Bittersweet Victory

With last night's concession by Vice President Al Gore '69, the most tumultuous election of modern times finally came to an end. In an election that deeply divided the American people, Congress and the Supreme Court, Gore rightly fought to the end not only for his espoused campaign goals but also for every American's right to vote. He ran a strong and clean race, not merely resting on President Clinton's legacy of peace and prosperity but promising that more can be done to help America's least well-off.

Gore served his country honorably in Vietnam, spent 16 years in Congress and went on to serve two terms as one of the most influential and active vice presidents in the nation's history. He deserves to be proud of both his great contribution to this country and the campaign that has just ended. Indeed, Gore won the popular vote and received more votes than Clinton ever did.

This election will be remembered as the only presidential contest that has been essentially decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, an unfortunate end to this turbulent process. The Florida Supreme Court's decision should have stood; it alone is the highest judge of Florida's state laws. The U.S. Supreme Court, by intervening in this issue when it clearly could not come up with a convincing, one-sided decision, has not upheld its duty to impartially enforce the law. By the admission of the dissenting justices, the court may have permanently damaged its credibility as a nonpartisan institution.

Clearly, all of the legally-cast ballots in the state of Florida should have been counted; the willingness of both Republicans and Democrats to try to disenfranchise some voters through litigation was startling. In particular, the efforts of President-elect George W. Bush to prevent a statewide recount were disappointing. We believe that this intransigence was born out of a fear that a recount would show that the people of Florida actually chose Gore for the presidency.

These votes will eventually be counted, if not by Florida then by the media and historians. When they are, it is likely that Gore will have to endure the agony of knowing that he should have been president. At the same time, Bush's already-questionable legitimacy will be further tarnished.

But now, Bush will turn from the details of litigation to planning the intricacies of a new administration. The most important thing for him to do is to bind the nation's wounds from this election drama and to reunite the country. Bush, who has campaigned as a "uniter, not a divider," has the chance to make good on his promise.

Bush, who campaigned as a centrist, must stick to that platform when he enters the White House on Jan. 20. He will be confronted by an almost evenly-divided Congress and an evenly-divided electorate. As a show of good faith, Bush has demonstrated an eagerness to appoint Democrats to his Cabinet, which would be a step in the right direction. Democrats in Congress and across the nation should work with him on issues of mutual interest.

The travesties of this election drama will not quickly leave the collective American consciousness. Serious doubts over Bush's legitimacy, the impartiality of the Supreme Court and the basic functioning of our democratic process have been raised. They will not fade easily. But the one glimmer of hope that we can garner from the ebbing chaos is that these lingering questions should serve in the long run to improve our democracy and the functioning of the American government.