Democratic Senator John Kerry has called President George W. Bush to concede the U.S. election.Kerry ended his quest for the White House with a call to the president around 11 a.m. ET.
"Congratulations, Mr. President," Kerry reportedly said in the conversation that lasted less than five minutes.
But Kerry also told Bush that the nation was too divided and that we "really have to do something about it."
Bush agreed with the Massachusetts senator, who he called a worthy, tough and honourable opponent.
Bush may have agreed on the phone, but his record suggests that he won't be doing anything to unite the country any time soon. He's welcome to make a liar out of me, of course.
I'm surprised at the result and frankly I fear for the U.S. and for all of us. But at the same time there have been signs for the last year and a half that something is happening in American politics. The American right has spent 30 years and hundreds of millions of dollars building a massive infrastructure designed to amass and consolidate power. The left has only recently begun to get organized on the same scale but it's begun and my gut tells me that the people at the centre of that movement aren't about to roll over. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part but I don't think the real fight is over yet. For now I'll leave you with part of a post that Steve Gilliard wrote at two o'clock this morning.
It's as simple as this: we have to continue to fight. If Bush wins, and they're starting to call it for him in Ohio, we do not walk away, we do not quit and we do not surrender.Whether that's marching, or in court or in the next election cycle, we learn from our mistakes, and there is no Nader to blame this time, and move on.
And Kerry did his best, just like we all did. But sometimes your best will fall short. Remember, Nixon won in a landslide and he was was gone in two years.
I don't know what happened. Whether there was chicanery or not. I can't say. I watched it like you did. But we did our best.
Now, we build.
I wonder if Americans will have the heart or the will to keep on fighting -- they do not appear to have as strong a Democratic (big D) tradition as the Republicans do, so I worry that millions of democratic voters will just fade away now -- and Americans do love a winner, which is what Bush and all he represents now appear to be. And it doesn't sound like Bush will do anything other than continue and expand the radical right agenda. Pat Buchanan kept blathering during the campaign that Bush would get rid of his neocon advisors after the election -- I doubt it, but it will be interesting to see if he does.
The Republicans have had thier incentive to never give up. The filthy lucre at the end of that proverbial rainbow.