Thrill of Victory, Agony of Defeat

Max Boot’s comparison of George W. Bush’s reelection and that of William McKinley in 1900 (Commentary, Nov. 4) overlooks some very important facts. First, with a handful of exceptions, the states Bush carried were not the ones McKinley carried. McKinley’s victory came from the industrial Northeast and Midwest and the West Coast.

William Jennings Bryan, the Bible-beating populist, carried the solid South, the Great Plains and most of the Rocky Mountain states. Moreover, McKinley, a devoted pacifist, had to be dragged against his will into the Spanish-American War while most of his advisors and the public (led on by the press) clamored for war.

The Bush constituency is more or less that of Bryan’s, not McKinley’s. To say otherwise is to denigrate the record of a truly great (if a somewhat underappreciated one in our own time) president.

If you are going to compare presidents, let’s compare Bush with the warmongering, polarizing, expansionistic, divisive, financially irresponsible, intellectually inept Andrew Jackson, the biggest jerk, second to this one, to ever occupy the White House.

Lenard Davis

Newport Beach

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Boot’s commentary was smug in his lines regarding the Left Bank of Paris and Westside of Los Angeles and progressives in general. Tens of millions in the U.S. do not agree with Bush’s agenda and will not simply roll over. As Margaret Carlson (“A Grim Study in Red and Blue”) stated on the same page, 51% is not a mandate of any kind. So-called values aren’t morals; they are perspectives. And I share none of that with those people, yet they will not deny me my right to also call myself an American.

Darryl Morden

Valley Village

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The Carlson subheading asks, “What kind of mandate is a win of only 51%?” It is much more of a mandate than President Clinton ever had. As “popular” as he was, Clinton did not get more than 50% of the popular vote in either of his elections. Bush is the first president to win more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988. President Bush won the national popular vote by more than 3.5 million. Bush broke the all-time popular vote record; he got more votes than Ronald Reagan. It is time for people to give the man the credit that is due to him.

Judy Herbst

Beverly Hills

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Re Carlson’s article: A 51% win is infinitely more of a mandate than a 48% loss. John Kerry lost, so get over it!

Charles Sims

Buena Park

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I despise Bush, everything he stands for, and always will. It galls me no end to realize he now has the opportunity to appoint another snake-like William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court. But, unlike 2000, where he had to resort to undemocratic machinations to steal the office, he ran a tough, fair campaign. My side had four full years to try to convince a majority that our point of view was more worthwhile and, let’s face it, failed pretty convincingly. A several-million vote margin in the popular vote is an impressive victory and I congratulate him. The people have spoken.

Mark Diniakos

Thousand Oaks

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In the end, cultural issues triumphed over economic ones for those voters who handed Bush a second term. They voted overwhelmingly against their own economic interests because they found in Bush a kindred spirit. They ignored the bloodletting in Iraq, the deficit, the outsourcing of jobs, the trashing of the environment and the plight of the uninsured that voters supporting Kerry saw as pivotal in this election.

If the Democratic Party is to remain competitive in the future as a viable alternative, it must present traditional liberal values in terms that are palatable and understandable to those people of faith who voted Republican.

Edward C. Bayan

Northridge

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The mandate given to Bush is overwhelming. He received the largest majority vote, surpassing Clinton’s or John F. Kennedy’s percentage. The media are still finding it hard to accept. They should get over the bashing of Bush and give him and the majority in America that voted for him their fair due.

Family and moral values are very much alive. Bush’s firmness on defending democracy has won him a second term. It is time for the liberals and far left to come to the center of America.

So, L.A. Times, get with it. California, with its Hollywood, will not define or bring America down.

John Krikorian

Glendale

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Democrats have reasons to be sad, but they can also be proud. We have remained true to our core values of charity, justice, fairness and love. Our values echo those of all the great spiritual and religious traditions, and we must never abandon those for electoral victories.

And even though we are now in the minority in this country, even though many of our neighbors define values very differently than we do, we can still hold our heads high. As long as you remain on the side of faith, there is always hope.

Ken Lanxner

San Clemente

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Bush tells Kerry’s supporters, “I need your support and I will work to earn it.” Watch what I do, not what I say. Vice President Dick Cheney’s soft words speak louder and truer: “We have a mandate.”

Bob Wieting

Simi Valley

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Pundits tell us a key to Bush’s victory was that Americans believed he, rather than Kerry, would do a better job keeping us safe from terrorism. Yet the Americans most likely to be victims of terrorism, i.e., those in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago, voted overwhelmingly for Kerry. There’s nothing like imminent danger to focus the mind and put one’s priorities in order.

Daniel Hinerfeld

Cynthia Lynch

Santa Monica