I was thinking about this the earlie and I have something to say. Democrats lost and will continue to lose until they unlearn their contempt for George Bush as evidenced by pieces like this. Michael Kinsley and his liberal brethren think so little of George Bush that they find it inconceivable that the public should like and respect the man, and that he would be able to engineer their defeat at the polls. Yet he did. Regardless of whether he is run by his advisers or not, I would hate to deride an opponent as stupid endlessly and then be defeated by said opponent. What would that make me? When you underestimate people you allow them to take advantage of your lowered expectations and you and not they end up looking the fool.
Democrats didn't get it during this past election and still don't get it. They are allowing their vision to be clouded by one man the same way Republicans allowed Bill Clinton to occupy their every waking moment for eight years. George Bush is shaping up to be the Republican version of Bill Clinton. He and Clinton are almost polar opposites, which is appropriate since Bush is a Republican and Clinton a Democrat. Their main similarity is that each is a polarizing figure. Neither one won their first elections by large margins and both had to deal with a fair amount of controversy. Bill Clinton defeated a weak opponent his second term and George Bush appears to be faced with several weak Democratic candidates going into 2004, although it is still to early to speculate about who will run and be nominated yet. The main thrust of my argument is that the Democrats are allowing themselves to be distracted by one man just like the Republicans did. The Democrats still have the opportunity to not become obsessed with defeating Bush. If it ever gets to that point they will lose and lose badly.