There are two ways of interpreting the midterm elections held in the United States on Tuesday, both of them valid. On the one hand, the Republicans did very well -- perhaps not better then expected, since they held the advantage going in, but certainly much better than the Democrats had hoped they would do. They now control both Houses of Congress and the White House. On the other hand, America remains a house evenly divided. When a couple of seats here can deliver the Senate, and a few electoral votes there can put a man in the White House, it is not much of a mandate for whoever "wins."
Tuesday's results did not change this underlying fact of recent U.S. politics. The clash between these competing perceptions of the 2002 elections will continue to affect the behavior of President George W. Bush's administration, the American public's reaction and, inevitably, the rest of the world for the next two years.
Politics is about numbers and symbols, and in both respects the Republicans came out ahead. The math speaks for itself. The GOP increased its majority in the House of Representatives and regained the Senate, bucking a midterm-election trend favoring the party that did not hold the White House. The Senate victory, in particular, may help the administration in coming battles over economic issues and Social Security.