Congratulations President Bush
I realize that it's not "technically" over, but for all intents and purposes, it's over and George W. Bush was reelected as President of the United States. With 100% of precincts reporting, Bush has a lead of 136,221 votes over Kerry. Although the Ohio Secretary of State has said that there might be as many as 175,000 provisional ballots to be counted, it's highly unlikely that all of them will (a) prove to be valid and (b) go for Kerry in large enough numbers to overcome his vote deficit. There's also the issue of overseas military ballots, which are not included in the 175,000 provisional ballots and will almost certainly go for Bush. Bush also leads by 3 points or 3.5 million votes in the popular vote. It's not a landslide, but it's decisive enough.
I hope that once the final numbers of provisional ballots are known, Kerry will realize that he has virtually no chance of beating Bush and do the best thing for the country (IMO) - concede. The last thing this country needs is to go through another 2000. We don't need weeks of recounts and lawsuits. We need to move on with the business of being a country.
The GOP also picked up seats in both the House and the Senate. I won't pretend that this last event makes me particularly happy. I am a fan of divided government. Both parties have tendencies that I dislike. Give them enough power, and they will take those tendencies to extremes that I consider bad for the country. It is a virtual certainty that the Republicans will now push harder for their agenda. Delay said it himself:
"With a bigger majority, we can do even more exciting things," DeLay told a local TV station in Texas
I'm curious to see how the country will feel about all those "exciting things" in 2008. I believe this will largely depend on how safe we feel in 2008. With 10% of Democrats switching over to vote for Bush, I am speculating this had more to do with the threat of terrorism than it did with domestic issues. The 7% of Republicans who switched over to vote for Kerry, however, I would speculate did so based on domestic issues, not terrorism. If the 7% of Republicans who switched vote for the Democratic candidate in 2008 and most of the Democrats who switched vote Democrat again in 2008, all else equal, the Democrats will regain the Presidency at that time. If, on the other hand, terrorism remains a major concern, the Republicans will probably keep the Presidency. I'm not sure what will happen to Congress in either scenario.
Well, four years isn't that long. As I said on Sunday*, I really believe the country will survive. In the meantime, Bush is the President. Of course, that won't stop me from criticizing him (and Congress) as I see fit, any more than a Kerry win would have stopped me from criticizing him. It's my right as an American, damn it!
*Oh yeah, I also claim psychic victory on the Bush prediction.