The Republican candidate for the Senate in the state of Virginia, George Allen accepted his loss. The loss of the Republicans was very painful and symbolic. Nobody expected George Allen to win. He was considered as one of the strongest candidates for the 2008 U.S. presidential elections. Currently, the strongest Republican “presidential candidate” has lost. For the first time since 1994, the Democrats form a majority in the House of Representatives and they had 51 votes against 49 in the Senate, where Jim Webb won George Allen.
It’s worth mentioning that in his final speech at the end of his electoral campaign, Allen said that he still has political ambitions. He accepted his loss because he respected the decision of the citizens of Virginia. Democrat Webb won with a very small difference in votes and Allen could have protested the results of the elections. However, as he said, “that would be a waste of the money paid by taxpayers and the electoral campaign would turn into a fight between enemies.” Allen introduced his wife Susan and daughter Brook to the journalists. “May God continue to bless Virginia and America,” said Allen in closing.
The first proof of the Democrats’ victory was indeed the resignation of Donald Rumsfield. Bush sacrificed Rumsfield and he was criticized a lot. A couple of days before the elections, the unprecedented union of the American military presses announced that they demanded the resignation of the defense secretary for not taking control of the situation and even the general didn’t agree with his decisions. The Democrats’ victory proved that Donald Rumsfield, who was beside Bush since his first days at the Pentagon, the ideologist of the Iraq war and the godfather of the new American military doctrine, lost. However, it’s absurd to expect dramatic changes in U.S. politics. The White House is in the hands of the Republicans and Bush has already announced that America will continue the war in Iraq. As to how intensive the war will be and what the future holds, that’s a different story. This will be the topic for discussion for the Democrats and the Republicans. For the next two years, the two parties are going to be very careful. If the Democrats decide to go against the White House, then the Republicans can say that the Democrats simply won in the Senate and didn’t do anything but bother us when it comes time for the U.S. presidential elections. On the other hand, if the Republicans go against working with the Democrats, then that will be the principal accusation against the Bush administration. So, an interesting political game awaits.
The new figures of U.S. politics are the new president of the Senate Democrat Nancy Polosi and the new head of the Pentagon Robert Gates. Polosi has already met with President Bush. When it was already clear that the Democrats were going to form a majority in the Senate, they announced that in contrast to the Republicans, they were going to work with the Republicans. They expect to see the White House take a new course in the Iraq war. The Democrats won as a result of the ineffective discussions on the Iraq war and this is their main issue; they have to pay attention to this two years later during the U.S. presidential elections.
What are the Republicans going to do? Is the removal of the defense secretary really a cosmetic solution, or is it a new way of fighting against terrorists? Robert Gates is considered as the most influential figures of the Republican elite. The former rector of the Texas university is an agent, he has worked at the National Security Agency for 27 years where he has served four presidents, starting from Jimmy Carter. Gates has been the adviser to the senior Bush on security issues and is considered as a close friend to the Bush family. He has even founded a management school named after Bush at the Texas University. He is a great community servant. By starting his career at the CIS as a young worker, in 1991-1993 he went on to become the executive director of the CIS. Rumor has it that after the reelection of junior Bush Gates was offered to be the chief secretary of the National Security Council, however he rejected. The experienced and influential Gates is not in a good situation because he is the one who has to try to save the Republicans, Bush and his administration from the future criticisms and crisis.
In fact, Gates’ topic for becoming a candidate of this field was the Soviet Union. He knows very well about Russia and the former CIS countries. That’s why it’s quite possible that there will be some accuracy made in U.S. military/political approaches.
Today, the U.S. is in the center of attention of the whole world. Even the changes in the internal affairs of the U.S. may have a direct influence on countries and even regions. Currently, the president of Mexico is in Washington. The White House wants to create more pragmatic relations with Mexico. That’s why the U.S. is constructing a wall (literally speaking) on the south border. The illegal immigration of Latin Americans and Mexicans is the number one social issue of the U.S. As for Armenian Americans and Armenian-American organizations, it’s hard to say what kind of relations they will have with the Senate. It was evident that the Armenian organizations were closer with the Democrats. But that was at a time when the Democrats were oppositionists. Currently, they represent the U.S. legislative branch of government. Only time will show how the future activities of the new political establishment will be.