>
> Any ideas/thoughts/opinions on this tragedy and major step
> backward for America? I wasnt a big fan of Kerry (Democrats
> are barely better the Republicans) but he deffinitly would
> have been better the Bush.
>
I was seriously depressed, watching the results come in at the Democratic Victory Party in Staten Island(where, by the way, we did score some important gains, including the election of the first ever labor woman to the state senate). However, I began to cheer up, as I tried to put things in perspective. Think about it historically: 3 years is a short time, and that's about how long it's been since the 9/11, the most horrible terrorist attack in US history. The Bush team was able to use fear tactics--and I think that was one of the most, if not the most important factor in his reelection, more important even than the so-called "moral" issues--to win the election. But...
Given that this was the worst terrorist attack in US history that his campaign, spearheaded by Karl Rove, was using, and given that he's a sitting President during wartime, I think that there's a lot that can cheer us up.
First of all, he barely scratched by in the popular vote, coming the closest ever to being a wartime President defeated in the elections. Why is this?
Even with the threat of terrorism being pushed in our faces; even with the 9/11 tragedy so close behind us, an incredible people's movement formed. The type of movement that we've been hoping for for years--labor, women, and the racially and nationally oppressed at its core, pulling other sectors such as students, enviornmentalists, gay rights activists, peace activists, etc. into its gravitational orbit--has materialized, and has been able to take almost half the country's voite. It wasn't Kerry; it wasn't the Democratic Party that brought out 48% or 49% of the American people to vote for Bush--it was the all people's movement.
That movement isn't going away--the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, NOW, have all issued "keep on fighting!" statements. Students in Colorado occupied their school library in protest of Bush policies--all over the country that movement is picking up where we left off on Election Day.
We lost a battle. We said beforehand that the battle was of immense importance, and that it would be a disaster if Bush won again. That's the case--thousands of people will be killed as a result of his policies. However, the movement that will eventually bring this nation--and our world--progress, peace, and democracy, has gained strength at an astonishing rate. It can seek to tame Bush's policies, can influence local elections next year, and may be able to change the balance of forces in the House of Representatives.
This electioin did not mean that all is lost.
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