DEMOCRACY'S TRIUMPH BOOSTS POSITIVE PREZ OVER DISMAL DEMS
BY DEBORAH ORIN
IRAQ'S dancing-in-the-streets election gave President Bush a surge of momentum, and last night he made clear that he means to make the most of it.
Iraq's election shifted the political dynamic in America because of its amazing success, which validated Bush's belief that freedom can trump terror — thus making it easier for him to tackle other big things like Social Security.
So Bush could say in last night's State of the Union speech: "We will succeed because the Iraqi people value their own liberty — as they showed the world last Sunday."
Also telling was what Iraqi courage showed about the Democratic Party in America — it's so angry and so bankrupt of ideas that its leaders couldn't even rejoice in the Iraqi vote.
"The Democrats are acting out of frustration — what they stand for and what their strategy is, I can't say. Why would they vigorously oppose the first black woman to be secretary of state and the first Latino to be attorney general?" says presidential scholar Stephen Hess.
"Bush has a wind to his back filling his sails, and he knows what he wants to do. It's quite a mosaic. The things that Bush wants to do are substantive and ideological, but they all also have a political agenda."
Indeed they do. Polls suggest that the changes that Bush wants to make in Social Security are popular with young people, who fear the current system will go belly-up on them.
Bush's call for medical malpractice reform could cut the legs out from under trial lawyers.
His push for help for faith-based programs has appeal to blacks and Latinos, who value the work of churches in the inner city — and aren't thrilled by Democratic attacks on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales.
Today, Bush takes off for five GOP red states to prod conservative Democratic lawmakers there to back him on Social Security, just as many of them did on Iraq.
For years, Republicans have dreamed of a "realigning election" that would create a stable Republican majority. Oddly enough, it could turn out that the realigning election came in Iraq.
BY DEBORAH ORIN
IRAQ'S dancing-in-the-streets election gave President Bush a surge of momentum, and last night he made clear that he means to make the most of it.
Iraq's election shifted the political dynamic in America because of its amazing success, which validated Bush's belief that freedom can trump terror — thus making it easier for him to tackle other big things like Social Security.
So Bush could say in last night's State of the Union speech: "We will succeed because the Iraqi people value their own liberty — as they showed the world last Sunday."
Also telling was what Iraqi courage showed about the Democratic Party in America — it's so angry and so bankrupt of ideas that its leaders couldn't even rejoice in the Iraqi vote.
"The Democrats are acting out of frustration — what they stand for and what their strategy is, I can't say. Why would they vigorously oppose the first black woman to be secretary of state and the first Latino to be attorney general?" says presidential scholar Stephen Hess.
"Bush has a wind to his back filling his sails, and he knows what he wants to do. It's quite a mosaic. The things that Bush wants to do are substantive and ideological, but they all also have a political agenda."
Indeed they do. Polls suggest that the changes that Bush wants to make in Social Security are popular with young people, who fear the current system will go belly-up on them.
Bush's call for medical malpractice reform could cut the legs out from under trial lawyers.
His push for help for faith-based programs has appeal to blacks and Latinos, who value the work of churches in the inner city — and aren't thrilled by Democratic attacks on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales.
Today, Bush takes off for five GOP red states to prod conservative Democratic lawmakers there to back him on Social Security, just as many of them did on Iraq.
For years, Republicans have dreamed of a "realigning election" that would create a stable Republican majority. Oddly enough, it could turn out that the realigning election came in Iraq.
