[Having Gore declare his opponent the winner is] Anything but unthinkable. Personally, though, I think it's worth waiting to see how the Supreme Court disposes. My feeling is that the American constituency is not profoundly divided, only thoroughly ambivalent about the choice given them in this election. This, plus the frenzied partisanship pressed on them by the media.

But Shrub, with the Republican congress behind him, and Cheney beside him, personifies an arrangement that is not in accord with the electorate's ambivalence (low turnouit, split returns, ho-hum mood). It's simply too potentially potent to be that.

For the time being, it'd be best for Gore to hang in there but at the same time beware of over-litigating, a course that's likely to bring him nought but popular abomination.

Denis Fodor (electronic mail, November 30, 2000).

Editor's Note: Denis Fodor is an international commentator living in Munich.