A Note From Bob
Welcome to a new eight years! On Saturday, the charismatic, telegenic, and wildly popular Mr. Clinton made way for Mr. Bush, having managed, at the end of his eight years of prosperity, to hand all three branches of government to Republican control. Indeed, it's hard to argue that President Clinton was unlucky. The economic expansion over which he presided began in George Bush's term, though it wasn't noticeable until after the election. And that expansion began to lose air just as he left office, late enough to make it another "Bush recession" in the history books. His success came because he left the economy largely alone for eight years - or was forced to by a Congress that wouldn't nationalize health care for him. Even impeachment, his most embarrassing spectacle, turned out well for him by sparking a pro-Clinton backlash and raising his job-approval ratings to an unheard-of high.

George W. Bush hasn't had that kind of luck. Dogged by an inarticulate speaking style and a narrow victory, it seems unlikely that he will be able to get any aspect of the agenda on which he campaigned through Congress intact. The Supreme Court's ending of the third recount convinced a large part of the populace and, especially, the media that Gore would have won if they had only kept recounting the votes. Of course, the new Miami-Herald media recount shows that Bush would have probably gained votes. Nevertheless, the normal honeymoon for a new President has been called off and the Democrats in Congress have taken to ridiculing any argument that Bush should actually try to pass what he campaigned on. In so many ways, it's the end of an era.

It's fitting, then, that at the end of the Clinton era, Jesse Jackson should be found with his pants down. Turns out that the married Reverend Jackson had an affair and then a child with one of his employees - not an intern, but close enough. The woman, Karin Stanford, was pregnant with his child during Jackson's well-publicized counseling of President Clinton during the Lewinsky saga. Of course, true to the Clinton era, Jackson won't lose too much from this - he has already announced his plans to return to public life. After all, a man who defended Clinton during the Lewinsky saga can't really be called a hypocrite for having his own affair. And Jesse rarely talks about individual morality, just about the evils of corporations and Republicans.

Despite the joys of seeing Bill Clinton demoted to a Senator's husband and Jesse Jackson humbled out of rhyme, this is quite a sobering moment for conservatives. For eight years, conservatives have waited for the chance that is finally here. We can at last attempt the measures that might really make a difference in people's lives: Social Security privatization and Medicare reform, tax cuts and radical tax reform to lessen the heavy hand of government, and school choice for kids trapped in failing districts. Conservatism means more than just keeping down the size of the Federal Register of regulations or decrying the inefficiency of government. It also means putting power in the hands of individuals rather than concentrating it in the hands of a bureaucracy.

Unfortunately, these initiatives are politically risky because they disturb the status quo that has existed since the New Deal. All of them require more than a razor-thin margin to pass - certainly greater margins than found. Thus we find ourselves, as conservatives, with the Triple Crown of politics and nothing to do with it. George W. Bush will appoint not-liberal judges, but the chances of getting a Scalia or a Thomas through the 50-50 Senate is miniscule. He'll be able to hold back the tide of regulations for four more years, but to actually accomplish anything? Not likely.

Well, what George W. Bush does accomplish, he'll do with the help of his advisors from Stanford's economics department and Hoover Institute. As the Review covered a year ago, Hoover fellows and Econ profs turned out in droves to advise the Bush campaign. Now that their hard work has paid off, some, like Condoleezza Rice, head to Washington for positions of power and glory, while others stay at Stanford to continue their research. Why? Read our article on the front page.

Scholars who leave to serve politicians eventually come back, and sometimes they bring the politicians with them. As we cover in news, few people know that Stanford was offered the chance of having three Presidential libraries - Hoover's, Nixon's, and Reagan's, all three because of the Hoover Institution, all three turned down from politics. Alas, President Clinton will not likely offer his library to Stanford. But if he did, we can guess whether it would be accepted.

Also, in the interview section, we have an interview with Jonah Goldberg, the editor of National Review Online, the smash Internet phenomenon that just keeps growing. The website nationalreview.com, which started out as his diary during impeachment, has blossomed into the most vibrant political magazine on the web today. While competitors like Salon.com go bankrupt, nationalreview.com can't meet the demands of its users, despite updating twice daily. Jonah Goldberg's column itself, the G-File, has turned into a cult phenomenon, in the process appealing to a younger, hipper audience.

Also, on the front page, we cover the new abortion drug RU-486, which Cowell is not offering - yet. Amartya Sen, the Nobel-prize-winning economist from India, recently came to talk at Stanford, which we cover in news. In opinion , Matthew Barrett watches the Billionaires for Bush protest and comes away with a desire to protest something meaningful. Henry Towsner hits the right and the left equally for walling off discourse. And on the back page, sojourning editor emeritus Johnny Openshaw files a postcard from Patagonia.

Well, the end of an era will be the beginning of a new, no matter what consequences it will bring. Read on!

Page last modified on Wednesday, 01-Mar-2006 23:55:53 MST.