During his first term, Bush seemed intent on buying votes. During the presidential debates, he bragged that his administration had, ?tripled the homeland security budget from $10 billion to $30 billion.? Great, but does simply spending more automatically make us safer?
He added, ?We?re spending $1 billion to come up with [a hydrogen automobile].? Shouldn?t that be developed by automakers, rather than the government? And on and on and on. Bush read off a virtual laundry list of spending that made conservatives cringe. That must change.
As Tim Russert said on NBC, ?The first term was for the voters, the second will be for history.? To make that history, Bush will need to rein in spending, reform Social Security and fix Medicare reform. Oh, and win the war against terrorism. A series of tall orders. But he can accomplish all that and more with the strong support of the American people.
Of course, there are some who will never sign on. The Michael Moore and George Soros types. Hopefully, we?ll see less of Moore in this term. And Soros has vowed to enter a monastery for a time, so he can ?contemplate what is wrong with the people of this country.? Others on the left had vowed to leave the country if Bush was re-elected. The best thing the president can do is stamp their passports.
This year the Kerry campaign made a big deal out of how it was ?fighting.? Even in his concession speech, John Edwards vowed to keep ?fighting.? Well, we?ve had enough. It?s now time for the ?fighting? -- at least among ourselves -- to end. As John McCain said on Election Night, ?The Democrats are not our enemy. Our enemy is al Qaeda.? Democrats should take note of that, too. The GOP isn?t the enemy -- al Qaeda is.
And for the next four year -- as the last four -- President Bush is 100 percent president. Like it or not.