“Bush is in the lead, but not yet re-elected”, is the headline in Le Monde (4/11), which does not yet officially concede victory to Bush because “the final result is suspended pending completion of the vote count in Ohio”. In this regard, the French daily notes: “ This uncertainty might lead one to fear a legal tangle of the same kind that weighed over Florida in 2000″. As in previous elections, according to the analysis of Le Monde, “the country is divided into two parts: one comprising males, whites, rural people, the elderly and practising Christians, who voted for George Bush; and the other comprising women, ethnic minorities, city dwellers, the young and non-believers, who overwhelmingly supported John Kerry. Americans are deeply divided on values, but also on the war in Iraq and on the economy. There is only one difference: the Republicans once again will have succeeded in mobilising their electorate more effectively than did the Democrats”. “Kerry wholly concedes the elections to Bush”. That’s the headline with which the Herald Tribune (4/11) salutes the victory of George W. Bush in the American presidential elections, and his reconfirmation for another four-year term. “From beginning to end comments Todd S. Purdum analysing the vote this election revolved around George W. Bush, and he may claim that this victory has justified his policy, his tenaciousness, his personal qualities and his political strategy. He gambled that the electors would have shared a traumatic terrorist attack and the maintenance of alert through two wars, and he won”. “A vote with cultural implications” is the editorial that the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire (4/11) dedicates to the US elections. Marco Tarquinio writes: “The size of the vote expressed by the citizens of the USA is good news for the whole world… In the greatest democracy of our time scarred by the nightmare of terrorism and war millions and millions of citizens freely went to the ballot box once again… demonstrating that the serene and fascinating spectacle of a great people going to vote may do far more for the cause of the export of democracy than the attempts to implant it by force… and handing down to history an incontrovertible verdict”. In the view of the editorialist, “if there had not been such a mobilization, the re-confirmation of Bush would have been merely a victory. But, in this way, it has paradoxically ended up by assuming the dignity of a cultural ransom on which we need to reflect”. The citizens of the USA “have shown they are worried about the resistance of a system of non-transitory values… especially the defence of life and the family”. The US presidential elections also dominate the pages of the German press. What is called a “ cultural battle in America” is commented on by Matthias Rüb in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (4/11): “ The new President must be really a unifier and not a divider. It is an obligation that the American President has not only towards his people, but also towards the world“. Dieter Ostermann writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau comments: “ America, divided into two great cultural blocs, has chosen its conservative spirit. The nation is more divided at the cultural than at the political level. The two candidates, Bush and Kerry, personified this deep divide. In rural and religious environments, it’s more important for the electors to be in agreement with Bush on the major social questions than on the details of his policy. His electoral campaign was completely focused on this clientele. And it is possible that it was a decisive factor” in his victory. “ Now, Bush has a great responsibility“, says Torsten Krauel in Die Welt. “ that of unifying the country, giving it a new sense of measure and moderation…. But his party could consider that an extremist policy could guarantee its future. That represents a great risk for the second term. Bush can only consider himself safe, if he is able to rein back the more turbulent Republicans. God is also with the Democrats: a fact that some supporters of Bush have difficulty in accepting. But it is the only way of ensuring that America may once again become a nation proud of its unity without the political compartments that today divide it in so unhappy a way“.———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1338 N.ro relativo : 78 Data pubblicazione : 06/11/04
