Voters have sent George Bush a strong message. But will he listen to what they have said?

THE American people have spoken. Loud and clear. They have dished out a stinging rebuff to President George Bush, and a potentially crippling blow to the remaining two years of his presidency. It is possible that Mr Bush has gone from emperor to lame duck.

In mid-term elections for Congress, voters have delivered the House of Representatives to the Democrats (for the first time in 12 years) and, quite possibly, the Senate. With the Democrats holding some if not all of the reins of power, Mr Bush will face his opponents not in the media or on the hustings but in the chamber. For the first time, his Administration's conduct will be put under the microscope. Legislation will no longer be rubber-stamped through Congress. He and

his cabinet's record can and more than likely will be examined: for example, on the war in Iraq and the response to hurricane Katrina. Court nominations will now come under scrutiny.

When George Bush won the White House in 2000, he pledged in his inaugural address that he would "work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity". A few months later, however, the world turned on its axis. In essence, the events of September 11, 2001, have defined the Bush presidency. Since the deaths of almost 3000 people in the World Trade Centre and plane attacks, Mr Bush and his Administration have been on a war footing. At first it was not against another country, but an abstract noun: terror. But it was an abstraction that became real. Within months of the 9/11 attacks, the emphasis swung to Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Saddam was a sponsor of world terrorism, his

country an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. There is persuasive evidence now that Saddam had been in Mr Bush's sights since the early days of his presidency. The weapons of mass destruction, which predicated the invasion of Iraq, was a lie — a lie that other countries, such as Australia, accepted too easily.

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For six years, Mr Bush has had unfettered reign over the direction of his country's foreign policy and, concomitant to that, the direction of global politics, particularly in the Middle East. With the Republicans having control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, there have been few, if any, obstacles put in the path of the Administration. Nor has been there accountability. The Republicans, in their trammelling of opposition and impatient disregard for other points of view, have acted in a manner more akin to the hubris of empire than as an exemplar of democracy at work.