I remember vividly the feeling I had in 1992 when Bill Clinton won the White House. I was under no illusions that the man was going to lead the United States into an era of social democracy, but a cloud had lifted; I could think of Washington without a sensation of dread creeping across my shoulders.
I miss that.
Two especially striking thoughts to pass along:
From Talking Points, a compelling reason for Canadians and others to care about American politics:
“Changes in domestic politics, in theory at least, can be shifted back at a following election. The world, though, is different. There we are just a ship – though the largest one – on waters we can never truly control. And I fear that this result will set in motion dangerous dynamics that even the relatively young among us will be wrestling with and contending with for the rest of our lives.”
And from Warren Kinsella, one more reason Bush shouldn’t have won:
“Fear, uncertainty, anger, isolation: those aren’t the things George W. Bush has tried to change. Those are the things that he has used to get himself re-elected.”
