What is most troubling about Bush's victory is that it casts doubt on the reassuring notion that democracy and the marketplace of ideas provide a vigilant check against political excess. Democracy is the most cherished form of government precisely because it holds leaders responsible for their mistakes, removing them from office as punishment.

But the outcome of the U.S. election points to the failure of democracy's self-correcting potential. Over the course of his first term, Bush has led the country woefully off-course. Instead of holding him accountable, however, Americans just awarded him with a second term.

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Ordinarily, a first-term incumbent in the homestretch of his bid for reelection would relish a month of high-profile summitry. Americans like their president to be presidential, and globe-trotting on Air Force One usually fits the bill.

But these events will be anything but an opportunity for Bush to revel in diplomatic achievements. The gathering in Normandy is meant to celebrate America's strategic bond with Europe, but holding a eulogy for the Atlantic alliance would be more fitting. The leaders of the G-8 nations will no doubt maintain a facade of unity and declare their shared commitment to bringing about political reform in the Middle East, but only by skirting around the immediate crises in Iraq and in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. At both the E.U. and NATO summits, Bush will be greeted by leaders and publics alike that are deeply skeptical and resentful of Washington's bravado and bluster.

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