November 5, 2004

Four More of W

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – I’m still in shock about last Tuesday. Driving around down here, at home, I see more anti-Bush items than I have in a while. I even saw a spare tire cover on a random SUV with that red line through a W like a no parking sign big as life.

It’s pretty nice seeing things like that, but I still can’t stand the fact that President Bush thinks he’s got political capital because of his re-election. Just proves his pro-business agenda, I think. Capital, schmapital.

Of the 113 million people who voted on Tuesday, just less than half of the electorate wanted to kick his ass out of office. And I was proudly one of those who wanted him out. Still am.

But what the hell are we going to do for the next four years? I’d said that I would become an ex-patriot should he be re-elected, and I’m still considering it. Strongly. (Belgium is looking mighty good lately. All the Blue Moon beer I can drink.)

The other side of that coin is to be a constant reminder to those who agree with President Bush that we’re not going to just get out of their way. Vision is one thing, but as I recall he is president of the WHOLE United States, not only those who fall in line behind him. Why leave the country and not be a factor in the equation?

What keeps both ideas in mind is seeing him Wednesday afternoon standing smug on the stage in Washington, D.C., at his victory party. No one should be that smug, rich in political capital or not.

But you never know. Perhaps in his smug, I-know-I’m-rightness he’ll get one thing finally straight. Not sure what that one thing might be yet. But one never knows. Surprises have been known to happen.

- Rich