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The Rice Thresher
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Michael Nalepa opinion editor If there was one thing made abundantly clear in this presidential election, it's that everyone's vote counts. And though I'm not too happy that I've stayed up until 4 a.m. to see who the next president will be (it's Wednesday and I still do not have an answer), I think this election shows that our system still works. Well, maybe not entirely. The U.S. presidential election was neck and neck, with some spreads differing by merely a few thousand votes. This could indicate that America was deeply divided on whether they wanted Al Gore or George W. Bush in the White House. It could also show that they saw so little difference between the two that they couldn't make up their minds. Another question raised is whether or not the electoral college still works. As I write this, Gore has the popular vote, which isn't supposed to mean anything. However, Bush still has a slight lead in Florida. If he hangs on to that advantage, he wins the election even with several hundred thousand fewer votes than Gore across the nation. If things stay this way, there is no doubt many people will angrily call for changes in our system of voting, possibly with good reason. A Gore victory that is really a loss would get people up in arms, just as the opposite scenario for Bush would have many calling for blood. Maybe reform isn't such a bad idea. But maybe the electoral college isn't the best place to start. Why not first look at how the media covered the election? Every single TV news station jumped the gun and gave Gore Florida, then took it back, then gave Florida to Bush and then took it back again. I was surprised that even stations that had been playing it safe the entire night fell victim to hasty predictions when it came to the Sunshine State. Probably does not equal certainty, and the Florida race was anything but a sure thing at any point. On the other hand, it made for some interesting TV. The election coverage was like watching a football game with a flip-flopping lead, play-by-play announcers and a little score box in the bottom right hand of the screen. CNN even pulled out the neon yellow marker and marked up voter concentrations on a map of Minnesota. This will probably go down as one of the strangest elections in history, and not just because we still do not have a president-elect the day after the election. New Yorkers elected the current first lady to the Senate. Missouri residents elected a dead man to fill a Senate seat. Houstonians decided to build an arena to replace a structure that is only twenty years old. Why is it that neither presidential candidate was able to capitalize on some aspect of this election and win outright? I think the fact that they both did almost the same thing throughout the entire campaign pretty much explains it. How did Gore not easily defeat Bush, considering the strong state of the union right now? I think the culprit might be Gore's reluctance to ask for President Clinton's help. Gore's strategists, who right now must be feeling oh-so-smart, said the scandal-ridden president would hurt Gore's image. Ouch. Hurt Al Gore's image? Clinton helped make Al Gore's image. Plus, Clinton still enjoys a 61 percent approval rating. By not standing by Clinton during his scandal and after, Gore showed something akin to an indirect betrayal. There is something to be said about abandoning a sinking ship, but sometimes you have to stand by the people who helped you rise to the top even when they screw up big time. Either way, we will have a president-elect at some point. And even with things being as close and as crazy as they were, the transition will probably be peaceful and the losing party will most likely be back to fight again. Our election process works after all. Well, sort of. Michael Nalepa is opinion editor and a Lovett College senior.
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