NEW YORK – At the great ball in boots and black tie, boots and tuxedo, thousands of Texans toast their hero and countryman, George W. Bush, who is preparing to swear allegiance to the Constitution and enter the White House. The climate is cheerful. Among bubbles of champagne (and coca-cola), country music and thick steaks of barbecued steaks, the Republican billionaires savor the victory, dream of four years of triumphs, talk about business. The ladies of Houston and Dallas smile for the photo of the new president dancing next to Ricky Martin. But there is also a lot of hypocrisy among this party people. Everyone knows that the Bush-era second episode (after the father’s era) begins, not under the banner of national unity, as tradition dictates and as Bill Clinton’s successor will ask in today’s solemn speech, but amid controversy and protests , suspicions and grudges. Confirming that America is still divided, that the electoral wounds have not healed, that Bush’s “technical” victory has left half of the country with a bitter mouth and the fear of a rapid decline. Seventy thousand young people have fallen on the capital with intentions very different from those of the republican families, foreign politicians and right-wing leaders who crowd the hotels in Washington. They want to take the protest to the streets, send a warning to the Bush White House. They are African-Americans, feminists, anti-death penalty militants, disappointed democrats, protesters of globalization, supporters of freedom of abortion. They promise that today’s demonstrations will be peaceful, but many of them know the methods of urban warfare that brought Seattle to its knees for having experienced them for themselves. 

Hence the exceptional measures imposed by the secret services that for the first time will have the responsibility of the presidential inauguration. The city center is full of metal detectors, checkpoints, select shooters, plainclothes agents. The protesters tried in vain to convince a federal judge to relax security measures in the name of freedom of opinion. But paradoxically the best guarantees of a politically peaceful party could come from meteorological turbulence. Cold, rain, wind, snow, frost will accompany the establishment of the 43rd president of the United States: there is the risk that official ceremonies should be held indoors, on the other hand speeches and parades would be sheltered from protests. Bush spent the last day as a “normal” citizen preparing for today’s appointments, rereading the official speech aloud and giving a few interviews. In a conversation with the CNN he said, diplomatically, that it is impossible to give a warm judgment on the Clinton presidency: only history can be objective. He announced a hardening of the US strategy towards Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and insisted on school reform. In another interview, which surprised many observers, his wife Laura took a stand for maintaining the laws on freedom of abortion. After spending the night at the Blair house, the residence of illustrious guests, Laura and George Bush will go for a coffee at the White House this morning, along with Bill and Hillary Clinton, then move to the Capitol for the solemn ceremony.