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By constantly reminding Americans that the country is still at war and by launching a fierce campaign to portray himself as a strong, resolute leader and determined to win the war on terrorism, incumbent President George W. Bush eventually wins the hard-fought re-election.
Bush won the second term of four years after his Democratic presidential opponent John Kerry conceded defeat on Wednesday morning.
Throughout the election campaign, the Bush team has been playing the anti-terror card by portraying Bush as a strong, decisive leader on the anti-terror war, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and leveled the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Consequently, Bush scored his approval ratings as high as 92 percent after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Americans will go to the polls in a time of war and ongoing threat to our country. The enemies who killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and determined to strike us again," Bush said during an election campaign in Pennsylvania on Oct. 22.
As the president and commander in chief of the country, Bush repeatedly vowed that he will never waver and wilt and will use every asset at disposal to defeat the terrorists.
The Democrats have accused the Bush campaign of taking advantage of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and applying "scare politics."
Citing threats of terror attacks, the Bush administration raised the threat level for the financial centers in New York and Washington in early August, only to be exposed by the media that the Bush administration was relying on out-of-date intelligence.
However, the strategy, though controversial, has been effective as a majority of Americans consider homeland security as their top concern. Tough speeches and commercial ads by the Bush team make most Americans believe that Bush can protect them better than Kerry.
Bush's re-election shows that a successful campaign by the Bush team to put homeland security and war on terrorism as the top priority in the face of worsening US economy and the outsourcing of American jobs.
A poll by the CNN in mid-October showed that 62 percent of those surveyed said Bush can better handle the issue of homeland security, while only 35 percent said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry could be better than Bush.
The Bush team has successfully described Kerry as a man who constantly wavers and changes positions and is not competent for the task of protecting the United States.
"I do not see how you can lead this country in a time of war, in a time of uncertainty if you change your mind because of politics," Bush said during his second debate with Kerry at the Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri on Oct. 8.
Bush has accused Kerry of voting in favor of the Iraq war in late 2002 and several months later saying the Iraq war as the "wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" with an eye to the presidential election.
By defending his decision to launch the Iraq war, Bush has taken pains to connect the Iraq effort with the war on terrorism, although the United States has failed to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the major excuse for Bush to go to war with Iraq.
"Iraq is a central part of the war on terror," Bush said during his first debate with Kerry at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, accusing Kerry of failing to understand the nature of the war on terrorism.
"A free Iraq will be an ally in the war on terror, and that is essential. A free Iraq will set a powerful example in the part of the world that is desperate for freedom. A free Iraq will help secure Israel. A free Iraq will enforce the hopes and aspirations of the reformers in places like Iran. A free Iraq is essential for the security of this country," Bush said at that time.
Bush and Kerry have been blasting each other over Iraq with Kerry branding the Iraq war as a dangerous diversion from the war on terrorism.
Suggesting Kerry will be weak and America will be vulnerable to terrorists under a Kerry presidency, the Bush campaign launched a TV ad that shows prowling wolves in a forest and says "weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm" in the final weeks before the Nov. 2 election.
The Bush team apparently hopes to the successful model on Ronald Reagan's Soviet "Bear" ad that was credited with helping frame the 1984 presidential race and achieved the same remarkable result. Bush advisers have said the tactic proved to be quite effective.
Despite the effective tactics, because of the severe disputes on the Iraq war, the deteriorating of the US economy and employment, the race was a still dead heat in the final week before the Nov. 2 election and opinion polls showed Bush and Kerry were tied in public support.
Although Bush wins re-election, he now faces the painful task and an uncertain future of uniting the Americans and winning the war on terrorism that he has promised to win. Whether a second Bush administration will be able to do that remains to be seen.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2004)
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