OK, let's all agree that the Florida deck was stacked in Bush's favor. Who'd argue against that? (LOL) So Bush, thus, 'gets' the presidency rather than outright winning it.
I'd imagine the Bush tacticians believe once they're in the presidency they can ride out any storm, much like Clinton did on the Lewinsky matter. They'll send out their pat lines into American breakfast and lunch counters everywhere that unity for the good of the country is what counts now. Because this sounds good, some Democrats will chip in thus proving Nader's argument that there is little difference among the two major parties.
So on their way they'll go, with the nation--whether it knows it or not--getting some solid behind-the-scene doses of Baker-Rovism. Yes, both James Baker and Karl Rove will have heavy roles in the new Bush White House, but will they be primetime roles? Me thinks Baker's done enough talking and will be content to pull strings from the background, as will Rove.
Oh, not many of you know, orperhaps some of you may have forgotten, who Karl Rove is? Well, he's Bush's campaign manager and he graduated from the Lee Atwater School of Politics. Anyway, behind the scenes, Bush's presidency will be puppeteered.
Well, all of the above will work and many Americans will let it work, placated by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Survival, Seinfeld or whatever. Add in some hearty sports and America will be the same, won't it?
Nope.
There's one group which won't be discounted in this mess: historians. Yup, historians. Lots of 'em. And now they'll be doing their digging, prepping for the expertise on the Bush presidency.
But the first thing this lot of distinguished citizens must accomplish is to count the votes in Florida. What? Count the votes in Florida? What are you nuts? We're not supposed to count them...er, or so our U.S. Supreme Court entangingly opined in an utmost wimp fashion.
OK, so now the historians have gotta count the votes. Oh, the media has to do this also. I believe the Miami Herald has already begun preparations for doing so. And then you'll have the far-out groups, who have funding capability, who also will wanna count the votes.
So what will the new and improved standard be for counting the votes in the aftermath of Florida's election? I'll give yers one: First count the vote using the standards Palm Beach County employed; next count the votes using the standard that Broward County employed. The difference between them should give us a pretty good indication as to who won Florida. Do I hear agreement? |
