Note: as I mentioned over the weekend, I wrote two posts in advance of the results of the election. Yesterday, I ran the “Bush wins” version, and today, just for fun, I’m running the version that would have run had Kerry won. As you can see below, I wasn’t anticipating a landslide by any means.


Well gosh, this was certainly a pleasant surprise, wasn’t it? I must confess, I did not expect to see Kerry win, and if you ask me (keeping in mind that this is being written before the election’s over) it was all just a crap shoot in the end. No, this election is not a triumph of the electoral process, although I’m sure there will be some in the Democratic party who swear it was, but rather it’s a statistical win, where Kerry could just as easily have lost as won.


On the plus side, we can now relax in the knowledge that those Supreme Court justices who are on the verge of death/retirement/irrelevancy can safely step down without having to worry about destroying the country in the process. And yet, the fact that this election was so close doesn’t fill me with much hope. Oh sure, I think Kerry will turn out to be a decent enough president, but I think he’s going to have a hell of a time dealing with a bitterly divided country, where half the people wanted the other guy to win, and a senate that mirrors the feeling across the country.


Kerry will walk into office while being under fire from all sides of the political spectrum. As far as I’m concerned, while out there on the trail, Kerry never really matured into the kind of candidate this country needed. His policies were all painfully middle-of-the-road, his speeches attempted to woo too many people while energizing none, and while his running-mate projected passion, Kerry never quite did. His performance in the debates was enough to secure my vote, but I didn’t do so with much enthusiasm.


Having said all of that, I certainly I have more hope for the next four years than I did had that other wackjob been reelected, but most of that is based on my hope that Kerry becomes a better president than he was a campaign leader. I think there’s a solid chance of that happening. At the very least, this guy’s got more in common with my own beliefs than the other guy (actually, I suspect they’re much more in line with my beliefs than he’s willing to say publicly).


So let’s all have a brief celebration, and then start preparing Kerry for the onslaught of hate from the right wing. It’s going to be a tough four years…but at least we’ve got the better man at the helm.