THE NEXT FOUR YEARS

摘要

Brushing off a sputtering Iraq War, an economy struggling to create jobs, and a hardhitting challenge from John Kerry, George W. Bush roared to a convincing victory on Nov. 2, besting his Democratic rival 51% to 48% and paving the way for four more years of conservative Republican rule. Although Democrats took pains to nominate an Establishment contender and decorated Vietnam War vet, and Kerry reprised some of Bill Clinton's New Democratic doctrine, Bush's answer was simplicity itself: He drowned out Kerry's middle-class economic message by making terrorism and national security the dominant motifs of the race; then he undermined his foe's credibility by painting him as an ultralib-eral flip-fbpper who would hasten the day when terrorists would again rain havoc on America.