Several days before the nation’s Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that put a stop to the legal wrangling over who will be the next president, Hawaii’s senior U.S. senator was worried. Sen. Daniel Inouye said the credibility of a George W.
Several days before the nation’s Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that put a stop to the legal wrangling over who will be the next president, Hawaii’s senior U.S. senator was worried.
Sen. Daniel Inouye said the credibility of a George W. Bush presidency could suffer if Bush prevailed and subsequent unofficial recounts of the voting in Florida showed that Al Gore actually had won that state and should have been president. Inouye said it would be regrettable if an official recount wasn’t allowed, thus removing any uncertainty over who actually was elected the 43rd president of the United States.
The worst fear of Inouye and others became reality when the Supreme Court ruled against any further recounts. If there is to be any comprehensive recount, as Gore had hoped would put him on top, it will be unofficial, perhaps ordered through news media requests via open-records laws. Gore, with no more viable options to contest his razor-thin loss in Florida where the final batch of electoral votes would decide the national election, waved the white flag.
And that was that.
Except the most contentious and convoluted chapter in the country’s presidential election history really isn’t over. There might never be another one that is so talked-about and studied in such detail. At the very least, the debate that has raged for the past month will continue indefinitely, despite the desire of many to have closure – and the indisputable need for America to move forward with the transfer of power in the White House.
The new president-elect and his now vanquished opponent did what they had to do. Bush, the apparent but disputed winner since Nov. 7, waited and tried to carry on as normally as possible while his representatives waged legal battles with Gore’s forces. Right up to Tuesday, when he refrained from proclaiming victory and gave Gore the opportunity to once again make the concession he withdrew a month ago, Bush’s public veneer was gentlemanly and statesmanlike. On the other side, Gore fought a fight that badly needed championing. As long as there was any question about the results and fairness in Florida’s voting, he had no choice but to wage an uphill battle that was right, even if it wasn’t universally popular.
Now comes the even harder part. Bush must attempt to rally behind him a nation that barely made him president. Without popular mandate, Bush has his work cut out for him. The great debate over whether the Supreme Court erred by not letting a recount settle the issue, or if voters got what they deserved may never be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone. But it’s time to move on. As our next president, Bush should take with him the best wishes of even those who ardently opposed him.
