> . "He thinks keeping us fearful about going to war will distract us > from how bad the economy is." > Sidi, Unfortunately, this statement sums it all up. As many Americans will tell you, Bush became "presidential" when he found something to latch on to, and unfortunately, it was the tragedy of 9/11. Americans were scared and rightly so, and he has played upon that fear since then, using it for political advantage. The democrats are afraid to be too vocal againse Bush's war tirades because they were not sure what their constituents would think of them, and the constituents have been afraid to oppose Bush because they were afraid of being accused of selling out and undermining the President should another 9/11 occur. So Bush has all of them captive. The economy is crumbling from the top down, with all sorts of corporate fraud and the overnight loss of pensions and savings by hard working Americans. Large businesses are closing their doors daily with thousands of people out of work overnight. I think that Bush thinks that a war will boost the economy because they have no other oprions to get the country out of the economic mess that it is in. However, I think that the public is now waking up to realize that they are being taken for a ride, and if a war were to ensue, they will not only find themselves in a more severe economic mess, but their children will be the sacrificial lambs being sent off to a war in which those being attacked may unleash all they have to fight back, not to mention the creation of more chaos not just in the Middle East but around the World. This article in the New York Times, asking the question of where the Democrats are is exactly the same thing that many have been wondering about. As a supporter of the Democratic Party, I look around and wonder who there is to successfully oppose George Bush in 2004, and I cannot think of anyone. I find myself wishing that Bill Clinton could run for the Presidency again.At least, the man was intelligent, and knew how to assemble a competent team and was willing to listen to and talk to people all over the World. Mr Gore I'm afraid is not the answer. He seems to have gone into hiding after the last election, and has just now started to surface every so many months to render a weak comment here and there. The rest of the Democrats are hostages to Bush's blackmail and do not want to be accused of being unpatriotic in this atmosphere where the banner of fear is being waved over the heads of Ameicans. One thing though Sidi, I trust the American public to figure the whole mess out and to stand their ground. Congressional Representatives as well as Senators all over the country have started to receive tons of mail from their constituents that they cannot affords to ignore. People are loosing jobs, pensions, savings, you name it daily, and they are begining to realize that the boat is sinking and these scare tactics that the Bush administration has been instilling in them is just a decoy for the real problems which they cannot fix nor do they seem to have any good ideas to tackle them. Even John MCcain has started to join the "let's rally behind the President" band wagon. The Democrats may have had a hope in John Kennedy Jr. but alas! he is gone, and I see no one to be a dynamic candidate for the Democrats in 2004. All of them seem to have been stricken with fear or a sudden loss for words when there is plenty to say regarding what the administration of George Bush is leading this country into. Jabou Joh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~