LAT... and the loser

[pberq]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bush08nov08,0,4798259.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

EDITORIAL
... and the loser
President Bush wasn't on the ballot, but the election was a referendum on his divisiveness. Voters don't like it.
November 8, 2006

<snip>
ON THIS MORNING AFTER, the Republican base seems less impregnable and the genius of Karl Rove less radiant. The president and his surrogates in recent weeks tried to emulate past successes by calling Democrats tax-raising, gay-marriage-loving, terrorist-appeasing clones of John Kerry. But their dog-eared playbook — bequeathed by Lee Atwater to "the architect" Rove — failed them. The center still matters.

So George W. Bush, the "divided we win" president, emerges as the day's biggest loser.

Midterm elections are always perilous for presidents, and this year's vote amounted to a cost-free referendum on Bush's failing occupation of Iraq. It was cost free because the midterm provided voters with an opportunity to express their displeasure with the war without actually handing over control of national security to Democrats — a prospect many voters remain queasy about.

So what does it all mean? A classically earnest editorial would argue that Bush should be chastened by the Democrats' gains, that he should heed his inner bipartisanship and reposition himself as the moderate candidate he was in 2000. But it's too late for that. Bush is who he is, and any tactical adjustments he makes will be just that — tactical adjustments.