Editorial
Bush-Kerry tug of war
US split but not the world
The US presidential election of 2004 -- like the one of 2000 -- has gone down to the wire. At the time of writing this editorial, it was still too early to declare either candidate the winner. It all comes down to the state of Ohio which appears likely to end up in the Bush column, but final determination of the Ohio count could be delayed considerably by the tallying of absentee and provisional ballots, recounts, and likely litigation. That way Kerry is still in with a fighting chance.One thing which is clear is that the US is almost as closely split as it was in 2000. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, approximately 50 percent of the electorate will end up voting for President Bush and roughly the same percentage (likely a fraction less) will end up opposing his re-election. While the vote in the US is split, the rest of the world is not. What the rest of the world, by and large, had hoped to see in the 2004 election result was a repudiation of President Bush''s the war in Iraq. The Iraq war has been the centre-piece of the Bush presidency -- and a convincing margin of victory for the challenger John Kerry would have been interpreted as a clear vote against his decision to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein -- Bush''s most controversial policy decision. As it is, Bush seems certain to win the popular vote, and may well garner a majority of over 50 per cent which, while hardly a wide mandate, represents a gain from his performance four years ago, and must be interpreted as support for his leadership including his decision to go to war. The US electorate, while remaining as split as it had been in 2000, has, if anything, moved marginally towards President Bush in the last four years, not against him. The election is still not over. Senator Kerry has vowed not to concede Ohio and the race until all the votes are counted including over 250,000 uncounted absentee and provisional ballots in Ohio that could provide him the margin of victory. Nor is litigation with respect to the outcome in Ohio out of the question, with the state having been dogged by allegations of irregularities. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, the closeness of the result to that of 2000 is noteworthy. Such a close decision cannot be classified as an unequivocal endorsement of Bush''s presidency -- and its centre-piece the war in Iraq -- but by no means can it be termed a repudiation either.
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