Big Papers Salute Bush, Warn of ‘Tawdry Campaign’ Fallout

Several big newspapers congratulated George Bush on his election victory but said he faces tough problems made even more difficult by the negative tone of the presidential campaign.

The Boston Globe said in an editorial: “The 41st President will face complicated issues, foreign and domestic. . . . Bush’s task, however, is complicated by his campaign. He needs to move immediately to allay concerns about his leadership qualities caused by tawdry campaigning.”

The New York Times called Bush’s victory “a transforming triumph of brutal, calculating politics.”

“What personal price has Mr. Bush paid for running so slashing a campaign? And how high a political price will he have to pay?” it asked.

The Detroit News said the Democratic-controlled Congress, “embittered at losing an election thought to be an almost certain Democratic victory a few months ago, isn’t likely to extend much of a political honeymoon to Mr. Bush.”

But it also said Bush “has earned a mandate to begin carving out his own agenda--if he will move quickly and forcefully to do so.”

The Boston Globe, recalling one of Bush’s campaign themes, said: “We are as eager as the rest of the country for the ‘kinder, gentler nation’ he promised.”