George Bush's gains among Jewish voters were disappointing at best. Boker Tov, Boulder! has a breakdown of the numbers, and it appears that President Bush got about 25% of the Jewish vote nationally.

So we have perhaps been saved from ourselves. Had the President lost, and Charles Krauthammer been right, and a President Kerry thrown Israel to the European wolves, we would have had mostly ourselves to blame.

The news and the vote come at a dangerous time. Tony Blair used his post-US-election speech yesterday to cash in his foreign policy chips with President Bush. He was there for Bush in Iraq, now it was time to get serious about helping the Palestinians dismantle Israel.

The imminent death of Arafat could certainly provide a false sense of optimism among some, an excuse to hope that the next round of brigands are "practical men," "pragmatists," not ideologues. In other words, the same thing some of us convinced ourselves that Arafat was.

Those of us who voted for the President did so because we believe that he's shown himself to be a man of principle over politics. Now, more than ever, we're relying on that belief.