Mr George Bush has won a clearcut, outright victory in the US presidential election, capturing a majority of the popular and electoral college vote on a substantially increased turnout.
His Republican Party has won a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and did well in contests for state governers. His campaign was undoubtedly more effective and better organised than the Democratic one, which depended more on voters' hostility towards Mr Bush than enthusiasm for Mr John Kerry. The Democrats face a searching analysis of this failure, which restricts its support to coastal urban regions and reduces its influence in the southern states.
This victory for Mr Bush must be recognised as real and lasting internationally as well as at home in the US. Mr Bush's many opponents will have to learn how to live with its consequences over the next four years and adjust their behaviour and policies accordingly. Mr Bush himself faces a major challenge in deciding whether his domestic and foreign policies will be marked more by continuity than change. The radical conservatism of his first term has great potential to stoke opposition and conflict at home and abroad.
Mr Bush now has a mandate to implement the policies on which he campaigned and which formed the core of his first term in office. They include lower taxes; more privatisation of US healthcare systems; opposition to abortion, gay marriages and support for traditional moral values inspired by evangelical Christian movements; vigorous prosecution of a war against terrorism and the war in Iraq; and a commitment to pre-emptive action abroad, unilaterally if necessary, to head off grave threats to US security before they materialise on its soil. Mr Bush's strong record on security after the 9/11 events in 2001, and palpable public fears that they may be repeated, were the critical factors encouraging new voters to support him. So were the moral values on which he placed such a strong emphasis.
Asked five years ago what lessons he would draw from his father's White House experience, Mr Bush said he had learned that if you have political capital, you should spend it. While he spoke in favour of a compassionate conservatism after his election, the policies he actually introduced were radical and divisive. His instinct may well be to continue that course. Much will depend on who he appoints to senior posts and whether the neo-conservatives keep their influential role in foreign policy.
Ireland and other European states will now have to adjust to these new political realities. As the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said yesterday, the Government has worked well with the Bush administration on Northern Ireland and prefers some of its economic policies to those of Mr Kerry. At their summit meeting in Brussels today and tomorrow European Union leaders will take the measure of this clearcut result and begin the task of responding to it. This will demand a major adjustment in transatlantic relations over the next four years.