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VOTER'S EXPECTATIONS FOR BUSH'S SECOND TERM
Written by Maria Elena Salinas   
Tuesday, January 25 2005
 
OK, the party is over. The parade, the balls, the pomp and circumstance are all yesterday's news. Now comes the real deal. It's time for President Bush's second term in office to begin, and all eyes -- the country's and the world's -- are on the White House. So, what do people expect from a second Bush administration? Well, polls are giving us an idea of what the majority of Americans would like to see happen in the next four years. Even though Bush won the election, in last week's Washington Post/ABC News poll, the majority of Americans disapproved of the way he is handling Iraq, the economy, Social Security, the budget deficit, immigration and health care. So it's no wonder that 55 percent expect Bush to do a better job as president than he did in his first term. These, of course, were yes-or-no answers to preconceived questions prepared by pollsters. So, I decided to ask a few voters who were not polled to tell me, in their own words, why they voted the way they did and what their expectations are. These are some of the answers I got. "I hope Bush finishes what he started in Iraq," Julio Blasques told me. After 25 years as a Democrat, he switched to the Republican Party and voted for Bush. "This country needs a strong party to be a world leader. Democrats are perceived as weak by other countries," he said. As a long-time employee of U.S. Airways, Blasques is hoping Bush's policies will help stimulate the economy. "Our company has declared bankruptcy twice, and we've taken a 21 percent pay cut," he said. Jorge Rivera has always voted Republican, and this election was no exception. "Bush inspired more confidence in me than Kerry in his ability to lead our country," he said. His main expectation is that the president will continue defending the country against terrorism. The Salvadoran-born immigration lawyer also feels that Bush is the best hope for foreigners in this country. "He began the year publicly committing himself to pushing ahead his immigration proposal in Congress in spite of the opposition," he recalled. "I hope he supports immigrants with a new law that will benefit them." Abdi Maya is not as optimistic. She said she voted for Kerry because he would give higher priority to issues that affect all Americans. "He supported access to health care for those who can't afford it, and higher education for all, including undocumented immigrants," she said. Her main reason for voting for Kerry is that "he woke up to the reality that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a mistake." The 25-year-old Mexican-American, who works for a nonprofit organization in Chicago, has low expectations for a new Bush administration. "A second Bush term will bring us more conflict and tension internationally. The gap between the rich and the poor will continue to grow, and health care and education will be more unattainable," she said. The economy is the main issue for Oscar Pineda, who runs a radio station in Orlando, Fla. Pineda voted for Kerry because he felt he would do a better job of stabilizing the economy, even though he did not consider Kerry the best candidate the Democrats could have picked. He's not sure what to expect from a second Bush term. "We're back to where we were in the early days of his (Bush's) first term," he said. "He has not kept his promises, he's done nothing to help the immigration problem, Iraq is turning into another Vietnam, and the economy is in bad shape. I've had to make the difficult decision to let go some of my employees," he said. Pineda also said he hopes that with this new opportunity, Bush will remember that "our future is in his hands, but only for four more years." Whether they voted for or against Bush, millions of Americans will find themselves impacted by what happens during the next four years. That's why all of us will be keeping a close eye on Bush's second term, wondering if all -- or any -- of our expectations will be met.