The concession speech by John Kerry and the victory address by President Bush brought home what was lost to America, and indeed the rest of the globe, yesterday. I’m biased (who isn’t), but I thought that Senator Kerry was eloquent in defeat and showed an emotional core that many accused him of lacking. (But I keep thinking of the exchange from Berthhold Brecht’s The Life of Galileo when the importance of charisma in politicians comes up. One character says “Pity the country that has no heroes.” To which Galileo responds, “Pity the country that needs them.” We still live in nations where it is more important whether we would like to share a beer with a politician than hear their policies. Hence the stubborn popularity of own incumbent, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern)In contrast, Bush’s “healing” speech was actually as divisive as ever, riddled with creepy coded phrases to his “base”. If I remember correctly, he talked about reforming the outdated tax laws (i.e. moving the burden of taxation from investment to income) and pledging to protect the family (ensuring that gay marriage will never happen). However, this story from ABC (via AndrewSullivan.com) suggests that imminent fiscal headaches could well put a crimp in the President’s swagger. We might find that the next four years could be spent trying to cure the hangover caused by the last four. Pundits keep popping up and pondering where exactly the Kerry campaign went wrong. I don’t think it went wrong anywhere–because there are only so many left-of-centre values you can sacrifice before you cease to offer real opposition.