Abstract

Editorials

This editorial highlights some political issues in the U.S. and other countries. The ineffable good luck of George W. Bush seems to be faltering at last. The man became President by an electoral accident that resembled theft. His stock was sinking, his agenda stalled, when the tragedy of September 11, 2001 suddenly gave higher purpose to his Administration. A cheerful way to describe this shift in the political zeitgeist is to suggest that Americans are finally getting over the intimidating aftermath of September 11--recognizing that this country doesn't work very well when people expressing diverse views are browbeaten into silence by "patriots." Earthquake. Cataclysm. Electroshock. The 9/11 of French politics. These were the recurring terms that established political leaders of both left and right used to characterize the April 21 presidential elections in France--in which nearly one in five registered voters cast their lot with the two neofascist parties of the extreme right, and racist National Front leader Jean-Marie LePen edged past Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to become the sole candidate against conservative President Jacques Chirac in the May 5 runoff.