ORIGINALIST ON THE GRASSY KNOLL:

A New Deal to scupper a presidency: Bush is taking a huge gamble with his assault on the social contract (Sidney Blumenthal, January 20, 2005, The Guardian)

In his second term, President Bush is determined on regime change. The country whose order he seeks to overthrow is not ruled by mullahs or Ba'athists. But members of his administration have compared its system to communism. The battle will be "one of the most important conservative undertakings of modern times", the deputy to White House political director Karl Rove wrote in a confidential memo. Since the election, the president has spoken often of the "coming crisis" and he has mobilised the government to begin a propaganda campaign to prepare public opinion for the conflict ahead. The nation whose regime he is set on toppling is the United States.

Since the New Deal, the American social contract has been built upon acceptance of its reforms.

For the new reactionaries, any departure from the oiriginal program is apparently blasphemous.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 20, 2005 9:05 AM