a bad job (at least from his own point of view) or retires to his Texas ranch in a sulk, the first time he doesn’t get his own way.
The rest of the world will watch cautiously to see how America’s foreign policy pans out in the coming months. It will take more than just the Democrat’s trouncing of the GOP to regain the confidence of a world shattered by such high levels of aggression and degradation, as displayed by the US since 9/11/2001.
But, maybe – just, maybe – the tide is on the turn.
Filed under:
Comeuppances