Here We Go Again

By MJ

For the second time George W. Bush took the oath of office of President of the United States of America. For the first time, there is no doubt that he won the election held in November. For the second time, in as many inaugurations, Bush was met with protests, not only in Washington but also across America. Protests are rare for American presidential inaugurations. They aren’t unheard of, just rare.

Lincoln was met with protests, and death threats, as he traveled to his first inauguration. He had to be snuck into the Capitol in the cover of darkness and was not allowed to mingle in the crowds, which was common in those days, after his Address. Now, I believe that is where the comparisons between Lincoln and Bush end.

For the first time since Richard M. Nixon, an incumbent president was sworn in with an approval rating below 50 percent (I know, more polls were released today that showed Bush at 51%, and Fox News was the first to run with this report, which makes it totally unbelievable. But, even at 51% that is still the lowest approval rating of an incumbent president since Nixon.).

In an interview with the Washington Post, Bush stated he believes that he now has a mandate, or political capital. And once again, Bush is seeing things in black and white. I think he just fails to understand reality. Bush considers his narrow victory as the overwhelming approval of his Iraq policy- or his handling of Iraq. I refuse to call it policy; current situations in Iraq are not a result of policy, but the lack thereof. The reality is the majority of people that voted for Bush did not cast their vote for him to validate Iraq. They did it because of Bush’s social beliefs and the religious backdrop in which he presented them. And even if they did vote the way of Iraq, that doesn’t create a mandate. Bush won 51% of the popular vote in November. According to Bush, that means 49% of the people disapprove of his handling of Iraq. That’s not a mandate, that’s a simple majority. A mandate is considered 55%.

Anyway, Bush now wants to make it appear that he won because of Iraq. That simply isn’t true. He tried his hardest not to make Iraq an issue, or but a minute one at that. John Kerry and Bush also differed very little on Iraq. At times they both seemed to endorse each other’s plan of solving the crisis. The only real difference between the two candidates was Kerry exclaiming that the invasion of Iraq was not necessary. Bush, on the other hand, never swayed an inch in defending his decision, which Kerry did vote for. However, Bush did not campaign on the Iraq issue, he campaigned on an anti-gay, anti-abortion platform, hence 11 states passing a ban on gay marriage, which was a brilliant plan and also which won him the election.

Since the election is over, Bush stated that he would not seek a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which conflicts with his campaign stumping and considerably irritates his conservative base that put him in office. Why is he not going to push for the amendment? Because he doesn’t have the 62 votes needed in order to pass it, which would be a mandate.

Just like how Bush has flip-flopped about why he ordered the invasion of Iraq (First it was WMD and the threat Iraq presented to the world by possessing such weapons. Now he invaded to spread democracy- such a Wilsonian idea.). He is now trying to cover up his campaign stumping by changing why he was elected. His real mandate is to ban gay marriage and abortion. This probably won’t change the ultra-conservative right-wing views of him, but I guarantee he would not have won the election had he stated that he would not seek the constitutional ban.