Over at Crooked Timber, John Quiggen writes,
If Kerry does win after all, it will be under the worst possible circumstances. A minority of the popular vote, a hostile Congress and the need to prevail in a vicious legal dogfight in Ohio. The Republicans will be out for impeachment from Inauguration Day, if not before that. At this stage, a Kerry victory would produce the worst of all possible worlds - responsibility without power.
All things considered, I’d prefer a Bush victory at this point.
Even more reflective of my mood now are the words of one of the commenters: “All those who poured time, money and effort into trying to get Bush out of office are now not only faced with not only seeing Bush in office for four more years of destruction, but being stronger for having a Congress behind him- and, unlike 2000, appearing to have a marginal win. I don’t think this is going to motivate or radicalize anyone. I think it will lead to mass apathy: even when we fight, we lose. ”
This apathy will only be compounded by the lack of a clear culprit. John Kerry wasn’t the ideal candidate, but I’d hesitate to say that any of the others from the primaries would have done a better job. The party did everything it was supposed to: tack to the center, focus on its weak areas, raise money, make appeals to independents, get out the vote. It didn’t work, and we have no clear alternative for what might have.
Matt Yglesias points out that “values” and gay marriage especially tend to have been more decisive than expected, more decisive than policy issues even. If that’s true, I can’t convey how disheartening it is. Back when the SJC mandated equal marriage rights in Massachusetts for gays and lesbians, many liberals were lukewarm, fearing that gay rights advances, particularly marriage, would give fodder to Bush’s reelection and GOP power in general. Then after the Constitutional Convention and the first marriages, such fears seemed unfounded. Gay men and women were getting married and life, even political life, went on as normal. Even nationally, the FMA was a wash. Now, to think the naysayers were right is distressing.
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