Our United States of America, the bastion of democracy, was the center of world 
attention during our most recent presidential election.   If anything, it showed us that even 
as a great democracy, our overall system for casting ballots still leaves a lot to be desired.


The loser, Al Gore, received the majority of the popular votes, yet the winner, George W. 
Bush, won the electoral vote by a plurality of only 537 votes.  Statistically, the numerical 
difference was so close that after weeks of legal challenges, recounts, and an almost 
equally divided Supreme Court, George W. Bush was awarded the victory, making him 
the first U.S. President to be elected in the new millennium.


According to the statisticians, a fraction over 50% of the voting public turned out during 
the election.  And even though the final monetary tally isn’t in yet, it was estimated that 
the two major parties spent a total of 1.3 billion dollars in soft and hard currency for their 
campaigns.


And as for the voters themselves, it was the victorious Republicans who ended up 
celebrating.  And as for the losing Democrats, they wound up with a hodgepodge of 
mixed emotions coupled with cries for new laws regarding soft money and voting reforms 
along with many demonstrations of protest.


In any case, the inauguration is over and only time will tell how effective George W. 
Bush will be as President.   As to his past, he was a carousing alcoholic during his student 
years, all of his ventures into business failed, he didn’t hold a paying job until he was 40 
years old, he gained political prominence as the Governor of Texas, and he now claims to 
be a ‘"teetotaling" pro-Life advocate who doesn’t dance.   The President of the United 
States of America -- the single most powerful individual on earth.   How good a president 
will he be considering the questioning circumstances regarding his past and his marginal 
electoral victory?   As I said earlier, only time will tell.    However, I, along with most 
Americans, wish him well with the hope that he fulfills most of his campaign promises, 
including the recognition by our U.S. Government, of the 1915 Genocide of our 
Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.   .


As far as I’m concerned, both of our major political parties could have selected more 
formidable candidates, but the only true ‘Litmus Test’ is in a president’s track record.  
Interestingly, during the 1999 campaigns, the following example was being offered over 
the Internet:


Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had eight kids already, three 
were deaf, two were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you 
recommend that she have an abortion?


Question 2: It is time to elect a world leader, and your vote counts.  Here are the facts 
from the three leading candidates:


Candidate A:  Associates with crooked politicals and consults with astrologists.  He’s had 
two mistresses, he’s a chain smoker, and drinks eight to ten martinis a day.


Candidate B:   He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in 
college, and drinks a quart of whiskey each evening.


Candidate C:  He is a decorated war hero.  He is a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks an 
occasional beer, and hasn’t had any extramarital affairs.  Which candidate would you 
choose?


Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler


And, by the way, the abortion question -- if you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.   
Well, folks!  Judging from the above, President George W. Bush’s term in office looks 
very promising.  And oh, by the way, President William J. Clinton’s term in office wasn’t 
all that bad either.  Can you imagine how much better off we’d be if we picked all of our 
candidates from those serving time in penitentiaries?   What’s more, we should pass laws 
forbidding syphilitic women from getting abortions.


Joseph Vosbikian