If youre a Democrat

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If you’re a Democrat, be happy.

Be very happy.

Yes, yes, I know that election thing didn’t pan out so well. But the post-election — actually the post-post-election — is going very well indeed – at least in partisan terms.

Let’s be frank: if Bush were smart, he’d be playing toward the middle. (I don’t mean he should tack toward the center because ‘that’s where the people are.’ I just mean that makes strategic sense.) But he’s not doing that. His moves point toward a base-centric, ideological path of governance.

Yes, I know conservatives will be heartened by this. And they’d be furious if he took a different path. But what really worries Democrats is a canny path of cooptation. And for the moment they shouldn’t be worrying at all.

This plays to all Bush’s weaknesses.

(Ron Brownstein gets at some, but not all, of this in this article in today’s LA Times.)

Like I said, if you’re a Dem, be happy, be very happy.

P.S. Next up, Talking Points unveils the Democrats’ grand strategy for the next two years.

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