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| Superfast Bush faces thorny bush | | Sweeping victories for Democrats create history | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI:
America and the Americans have drawn world attention following a night of sweeping victories for the Democrats. Good show, but not good enough. Nevertheles, for the first time since 1994 the House of Representatives is under Democrat control, but there remains a lingering doubt-- a sense the victory should have been more emphatic. In the cold light of day, the Democrat strategists will conclude that celebrations must be tempered by the realisation that an opportunity was missed.
An unpopular war and President George W Bush, the erosion of civil liberties, a weak dollar and an economy that is not firing on all pistons should have translated itself into a more resounding sweep. Neither will these Democrat gains be automatically carried through to 2008. Voter disgust at corruption among Republicans sealed the fate of many House incumbents, and Iraq, two years hence, after a massive American withdrawal, may not be the burning issue it is today.
Many Republican voters stayed at home but they will be galvanised to vote in 2008. And the South remains a bastion of Republican values. The Republicans may be battered and bruised but they are still standing. For the Democrats to recapture the White House, the party needs to define its policies on Iraq and the economy. A good performance but not yet good enough to guarantee the recapture of a House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Fact of the new history is that US voter has spoken. And as anticipated, he has spoken out against the Republicans and their disastrous policies at home and abroad. The Democrats have swept the mid term poll taking total control of the House of Representatives and clipping Republicans' wings in the Senate. However, this vote is more against the Republicans and all that they have come to represent than in favour of the Democrats. Clearly, a decisive majority of the US voters including powerful swing groups have returned to the opposition Democrats. More importantly, if the trend continues, the Democrats are sure to take back the White House in 2008 presidential election, unless there is a miracle during Bush's remaining months in the office.
What happens now? The mid term vote had transformed itself into a referendum on the Bush administration's policies at home and abroad. More specifically, it had become a vote on Iraq war and the mess this administration has made of it. US voters have responded to Bush's parrot-like assertion to 'stay the course' by throwing out Republican candidates. This is a message that the opposition cannot afford to ignore. And the message has not been lost on the Democrats. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a strong critic of Iraq war and who is now set to become the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives, has already urged Bush to "change the course" in Iraq.
The US President Bush cannot ignore Pelosi in her new avatar - third in hierarchy after President and Vice-President - and her call to bring the US troops home. Addressing Bush directly in her victory speech, Pelosi thundered: "Mr President, we need a new direction in Iraq." An overwhelming majority of the Americans and peace-loving people everywhere would second Pelosi.
But it is not Iraq alone that demands a course correction. The world has lost faith in America and its celebrated ideals such as democracy, freedom and human rights thanks to the so-called war on terror and the administration's callously casual attitude to the rule of law and civil liberties. The world still cannot make sense of the shame of Abu Ghraib, the Guantanmo Bay and CIA's secret prisons.
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