November 7, 2004
LIBERATION DAY:
BUSH, LIBERATED BY VICTORY, NOW TURNS TO LEGACY-BUILDING (David M. Shribman, 11/06/04)
The president has won a second term, a second chance and a second wind. He stands triumphant in the face of a doubting world and a suspicious Democratic opposition. He has frustrated the doubters and confounded the skeptics. He has left his rivals in distress, disarray and distemper.Like Ronald Reagan, he has changed American politics, applying simple intuition to a world of ever-more specialized and complex knowledge, finding opportunities where his opponents see only burdens. He has changed conservatism to reflect a changed world, infuriating critics who say he lacks vision but who fear that he may see things more clearly than they do. Mostly he is liberated now -- liberated from the sniff of illegitimacy that pervaded his first term, liberated from the notion that he was but a breath from defeat on Capitol Hill, liberated from the fear that, like it did with his father, a stubborn economy would deny him the political redemption that comes with a second term.
He is liberated to apply his brand of conservatism to the economy and to foreign affairs, not merely to mold it to the skepticism of his opponents.
He is liberated to send conservatism on a new path. He is liberated to build on his victory to consolidate Republicans' claim -- a claim that, if the Democrats are not careful they will in their post-mortems help bolster -- to be the natural party of government. [...]
"Make no little plans," said Daniel Burnham, the architect whose fingerprints are all over American urban landscapes. He was talking about building a city. Whatever you think of the president, you cannot argue that, like his predecessor, he makes little plans. Right now he's done his bit for party building, is working on nation building and has taken a big step toward legacy building. He may have the soul of an underachiever, but the thing that, more than ever, drives his skeptics crazy is that George Walker Bush, two-term president of the United States, is building the record of an overachiever.
And they have gone crazy. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 7, 2004 2:07 PM
"Gone crazy" is no hyperbole. I've heard from many in the past week who I had heretofore assumed were reasonable liberals that those who wish to leave the country due to Bush's reelection are perfectly justified in doing so. This is collective mass insanity.
Posted by: brian at November 7, 2004 5:26 PMOn DU the threats of armed (?) rebellion have died out, but only because they're convinced that Kerry really won and is biding his time before surfacing with irrefutable proof of voting fraud.
Posted by: David Cohen at November 7, 2004 5:36 PMA protest suicide at ground zero today highlights how far off course this thing has gotten.
The legitimizing of how such an abominable thing as a "Bush re-election" could happen in the America of today really fries me.
I love the sound of liberal heads exploding!
Posted by: erp at November 7, 2004 6:38 PMI don't think the Left has gone this nutty since Nixon beat the pants off McGovern 32 years ago. Everyone on that wing seems to be having not just a Pauline Kael moment, but a Pauline Kael week.
Posted by: Joe at November 7, 2004 7:53 PMThe libs have been so wrong, for so long, that healing is not an option. Tens of millions will need psychotherapy.
And most psychotherapists will probably need psychotherapy. (Am I wrong to think most of them voted for Kerry?)
Dude, a lot of psychotherapists ARE psychotherapists because they need psychotherapy themselves. When you're unstable, proud, and arrogant, you can't admit you're not wrapped all that tight to start with, so you get the degree and certification and start self-medicating.
Posted by: Ken at November 9, 2004 5:08 PM