Posted on: Thursday, November 4, 2004

EDITORIAL
For Bush, Democrats, work is just beginning

With yet another bitterly contested presidential election behind us, what's next?

For President Bush, we hope he will live up to his promise to bring us together as a country and quickly recognize that the daunting challenges both here and abroad require a more thoughtful and sophisticated approach. His mandate from this election is not carte blanche.

We urge Bush to consider the many voters who were angered by his first-term governance and to remember his promise to be a uniter. He must also focus on creating jobs.

Bush's go-it-alone approach in Iraq has been frustrating. Now it's time for him to mend fences with the traditional allies who were antagonized or alienated during his first term.

We expect no less of the nation's Democrats, even in defeat. In Congress, they must make loyal opposition into a form of art, seeking to curtail the administration's excesses even as they help to ensure its success in pursuing vital national interests.

Above all, the Democrats must not again wait four years to begin thinking of a standard-bearer, and to begin to consult focus groups to decide what that candidate might profitably stand for.

Only belatedly in this campaign did John Kerry begin to home in on concerns that ought more deeply alienate working men and women — traditional Democrats — from Bush's unabashed promotion of the interests of wealthy and corporate America.

Democrats must plan now to avoid showing up too late, again, in 2008.