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Bush had hoped that Daschle would grow into the Arthur Vandenberg of his administration, Vandenberg being the formerly isolationist Republican senator from Michigan who put aside his differences with President Truman on domestic policy to help pass the Marshall Plan and military aid to Greece and Turkey in 1947

By Daschle's ham-handed operation as a partisan sniper, he has lost whatever opportunity he had to go down in history as a great leader of the Senate. To join hands with the President to jointly do what was necessary to protect this country in the middle of a war on terror was his great calling and opportunity, and he frittered it away. Daschle appears to be a petty, disagreeable, and visionless man, and his short tenure as Majority Leader revealed his inherent nature. I suppose the reason he remains leader of the Senate Democrats is that the Democratic Party itself is petty, visionless, and disagreeable. History has bypassed Tom Daschle. It's a good thing, too.

BTW, I bought Frums' book yesterday. He'a a good writer, and so far the book provides as good a peek into the workings of the White House, and into the soul of Geo. W. Bush, as any so far written.

. Daschle appears to be a petty, disagreeable, and visionless man, and his short tenure as Majority Leader revealed his inherent nature. I suppose the reason he remains leader of the Senate Democrats is that the Democratic Party itself is petty, visionless, and disagreeable. History has bypassed Tom Daschle. It's a good thing, too.

More to the point, Daschle crystallized for many people the nagging unease they had about the Democrats in general. So in November, when it came down to "Bush the fair and principled gentleman", vs. petty Tom and his petty thieves, Bush carried the day.

I too bought this book yesterday and will start on it as soon as I finish the Clive Cussler novel I'm currently reading. With all the negative hoopla this work is receiving, I'm starting to think it's merely spin to keep us from buying it. This excerpt makes me realize even more that President Bush is an all-American blessing.