Editorial: Now Bush should soften hard edge

At a first glance there appears little reason for George W. Bush, the re-elected President of the United States, to soften his uncompromising style during his second term in the White House. This time, he has been granted a clear mandate by the American people. And this time, the Republican Party's expanded majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate give him added wherewithal to push a stepped-up conservative agenda. In sum, Mr Bush has every incentive to view his win over Democratic Senator John Kerry as a vindication of the controversial and divisive policies of his first term.

The President's victory speech provided no indication that he saw it as such. Mr Bush said he would work to secure the support of Democrat voters. "A new term," he said, "is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation." Yet the President also talked of being a "uniter" after the 2000 election, only to pursue policies that entrenched divisions. If his second term follows the same path, Americans can expect further tax cuts, the possible part-privatisation of social security, the appointment of extreme conservatives to the Supreme Court and, perhaps, another bid to alter the constitution to ban gay marriages. Internationally, there would be a continuation of the doctrine of pre-emptive force and the unilateralist course that has so angered other nations.

President Bush's innate and unabashed conservatism, and the electoral debt he owes evangelical Christians, suggests there may be little change to domestic policy. A softening is not totally out of the question, however. Elections are cathartic events; it could just be that the further evidence of a deeply divided nation provided by this one spurs a semblance of compromise.

To an even greater degree, the continuation of a hard-edged foreign policy is not cast in stone. During their second terms, presidents often begin dwelling on their legacy and their imprint on history. The energy and ardour of the first term are replaced by a more contemplative approach. This was certainly the case with Ronald Reagan, a President with whom Mr Bush bears comparison. During his second term the anti-communist crusader became a statesman, negotiating important arms control pacts with the Soviet Union, a country he once described as the "evil empire".

Other factors could, equally, deter Mr Bush from a unilateralist approach. The challenges facing him are immense. Aside from the quagmire that is Iraq, there is the war on terror, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and nuclear headaches in North Korea and Iran. Iraq has already demonstrated the American military's manpower limitations. If he maintains the same approach, Mr Bush can expect little international support, in that country or elsewhere. Repairing frayed relations with traditional allies in Europe and building a new consensus are his best chances of garnering that backing - and of surmounting the multitude of challenges, and earning meritorious mention in the history books of the future.

It will not be long before it is possible to measure the President's intent. His selection of a new Cabinet will indicate if his pledge to mend bridges at home and abroad is little more than rhetoric. The likes of France and Germany, for example, would be totally disenchanted if Donald Rumsfeld were reappointed. And with some reason, given the way in which the Defence Secretary witheringly dismissed them as the "old Europe".

President Bush owes his re-election to Americans' patriotic fervour. He is the beneficiary of their decision to follow tradition by sticking with a wartime leader rather than trekking into the unknown. Beholden to no one he may be, but to him falls the responsibility for solving the many problems bred in his first term. To achieve that he must first accept that those problems, and a deeply divided nation, are the product of his Administration's mistakes. Secondly, he must recognise that if he does not change course, he is doomed to repeat those errors. Then, and only then, can George W. Bush hope to fashion a successful legacy.