The people spoke, but Gore didn't hear them

ROGER FRANKLIN on the speech Bush could have made when he claimed victory

An excerpt from the high-school textbook, An Introduction to American History, published one hundred years from now in 2100.

Long after the 2000 presidential election, the result was still up in the air when Texas Governor George W. Bush delivered his "Austin Address."

Read the text of his speech and answer the questions that follow:

"My fellow Americans. Almost a month has passed since you left your homes, or stopped off after work, or got up early to do what the Founding Fathers would have wanted: you voted.

"About 97 million of you went to the polls that day and I want to thank all of you, even the ones who didn't cast your ballots for me. Still, I thank you all the same, even if you voted for Mr Gore. When we celebrated Thanksgiving last month, the spirit of democracy was at the head of every table.

"Yet here we are, so many weeks later, and none of us can be sure who will lead this nation for the next four years. It is a testament to the strength of our democracy that such an unprecedented situation has not led to civil strife. There have been angry words, and protests, and maybe a few frayed tempers around the water cooler, but so far we have held our peace. And that is indeed something for which we should give thanks.

"All the same, it is a dangerous situation. The stock market is losing ground, our allies are flabbergasted.

"The next President must take on onerous responsibilities, and time to prepare for them is slipping away. Yet here we are, trapped in an endless legal limbo. The people spoke but no one can hear them above the din of a thousand lawyers.

"Now it's true, as Mr Gore says, that he won more votes than I did across the country, and I won't deny that fact. About 270,000 more votes out of all those millions. It sure was a close-run thing, as a famous general once said.

"On election night, before Mr Gore first called me to concede, I was prepared to play by the rules and was gratified that he, too, proposed to live with the result. Only days before America voted, Mr Gore promised that, if he won the majority of states but lost the popular vote, he would regard his victory as entirely legitimate. Same here.

"But then Mr Gore withdrew his concession and, well, you all know where we have been ever since - arguing about pregnant chads, and hanging chads, and dimple chads, if you can believe it. And all the while suspicion grows. Tonight a friend told me I never really had a chance of a clear victory. The Florida Supreme Court that approved an extension on counting votes was composed entirely of Democratic judges, my friend said, two of them contributors to my opponent's campaign. Same for many of the other Florida judges who keep approving challenges and reviews.

"But I can't accept that. As an American, I can't accept that our courts have been poisoned by partisanship. If I were to accept that, then I would also have to believe that the dream of Washington and Jefferson has become a nightmare.

"Nor can I believe Mr Gore is aware that his legal operatives are trashing the absentee ballots of America's servicemen simply because those votes are more likely to go my way than his.

"What I have to tell myself is that Mr Gore must not be fully aware what is being done in his name, for no honorable man could countenance such a travesty. How could such a man aspire to be Commander-in-Chief of the very same servicemen he has stripped of their right to be heard?

"Yet somebody ordered those soldiers and sailors and airmen struck off.

"And that worries me. It worries me a good deal because it says the lust to win, not respect for democracy, is now the guiding force in this sad saga.

"Mr Gore has made much of so-called irregularities, and his lawyers have filed challenge after challenge, but only in those areas of Florida where his local victory was never in doubt.

"Mr Gore's mouthpieces say, 'Let's recount the whole state!' when he knows it is impossible. There is no time left. If we were to repeat the farcical Palm Beach recount across the entire state, Florida's delegates would never take their place in the Electoral College.

"So the number of votes separating us grows and shrinks with every recount, with every change of the rules, with every outrageous legal theory brought before the courts.

"And that is why I stand before you tonight: To plead with Mr Gore to review what is being done in his name.

"I ask you, Mr Gore, to call off your lawyers, to end the divisive tactics that can only embitter a nation and cloud the legitimacy of whichever of us ascends to the Oval Office.

"In short, I call on Al Gore to concede for the good of the country. I call on him to end, once and for all, his attempts to take the White House by stealth.

"And if he doesn't? Well, my choice is clear.

"I cannot stand idle as courts are defiled by suspicion and contempt. I cannot lead the country by dividing it. I cannot unite a nation by pursuing a course of action that must surely split it into the bitter, feuding factions the authors of our constitution so deplored.

"In short, if Mr Gore declines to end his post-election pursuit of the White House, I refuse to serve as your President. For the good of the country, I will not continue.

"What's it to be, Mr Gore?

"The decision is yours."

Questions: (a) Did Bush's speech shame Gore into abandoning his campaign to overturn the election?

(b) Given the economic downturn that began in earnest in 2001, a bitter and deadlocked Congress, and a level of escalating violence in the Middle East that defied both moderation and mediation, was the presidency worth winning in the first place?

(c) For bonus points: When Bush ran again, how much did this speech enhance his reputation as a statesman, and how much did it contribute to his victory over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2004?

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