Country shouldn’t conform to Bush’s views

Despite President Bush’s surprisingly strong re-election
and GOP gains in the House and Senate, the implication that Bush
now has a mandate to carry out his agenda is much too simple of an
outlook.

It is true that Bush won the popular vote by over 3 million
ballots and carried the Electoral College, but it’s also fact
that more people turned out to vote against the incumbent than ever
before in American history.

Many who voted for Kerry this election were also casting an
extremely conscious vote against Bush, which the president must
take into account as he moves forward these next four years.

The people who oppose Bush do so vehemently, and the nation is
split squarely down the middle on many of his most important
policies, including the decision to go to war with Iraq.

Bush’s opposition at home, on issues such as abortion and
civil rights for gays, also sparks strong emotion on both sides of
the spectrum. With the strong possibility of justices ending their
Supreme Court tenures within the next four years, the president
will likely attempt to mold a divided nation to fit his vision on
these issues.

In his victory speech Wednesday, Bush addressed the country,
saying, “I’m humbled by the trust and confidence of my
fellow citizens.”

Instead of addressing the reality that the nation is not united,
he glossed over details, like he has for the past four years. Using
the royal “we,” Bush said, “We’ll reform
our outdated tax code. … We will uphold our deep values of family
and faith. We’ll help the emerging democracies of Iraq and
Afghanistan.”

He made these statements without consideration that his vision
of “we” does not include the 48 percent of the
population that voted against him.

This election represented a divide in the nation ““ one
certainly not indicative of a nation united as the United States
was after Sept. 11, 2001. It was a fight between people who wanted
a leader who made thoughtful decisions and people who wanted a
president who based decisions on arbitrary moral judgments.

In his victory speech he again exhibited a stubborn morality
blind to the facts.

When he said “our military has brought justice to the
enemy and honor to America,” he forgot about Abu Ghraib and
the charge to war without our allies. He forgot he destroyed
America’s reputation, proving how little thought he gives to
the half of the country that does not agree with his choice.

Since his victory was declared, the word mandate has floated
around, in the press and over the airwaves, but a 3 percent margin
is in no way a mandate.

The word mandate is in fact reflective only of the same
Manichean world view Bush has pressed in the past four years.

Bush said Wednesday he will need broad support at home to push
his policies overseas and in the United States. But the way
he’s conducted his job this past term, it’s difficult
to believe even he would believe he is capable of earning that
support or that 48 percent of Americans would be eager to give
it.

No matter how strongly Bush wishes or views it, the approval of
51 percent of voters is not the approval of 100 percent. While the
president often likes to pretend no middle ground exists ““
whether it be the war on terror or his idea of morality ““ we
should not let his mentality become our own.