Regardless of how exciting this election cycle is, nothing but the head of Osama bin Ladin on a stick will compare to the shock following Ronald Reagan’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 1981. A mere five minutes after he removed his hand from the Bible, 52 hostages walked away from 444 days of captivity under Islamic militants in Iran.

President Carter was weak and impotent in his dealings with the Iran hostage crisis, like he was in most things. Conversely, Reagan spoke strongly throughout the campaign about exactly what he would do to the hostage takers if he was elected — most of which involved body bags. It was the kind of extreme and immobile position Carter was never able to take.

And it worked. The hostage takers knew that if they played around with Reagan like they had with Carter, they would lose, and probably die. So the games stopped.

Cut to 2004, where we find ourselves in a frighteningly similar situation. Terrorism is even more real to us today than it was 25 years ago. Sept. 11, 2001, followed by the anthrax scare, the "Shoe Bomber" and other threats changed our situation. For the months following, many people would wake up every morning wondering if today would be the day that they wouldn’t be coming home.

Senator John Kerry’s campaign has not displayed an understanding that the world was a different place on Sept. 12, as it keeps asking whether we are better off now than we were four years ago. The fact that we are still alive after the advent of homeland terrorism says that we are in good shape. People wouldn’t have been willing to make that wager three years ago.

However, President George W. Bush has remained secure throughout our personal insecurity. He was strong and fearless when none of us were able to be, and correspondingly strengthened and emboldened us. In the face of terrorism, we needed a leader who said what he meant and meant what he said. We still do.

The purpose of terrorism is not so much to kill as to intimidate, and to thereby enact a particular change. Horrific terrorist attacks in Spain days before its presidential election swung the vote to the underdog Socialist candidate, who was more in line with the militants’ views than the outgoing administration. We need to know that our leaders are not going to be as willing to bend as the Spanish were.

Whether you like Bush or not, one thing is for sure — you know where he stands. When he makes a decision, he feels that it is the best, and will stay it through. He will bend and break at approximately the same rate as a Nalgene bottle.

On the other hand, Kerry’s positions blow in the wind easier than his hair does. It takes nothing more than a Zogby poll to cause him to vacillate. When pollsters can scare a candidate into a flip-flop, it’s unsettling to think of what a terrorist attack would do.

As a result, people will die in the wake of this election. The question is whether the casualties will be the terrorists, or caused by them. In such a time of crisis, a leader of Reagan’s strength and steadfastness is needed — and while Bush is no Reagan, Kerry is no Bush. Throughout his first term, this president confidently demonstrated that he was the man for the hour, and the time has not much changed four years later.

Brian Goodman is an undeclared sophomore.