| I was watching CNN and saw the President, together with his family, go in to vote early in the morning in Crawford, Texas; when he came out of the polling station, there was the all-too-familiar confused look on his face, as if he had done something silly. It transpired that he had pushed the wrong button and ended up casting his vote for Kerry. |
| It didn't matter in the end, of course. About 58 million Americans voted him in. |
| Of course, I'm making all of this""about Bush voting for Kerry""up. But, if truth be told, I think few people would be too surprised if this had happened; in fact, I have tested this hypothesis with dozens of people over the past week, and every one of them, while incredulous, ended up believing the story. |
| Mr Bush is renowned for not being too swift, eschewing nitty gritty operational details for the "vision thing", to quote his father. |
| And, boy, does he have vision! Or more correctly, does everybody else have a vision about his vision! |
| On the one hand, The Wall Street Journal editorialised, "... But we hope he and the GOP majorities on Capitol Hill don't flinch from large ambitions ... The center-right voters who just elected them are expecting progress on their priorities. |
| "... Referendums opposing gay marriage went 11 for 11 on Tuesday, winning even in Oregon, where the 57% to 43% landslide was the smallest majority among the 11. This is not a message of intolerance toward gays [huh!]; ... |
| "Above all, we think Mr Bush can claim a mandate on his handling of the war on terror ... We hope Mr Bush and his advisers also recognize it as a chance""a second chance""to finish the job in Iraq ... |
| "We do already know ... that Mr Bush has been given the kind of mandate that few politicians are ever fortunate enough to receive. The voters expect him to use it." |
| And on the other side of the political spectrum, Thomas Friedman in The New York Times wailed, "Is it a country that does not intrude into people's sexual preferences and the marriage unions they want to make? Is it a country that allows a woman to have control over her body? |
| Is it a country where the line between church and state bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers should be inviolate? Is it a country where religion doesn't trump science? And, most important, is it a country whose president mobilizes its deep moral energies to unite us""instead of dividing us from one another and from the world?" |
| Clearly, the intellectual divide that prevailed before the election, far from being narrowed, remains loud as ever. And though Mr Friedman's concerns may be a bit over the top""exit polls have shown that, over and above the religious right, Bush attracted significant numbers of voters (including a shockingly large number of Indian-Americans, both in the US and locally) who did not share his narrow views of human morality""the broader election results did show a rather alarming shift towards control by the religious right. |
| Maureen Dowd in The New York Times reports: "Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma, has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and warned that 'the gay agenda' would undermine the country. He also characterized his race as a choice between 'good and evil' and said he had heard there was 'rampant lesbianism' in Oklahoma schools. |
| "Jim DeMint, the new senator from South Carolina, said during his campaign that he supported a state G.O.P. platform plank banning gays from teaching in public schools. He explained, 'I would have given the same answer when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third-grade children.' |
| "John Thune, who toppled Tom Daschle, is an anti-abortion Christian conservative""or 'servant leader,' as he was hailed in a campaign ad""who supports constitutional amendments banning flag burning and gay marriage." |
| In most countries in the world, such people would be seen as old-fashioned, backward, or just plain out of touch. In America they have been elected to office. |
| The clear implication that a woman is not the owner of her own body (ban abortion) and that people are not free (certainly as far as their sexuality goes) are notions that few modern countries accept. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these attitudes are quite similar to attitudes in some fundamentalist Muslim countries, which still have draconian laws against homosexuality and women's rights. |
| Just as a very small minority of fundamentalists has hijacked Islam, a minority""not so small, unfortunately""of fundamentalists has hijacked America. Let us not forget, in all the rhetoric surrounding Bush's victory, that America used to be a beacon of hope and freedom""the New World. |
| A new world of ideas, of attitudes, of technology, and, yes, even a liberal ethic""it is one of very few countries where the issue of same sex unions has risen to the level of a ballot. Another important""and often forgotten""fact is that America provides the world with more charitable donations""in absolute terms""than any other country. |
| However, the intolerant attitudes that are controlling America today ""based as they are on a politicised reading of religious texts and rabid as they are in their expression""are pretty deep-seated, and it is hard to see them changing in four years. |
| Which is why I have no doubt that the Great Democratic Hope for 2008""Hillary Clinton""is certain to be bitterly disappointed. Can you imagine what the "Moral Majority" would do if Hillary Clinton""a woman, for God's sake""were running for President? |
| America today is the only country in the world""its only possible partner in this narrow-mindedness is Saudi Arabia""where a woman cannot be the leader. |
| (The author is CEO, Mecklai Financial) |
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