[Vision2020] FW: NYTimes.com Article: Editorial: Waiting for a President

[Carl Westberg]

>From this morning's New York Times, written before John Kerry's phone call 
to President Bush conceding the election.                                    
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
          Carl Westberg Jr.
























>Editorial: Waiting for a President
>
>November 3, 2004
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>The American people know what to do in these situations: a
>painfully close division in the Electoral College, and at
>least one large state with a big pile of disputed ballots.
>We wait for the best possible count, ready to accept
>whoever wins by the rules of the game as the next chief
>executive.
>
>When a victor is finally, officially announced, it is
>important for the entire country to accept him as the
>rightful president. We have had enough of rancor for a
>while, and our greatest hope now is that the next president
>will earn the right to be seen as leader by all the nation.
>It was inspiring yesterday morning to see the lines of
>voters at the polls around the nation, but the mood was
>worrisome. Party loyalty was not the overarching emotion
>this year. Neither was enthusiasm for either of the
>candidates. The main emotion seemed to be contempt for the
>other side.
>
>The country has been battered by war, fear of terrorism and
>economic uncertainty - all of which seem to have
>intensified the longstanding distrust between the more
>secular, urban regions and the religious, rural areas.
>Three years ago, the trauma of Sept. 11 brought us
>together. But as we have noted again and again, President
>Bush failed to come up with a national agenda that would
>make that moment of strong national purpose permanent. The
>knee-jerk partisanship that replaced it has been made worse
>by the narrow division between Republicans and Democrats,
>which makes everyone in Washington feel compelled to jockey
>for the slightest partisan advantage.
>
>If he is going to succeed at achieving anything of
>substance, the next president will have to help the nation
>reach some new place where elected officials expect that
>rewards can be won from cooperation and mutual respect.
>Right now, we are in the peculiar position of suffering
>political paralysis, despite the fact that there is a clear
>consensus on most questions of policy.
>
>Any pollster, and any reasonable politician, can tell you
>what most Americans want, particularly when it comes to a
>domestic agenda. Pick the moderate position on almost any
>issue - Social Security, gay rights, taxes - and you will
>find the public right behind you. But lawmakers can't lead
>themselves into a bipartisan consensus. Only a president
>can create a new mood, and he can do it only by sacrificing
>his own short-term political advantage on occasion for the
>common good.
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>The next chief executive will also have to reckon with the
>failure of both parties this year to prepare the American
>people for bad news or common sacrifice. For all their
>disagreements about the war, both George Bush and John
>Kerry assured the public that Iraq can be stabilized and
>moved toward a semblance of democratic government, and that
>American troops will stay until that happens. That job will
>be tougher, bloodier and more expensive than either
>candidate has been willing to admit.
>
>Neither man has actually suggested that any voters (other
>than Mr. Kerry's Very Wealthy) will have to sacrifice
>anything to underwrite the cost of staying in Iraq
>indefinitely. And neither man has come close to preparing
>Americans for the possibility that the next president may
>have to admit that fixing the mess in Iraq has become not
>merely a question of what Americans can accomplish, but a
>losing game in which the United States is doing its global
>interests more harm than good.
>
>And neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Kerry has been forthright
>about the challenges of a world where American workers are
>going to have to be very adaptable, and American children
>much better educated, to compete with the ambitious and
>energetic next generation in places like China and India.
>Neither has done a particularly convincing job of
>explaining how Americans can expect to continue getting all
>the government services they have reason to expect, while
>the government still finds money for new challenges like
>homeland security.
>
>The new president, in truth, faces a nearly impossible job,
>and it is a tribute to the optimism of the human spirit
>that at the beginning of this year, so many people were
>vying to take on this task.
>
>We entered this election season discouraged, as usual, by
>the caliber of the candidates running for president. As
>time went on, we were forced to admit - perhaps a little
>grudgingly - that Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry shared the steely
>discipline and self-possession that are critical
>requirements for the most difficult job on the planet.
>
>As the votes were slowly counted last night, we hoped for
>clarity and fairness in the ultimate result. But most of
>all, we hoped that the ultimate winner would balance his
>enormous self-confidence with a large dose of humility.
>That could mark the beginning of a White House for all the
>people.
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/opinion/03wed1.html?ex=1100502650&ei=1&en=189bc27f3fbef837
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