Bin Laden

Is a very smart man.

No matter who prevails on Tuesday, he just gave the losing side the perfect excuse to deny the legitimacy of the winner. Whichever side loses will be absolutely convinced that the election was skewed by Bin Laden's tape -- as many people are convinced happened in Spain earlier this year after the Madrid bombings -- and the bitter polarization which has marked the last several years in this country will continue unabated.

President Bush squandered whatever opportunity he had to unite this country long ago, and now it will be effectively impossible for a President Kerry to unite us either.

Bin Laden cannot conquer us, but it seems he is smart enough to realize that by dividing us as much as possible, he can keep us from conquering him. And undermining a Presidential election, the core of our system of government -- hell, of our very conception of ourselves as a people -- is a nice bonus. Two birds, and all that.

It may not seem like it at the moment, but Bin Laden just hit us where we live. Again.

I wish I hadn't checked the news this evening.