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tagrynHere's a short list of how the each outcome in the Presidential elections may be seen as a good thing by the party partisans, regardless of whether "their guy" won or not:
KERRY VICTORY - Democrats
1. Obviously, a chance to reverse the last 4 years of Bush. This will include reinstating the various environmental regulations that GWB has either set aside or allowed to be barely enforced. The tax cuts which unfairly benefited the rich will be reversed, allowing much-needed help to be extended to the poor and working class which Bush has ignored, thereby increasing the overall well-being of our society.
2. The worldwide anti-Americanism that has been growing since 9-11, and was galvanized by the leadup to the Iraq war, should abate once Bush is out of office. With a new face at the helm, hopefully more people will give the USA another look, rather than automatically assuming that everything the United States does is wrong, as apparently many do now.
2a. This doesn't necessarily mean just withdrawing from Iraq, but Kerry is much more likely to rally international support than Bush, who will always be associated with defying the UN & the nations who were against the war, nations who we need help from in order to win against al-Qaeda, our real enemies. Given that he wasn't the one who made the mess, Kerry will have a lot more latitude than Bush would to get our guys out of there ASAP if things don't improve quickly. Simply, Kerry isn't personally invested in Iraq, so he'll be able to do the right thing.
3. The Supreme Court justice(s) who are likely to retire during the next 4 years are going to have their replacements selected by a Democrat. Unfortunately, given the current Republican control of Congress, its unlikely a truly "progressive" Justice could make it through the nomination process, but neither will Kerry put up someone who fails the acid tests of abortion rights and affirmative action.
4. Hopefully with the defeat of a sitting Repub. President, the GOP will fall to infighting between the so-called "moderates" (Guiliani, Schwarzeneger) and their far-rightists (Santorum, Buchanan) for control of their party. All the effort expended on fighting each other is energy they can't use on taking on Democrats, which will open up an opportunity in '06 to take back Congress.
KERRY VICTORY - Republicans
1. This blocks Hillary Clinton from being the Democratic nominee in '08, since Kerry will be an incumbent president running for reelection. In many Republicans view, Kerry will probably be a mediocre president, while Hillary would be a true disaster, and probably be a much stronger campaigner than Kerry has shown in his campaign to date.
2. For fiscal conservatives, a Kerry with a Republican congress is much less likely to be able to increase spending than a GWB with the same Congressional makeup. Kerry has made a lot of promises as far as increasing social spending, but he has to get any proposals passed through Congress first, so its unlikely any real increases in social spending will happen.
3. Four years of Kerry will likely do more to remind the electorate why you don't put fellows like this in the White House than anything the GOP could do on its own. Think 4 years of Carter, followed by 12 years of Reagan-Bush. This'll only be made more obvious as the terror groups test Kerry early on to see what his resolve is like, forcing him to either submit to U.N. inaction or become a "unilateralist" himself. Hopefully this won't get too many Americans killed because of his indecisiveness while in office, but lets face it, the nation's going to be doing damage control for voting Kerry in for a long time to come. Look at all the problems that were allowed to fester under Clinton: al-Qaeda, China, Iran, North Korea, etc.
4. Moreover, as Michael J. Totten writes here, being in the drivers' seat will also likely force the Democrats to "get real" as far as foreign policy goes, and actually formulate something to deal with the terror problem, rather than trying to hide behind a "Any Policy But Bush's" stance. While such a development would make them a more competitive party than they currently are, as a nation we really need to be working together to fight the forces which are a danger to the nation, something that won't happen if the pacifist wing of the Dems takes them over. And if they *do* take over the Democrats, that'll pretty much guarentee GOP control of government as long as the leftists are running things in the DNC.
5. Lots of good choices for the '08 nominee: Giuliani, McCain, Jeb Bush. Any of the three should have an easy time beating Kerry.
"Bush Victory" outcomes tomorrow.
KERRY VICTORY - Democrats
1. Obviously, a chance to reverse the last 4 years of Bush. This will include reinstating the various environmental regulations that GWB has either set aside or allowed to be barely enforced. The tax cuts which unfairly benefited the rich will be reversed, allowing much-needed help to be extended to the poor and working class which Bush has ignored, thereby increasing the overall well-being of our society.
2. The worldwide anti-Americanism that has been growing since 9-11, and was galvanized by the leadup to the Iraq war, should abate once Bush is out of office. With a new face at the helm, hopefully more people will give the USA another look, rather than automatically assuming that everything the United States does is wrong, as apparently many do now.
2a. This doesn't necessarily mean just withdrawing from Iraq, but Kerry is much more likely to rally international support than Bush, who will always be associated with defying the UN & the nations who were against the war, nations who we need help from in order to win against al-Qaeda, our real enemies. Given that he wasn't the one who made the mess, Kerry will have a lot more latitude than Bush would to get our guys out of there ASAP if things don't improve quickly. Simply, Kerry isn't personally invested in Iraq, so he'll be able to do the right thing.
3. The Supreme Court justice(s) who are likely to retire during the next 4 years are going to have their replacements selected by a Democrat. Unfortunately, given the current Republican control of Congress, its unlikely a truly "progressive" Justice could make it through the nomination process, but neither will Kerry put up someone who fails the acid tests of abortion rights and affirmative action.
4. Hopefully with the defeat of a sitting Repub. President, the GOP will fall to infighting between the so-called "moderates" (Guiliani, Schwarzeneger) and their far-rightists (Santorum, Buchanan) for control of their party. All the effort expended on fighting each other is energy they can't use on taking on Democrats, which will open up an opportunity in '06 to take back Congress.
KERRY VICTORY - Republicans
1. This blocks Hillary Clinton from being the Democratic nominee in '08, since Kerry will be an incumbent president running for reelection. In many Republicans view, Kerry will probably be a mediocre president, while Hillary would be a true disaster, and probably be a much stronger campaigner than Kerry has shown in his campaign to date.
2. For fiscal conservatives, a Kerry with a Republican congress is much less likely to be able to increase spending than a GWB with the same Congressional makeup. Kerry has made a lot of promises as far as increasing social spending, but he has to get any proposals passed through Congress first, so its unlikely any real increases in social spending will happen.
3. Four years of Kerry will likely do more to remind the electorate why you don't put fellows like this in the White House than anything the GOP could do on its own. Think 4 years of Carter, followed by 12 years of Reagan-Bush. This'll only be made more obvious as the terror groups test Kerry early on to see what his resolve is like, forcing him to either submit to U.N. inaction or become a "unilateralist" himself. Hopefully this won't get too many Americans killed because of his indecisiveness while in office, but lets face it, the nation's going to be doing damage control for voting Kerry in for a long time to come. Look at all the problems that were allowed to fester under Clinton: al-Qaeda, China, Iran, North Korea, etc.
4. Moreover, as Michael J. Totten writes here, being in the drivers' seat will also likely force the Democrats to "get real" as far as foreign policy goes, and actually formulate something to deal with the terror problem, rather than trying to hide behind a "Any Policy But Bush's" stance. While such a development would make them a more competitive party than they currently are, as a nation we really need to be working together to fight the forces which are a danger to the nation, something that won't happen if the pacifist wing of the Dems takes them over. And if they *do* take over the Democrats, that'll pretty much guarentee GOP control of government as long as the leftists are running things in the DNC.
5. Lots of good choices for the '08 nominee: Giuliani, McCain, Jeb Bush. Any of the three should have an easy time beating Kerry.
"Bush Victory" outcomes tomorrow.
