Pity the poor UK Guardian, which tried valiantly to stick its nose into our election but wound up only irritating the very people it hoped to influence into voting for John Kerry. Now that George Bush has been re-elected for a second term, these die-hard leftists have reacted true to form -- they are immersing themselves in their own victimization:

When, some time after midnight, news came through that the exit-polls for Virginia were too close to call - a sure sign, we'd been warned, that Bush was in trouble - there was exhilaration of an intensity not felt since Stephen Twigg unseated Portillo. We were going to win!

The first email I received the following morning read: "F****d off, dejected, our hopes have been blown to shit."

The next one read: "As REM once sang: 'It's the end of the world as we know it.' Only unlike REM, I don't feel fine."

At around 11am, shock gave way to group therapy through shared experience: "The time difference was particularly cruel on Brits, who yet again went to bed thinking the Democrats had won." This was from a friend of a friend. "Did anyone else hear supposed-polling guru Bob Worcester say something on ITV along the lines of, 'I'm Bob Worcester, it's 2am, and I am calling it - it's PRESIDENT KERRY!'? A real bloody Michael Fish moment."

Please read the entire article; for parents, it's somewhat similar to the frequent life-isn't-fair-and-it's-all-your-fault whining that appears with remarkable frequency with pre- and post-adolescents. Emma Brockes throws everything into this jumbled stream-of-consciousness mess, including a healthy share of psychobabble:

This sense of powerlessness was also raised by American psychologists, who, anticipating high levels of disgruntlement among voters, were on standby yesterday to analyse the fallout. Dr Robert R Butterworth advised those individuals who felt depressed and despondent to take refuge in the long view, and warned of likely displays of "anger towards the electoral process, [that could] could result in alienation, cynicism and even antisocial activities".

Not to burst Brockes' self-involved bubble, but Americans don't hold elections to validate her existence or to make her feel better about life. Americans hold elections in order to determine the direction our government will take. While her concern about us is touching, perhaps she'd be better off worrying about British elections a bit more and dialing down the Armageddon references just a bit.

Brockes mentions that Americans got into the partisan pity party in their own effort to assuage liberal Brit depression:

At lunchtime, friends from America woke up and joined the chorus. With a defeated sneer, the Brits among them threatened to move home in protest; it isn't hard to imagine a Republican reply to this. "There's going to be a brain drain from this country which will leave the Red-State [Republican] morons to fend for themselves," wrote an American on the Guardian talk-boards. "I wonder what the immigration requirements are like in the UK?"

A friend in New York wrote: "The one consolation that people are clinging to is that he will fuck things up so badly in the next four years that the Democrats will move back into favour. That's if we still have a world." People in the city, he said, were wondering, "How we are going to survive the next four years. Unbelievable." I rang my cousin in Chicago. "I'm good," she said. "Well, no, actually, not great." The hope thing had prospered there, too. "We thought we were going to win. Bruce Springsteen ... the youth vote ... "

Can't you feel their pain as they realize, maybe for the first time in their lives, that life isn't a rock song and The Boss isn't God? The horror! No wonder they're so depressed.

However, Brockes' article does point out yet another reason to be grateful for Bush's re-election. In an age of war against Islamofascist aggression, the left's tendency to curl up in a ball and contemplate complete abdication from responsibility for their setbacks perfectly demonstrates why they cannot be trusted with command, and for that matter, why their criticisms so often wax hysterical. In serious times such as we face now, people this immature and self-absorbed offer nothing in terms of leadership. The teenagers need to wipe their tears in silence and allow the grown-ups to get to work now.

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