It is a truth universally acknowledged that oppositions do not win elections, but that governments lose them. Such was the case in the American mid-term elections held last week, in which the governing Republican party suffered what President Bush described as "a thumpin". The Republicans tried every trick they knew to maintain control of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. It has been calculated that between four and five million African-American and Hispanic voters were excluded from the register, and the verdict and sentencing of Saddam Hussein were neatly timed. The campaigning plumbed new depths of smear, innuendo and character assassination.
In the United States they do not have party political broadcasts as we know them: the politicians buy up time on TV to sell themselves in the manner that such products as beer or soap powder are marketed on this side of the Atlantic. The candidates do not stop at promoting their own qualities but frequently indulge in attacking the personal, as distinct from the political, reputations of their adversaries. At the end of the day it all backfired, as far as the Republicans were concerned. The proposal to build a fence on the Texas border may have played well with the core vote, but it should have come as no surprise that the Latino support for the Republicans went down from 45% to 30%.
The central issue was the war in Iraq, regardless of the attempts by the Bush adminstration to focus the spotlight on other issues. The war was the elephant in the room and even the so-called Religious Right, so vital to the Grand Old Party over the past few decades, have their young folk serving in Iraq, or fear they may soon have, and many from that constituency deserted the GOP, or stayed at home on polling day. Many of these citizens of Middle America felt that they were being hoodwinked and disapproved of the welter of sleaze and scandal that surrounded the Republicans in the months leading up to the elections.
Many people were hurt by the extent to which America had annoyed its neighbours, embarrassed its friends, and lost its reputation in recent years. Such is the view of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, though loyal old soldier that he is, kept his opinions to himself during the course of the election campaign. There is something going on when solid Republican heartlands such as Montana and Virginia vote Democrat, and a Muslim is voted into Congress. American voters have been dismayed at a fallback in wages and salaries and are anxious about their security in retirement. When George Bush first came into office, 8% of the earned wealth of Americans was in the hands of 1% of the population, now that 1% corners 16% of that wealth. Voters notice these things.
That is not to imagine that America is shifting towards the left: many of the new Democrats hold quite conservative views on matters such as family law and gun control, and will be providing a counter-balance to the old East coast party elite as represented by the likes of Ted Kennedy and John Carey.
It is all rather reminiscent of Tony Blair's conclusion in the mid-1990s that the only way to ever drum the Tories out of office was to outplay them at their own game. Thus he became Thatcher-like to begin with and ended up out-Thatchering Thatcher. It will be interesting to watch how the Democrats position themselves in the next two years, on the run-up to the presidential elections of November 2008. The Democrats know what they are against; they have yet to agree or make clear what their alternatives are to a solution to the debacle in Iraq. They will proceed carefully, and will be reluctant to appear as triumphalist, although they have already secured the scalp of Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary for Defence at the Pentagon. They will be conducting Senatorial and House inquiries into the origins of the war. It is ironic that the nation which was the prime mover in the Iraq war is now going to examine its causes, the British, as chief aiders and abettors, are still muzzling any such investigation.
President Bush, on the broader issues, has two choices for the final two years of his presidency. He can come to some modus operandi with his adversaries, as Bill Clinton had to do for the last six years of his presidency, or he can resort to the use of his veto and create a period of sterility and negativity. The people of America have spoken, and the movement is towards the centre. The recent election has taken some of the swagger out of the Bush presidency. If not, as the man said, the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning.
In evidence the industrial tribunal heard that the appellant had taken an action against his former employers, alleging unfair dismissal. He had been working as an elevator operative in a multi-storeyed office block, where his duties were to operate the lift, and to generate a feeling of security and well-being amongst all the people who used the facility. His former employers alleged that he had been half-hearted, erratic and inconsistent in his approach to his duties, some days not showing up at all. They did concede that on his day he could be a satisfactory employee but that, all in all, he was not the man for the job. "He probably believed," said the presiding chairman, "that the job had its ups and downs."
The local council in Wakefield has been obliged to have its environmental health officers investigate a local fish and chip shop because it has been reported to smell of, er, fish and chips.
The PSNI soccer team has been excluded from the Junior Challenge Shield for three years after its players were involved in a fight on the pitch at Dundonald last week.
Meanwhile, the GAA is considering whether it should continue with the games against Australia in what is called the Agreed Rules (?) competition. The Irish team manager used to run the Meath team, but even he has been appalled at the thuggery of the Aussies.
Macho of the Day?
Bertie Ahern has given his support to electronic voting machines, and claims that Ireland is the joke of the Western world with its reliance on "ould pencils". Two out of three voters in the US last week used ould pencils, and the only complaints arose in States where electronic voting was employed. There is a great suspicion that George Bush stole not only the 2000 election in Florida, but also the 2004 contest in Ohio, through the use of these installations.
The Irish government blew ¤52 million on voting machines used in four constituencies in the 2002 general election. They are now being stored, at the cost of ¤800,000 per year, and counting. Or in this instance, not counting.
In all, this chat about binge-drinking no one has been able to explain what 'binge' actually means. One wag has it that 'binge' is where Sean Connery puts his rubbish.
