[mxbluto]

Now is not the time

Hmmmmm. Whatever happened to those 'forever vigilant' and 'keep your powder dry' sentiments that used to pepper these posts.

Doesn't count when you've got a nifty little war to deal with? I guess it's true that when the people have a common enemy, they will take any crap out of nationalistic pride. Sound familiar?

[Diddle E. Squat]

91% approval will help buy Bush the time he needs to rebuild the military(only at 60% of Gulf War strength), work on reinforcing our intelligence community, weed out Clinton holdovers and moles, shore up the economy with tax cuts, increase our domestic energy production and reduce foreign dependence, and in fact take advantage of the opportunity to reshape the relationship of our govt policies to the economy. Much of this will be controversial, and so you don't want to squander the political capital right now. There is a great opportunity here to reorientate and restrian our govt, more than many realize. But you can't get everything you want all at once.

Let's not make the mistake of thinking that all of the sudden most of the country is conservative. Far from it, all that has happened is a freezing of most current positions, and the fact that most Americans will now LISTEN and give opportunity to Bush. So he has a tremendous opportunity to influence, educate, and eventually sway public opinion and understanding on so many issues, and bring about a conservative mentality. But it will take time, is a process, and will have to be approached almost as if educating children. There is an opportunity for a paradigm shift, but it won't happen on its own or without strategy.

Witness the sudden interest in military service. That's great, but we don't just sign them up and send them out to the front lines. Rather we have to condition, education, and prepare first. Same for the public. But if we reach too far and too soon, where these ignorants and liberals perceive that we are actually just the same ol' politicians and extremists they've been led to believe by the myths and stereotypes, we will lose our chance to educate and influence many of them.

And look at it this way: Now that we have their ear, many will start to educate themselves, looking back, reading about nat'l security issues for the first time, analyzing, seeking answers to what went wrong. We can gently guide them to evidence, but rather than shouting at them, let's point them in the right direction and help them to make up their minds on their own. And they will. The evidence is overwhelming, out there, and will grow. Witness the Boston Globe already pointing out how Clinton's daliance's may have hurt his ability to pursue Bin Laden.

Walk softly, and leave a lot of clues.