I had prophesied that the 2004 Presidential election would be even more catastrophic than the one in 2000; I was right. We re-elected (or elected) an individual whose only pressing concern is his agenda. Now, by giving this president a second (and final) term in office, he has a carte blanche to do whatever he wants! (But then again, hasn't he already been doing that?) He has no recourse other than his own conscience at this time. I have seen little empathy for the country from him to date. If it's not about busting "bad guys" in Iraq then it doesn't impress this man.
My vision for the next four years goes something like this:
The United States' involvement in Iraq will escalate. We will be required to step our presence in this war-ravaged country, but I don't think that actual numbers in troops will increase, because we're supposed to be winning, remember? If we send more troops at this late point, Bush will be sending a clear message to our allies in Palau and Iceland that the US is not as successful as verbalized many moons ago. The war in Iraq will continue as a person-on-person combat zone. It is simply fighting the individual. Except for Fallujah, I have not seen a large-scale operation in Iraq really since the war began, and was declared a success on the deck of a naval destroyer by King George. It will take the next Administration (in 2008) to complete this operation, because this Administration has no clue how to finish it (but does it really want to?).
I see domestic issues becoming even more ostracized. George Bush never cared about domestic policies in the first round, so he surely will not care about them this time. I see our economy going even further downhill, with large-scale outsourcing of American jobs to places like India and Latin America (have you called Dell lately?), which will escalate the rate of employment in this country. The irony is that the places most economically depressed are the same places that put George Bush back in the White House! People make very little sense. Sure if I am getting sick by drinking this month old milk a little more will make it all better! (That is so sad, really!)
Yes, I believe that the suffering has just begun really. We will have to see how these next four years play out. Sadly, they will not begin until January 20, 2005. We can just hope that they will go by speedily, without any large scale shifts in the world's status quo!
