The Talk of the Town

“Kerry’s mettle has been tested under fire – the fire of real bullets and the political fire that will surely not abate but, rather intensify if he is elected – and he has shown himself to be tough, resilient, and possessed of a properly Presidential dose of dignified authority. While Bush as pandered relentlessly to the narrowest urges of his base, Kerry has sought to appeal broadly to the American center. In a time of primitive partisanship, he has exhibited a fundamentally undogmatic temperament. In campaigning for America’s mainstream restoration, Kerry has insisted that his election ought to be decided on the urgent issues of our moment, the issues that will define American life for the coming half century. That insistence is a measure of his character. He is plainly the better choice. As observers, reporters, and commentators we will hold him to the highest standards of honesty and performance. For now, as citizens, we hope for his victory.”

The editors, The New Yorker, 1 de Novembro

“Here in the bluest borough of the bluest city of the bluest state in all our red-white-and-blue American Union, it has not been a happy week. A cocktail of emotions was being felt in these parts after last week’s Presidential election, and the most potent ingredient was sadness. We’ve got the blues, and we’ve got’em bad.”

“Along with the sadness and puzzlement, there is apprehension. Here in the big coastal cities, we have reason to fear for the immediate safety of our lives and our families – more reason, it must be said, than have the residents of the “heartland”, to which the per-capita bulk of “homeland security” resources, along with extra electoral votes, are distributed. It was deep-blue New York (which went three to one for Kerry) and deep-blue Washington, D.C. (nine to one Kerry), that were, and presumably remain, Al Qaeda’s targets of choice. In the heartland, it is claimed, some view the coastal cities as faintly un-American. The terrorists do not agree. They see us as the very essence – the heart, if you like – of America. And, difficult as it may be for some rural gun owners to appreciate, many of us sincerely believe that President Bush’s policies have put us in greater peril than we would be facing under a Kerry (or a Gore) Administration.”

“There is apprehension that the anti-Bush sentiments that are manifest throughout much of the world will now transmute into fully fledged anti-Americanism. The governments of our estranged European allies, led by reality-based statesmen, will do their best to accommodate the practical fact of a second Bush term. But these are, after all, democratic countries, and their publics not be so patient or so sensible."

Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker, 15 de Novembro