Editor, the News-Herald:

The election of 2004 could be characterized as the most important election in the last 40 years.

The candidates for this election were men of very similar backgrounds with basically the same positions.

Mr. Bush proved that he created the greatest political machinery since FDR.

He picked the greatest political mind since Martin Van Buren to run his operation, and by the wisdom of Karl Rove he was able to put himself in the most exclusive club on earth as a re-elected American President.

Mr. Bush is going into an administration with high deficits (with outsourcing, immigration, and Social Security, and etc), a war run a-mock, a smearing values debate that has the nation questioning its future, and a reshuffled cabinet that has lost some of the appearance of a good debate.

The president is presiding over a nation that is separated by red and blue. The interesting point to watch over the next four will be: will these colors battle and turn this nation black and blue, or will the President use his mandate to fulfill his original promise of being a starry uniter.

The opponent in this contest, in the words of Dr. Blass, was the worst possible candidate for a battered party who has not overcome the stain on the blue dress that has the red states ablaze. Mr. Kerry was unable to give the American people a clear understanding of a needed new direction.

He failed to see that many Americans were not as afraid of a terrorist, but of the possibility of having gay neighbors who would be able to adopt children who were not aborted. The poorly run campaign, and the attitude that he would do anything to get elected greatly hurt his chances of ever becoming president.

In the end, we have a President, who in the words of Bill Maher, for the first time in his life has to &uot;clean up his own mess.&uot;

The war in Iraq has not only hurt the creditability of the United States, but the office of the presidency itself.

Mr. Bush’s rush to judgment has over stretched not only the military, but also the weak economy that is losing soundness everyday.

On the social issues, we have a lame duck President who does not have the power to create reform in key areas like abortion, terrorist, and gay marriage.

The president stated in his RNC address that, &uot;we knew where he stood,&uot; but the question to Mr. Bush is &uot;do we really?&uot;

He has flipped-flopped several times on the reasoning of the war, and he has made too many promises to too many people.

The rise of conservatives was probably the most telling sign of this election.

We now have a president who has a Congress, and possibly a court under his control, but where is he going to lead them? The main problem in American politics is that the conservative Christians in America are making the mistake that many minorities have made with the Democratic Party.

They have sold their prophetic soul to a party just because they are &uot;pro-life and homophobic&uot; without questioning other major issues of the day.

Conservatives are going to have to realize that elections are more than abortion, and that we have a president who has his hands tied.

The president’s new agenda has made the war on terrorism his third objective, which is interesting since he proclaims himself as a wartime President.

We are now living in a time that the issues of our day have been tabled long enough.

We the people of the United States have many issues that we are holding now like a wolf by the ears.

The hope now for the nation is that those who elected this President will keep him accountable.

The conservative movement in America has finally received the answers to its prayers.

The question is: Will the conservatives watch, as well as pray?

Johnnie Edwards,

Suffolk