David Rodeback's Blog

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Dignity and Grace

In an election season in which dignity and grace were not the dominant themes, John Kerry achieved both this morning in resolving, apparently against the advice of many, to accept the results of the election without an ugly legal challenge.

I just thought I'd point that out, as evidence that I'm capable of appreciating it, even though I voted for that other guy.

On an indirectly related matter, it must be only a matter of hours before we start hearing a lot of Democrat hand-wringing over the hopelessness of our national future, under the leadership of an implacable and probably growing Republican monolith.

Don't buy it. The margin of victory was relatively narrow, and even if you believe the demographers who say the Republican/conservative constituency will grow (as opposed to the ones who say the opposite), there's not that much to worry about. President Bush cannot run for re-election, and Vice President Cheney will not run in 2008. There is no obvious Republican successor that I can see, but I guarantee you that at least a dozen prominent Republicans think they already see one in the mirror. The Republicans will be lucky if they can hold things together and get things done for the first two years of the coming term. Even if they can, on the day after Election Day 2006, any illusions of a Republican monolith will be but a memory, as the 2008 presidential race takes off in earnest.

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Copyright 2004 by David Rodeback.
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