To: stockman_scott who wrote (66510 ) 1/17/2003 10:56:36 AM From: JohnM Read Replies (2) | Respond to Bush's Terrible Twos Entering Year Three, Bush is a potent President. It is sixteen months after 9/11. He has proven he can continue to exploit fully the natural boost in his approval ratings that followed the attacks--though they have been trending down. He and Rove have generally been even savvier than they were on the campaign trail. But with the tax cuts and the Pickering et al. nominations, Bush has outed himself. In 2000 he attempted to have it both ways. He was solidly conservative--tax cuts, partial privatization of Social Security, anti-abortion rights--while he plotted to blur the traditional differences between the parties by proclaiming that he, too, cared about education, healthcare, poor people, the elderly and minorities. That basic strategy is not going to change. But with his recent excesses--overreaching, the Democrats are saying longingly--Bush has further widened the gap between his conservatism and his (feigned) compassion. Optimistic Democrats smell opportunity.
