It’s been two weeks since the election and, despite mind-boggled Democrats and the reports of inaccurate counts by electronic voting machines in Ohio, it looks as if John Kerry’s rumored “unconcession” is not going to take place.
George W. Bush is a second-term president. As such, his major focus shifts from the classic first-term goal of getting reelected to the classic second-term goal of building his legacy.
In his autobiography, Bill Clinton complained that he could not define himself as a great president because he was never given the opportunity to react to a major crisis facing the nation. No war or national tragedy or drastic change in geopolitical events arose from 1992-2000 to warrant bold presidential action.
If any president in recent memory has been afforded opportunities for bold action it has been George W. Bush. From the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that created a mandate for this minority-elected president, Bush has taken very bold action in all policy areas. In many cases there is question whether such extremism was indeed called for.
His administration’s efforts to shape a new reality have resulted in the president drastically overstepping the bounds of legitimate presidential action in many instances. Americans’ civil liberties have suffered. Military preparedness has suffered. The United States’ image around the world has suffered and much of our moral – as well as economic and political – capital has been depleted.
As a result, a great number of American, British, Spanish, Korean and Polish soldiers and an even greater number of Iraqi civilians have died in a war that was predicated on an official, if officious, lie.
Although the editorial board of The Houston Chronicle disagreed with many of Bush’s actions and policies during his first term, they endorsed Bush on the logic that, like Texas presidents before him, once freed of the need to be reelected by his conservative constituents he could take bolder action for change along the contours of his own convictions.
They cited the example of Lyndon Johnson who, after years of holding the pro-segregationist line as the leader of the congressional Southern Democrats, pushed through the Civil Rights Act from the White House in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
When I read the Chronicle’s endorsement, I scoffed at the logic of electing a candidate in the hopes that he may stop doing what he’s been doing the next time around. But after not feeling much hope about anything political since the election, I am somewhat optimistic that last week’s replacement of John Ashcroft with Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General indicates that Bush may indeed pander less to his ultra-conservative base this term.
Although intensely loyal to Bush, Gonzales has expressed far more moderate social and political views, especially with regard to civil rights. Plus, because he does not consider himself biblically anointed to power, Gonzales should be more tractable to bring to the table those of diverse political viewpoints. He may even take the hood off of the “Spirit of Justice.”
All the world can do is hope that Bush is indeed going to pursue more moderate policies this term, since fate has handed him yet another huge opportunity.
The death of Yasser Arafat last Thursday ended a long chapter in the history of the Palestinian struggle with the Israeli state. The next chapter is by no means a clean slate, but the first change in Palestinian leadership in four decades presents a huge opening to renew the peace process – an opportunity to negotiate security for the Israelis and independence and civil rights for the Palestinians.
For the sake of all these people, for the sake of undermining the recruitment efforts of international terrorist networks and for the sake of rehabilitating America’s image abroad, Bush must take a different tact in his next foray into Middle East politics.
No lies. No talk of “crusades” or “punishment.” No pandering to Jewish or Christian Zionists who promote Biblical borders for Israel (“Nile to the Euphrates”). Just a simple desire to be a peacemaker and to rehabilitate what four years of aggressive, alienating action has done to the Middle East, to America’s stature abroad, and to American society itself. Let us hope that his is the legacy George W. would like to create for himself.
Victoria Zyp is a first year student in the Liberal Studies program in the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding.
