HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush is basking in the results of last week's midterm elections. Bush's Republican Party increased its presence in Congress, an outcome that the president claims validates his policies and provides him with a mandate for the remaining two years of his term. Fears that the results herald a shift in U.S. policy are overblown.
While the president's domestic agenda may get a boost, there will be far more continuity than change in foreign policy. The U.S. is still too divided -- or to put it another way, the center is too strong -- to countenance radical change. Today the president and his party must worry that they have lost a scapegoat. If things don't go well, there is no one else to blame.
Traditionally, the president's party loses seats in Congress during a midterm election. This year the GOP reclaimed control of the Senate by winning two seats and expanded its majority in the House of Representatives. Now Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, share the distinction of being the only presidents since 1934 whose party increased its number of seats in Congress after midterm ballots.