I fully expected Bush's second term, given the Republican gains in Congres, to be a real humdinger. Bush spoke of a "mandate" following the election, and, apparently believing in it, he undertook as his first task the dismantling of Social Security, that nifty little New Deal thing which is undoubtably the most beloved of American domestic programs. Oops: Talk about Imperial Overstretch.
Bush has failed miserably in his "sales pitch" on Social Security, and time after time, he is dealt setbacks on other issues as well. Many of us were certain, for example, that Bush's second term would bring another war. My friend who is serving in the Army (and just returned from a year in Kirkuk, Iraq) told me a few months ago that the talk amongst his buddies isn't "when" or "if" but "where". As in "Syria, or Iran?" But after a scathing report by the Commission on WMD, which concluded (among other things) that our intelligence today is worse than it was 30 years ago, I really don't see how another war can be sold. No, Bush will be remembered as the one who got us into the mess in Iraq. He will be remembered poorly by future generations.
On the Domestic front, the Republicans shamelessly brought the unfortunate and private case of a dying woman and her emotionally distraught family into the national arena as a political attack of opportunity against "culture of death" liberals, and, predictably, completely misplayed the entire thing, shooting themselves in the foot and leaving the Democrats with the moral upper hand in the view of a majority of the public.
On trade, now that a group of centrist, free-trade Democrats who had been swing votes on CAFTA have come out against it, it seems altogether certain that Bush will fail to pass this centerpiece of his (mis-)administration's trade policy. For me, this is an important victory. One of those Democrats, Adam Smith, allowed me and a group of students from the University of Washington to speak with him last Spring about what we saw as fundamental flaws with CAFTA. I spoke specifically about CAFTA's lack of protection for workers.
So we see this Republican majority, and this Lame Duck Republican President, so utterly useless, failing time after time, so unable to seize the moment, so unable to capitalize on their electoral victories: One can't help but be hopeful for the future. If we stay sharp, if we stay on the ball, and we continue to speak up for and promote liberty, equality, and justice, we'll see the sun set on the useless Republican majority in no time.