john birchall Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 (edited) So, a 'liberal',something which is now a term of almost immediate distrust to many Americans has lost the race for the White House. This did not suprise me and being in Brussels on the morning after the result was known was a sombre experience. However, fifty five million US voters did support Kerry. Of this total 88% of all registered 'blacks' supported the Senator, whilst a similar number of whites supported Bush. In winning Bush recorded the lowest percentage vote of any war time President and was not that high in the 'popular vote' statistics either. Alas, as Lyndon Johnson said as he signed the Civil Rights Act ' I have just handed the South to the Republicans for the next three generations'. We have to accept that race, fear and not just of the Muslim faction played a large role in the election and for many outside the eastern strip and its western counterpart their way of life was under threat. Gone is the strategy once used by Nixon that Republicans win when they target the middle ground-no Bush has firmly left 'thinking conservatism' behind. In the Uk we are at least saved this threat and it will be interesting to see how Howard reacts. I doubt if Hilary Clinton or any other non-Southern candidate will win back the White House for the Democrats ( who started as the party of slavery) in 2008. No, the urban, white working class vote and growing parts of its rural equivalent have changed to the Republicans and promises which most don't trust on health reform and economic advantage will not bring them back. So, the man who blatantly lied about Iraq has beaten a party that dared not really take him on regarding the moral highground post 9/11 and attack his record both at home and overseas. We now have confirmation of what many of us thought and that is that the US is more isolationist and preseumably arrogant than it has been for some time. Perhaps our only comforting thought is that we are not French! John Birchall www.johnbirchall-economist.com Edited November 7, 2004 by john birchall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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