Financial Times Editorial - A very good day for American democracy

Financial Times Editorial - A very good day for American democracy
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: November 8 2006 23:52 | Last updated: November 8 2006 23:52

It was, all in all, a satisfactory outcome. Americans have at last started to hold to account the Republican leadership and the administration of George W. Bush for their incompetence and disdain for the law, and for the way they have dragged America’s reputation through the mud and muddle of the Middle East.

The resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, the man most responsible for the Iraq fiasco, is a welcome sign that the administration also recognises there is such a thing as accountability. Under the stewardship of Mr Bush and his allies, democratic America has come to be regarded as a greater threat than theocratic Iran in most of the world. These elections should demonstrate that that perception is perverse, and that the checks and balances in the US system still work.

For all the gerrymandering, and in spite of the culture of extremism and intimidation fostered over the past five years, ordinary Americans have made clear they have had enough.

With Democrats in control of the House of Representatives and conceivably, by a whisker, the Senate, there could be policy gridlock. But much of the Republican legislative programme was already stalled anyway; the flagship of the Bush second term, Social Security reform, sank a good year ago. That other aims, such as making fiscally irresponsible tax cuts permanent, are now beyond reach is no bad thing.

The immediate pledges of Nancy Pelosi, the new (and first ever woman) Speaker of the House, for example to raise a minimum wage that has become manifestly inadequate or to end Republican repudiation of stem-cell research, are also mostly sensible.

But what remains to be seen, given how polarised US public life has become, is whether this most partisan of administrations can work with Democrats who, having clawed their way back from the political margins, must resist the temptation to settle scores.

The Democrat promise to restore congressional oversight of the executive, while much needed, could degenerate into pitched battles – especially over Iraq and the Middle East, where it is far from clear the Democrats have a more coherent policy to offer.

The next presidential campaign, moreover, will open in about a year. In that time, the Democrats have to establish credible leaders in the public mind. It would be disastrous if they sought to do so by pandering to the more populist elements of their constituency.

The protectionist wing of the party, for example, allied with those determined to deny Mr Bush even a residual legacy, is likely to vote against the renewal of the president’s “fast-track” trade negotiating authority.

That sort of response would be satisfying but self-destructive. What this vote has shown Americans are looking for is the vision and statesmanship that will restore the country’s confidence and reputation.