With the re-election of President Bush, America can finally move on in the War on Terrorism, in reforming Social Security, encouraging a culture where values matter and bettering the economy. America is definitely an amazing country. Lead us, President Bush, and lead us proudly. Many on the left are of course upset with the Republican sweep in this campaign, and even though it’s all over now, I would extend my congratulations to them on such a toughly fought campaign. It’s been a long but great 15 months — a great two years for some others — and I can’t wait until the next one. Amid the fact that I completely disagree with his politics, Sen. Kerry has elegance — I’ll give him that. On Wednesday afternoon, his concession speech was a call for unity and ended with a prayer for America.
By making his concession a little while after it was apparent that Bush had won, Sen. Kerry had prevented what so many feared could have happened: ridiculous lawsuits and another Florida fiasco.
It was a close election but he lost. Unlike the Democratic candidate four years ago, Sen. Kerry accepted the fact that the people had spoken. Four years ago, Al Gore opened a Pandora’s box that was about to evolve into the lawyerization of the electoral process (if you don’t like the voters’ results, then sue). I thank Sen. Kerry for his contribution to prevent such an unnecessary calamity and his overall class in how he spoke.
Also, in the face of all the negativity people are spreading, I’d like to note some nonpartisan encouraging outcomes of this campaign. Ron Gunzburger, the director of www.politics1.com, a nonpartisan voter education Web site, highlighted some positive results of this election. First, voter participation was at a higher percentage than any presidential election since 1992. Second, the winner of the presidential race captured a majority of the total vote for the first time since 1988.
Third, the presidential election was resolved by voters and not by courts. Fourth, there were no significant Election Day meltdowns with either the new voting machines or with the use of the new provisional ballots. Fifth, unlike in many parts of the world, it was a free and fair election with the ballots honestly counted.
There was no terrorist attack because we were vigilant and on guard. There were no voter nightmares, no hanging chads, and no armies of attorneys. Both the popular vote and the Electoral College fell to the same candidate. Turnout was better, amid all groups and the so-called Nader factor was not present.
All in all, we were prepared. For these reasons, both Democrats and Republicans should be proud of their participation in this historic election of 2004. It’s over now, and you might say it’s history.