December
13, 2000
Now Comes The Hard Part
By Tom Bevan
Five weeks after Americans went to the polls to select a new
president, it's finally over (we think). The U.S. Supreme Court's
opinion perfectly mirrors the messiness and division of this entire
episode. But now that the highest court in the land has provided
a sense of finality to the presidential debacle, it's time for
America to regroup and move on. The coming weeks are a critical
time period where we will see men separated from boys.
Will Democratic Congressional leaders Gephardt and Daschle rise
to the occasion of uniting the country or continue to cultivate
the bitterness and anger felt by their member's constituencies?
Will Republicans in Congress accept this slimmest of victories
with grace and engage their colleagues in the minority? And finally,
will those unelected leaders in the liberal intelligentsia be
able to contain their partisan instincts?
I suspect not. Unfortunately, the truth is that it is much easier
to fight, to arouse feelings of anger and injustice, than it is
to compromise and cooperate. Indignation is addictive. So don't
expect Maureen Dowd to stop writing columns
filled with self-righteous satire or for Jesse Jackson to
tone down his outrageous rhetoric about "Nazi tactics"
and try to unite the country. Revenge will be the order of the
day.
I suspect George W. Bush will spend the first two years of his
term trying to repair the damage already done to the legitimacy
of his presidency and the next two trying to get reelected.
Bush will arrive in Washington with the best of intentions, ready
to compromise on a host of issues from tax cuts to prescription
drugs. But don't be surprised if the Democrats mistake conciliation
for weakness and do their best to mobilize public opinion against
Bush's agenda instead of opting for progress.
After enduring more than a month of watching politicians and
lawyers turn the guts of our democracy inside out, the public
is more cynical than ever about government. The next three months
will tell if leaders on both sides of the aisle desire to put
the needs of the country first or whether they are content to
prey upon our cynicism, leveraging it for partisan political gain.
Tom Bevan writes for RealClearPolitics
