Election Aftermath, or, How I Told You So

It's not often that candidates I support are victorious (given that classical liberalism is generally anathema to Canadians) so I have reserved the right to gloat. My colleagues at the law school frequently approached me this week exclaiming "[Patronus], are you happy now?!?", to which I simply smiled.

I must say that I am amazed at the near flawless execution of the Bush campaign. They did not stray from their key campaign message--that President Bush was the only candidate capable of leading the war on terror--while ensuring that "values" issues were the election's main undercurrent, mobilising hundreds of thousands of voters who otherwise may have stayed at home. While I am no social conservative, I admire the ability of the Republicans to mobilise this component of its base, and, for good measure, ensure that anti-gay marriage initiatives were on the ballots in key states such as Ohio to give even greater impetus for their base to come out to the polls.

Given the thumping that the Democrats took in the Senate, including the loss of their leader, the GOP has increased its stranglehold on American politics. It will be interesting to watch the minority party rebuild over the next few years, and if they want to get anywhere near the presidency over the next decade they should dispense with the notion that Hillary Clinton could be their nominee in 2008.

In fact, given the state of the American electorate, I don't think a Democratic northeasterner could ever again contest, let alone win, the presidency.