REFLECTIONS ON THE ELECTION

I must admit that I am glad that the Presidential race is over for this time. I want to quote Robert Tracinski and Mark Wickens in order to give my readers an inkling on how I feel about George W. Bush's victory over John F. Kerry.

I start out with describing my first reaction to the election results, by an excerpt from Robert Tracinski's article, The War Verdict. America Did Not Let Us Down.

I am enormously relieved by the results of yesterday's voting. I am relieved only partly because I believe President Bush's war policy, for all of its faults, will be significantly better than John Kerry's. At a deeper level, I am relieved because this election was more than a judgment about the relative merits of George Bush and John Kerry: it was a report on the state of the American spirit. ...

Yesterday, the American people did not let us down. They defied bin Laden and his Western allies and apologists. They voted to reassert America's fighting spirit. (TIA Daily, 11/03/04.)

I have to add a "but" and "question mark" to the forthcoming period of four more years with Bush, by giving you an excerpt from Mark's post, My mixed feelings on the election.

Now is when all the people who voted for Bush on foreign policy issues need to do an instant 180 and oppose him forcefully on every attempt to insert the Bible into US law. (Wickens.ca, 11/03/04.)

I know that many people in Europe have a problem with understanding the American system of the Electoral College, so here are some resources for my international readers:

• Electoral-Vote.com
• PBS.org: Electoral College Map. [Via The Lycos 50 Blog.]

So, what's happening now? Read Warren Meyer's post, Something Unusual Will Happen in 2008. [Via InstaPundit.] You will find my take on the issue of Republican candidates in 2008, by reading my post, THIRD PARTY CANDIDATE IS NOT AN ALTERNATIVE.

The Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson's comment on the re-election of Bush, sums up the Anti-Americanism in Europe:

Sweden and Europe will continue to criticize Bush the same way as earlier. But I do not believe that he will be more willing to listen to it. (ABC News / AP, 11/03/04.)

It looks like several of the players of the leftist mainstream media have a hard time to cope with the situation:

• Bloggers Let Poll Cat Out of the Bag by Cynthia L. Webb.
• Bloggers said to blame for bad poll info by David Bauder.

Roger L. Simon is asking the media several questions, in his post, "Blogging Machine" here.

For more comments, check out:

• Andy's (The Charlotte Capitalist) post, 2004 Election Results Wrap-up.
• Blair's (The Secular Foxhole) post, Yesterday's election.
• Jim's (US Election 2004) post, Bush Wins!
• Nicholas's (The Rule of Reason) post, Understanding the Election.