It would be wildly inaccurate to report that Londoners danced in the streets.
Even Number 10 Downing Street, home of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, remained quiet. Ritual phone calls of congratulation were made to the White House. A short statement was nervously read out to the cameras.
But this country, still your greatest ally, is nervous this morning.
We have an instinctive fear of politicians with invulnerable majorities. Tony Blair's own political party, Labour, already has such a tight numerical grip on the British Parliament that every legislative vote is a foregone conclusion. Big issues are still debated. But big majorities spell Government by decree. That's not healthy. It means there is no effective opposition. It demoralises political rivals, because they can't alter events. And it discourages the press from reporting politics.
What's the point, goes the argument, nobody will be interested. And then the proof emerges in our own elections. Because nobody much is interested anymore. Most voters, over here, don't even bother to go to the polls.
So, yes, we're amazed by your election result. And we're anxious too. We distrust moral majorities. We don't want your President pushed into any more extreme crusades. Or, rather, many of us don't want to be dragged along in the wake of them. This, of course, is a time-limited anxiety.
The British way allows Prime Ministers to seek re-election three times, four times, in theory any number of times, sometimes way beyond their sell-by dates. Tony Blair will try for a third-term next year. Margaret Thatcher might still be running now, if her own political friends hadn't kicked her out. But at least your constitution guarantees George Bush's certain retirement date.
It is said that American Presidents try to make friends in their first term and then history in the second. I guess that's what we're really scared of now.
By Ed Boyle
Election Comment From London
/ CBS
It would be wildly inaccurate to report that Londoners danced in the streets.
Even Number 10 Downing Street, home of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, remained quiet. Ritual phone calls of congratulation were made to the White House. A short statement was nervously read out to the cameras.
But this country, still your greatest ally, is nervous this morning.
We have an instinctive fear of politicians with invulnerable majorities. Tony Blair's own political party, Labour, already has such a tight numerical grip on the British Parliament that every legislative vote is a foregone conclusion. Big issues are still debated. But big majorities spell Government by decree. That's not healthy. It means there is no effective opposition. It demoralises political rivals, because they can't alter events. And it discourages the press from reporting politics.
What's the point, goes the argument, nobody will be interested. And then the proof emerges in our own elections. Because nobody much is interested anymore. Most voters, over here, don't even bother to go to the polls.
So, yes, we're amazed by your election result. And we're anxious too. We distrust moral majorities. We don't want your President pushed into any more extreme crusades. Or, rather, many of us don't want to be dragged along in the wake of them. This, of course, is a time-limited anxiety.
The British way allows Prime Ministers to seek re-election three times, four times, in theory any number of times, sometimes way beyond their sell-by dates. Tony Blair will try for a third-term next year. Margaret Thatcher might still be running now, if her own political friends hadn't kicked her out. But at least your constitution guarantees George Bush's certain retirement date.
It is said that American Presidents try to make friends in their first term and then history in the second. I guess that's what we're really scared of now.
By Ed Boyle