The Columnist Manifesto

Yesterday, a friend advised me to end my news blackout and start reading the newspapers again. "It's exactly four months since the election. Time to pick yourself up off the mat. Come on."

She was right. I was the current events equivalent of someone who had been living in his pajamas for four months, unshaven, the windows shuttered, eating a bowl of cheerios for dinner at 5 p.m.

So I finally read the front page of the NYTimes for the first time this year, and what do I find? What do I find?

"New Poll Finds Bush Priorities Are out of Step." Okay, so the plan to privatize social security gets a chilly reception from Americans, especially when the pollster actually explains how it works. But the story goes on to report that

an overwhelming number of Americans say Mr. Bush has no clear plan for getting out of Iraq.

Let me get this straight. On November 2, a narrow majority of Americans vote Bush into a second term, despite disagreeing with him on most domestic policy issues. On March 2, most Americans say the Bush Administration has no plan for Iraq -- something they must have known on Novembver 2, since there have been no significant new developments or new information to change anyone's mind. So that means, some critical mass of American voters chose Bush despite feeling that they disagree with him on most domestic policy issues and feeling that he has no plan to get out of Iraq.

Do we need any further proof that presidential elections are a personal popularity contest?

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