Friday Morning Must-Read: A Win is a Win?

Ron Brownstein, in today's L.A. Times, sees the Bolton vote as a microcosm of the Bush years. Brownstein paints of picture of a Bush administration that will 'accept achingly narrow margins in Congress and at the ballot box to pursue ambitious changes that sharply divide the country'. Brownstein argues that it is this approach of holding the base and squeezing the middle that alienates much of the country. That's true, as far as it goes, but I think Bush is also a president who sees a need for accomplishment over poll numbers; that's certainly the impression one gets from his recent press conference. That's not to say that I don't believe there are pollsters in the Bush camp studying every little whim of the electorate; of course there are. I just don't believe Bush is as beholden to his pollsters as, say, Clinton was. Check it out for yourself...