Post Scripts: All this due to two brats

A statistical improbability will give America some headaches, even a constitutional crisis at worst, and a leadership crisis at best. Let’s hope the best candidate wins because the danger our election poses is that it could question the legitimacy of the presidency. Since the president is our chief agent of U.S. foreign policy, this could destabilize the international system.

How did we get into this mess? American citizens went to the polls, the turnout was unexceptional, the campaign not the most enlightening we’ve experienced. Truth is, Bush and Gore agreed in more ways than they disagreed. This election will be remembered not for the "smarts" it displayed but for the closeness of the popular vote. However, the popular vote does not elect the president.

The founders of America created an "Electoral College" because they distrusted ordinary citizens to elect a president directly. So they created this "council of elders" to select a new president. They recognized the U.S. is a diverse land with varied interests and not a homogeneous entity. Certain groups are not large but remain essential to the nation, like farmers. They are vital in proportion to their small number, but if the political system responded only to size, their interests might be ignored. The Electoral College design forces national candidates to pay attention to rural interests because farmers control at least some electoral votes.

So, the system we know so little about has its uses. It also forces attention on matters of local importance in all areas of the nation. If only the popular vote counted, America would now be facing a national recount and facing a national orgy of recrimination. The electoral system has built-in damage control which the nation needs right now.

As uncomfortable as the situation which developed last week is, a special election in West Palm Beach to select a new president is too wacky to consider. It would be better to move the White House to Disney World. America is not upset because of a close election; it is upset because we may never know which way the vote went in one Florida area town. The election turned on such a trivial matter as "Did 100 pencils actually punch completely through a ballot card?"

An arithmetic oddity has placed us in a leadership crisis, on the edge of a possible constitutional crisis, and could create a crippled presidency. While the courts can declare a clear winner, they cannot anoint a leader. Whether the new president will have the legitimacy needed to govern with authority is unclear. Only if the House and Senate band together to guarantee his authority will he be able to function.

This will matter more to the rest of the world than us. The president can lead, but no one has to follow – America is a free country. The place where the president has tremendous authority is foreign policy. The scars left by this election will most affect the new president in his effort to conduct foreign policy, thus affecting the rest of the world more than us. At a time when other great powers are rising to challenge us, I suspect this weird election will come under scrutiny in China, Russia, the Mideast and North Korea. You can bet the new president will be tested.

Little wonder the headlines reflect confusion and distrust. We will surely survive this ordeal, but not without discomfort, and millions wishing they had voted differently. The impact on foreign policy remains unclear – and that, my friends, will worry the world. All this because of two spoiled brats.